Semiconductor Industry – Top 5 Trends
The semiconductor industry has evolved itself to integrate into modern age digital devices while becoming the foundation of many future technologies. It has become an indispensable part of the electronics industry with its wide range of capabilities and flexibility ranging from defense, transportation, communications, consumer electronics, automotive, etc.
The popularity of the semiconductor industry also stems from the fact that they are highly portable and low-priced. Also, they are long-lasting and require less power input, making them an ideal choice for various purposes in a wide range of products. Due to these reasons, an urgent need for change is needed in the semiconductor market to make it viable for future technologies as well.
With the world business still recovering from the pandemic crisis, and the semiconductor chip shortage recovery still a little slow in production, an overhaul of the semiconductor industry is desperately needed that can solve the arising issues of this market. And though various trends had been suggested overtime for the semiconductor market to rise again, the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market that will reshape the future of semiconductor industry are explained further in this discussion.
Let’s take a short glimpse at the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market to get a better understanding of this market’s future.
Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market
Here we will be diving a little bit further in exploring the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market that will give some insights into our future technologies.
Substitute of Silicon
One of the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market is the replacement of Silicon substrate with another emerging substrate. As the size of devices continues to shrink, there is a limit to this shrinkage and that’s where the exploration for the alternatives of silicon takes roots.
As the current R&D activities across the global semiconductor market are highly focused on identifying new replacement materials for semiconductor manufacturing, the market for emerging semiconductor substrates is predicted to grow drastically in a few years.
Few of the emerging substrates which are being taken under consideration include Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) for radio frequency and photonics applications, Silicon Carbide (SiC) for RF and power applications, Gallium Nitride (GaN)-on-sapphire for various LED operations, and Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) for radio frequency and contact image sensors.
GaN and SiC have remarkable wide-bandgap (WBG) characteristics, which makes them a possible replacement for the traditionally-used silicon and ensuring their place in the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market.
Powering AI Chips Technology
AI chips can be considered another emerging trend that will shape the future of the semiconductor industry and thus falls under the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market.
In the last few years, we have seen a surge of AI technology and its mass adoption that had paved the way for industries to strategize the AI-integrated semiconductor chips. Due to this, the semiconductor industry has gained various advantages across different industries ranging from reduced operational cost, better performance and rise in manufacturing speed, and enhanced efficiency.
With its various features including localized processing of ML tasks thus reducing the power and latency needed for transmitting huge datasets from edge devices to the cloud, AI chips offer smarter gadgets and machinery that is independent of internet connectivity for its functioning.
Emergence of 5G
Another trend falling under the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market, is the introduction of 5G technology in the semiconductor industry. 5G chipset provides faster flow and processing of information. These integrated chipsets will allow faster transfer of data at a rate 10 times faster than the previous 4G.
In the upcoming future, 5G will enable the enhancement and adoption of technologies in smartphones including IoT, edge computing and automotive.
Autonomous Vehicles
Self-driving vehicles or autonomous vehicles are considered the next big thing that will function with the support of semiconductor chips. Integrated semiconductor chips in these autonomous vehicles would perform various collaborative operations.
Due to which better automotive electronic solutions will be provided for these vehicles having improved connectivity, advanced sensors, battery performance in EVs, and automation. Also, with the world still recovering from post-pandemic aftereffects, Self-driving vehicles are predicted to grow at a rapid pace thus earning their place in the Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market.
Smart Sensors
Last on the list of Top 5 Trends in Semiconductor Market is smart sensors. With their integration with IoT-based solutions, these miniaturized smart sensors use novel materials and new processes to substitute the costly conventional sensors.
They are normally used for several applications ranging from navigation systems, optical devices, and motion sensors, health monitors and many more. And due to their flexible disposition and cost-effective applications, they are gradually making their way into various semiconductor-based devices, making them suitable for better future technologies.