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Semiconductor

Fab of the future: Velocity with smart manufacturing

October 8, 2021

2-MINUTE READ

  • Fabs are facing complex realities balance critical priorities like keeping operating costs low, supply chains resilient and minimize cycle time.
  • There are 7 key focus areas that have been identified where the fab and its ecosystem face major challenges.
  • The basis to develop the fab of the future depends on a holistic approach to end-to-end value chain across the build, operate and maintain phases.

Overview

With the rapid pace of technology innovation, it’s no surprise that today’s fabs are continuously adapting, innovating, and transforming. They see huge opportunities to leverage and advance the latest emerging high-growth areas of Enhanced Reality, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automotive, and 5G. At the same time, they still need to keep pace with the conventional growth in demand as computing becomes pervasive in all aspects of day-to-day life.

Fabs should embrace digital technologies across the supply chain ecosystem to become a truly digitally connected and digital-led smart fab.

Key challenges and priorities

To realize full potential, fabs and ecosystems, must evolve from conventional structures to modern technologies. Doing this means taking aim at certain areas across fabs and ecosystems that face major challenges. We have identified 7 pivotal focus areas to consider:

People and skills

Fabs need to find the right people with the right expertise or equip existing talent with the skills to handle changing digital technologies.

Design

Chips are requiring more advanced nodes and complex designs, resulting numerous challenges like high costs, slow maturity and high turnaround times.

Production

Deploying new technologies into production takes time and smaller chip sizes can increase challenges due to limitations in Moore’s Law.

Quality

Industries require reliable chips but traditional checks can be ineffective in detecting defects, making quality ripe for advanced digital tools.

Planning

Chip shortages have extended lead times and made sourcing materials complex, resulting in supply chain disruptions a priority for manufacturing.

Packaging

Multiple integration technology packages pose a challenge for traditional design tools forcing design teams to verify and optimize their system.

Sustainability

Semi manufacturing is responsible for major water consumption and chemical emissions. Smart fabs can track power, emissions and water usage.

Fab of the future – making Industry 4.0 live

This digital framework example points out a few approaches that can be applied to optimize end-to-end value chain across the build, operate and maintain phases. An overarching Manufacturing Collaboration Tower can enable fabs to open new business value.

How to become a fab of the future

The destination to become a fab of the future may require driving toward 3 key imperatives. One of the most critical is Digital Manufacturing Analytics which is an integral capability into all digital solutions to help drive actionable insights and sets the stage for the other imperatives. Another vital imperative is a Manufacturing Collaboration Tower to actively monitor and control end-to-end internal manufacturing operations.

These imperatives along with several others enable smart fabs that apply solutions can set a vision for the future.

Gopichand Gurada

PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR – STRATEGY & CONSULTING, INDUSTRY X

Amit Kumar

Managing Director – Strategy & Consulting

Prasad Satyavolu

Managing Director – Strategy & Consulting – Industry X, North America

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