‘Ireland presents a strong ICT cluster, hosting key players along the semiconductor value chain’
“Ireland needs to be able to grow its capacity to innovate by scaling and globalising its research and technology infrastructure. For example, a dedicated competence centre of scale would deliver prototyping pilot lines, design and testing facilities to create new value chains between the micro/nanoelectronics and photonics technology sector and its strong digital service, medical devices, biopharma and agri-food industries. This is the case for countries such as Belgium and Finland.”
Fagas highlighted another challenge for Ireland’s semiconductor industry: talent. The increased demand and investment means there is a “global hunt for skills” in the sector, such as semiconductor processing and manufacturing, digital and analog design, heterogeneous system design and formulation of innovative materials.
Earlier this year, SiliconRepublic.com spoke to University College Dublin’s Prof Peter Kennedy about this very concern. He said Ireland needs “a steady supply of electronic engineering graduates at master’s level and doctoral level” to hold onto its leadership in the space.
Research and development
Fagas said another challenge for building semiconductor sovereignty is investing in the research and development side of the house. “R&D expenditure accounts, on average, for around 20pc of sales, making semiconductors one of most research-intensive industries next to pharma and biotech,” he said.
“Capital expenditure is also very high. In the US alone, it has been exceeding 10pc of sales over the past two decades. However, it varies significantly across the value chain, with front-end manufacturing (foundries, IDMs), being the most capital-intensive part followed by the assembly and packaging, testing, equipment and chemicals segments.”
In terms of Ireland’s input in this area, its strengths lie in chip design, deep-tech, smart manufacturing and chip fabrication. Ireland hosts the only Intel fab in Europe with advanced node manufacturing capability.
Ireland is also home to Analog Devices in Limerick, which announced 250 additional jobs in its facility and an investment of €630m to triple the wafer capacity.
“Ireland is also a hub for advanced chip design, being home to significant fabless companies and having generated over the years a number of indigenous SMEs that attracted the attention of major semiconductor players,” said Fagas.
So what can Ireland do to ensure it stays ahead from an R&D perspective? Fagas said it should not be business as usual and the challenges cannot be solved by a single company, organisation or the Irish Government alone.
“A chips strategy for Ireland is needed with the ambitious target of more than doubling the size of the semiconductor industry in Ireland by 2030.”
To do this, Fagas said the semiconductor manufacturing and design activity in the country needs to be recognised as a separate discrete industry sector, with the establishment of a high-level group and a stakeholder alliance with a “whole-value-chain approach” to maximise opportunities.
He said there also needs to be a focus on creating a healthy future skills pipeline as well as national science funding and other R&D public funding streams into a national ‘Chips Fund’.
Finally, he said Ireland needs to actively participate in emerging European pilot lines across several areas including advanced nodes, heterogeneous integration, photonics packaging and more, “bringing lab research, manufacturing and applications together in a centre of excellence of scale”.
The future of semiconductors
According to Fagas, Ireland can be a hub not only for semiconductor innovation but also a powerhouse in supplying products designed and manufactured in Ireland.
“Already today, Ireland presents a strong ICT cluster, hosting key players along the semiconductor value chain,” he said, citing examples such as Henkel, Qualcomm, Applied Materials, Analog Devices, Intel, Microchip and of course, Tyndall to name a few.
But while the focus is on the critical chips technology and the need to strengthen the ecosystem, both in Ireland and in Europe as a whole, he said it’s important to remember that the world is also facing multiple challenges related to the climate crisis and the planet’s ecological equilibrium.
“On the one hand, there is tenfold leverage on the carbon footprint generated by the production and usage of ICT versus the reductions enabled by ICT. On the other, the proliferation of devices and computing systems puts extra pressures on energy usage and e-waste generated as well as reliance on raw materials,” he said.
“The latter will drive developments in the semiconductor industry towards low-power, energy-efficient ICT and to the use of alternative materials and more environmentally friendly processing technologies.”
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
Source link : https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/semiconductors-chips-europe-ireland-research
Author :
Publish date : 2023-08-10 07:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
