If the US wants to continue to lead in semiconductor technology for another 50 years, it must rely on these three technologies

Over the past 50 years, the United States has maintained its leading position in the semiconductor field. However, China's large-scale investment in the semiconductor field and its rapid development in AI have obviously attracted the attention of the United States. Last Wednesday, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released a report that made a series of recommendations to the US government, calling on the government to adopt bold policies in the semiconductor industry to ensure that the United States can maintain its leading position in the semiconductor field in the next 50 years. In this report, SIA also pointed out three exciting "must-win" technologies.

“Global technology leadership has never been more important, and America’s future economic growth and competitiveness will be so impacted,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron Technology, Inc. and 2019 SIA Chair. “The country that leads in semiconductor innovation will also lead the next wave of technological advances, impacting the economy and every aspect of life. We call on leaders in Washington to enact policies that keep us at the forefront of tomorrow’s indispensable technologies.”

“Tiny semiconductors are the brains of our digital world and can solve many of society’s biggest challenges,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “America’s long-term leadership in semiconductor technology depends on three pillars: pioneering research by U.S. companies, top talent, and the ability to sell advanced products to customers around the world. Congress and the administration should enact policies that strengthen these pillars and position the United States as a leader in semiconductor technology.”

The SIA report pointed out that "Moore's Law" is the best explanation for the progress of semiconductor technology. The number of transistors per unit area of ​​silicon wafers doubles approximately every 18 to 24 months. For more than 50 years, the semiconductor industry has maintained this speed to promote technological revolution and significantly improve computing power at a lower cost.

The development of Moore's Law has also pushed materials science, photonics, engineering and design to their limits. There are now billions of transistors on a chip the size of 1 square centimeter, and the circuit has entered the nanometer level. The most advanced semiconductor transistor is 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. Thanks to the great progress in semiconductor technology, consumers benefit from more innovative products at lower prices. This rapid innovation has boosted the U.S. economy, created American jobs, and improved people's lifestyles.

Semiconductors were invented in the United States, and the United States still leads the world in cutting-edge semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing.  In 2018, U.S. semiconductor companies accounted for nearly half of the $469 billion global semiconductor market. However, to ensure the United States' leadership in these future technologies over the next 50 years, the United States must continue to lead the world in semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing.

For example, the Chinese government has announced investments of more than $100 billion over the next decade to catch up with the U.S. in semiconductor technology, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. While China may not achieve all of its goals, the scale of its efforts cannot be ignored.

The SIA report further stated that in order to overcome challenges and ensure that the United States continues to lead the global semiconductor industry, the United States must adopt ambitious policies.

1. Enhance U.S. semiconductor innovation research through investment.

• Triple investment in semiconductor-specific research from approximately $1.5 billion per year to $5 billion to advance research into new materials, designs, and architectures that will significantly improve chip performance.

• Double research investment in semiconductor-related fields such as materials science, computer science, engineering science, and interdisciplinary applied mathematics to drive leapfrog innovation in semiconductor technology and promote the development of key future technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced wireless networks.

2. Attract and develop senior talent to ensure America’s leadership in semiconductor research, design and manufacturing, as well as the development and application of future technologies.

• Reform the immigration system for high-tech talents so that STEM (Leifeng.com Note: abbreviation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) graduates from American universities and STEM graduates from all over the world can obtain jobs and innovate in the United States, and contribute to the United States' leadership in the semiconductor industry.

• Increase U.S. investment in STEM education by 50 percent and implement a national STEM education plan to double the number of U.S. STEM graduates by 2029.

3. Ensure access to global markets and protect intellectual property to ensure the competitiveness, innovation, and growth of the U.S. semiconductor industry in the future.

• Ratify free trade agreements, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, that remove market barriers, protect intellectual property rights, and promote fair competition.

• Increase enforcement to prevent and prosecute semiconductor intellectual property infringement, including misappropriation of trade secrets.

The report mentioned that the future economy will be characterized by technologies that use sensors to collect large amounts of data, networks for storing and moving data, and advanced computers and systems for analyzing and using data in a productive way. Semiconductors are at the core of these functions, and further progress must be made in semiconductor technology to meet the needs of future technologies.

SIA believes there are three “must-win” technologies:

AI

Artificial intelligence refers to technology that mimics human learning and decision-making. AI has the potential to dramatically transform the economy, and is critical to self-driving cars, machine learning, and countless “smart” devices and applications. Experts estimate that AI could add $13 trillion to the size of the global economy by 2030.

Without advances in semiconductor design and manufacturing technology, artificial intelligence would not have been able to move so quickly from futurism to reality today. In fact, semiconductors are critical to three steps in typical AI processing:

1) Data generated by smartphones, cars and multiple “internet of things” devices;

2) Use GPUs, microprocessors, or other high-performance centric processors to train AI/deep learning algorithms; 

3) AI reasoning in actual use.

Quantum computing

Quantum computing promises to exponentially improve computer performance. Quantum computers are 100 million times faster than personal computers and thousands of times faster than existing supercomputers. Achieving this level of computing power will transform entire industries and economies.

The development of quantum information science is closely tied to semiconductor industry research to overcome the limitations of Moore's Law. U.S. academic and government researchers, along with the semiconductor industry, have made advances in quantum computing.

Quantum computing requires complex manufacturing capabilities, specialized materials and advanced technologies. Quantum computing hardware researchers believe that advances in quantum computing can help researchers solve difficult problems in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Advanced wireless network

With low latency and ultra-high speeds up to 100 times faster than existing networks, advanced wireless networks will be the foundation of the new economy and support the next generation of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles and robots, which are all highly mobile.

Due to the huge potential of advanced network speeds and completely new architectures, the full potential of the underlying semiconductor hardware solutions has yet to be realized. Countries that achieve advances in semiconductor technology in next-generation wireless networks (such as 5G) will reap significant economic benefits.

Leading advanced wireless networks requires national policies to strengthen semiconductor R&D efforts, build engineering and technical workforces, and support private and public R&D. NSF (National Science Foundation) supports basic research in wireless data and advanced wireless networks. It also funds testbeds and research platforms through the Advanced Wireless Research Platform, leveraging a range of research infrastructure at U.S. universities to prototype advanced wireless network systems.