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There are several parts to semiconductor product development, and without cross-industry collaboration and standardization, it is impossible to move forward (next-gen solutions).
Collaboration and standardization have triggered several innovative solutions that have only taken the semiconductor industry forward. These strategic approaches come in different forms. Some are between two or more semiconductor-focused companies, many driven by consortiums of several companies (semiconductor and non-semiconductor). Irrespective of the approach, the focus is to bring new semiconductor technologies.
Collaboration Benefits: It fosters the environment where one or more companies can share the knowledge to enable next-gen devices that can create future markets while expanding the current one. Examples of such collaboration are many. Collaboration between XPU developers and non-XPU developers is one. The reason one relies on the other and has to follow a collaborative approach to ensure the end products (desktops, laptops, smartphones, etc.) work flawlessly.
Standardization Benefits: One of the impacts of standardization is that it allows product development knowledge sharing irrespective of the resources and capital any given company has. An example of this can be all USB or Wi-Fi-driven silicon solutions as it follows a standard protocol and empowers companies to build on top of it. Recently announced Universal Chiplet Interconnected Express is also one such example.
The two positive impacts of collaboration and standardization are knowledge sharing and learning. Given how high-tech the semiconductor industry is, the knowledge transfer and learning approach enables a thriving business and expands the reach of semiconductor products.
Knowledge: Sharing technical knowledge that helps the industry move forward is only possible via active collaboration.
Learning: Capturing learnings based on old solutions allows the development of new solutions for the emerging market, which also requires standardization and continuous collaboration.
The semiconductor industry-wide standards from the past decades have already shown the world several innovative solutions. Majority of which came out of active collaboration. It is also true that no given semiconductor company can thrive without active cross-industry partnerships. More so when the devices today require multiple and different types of solutions.
In the end, the goal of collaboration and standardization in the semiconductor industry is to drive a new age of innovation, something the global semiconductor ecosystem has done very well for the last four to five decades.
Apart from the technical benefits, the two other vital impacts of collaboration and standardization are the expansion of business via existing or near markets along with the ability to launch next-gen devices. It is evident from the fact that today’s smart devices that were only possible due to the active collaboration of different types of semiconductor companies.
Several of these strategic collaborations are proprietary. Which is also required to ensure the different businesses can create a niche market for themselves. On another side, there have been several open collaborations. All of which have moved the industry forward and have allowed design and manufacturing companies to come up with solutions to power next-gen solutions.
Business: Different types of semiconductor businesses benefit from standardization as it creates a level playing field on the top of which companies can develop new solutions.
Next-Gen: Emerging solutions (chiplets and photonics as an example) are only possible via industry-wide standardization. Otherwise, the speed of adoption will be slow.
Active collaboration is also key to bringing new solutions forward. Semiconductor lithography solution is one such example. It has been able to leap forward only due to the long-term strategic planning and focus. Some of which have also been with academia.
As the need to push for More-Then-Moore solutions grows further, the importance of semiconductor collaboration and standardization will grow too and make the semiconductor ecosystem more advanced than ever before.
