Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1489269
40 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2023 In November 2021, IPC published an indus- try report titled, "North American Advanced Packaging Ecosystem Gap Assessment: Crit- ical Systems, Capability, Capacity Analysis and Recommendations." is report, issued by Matt Kelly, IPC chief technologist, and Jan Vardaman, president of TechSearch Interna- tional, takes a detailed look at the technologies and the infrastructure required for advanced packaging in both the current state as well as potential future states. is excerpt from the report describes some of the semiconductor fabrication issues, both economic and technical, that go into creat- ing that finished package used to assemble the printed circuit subassembly. e entire report can be downloaded here. Semiconductor Fab and Foundry Global Mapping Chip plants run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ey do that for one reason: cost. Building an entry-level factory that produces 50,000 wafers per month costs about $15 bil- lion. Most of this is spent on specialized equip- ment—a market that exceeded $60 billion in sales for the first time in 2020. ree compa- nies—Intel, Samsung and TSMC—account for most of this investment. eir factories are more advanced and cost over $20 billion each. In 2021, TSMC will spend as much as $28 billion on new plants and equipment. Com- pare that to the U.S. government's attempt to pass a bill supporting domestic chip pro- duction. is legislation would offer just $50 billion over five years—only two-thirds of which is targeted at boosting near-term chip production. Once you spend all that money building giant facilities, they become obsolete in five years or less. To avoid losing money, chipmakers must generate $3 billion in profit from each plant. But now only the biggest companies, in par- ticular the top three that combined generated $188 billion in revenue last year, can afford to build multiple plants. Key Findings From Semiconductor Fabrication Research