Intel’s Seth urges proactive test investment
Rick Nelson, Chief Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 7/10/2007 8:57:00 AM
Test equipment vendors should be proactive in anticipating their customers’ needs, following the lead of fab and assembly equipment makers. That’s a message Ashoke Seth, test operations director at Intel, will deliver as host of the SEMI Test Summit and Reception* at Semicon West. His comments will preface a panel discussion among five test company executives.
Seth bases his opinion on a 25-year career at Intel, he said in a recent phone conversation. He began working at the company in 1983, where he focused on test for several years before moving on to other areas. This year, he found himself back in test, having come full circle. Although this area of semiconductor manufacturing has come a long way 25 years, he said, many more opportunities exist. For example, he said, he has not seen a move on the part of the test industry to adequately anticipate its customers’ needs five to seven or more years out. In contrast, he said, fab and assembly equipment makers have learned to work that far out to anticipate challenges and to have equipment ready to deliver when needed.
Adopting a more proactive approach in test is important, Seth said, because of the pace of technological development and because of changing business and market conditions. As for technology, he said that Intel introduces a new process generation every two years, which will have the company working in 10-nm processes (down from 45 nm in 2007) by 2013, with 10-nm prototypes emerging in 2011. And the ever denser parts are appearing or will appear in new packaging technologies, he said, citing flip-chip molded matrix array packages (FCMMAP) and packages having top-side signal connections. As for business and market trends, he said, average selling prices are falling, while markets are segmenting, leading to more product variations to build and test.
Such rapid market and technological changes demand a proactive effort, he said, but added that he found the test community still being reactive, asking questions such as, “What kind of handler will you need next year?” Such “next year” questions might have been appropriate in 1983, he said, but not in 2007, when suppliers can no longer wait for a list of requirements from their customers before getting to work.
He noted, too, that Intel faces its own challenges in communicating its needs. He said Intel personnel are going on the road this month to encourage suppliers to take a long view in meeting the company’s evolving needs. “The challenge we all have,” he said, “is how do we look beyond today and invest for the future?” A key message the Intel personnel are delivering, he said, is “forget about past—do not rely on Intel every time to come around and fund an entirely new development effort at the last minute.”
He recommended that vendors make some small bets on at least three or four areas in anticipation of the ways in which technology will evolve. Most of these bets won’t pay off, he said, but he added, “It’s the one that works out that will change the world.”
He cautioned that flexibility is important, too: “We need to be prepared to change direction based on customer needs quickly. Therefore, the need today is to have a roadmap, to follow it, and to be agile enough to change it quickly.” Seth mentioned that Intel is prepared to do its part by providing pointers that can guide suppliers to the areas in which their investments have the greatest likelihood of paying off over a five- to seven-year period. He added that Intel is looking forward to such focused discussions with many suppliers in the coming weeks and months.
*The summit will take place Wednesday, July 18, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at San Francisco's Moscone Center, West Hall, Level 2. Panelists will include R. Keith Lee, president and CEO, Advantest America; Lavi Lev, CEO and president, Credence Systems; Tim Moriarty, president, Nextest Systems; Mark Jagiela, president, Teradyne Semiconductor Test Division; and Keith L. Barnes, president and CEO, Verigy. Rick Nelson, chief editor of Test & Measurement World, will serve as moderator. For more information, click here
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