About Semiconductors | SIA – Semiconductor Industry Association

Semiconductors are an essential component of electronic devices, enabling advances in communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation, clean energy, and countless other applications.
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Pre-competitive basic research is essential to the semiconductor industry and the first step in the semiconductor production process.
Engineers use highly sophisticated equipment to design semiconductors, similar to how architects design buildings.
Many semiconductors start out as sand, which contains a large amount of silicon, but other pure materials can also be used.
The sand is purified and melted into solid cylinders called ingots, weighing up to 200+ lbs.
The ingot is then sliced into very thin (1 mm) silicon discs and polished to a flawless finish.
Next, wafers are printed with highly intricate circuit designs that will later become individual chips.
The silicon wafer containing finished semiconductors, sometimes as many as 70,000 per wafer, is then cut up into tiny individual semiconductors called dies.
These dies are then packaged into finished semiconductors, which can be placed into devices.
Finished semiconductors are embedded in countless electronics devices, from computers and smartphones to highly advanced medical equipment and supercomputers.
Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as integrated circuits (ICs) or microchips, are made from pure elements, typically silicon or germanium, or compounds such as gallium arsenide. In a process called doping, small amounts of impurities are added to these pure elements, causing large changes in the conductivity of the material.
Due to their role in the fabrication of electronic devices, semiconductors are an important part of our lives. Imagine life without electronic devices. There would be no smartphones, radios, TVs, computers, video games, or advanced medical diagnostic equipment.
Developments in semiconductor technology during the past 50 years have made electronic devices smaller, faster, and more reliable. Think for a minute of all the encounters you have with electronic devices. How many have you seen or used in the last 24 hours? Each has important components that have been manufactured with electronic materials.
A single semiconductor chip has as many transistors as all of the stones in the Great Pyramid in Giza, and today there are more than 100 billion integrated circuits in daily use around the world—that’s equal to the number of stars in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy.
It is truly a modern marvel, a feat of human ingenuity and engineering unmatched by any other industry.
Semiconductor firms generally organize their activities around the two main stages of semiconductor production: design and manufacturing. Companies that focus only on design are referred to as “fabless” firms, while companies that focus only on manufacturing are called “foundries.” Semiconductor firms that do both are called Integrated Device Manufacturers, or IDMs.
Without semiconductors, the technology that we count on every day would not be possible.
Semiconductors are all around us. They control the computers we use to conduct business, the phones and mobile devices we use to communicate, the cars and planes that get us from place to place, the machines that diagnose and treat illnesses, the military systems that protect us, and the electronic gadgets we use to listen to music, watch movies, and play games, just to name a few.
And not only does semiconductor technology make these devices possible, it also makes them more compact, less expensive, and more powerful. For example, in 1984, mobile phones weighed about 2 lbs., cost around $4,000, and held a charge for only about 30 minutes of talk time.
At SIA, a common theme of the initiatives we support – policies to drive innovation, research programs of our affiliated organizations, etc. – is that all of them are intended to maintain and accelerate advancements in our industry. Working together, we can ensure that semiconductors continue to improve our lives.
The semiconductor industry is leading the greatest period of progress in history.
We have followed Moore’s Law to once unimaginable levels, and semiconductors have revolutionized the way we work, communicate, travel, entertain, harness energy, and treat illness, just to name a few.
And our greatest potential still lies ahead. As the building blocks of technology, semiconductors will continue to enable the world’s greatest breakthroughs. From aerospace and consumer electronics to energy and medicine, entire industries will be transformed.
The semiconductor industry has a longstanding tradition of partnering with government to spur innovation and build a bridge to the future. In the 1980s, the industry teamed with the government to establish SEMATECH, which sponsors advanced semiconductor manufacturing research and is now recognized by many as the ideal model of public-private collaboration.
The industry also helps fund cutting-edge university research through the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world’s leading university research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies. SRC has launched hugely successful government-industry-university research partnerships that are unmatched in size and scope by programs in other industries.
U.S. semiconductor companies annually invest about one-fifth of total revenue in R&D – among the highest rates of any industry. The semiconductor industry has consistently prioritized R&D – even during difficult economic times and throughout fluctuations in sales revenue – because chip designers and manufacturers know that these investments will pay off down the road. The federal government should maintain its share of the partnership and fund scientific research at sustainable levels.
Through collaboration, and effective government policies, America will continue to lead the world and the semiconductor industry will continue to create jobs, drive economic growth, and develop the technologies needed to build our future.
A strong semiconductor industry is vital to America’s economic strength, national security, and global competitiveness.
Semiconductors are a foundational technology for virtually all areas of our economy. Semiconductors were invented in America, and the U.S. still leads the world in cutting-edge manufacturing and design.
The semiconductor industry directly employs over 250,000 workers in the United States and and supports nearly 1.8 million additional U.S. jobs.
Semiconductors are a top-5 American export, after airplanes, refined oil, and automobiles.
The key to maintaining the advancements that fuel our industry and the U.S. economy is research. Unfortunately, U.S. investments in R&D as a share of GDP have decreased in recent decades.
SIA member companies continue to invest and expand in the U.S., with the construction of new and expanded state-of-the-art fabrication facilities across the country. Overall, U.S.-based semiconductor companies retain about 50 percent of global market share in a highly competitive market.
A thriving U.S. semiconductor industry means a strong American economy, high-paying jobs and an outsized impact across the nation. Simply put, semiconductors strengthen our country.
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