You’ve undoubtedly heard about semiconductors. But while most people have heard of semiconductors, very few people know much about them. They really are everywhere, from the processor and AI chips in our smartphones to electronic devices for electric and autonomous vehicles, to new sensors for healthcare.
What is Semiconductor?
A semiconductor is a physical substance designed to manage and control the flow of current in electronic devices and equipment. It either doesn’t allow a freely flowing electric current or repels the current completely.
A semiconductor sits between a conductor and an insulator and is commonly used in the development of electronic chips, computing components, and devices. It’s generally created using silicon, germanium, or other pure elements.
Without semiconductors, our world would look much more like when we would have no electronic hand calculators, microwave ovens, digital alarm clocks, cell phones, tablets, personal computers, electronically controlled transmissions or washing machines.
Once reserved for televisions and radios, semiconductors are now unavoidable in day-to-day life. From making toast in the morning to switching on a light, checking the weather or reading an e-book. Controlling the computers we use for 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.
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.
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.
Taiwan, United States, South Korea, Japan & Netherland dominates the semiconductor market. Taiwan is the country that produces the greatest number of chips globally, thanks to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which controls 51% of the global chip market.
Let there be no doubt that the fusion of hardware and software is accelerating in America, but when it comes to producing chips of any kind, Asian countries dominate the chip market, which includes the supply chain as well.
As a matter of fact, many American companies rely on Asian countries for Chips to meet their manufacturing needs.
Some Indian companies associated with semiconductor technology are Tata Elxsi, ASM Technologies, MosChip Semiconductor Technologies & many more. Now Indian conglomerate Vedanta Ltd. is planning to invest up to 1.5 Lakh Crore into the electronic chip and display manufacturing space. It expects to roll out display units, for use in mobile phones and electronics devices, by 2024 and electronic chips from Indian manufacturing plants by 2025.