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SEMICON 2024 Wraps Up and Says Goodbye to San Francisco
July 18, 2024 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 4 minutes
In stark contrast to Tuesday’s overcast drive into “The City,” it is a beautiful, sunny day as I depart San Francisco after spending the last few days at SEMICON West 2024. Though I spend most of my time in Phoenix these days, I am a Bay Area baby by birth. Whenever I am in the city, my strong feelings about San Francisco surprise me. I love SF, warts and all. That being said, I applaud the city of San Francisco for keeping the area pristine in front of and around Moscone Center. Surrounded by Yerba Buena Park, MOMA, and the iconic Marriott Marquis Hotel, in addition to myriad other historic buildings (including my humble European style hotel, the Mosser), walking the streets directly adjacent to the Moscone to and from the venue was genuinely enjoyable.
As one would expect, Thursday started a little bit later and with emptier expo halls. Many folks were obviously poised to head straight to SFO from the conference. By day three of any trade show or conference, I am tired. Whether from all the walking, all the concentrating, or both, my energy is flagging. I could tell I was in good company during the final conferences, though for those which I attended, there was still enthusiastic participation (if not a full room).
In my previous reports, I hope I was able to give a (very) small taste of what the halls of Moscone held for SEMICON West attendees this year. For this brief piece, I will simply share my overall impressions and takeaways from the experience.
First, SEMICON West is moving from its San Francisco home to Phoenix in 2025. This is big news. In trying to fact-check myself, I was unable to discover for certain, but I believe San Francisco has been SEMICON West’s only home since it moved from its earliest and more humble venues like the San Mateo fairgrounds. Suffice it to say that leaving SF is a big deal. The show is scheduled from Oct. 7-9, 2025, hopefully hitting some nicer weather in Arizona. However, it will be back in SF in 2026. After that, we shall see. What I can tell you is that at least one SEMICON organizer with whom I spoke was very excited to be moving to Phoenix for next year's show.
Next, I was continually struck by the significant overlap in the work and initiatives of SEMI and IPC, driving home the point that there is so much more we have in common than that which separates us. For me, it’s about raising the ever-important topic of opportunities to interface and collaborate for maximum impact and forward movement on all shared initiatives.
As with IPC, SEMI’s primary initiatives for 2024 include sustainability and workforce development, with dedicated space for both over all three days of the conference including many CEO keynotes. In declaring this “out loud,” I’m keenly aware that much is already being done along those lines—partnerships and alliances of which I am simply not “in the know”—and to which I say “bravo” to my IPC compatriots who work so hard to forge those relationships.
Third, AI, automation and robotics, e-mobility, hybrid and flexible electronic solutions, and the massive amounts of data consumption that will be required as a result of their success, touch not just one or another business sector but every single person living in the digital world, which means pretty much all of us. Never has such a crazy amount of technology been at so many fingertips (whether those humble fingers have any true understanding of it).
Maybe that is part of what makes conferences like this fun: the digging down and getting to look behind the proverbial curtain for a deeper understanding of all that is coming. How we as an industry, a community, a society, and as countries, deal with the fallout of all of the amazing technology we are creating, which will simultaneously aid in solving some of our most challenging global environmental challenges, is something we cannot achieve in any significant way independent of one another, whether it is companies working together with more openness to commercialize things like quantum computing or countries working together to address climate change.
We are in this together, whether we like it or not, and hearing folks like Angela Baker of Qualcomm proclaim that we need to involve other industries entirely, like agriculture, in our sustainability and advocacy work was heartening. Going out to the construction industry and making inroads toward reskilling veterans to address workforce issues are great examples of how nontraditional thinking will help solve our larger problems attests to a societal interconnectedness that we have not previously had to recognize.
Lastly, it seems fitting that during SEMICON on July 9th, a Notice of Intent was issued by the Biden administration dedicating $1.6 million to advanced packaging R&D in the United States. The first full day of CEO keynotes were dedicated to CHIPS for America and developing the semiconductor industry (and value chain) in the United States. Having just heard Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio speak, it is fitting to end on her statement in response to the NOI: “Within a decade, through R&D funded by CHIPS for America, we will create a domestic packaging industry where advanced node chips manufactured in the U.S. and abroad can be packaged within the United States and where innovative designs and architectures are enabled through leading-edge packaging capabilities.”
It was a good, very full week, adding energy to my pride in being a small part of the greater electronics industry.
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