The mapping of human genetics to understand the mysteries of diseases and other applications like cloning, requires super-computers that perform millions of calculations per second. This is another potential market that is worth hundreds of billions. The semiconductor is the engine that drives the electronic-heavy economy. Since the birth of the first computer, we have been dependent on microchips. Semiconductor microchips can be found everywhere, from the microwave oven to the refrigerator in our kitchen, DVD players to TVs, PCs to mobile phones, and transmission controller to GPS3 in cars.
Semiconductors form the core of the electronics industry and global economy.
Firstly, improvement in the process technology will allow smaller features to be etched on a chip, which means more functions can be packed on it. The more advanced plants are producing chips at 0.18 um technology node, with plans to reduce to 0.10 um in two to three years' time. Next, the product can be redesigned to make it a faster chip and more features can be packed on the chip. Lastly, manufacturing capacity can be increased by installing more tools or higher capacity tools, and by using bigger silicon substrate to process more chips. The newer wafer fabrication plants are capable of producing more than 30,000 wafers a month using advanced manufacturing tools, compared to 20,000 wafers a month by older tools built a decade ago.