As the semiconductor industry continues to evolve, the demand for testing advanced chips is experiencing unprecedented growth. As the world's leading supplier of semiconductor test equipment, Advantest plays a key role in meeting this demand with its advanced test solutions. China Exportsemi will discuss the background, impact and future development trend of the surge in demand for modern chip testing, focusing on the analysis of Advantest's technological innovation and market dynamics in this field.
Proliferation of testing needs and technical challenges
According to Douglas Lefever, CEO of Advantest, the production process for advanced chips is more complex today than ever. In the process of moving from wafer dicing to finished product assembly, state-of-the-art chips typically undergo 10 to 20 rigorous tests. This figure is several times higher than the single digits of five years ago. This change reflects the continuous advancement of semiconductor technology, with the complexity of chips increasing dramatically and the requirements for testing increasing.
Time becomes a crucial factor in chip testing. NVIDIA's Blackwell chip, for example, took 3 to 4 times longer to test than the previous generation of AI GPUs. This not only increases the production cost of manufacturers, but also puts forward higher requirements for the efficiency of the supply chain. Especially in the current global economic environment, how to improve testing efficiency while ensuring test quality has become an important challenge for the industry.
AI spending and market impact of tech giants
Douglas Lefever also talked about the spending trends of companies such as Microsoft, Google and Meta in the field of AI in the United States, saying that although these companies may face cyclical spending fluctuations in the short term, due to their dominance of the global AI chip market, any change in spending could have a profound impact on the entire semiconductor industry. As major chip consumers, the procurement strategies and spending patterns of these technology companies directly affect the demand for semiconductor test equipment. As AI technology continues to evolve, especially in emerging areas such as generative AI and automated systems, the market demand will continue to grow strongly.
The demand and future potential of the AI mobile phone market
Compared with AI computing chips in the data center field, AI chips in smartphones have not yet ushered in a real explosion period. Lefever pointed out that while the current demand for AI phones is relatively low and there has not yet been a decisive killer application, the smartphone market is likely to usher in unprecedented growth with the breakthrough of new technologies and applications. In the case of Samsung, the sales of the S24 series of AI phones in South Korea exceeded 1 million units, an achievement that provides strong support for the potential of the future market.
The global computing power competition landscape and test equipment market
Changes in the global computing power competitive landscape have further intensified the demand for advanced chip test equipment. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in 2021, the United States and China accounted for 34% and 33% of the global computing power, respectively. This competitive landscape means that China and the United States will continue to occupy the leading position in the global advanced chip testing market in the future. At the same time, the concentration of the global semiconductor test equipment market is high, and international giants such as Teradyne and Edwards dominate the market. In 2021, the CR3 (market concentration) of the global and Chinese mainland semiconductor test equipment markets will be 97% and 92% respectively, and most of the market share will be occupied by foreign companies.
This phenomenon also means that although China's semiconductor industry has made significant progress in recent years, it still faces great technical and market challenges in the field of high-end test equipment. In order to cope with this challenge, domestic semiconductor companies must increase investment in independent research and development, improve the technical level of testing equipment, and reduce dependence on foreign countries to cope with increasingly fierce international competition.
Future Trends and Challenges
According to IDC's prediction, by 2026, the world's intelligent computing power will enter the level of 10 trillion floating point calculations per second (ZFLOPS), reaching 1271.4EFLOPS. This forecast means that the demand for AI computing power will continue to climb in the coming years, especially in data centers, smartphones, edge computing, and other fields. With the popularity of AI applications, the demand for testing advanced chips will continue to grow.
In this context, Advantest's V93000 single scalable test platform will undoubtedly play an important role in future technological innovation and market demand. With its efficient and accurate testing capabilities, the platform provides a reliable solution for chip manufacturers. By meeting the growing demand for testing, Advantest is able to help companies stand out in a highly competitive market.
However, as chip technology continues to innovate and test requirements increase, the challenges facing the semiconductor industry are becoming more complex. How to cope with the increasingly stringent testing requirements, improve testing efficiency and reduce costs will become an urgent problem for the industry to solve. At the same time, the intensification of global competition in computing power also requires countries to continuously strengthen independent research and development, enhance innovation capabilities, and ensure competitiveness in the global semiconductor industry chain.
Figure: Advantest's V93000 single scalable test platform
Conclusion
The rapid growth of the semiconductor test equipment market is the result of a combination of technological advancement and market demand. As AI technology continues to evolve, the demand for testing advanced chips will continue to surge, especially in areas such as data centers, smartphones, and edge computing. For the semiconductor industry, how to cope with this increase in demand and improve test efficiency and quality will be the key to future development. At the same time, the intensification of global computing power competition will promote the innovation process in the field of semiconductor research and development in various countries and ensure competitiveness in the international market. As the world's leading supplier of test equipment, Advantest's technological innovation and market strategy will have a profound impact on the entire industry.
