Page 29 - EE|Times Europe Magazine - December 2020

EE|Times EUROPE 29

electronica 2020 CEO Roundtable: Outlook Is Good

shown it is certainly different, but I take that
as a positive learning point. Things will never
go back 100% to what they were before the
pandemic. We have learned how to achieve
the same results or be more productive. It’s a
change which we will learn from.

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR THE INDUSTRY?
Sievers: The next 10 years in microelec-
tronics are all about secure edge processing.
Especially for European companies, this is
a fantastic opportunity. The opportunity
for the future is far outweighing the chal-
lenges caused by the pandemic. And [the
pandemic] doesn’t impact the long-term
strategic outlook, either.
Kegel: The world will definitely be different
after Covid-19. International travel, for exam-
The next 10 years in electronics will be all about secure edge processing. ple, was cross-subsidized by business travel.
(Source: NXP Semiconductors) But business travel will not come back to the
same level.
Ploss: Yes and no. It’s automotive more panies are very strong in driving automotive Chery: We have adapted. We will always
generally. Driver assistance is continuing to innovation, in both driver assistance and find a way to communicate. However, the
grow. Electric-vehicle demand has grown sig- EVs. But digitization will be the biggest biggest challenge is the impact on our future
nificantly — particularly in Europe, but also in driver of the business. workforce, especially when we consider this
China. What we see, though, is that technol- against the backdrop of schools, universi-
ogies are also shared between segments. For WILL WE EVER GET BACK TO NORMAL? ties, and education being seriously set back
example, silicon carbide expertise is shared What will it be like when we no longer have because of disruption and closures resulting
between industrial, power, and automotive. Covid-19–related restrictions or when we are from lockdown restrictions around Europe and
On the consumer side, sentiment is chang- able to freely travel again? Will we ever get back the world. We will need to work on opportuni-
ing. Electromobility is getting more and to life as it was before? The consensus seemed ties for the youth to have a future. ■
more adopted, so we can benefit significantly to be no.
from this trend. European automotive com- Sievers: The experience over this year has Nitin Dahad is editor-in-chief of Embedded.

MARKET & TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Artificial Empathy in the Next Decade

By Anne-Françoise Pelé

nderstanding emotions is not a straightforward process. From MEMS, with about 60% of the total, followed by the automotive market,
laughter to tears and every feeling in between, not every- at less than 20% of the total.
one expresses or interprets emotions in the same way. Will MEMS designs are driven by the increase in sensing density achieved
Umachines be able to identify and analyze the full spectrum of by orchestrating innovations in four main technology areas: manufac-
human emotions? Will they achieve empathy? turing, materials, packaging, and computing. In manufacturing, the next
At the closing session of the recent SEMI MEMS & Sensors frontier of evolution is vertical integration, or 3D MEMS, said Fab-
Executive Congress (MSEC 2020), Jens Fabrowsky, executive vice rowsky, specifying that today’s state of the art is the use of extra-thick
president for automotive electronics at Robert Bosch GmbH, depicted sacrificial layers. Innovation also
a future in which machines can read users’ emotions and predict their comes from new materials such as
intentions — a future where artificial intelligence transitions toward piezoelectric material for speakers,
artificial empathy. nitrogen vacancy in diamond for
magnetometers, and graphene for
PROCESSING DATA AT THE EDGE chemical sensors. As for packaging
In just a few decades, microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices innovations, stacking different dies
have moved from small specialty applications to mainstream prod- in the same package has improved
ucts used in every aspect of our lives. “MEMS have been researched the form factor, reduced the system
since the dawn of semiconductors throughout the world, but it is only cost, and increased the performance
recently that MEMS are present in all high-volume consumer devices by limiting parasitic effects, said
we use every day,” Fabrowsky said at MSEC 2020. According to Yole Fabrowsky.
Développement (Lyon, France), global MEMS revenue is set to grow at These building blocks for MEMS
a 7.4% CAGR, from US$11.5 billion in 2019 to US$17.7 billion in 2025. Robert Bosch GmbH’s devices are necessary but not
The consumer market is and will continue to be the foremost driver for Jens Fabrowsky sufficient to develop the products

www.eetimes.eu | DECEMBER 2020