Ann: Weebit Nano licenses its ReRAM technology to onsemi, page-395

some more to think about
and what Coby is probably alluding to

Trailing the world

Australia has fallen behind other countries like Taiwan, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, Japan, South Korea, and China, mostly in terms of the manufacturing of chips through foundries and equipment.

Yet, there is still an opportunity for Australia to capitalise on the rise in demand for semiconductors worldwide by complementing, rather than competing against, this fab construction. The secret lies in shaping policies that create a leading technology development ecosystem which feeds into the global supply chain across semiconductors, memory, and quantum technology – the most advanced applications of semiconductors.

Australia could focus on an advanced technology research ecosystem to support fabless semiconductor companies. Coincidentally it is memory and fabless semiconductor companies that have seen the most economic profit from 2015 to 2019 at US$94.9 billion and US$81.6 billion, respectively.

Fabless semiconductor companies make designs for chips, protect these designs with patents, and outsource the fabrication and manufacturing of the chip hardware to external foundry partners for test runs for scalability and then package, test, and send the chips off to the customer.

An advantage fabless semiconductor companies is lower capital expenditure, since they do not spend money on the upkeep or development of foundries and equipment, and focus most of their costs on the higher value added innovation in product development.

Currently, Australia already has some financial initiatives to help spur the local semiconductor sector. For instance, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has an R&D Tax Incentive that it provides as an annual cash rebate for eligible R&D activities conducted by Australian companies.

Australia also has an AU$15 billion infrastructure fund to help ensure the long-term growth of the country’s advanced manufacturing sector and some of these funds include semiconductor spending.

But Australia does not necessarily have to spend too much money to create its own semiconductor industry, particularly if it chooses to focus on the development of fabless semiconductor companies.

Australia can create the environment to foster more fabless semiconductor companies by forming the right policies to facilitate it in the country’s start-up sector. Fabless semiconductor companies would not only work to develop their designs in partnership with Australian universities, but the companies could create new ideas borne out of fundamental research.

Australia already has a solid starting point; it has strong universities and well educated and capable people. Therefore, it can create better conditions to develop technology hardware and software and equip its people with the skills by: