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I have a semi startup, where do I begin?

L

LaurynKPNTech

Moderator
I am an American female determined to help revive semiconductor manufacturing in America. Where might I find a mentor to help guide me through the process? I have a team, an existing facility run by our CTO, my first customer, and a plan for processing wafers in a new build facility. However, this is my first venture and the margins are slim. Would anyone be willing to help me make sense of the path forward? Semi Wiki was where I began educating myself in semiconductors. I’ve met some great people here. Looking for guidance and open to criticism. Thank you.
 
Some details would be helpful: 6", 8" or 12" wafers, silicon, SiC, or GaAs, wafer moves/month?

A few generic observations:
-There are few US Fab SMEs
-Semiconductor fabs are hazardous process manufacturing, and incur big fixed costs of compliance, which makes scale seemingly the only option, with legacy sites perhaps an exception due to grandfathering
-Manufacturing is misunderstood by most, exalted in the imagination, denigrated in practice, and remains largely un-scientific.
-Don't employ McKinsey or BCG. I can provide a case study of a McKinsey transformation of a Fab SME that is not on their wall of success.
-Hopp and Spearman's Factory Physics or Factory Physics for Managers is a good starting point for the tradeoffs and optimization journey of a Fab SME
 
Last edited:
LaurynKPNTech said:
I am an American female determined to help revive semiconductor manufacturing in America. Where might I find a mentor to help guide me through the process? I have a team, an existing facility run by our CTO, my first customer, and a plan for processing wafers in a new build facility. However, this is my first venture and the margins are slim. Would anyone be willing to help me make sense of the path forward? Semi Wiki was where I began educating myself in semiconductors. I’ve met some great people here. Looking for guidance and open to criticism. Thank you.
Click to expand...
We can give you advice and put you in touch with the right people whether it is OSAT, Fab, Backgrind whatever. www.mkwventures.com phone and email are there
 
benb said:
Some details would be helpful: 6", 8" or 12" wafers, silicon, SiC, or GaAs, wafer moves/month?

A few generic observations:
-There are few US Fab SMEs
-Semiconductor fabs are hazardous process manufacturing, and incur big fixed costs of compliance, which makes scale seemingly the only option, with legacy sites perhaps an exception due to grandfathering
-Manufacturing is misunderstood by most, exalted in the imagination, denigrated in practice, and remains largely un-scientific.
-Don't employ McKinsey or BCG. I can provide a case study of a McKinsey transformation of a Fab SME that is not on their wall of success.
-Hopp and Spearman's Factory Physics or Factory Physics for Managers is a good starting point for the tradeoffs and optimization journey of a Fab SME
Click to expand...
Thank you. These are great points and I’ll check out your recommended reading materials. We have partnerships with multiple clusters in different areas of the country. LA Semi, Silicon Heartland, KSMC. After receiving $45M in tax incentives from the state of Kansas, we submitted a pre-application for CHIPS Act funding and are in communication with the CPO. First on our list of to dos before submitting a full application is a stronger commercialization plan, then fundraising. Where are folks, minority owned startups in particular, finding equity in this industry?

We would not hire McKinsey or BCG. The CPO is full of former consultants who have no clue they’re doing. That much is clear from our communications with them. They need even more help.
 
LaurynKPNTech said:
I am an American female determined to help revive semiconductor manufacturing in America.
Click to expand...
Pretty much everyone is assuming you mean to build a fab. However, the semi manufacturing industry is broad and includes many specialties which feed into the fabs and do not require the billions of dollars capex on the clean rooms and machinery. Some of those specialties do not exist in the USA.

Are you focssed on having a fab, or just looking for leverage points that might reshore parts of the supply chain?

In many cases the tech now was never "shored" in the USA but there may be licensing opportunities that could bring some things here for the first time.

There is a lot of growth occurring also in back end of line processes, test, and packaging. The most promising are very tech intensive but may be feasible to participate in with sub-billion capital.
 
LaurynKPNTech said:
$45M in tax incentives from the state of Kansas, we submitted a pre-application for CHIPS Act funding and are in communication with the CPO. First on our list of to dos before submitting a full application is a stronger commercialization plan, then fundraising. Where are folks, minority owned startups in particular, finding equity in this industry?

We would not hire McKinsey or BCG. The CPO is full of former consultants who have no clue they’re
Click to expand...
Very Brave Move and very challenging if starting from scratch. You might start from unique and niche product line first, but even specialty semi is crowded. Good luck to you.
 
Tanj said:
Pretty much everyone is assuming you mean to build a fab. However, the semi manufacturing industry is broad and includes many specialties which feed into the fabs and do not require the billions of dollars capex on the clean rooms and machinery. Some of those specialties do not exist in the USA.

Are you focssed on having a fab, or just looking for leverage points that might reshore parts of the supply chain?

In many cases the tech now was never "shored" in the USA but there may be licensing opportunities that could bring some things here for the first time.

There is a lot of growth occurring also in back end of line processes, test, and packaging. The most promising are very tech intensive but may be feasible to participate in with sub-billion capital.
Click to expand...
 
Our strategy is to co-locate with fabs and contribute to ecosystems of manufacturing alongside other specialties, ours being dicing and coring. We would like to offer packaging, as well, but currently do not have the skillset on our team.
 
benb said:
Some details would be helpful: 6", 8" or 12" wafers, silicon, SiC, or GaAs, wafer moves/month?

A few generic observations:
-There are few US Fab SMEs
-Semiconductor fabs are hazardous process manufacturing, and incur big fixed costs of compliance, which makes scale seemingly the only option, with legacy sites perhaps an exception due to grandfathering
-Manufacturing is misunderstood by most, exalted in the imagination, denigrated in practice, and remains largely un-scientific.
-Don't employ McKinsey or BCG. I can provide a case study of a McKinsey transformation of a Fab SME that is not on their wall of success.
-Hopp and Spearman's Factory Physics or Factory Physics for Managers is a good starting point for the tradeoffs and optimization journey of a Fab SME
Click to expand...
Who are the US Fab SMEs, and do you know any who specialize in dicing, testing, and packaging, who might be looking to help a dicing startup?
 
LaurynKPNTech said:
Who are the US Fab SMEs, and do you know any who specialize in dicing, testing, and packaging, who might be looking to help a dicing startup?
Click to expand...
The only real US-based, technology-centric Fab SME manufacturer to emerge since 2009 is Cree/Wolfspeed. They leverage the opportunity of new, non-silicon materials, and vertical integration to justify US manufacturing.

Cree's value proposition is simple: They patented SiC wafer production. This led to GaN technology, which is a huge energy efficiency, which in turn led to China embargoing Gallium.

What is the value proposition of KSMC?
 
LaurynKPNTech said:
Our strategy is to co-locate with fabs and contribute to ecosystems of manufacturing alongside other specialties, ours being dicing and coring. We would like to offer packaging, as well, but currently do not have the skillset on our team.
Click to expand...
Hard to see how dicing and coring will be profitable on an ongoing basis, much less if you have to finance and build a facility from scratch.
 
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