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This past year’s issues, such as economic headwinds, supply chain pressures and geopolitical instability, are forcing high-tech companies to adapt and change the way they operate. The industry is also still reeling from the chip shortage crisis, and manufacturers are challenged to build greater resiliency due to continually increasing demands on the supply chain.
As we look toward 2023, we see five dominant forces that companies need to harness in order to become leaders in the next decade: total enterprise reinvention, talent, sustainability, metaverse and an ongoing tech revolution.
Total enterprise reinvention
Companies must break away from business as usual, because the strategies and operations that have served them well in the past are ill-suited to the current and future environment. This change, however, can’t be incremental.
Rather, it must be total enterprise reinvention, where every part of every business is digitally transformed. Companies also must maintain their R&D investments during economic downturns to stay competitive and keep their product roadmaps moving.
Talent
At present, no country in the world has the labor force needed to support domestic self-sufficiency in high tech. To become self-sufficient in the semiconductor industry, the U.S. would need to capture an additional 20% of global chip production, translating into 74–80 net new fabs and 300,000 total semiconductor fab positions created.
To mitigate talent shortages and prevent future downtime due to missed opportunities, semiconductor companies must deploy a combination of strategies to attract and retain employees, such as growing the STEM pipeline and reskilling and automating certain functions to free up employees for more value-added responsibilities.
Sustainability
Growing chip demand requires increased production, which, in turn, requires more power, water and natural resources. For example, overall semiconductor energy used in manufacturing has doubled every three years since 2010 and could consume nearly 20% of planetary energy produced by 2030, according to the Department of Energy.
“A large chip fab can use up to 10 million gallons of water a day, equivalent to the water consumption of roughly 300,000 U.S. households,” according to an article published by IEEE Spectrum. Clearly, every semiconductor company must embark on initiatives that help global sustainability goals. This could include using IoT and edge computing to monitor energy consumption, greater use of cloud computing, implementing analytics and predictive maintenance programs and increasing the use of renewable energy.
The recently announced Semiconductor Climate Consortium by SEMI, comprised of more than 60 founding members, will focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain.
Metaverse
The metaverse has become too big to ignore for most companies, yet many are still struggling to formulate a comprehensive metaverse strategy that will convince their stakeholders of its long-term value. High-tech companies have a unique place in the metaverse ecosystem because they make the chips and hardware that power the foundational devices and technologies that make the metaverse possible.
Companies can also, however, use the metaverse to change their position and focus on the value chain. By investing in new capabilities, or using existing capabilities in different ways, they can develop new products and services beyond their core business to tap into potentially more lucrative segments of this exciting, new space. They can be a critical part of building the platform and design the experiences that support the metaverse.
Ongoing tech revolution
We are in a world where technology is moving faster than ever before. Companies must always be one step ahead of this innovation because the first company to capitalize on a growing trend often becomes the industry leader. A perfect example is digital health and products, such as wearable devices that will become increasingly important and pervasive as consumers become more proactive about monitoring and managing their own health.
Another example is autonomous vehicles. As more and more digital technologies are integrated into newer and more traditional mobility platforms, semiconductor companies must be aware of and capitalize on the trends in the industry to create new opportunities.
