Looking back at what’s ahead
April 18, 2023
The year 2022 was certainly a dynamic one for semiconductor companies, filled with challenges and opportunities—including the CHIPS Act, in the United States and EU law that provides historic government investments in the semiconductor industry. Personally, I’ve experienced many highs and lows with the industry and am ready to see what’s lying ahead. As we dive into 2023, it’s an opportune time to take a pulse of notable developments impacting the industry and what’s in semiconductor companies’ sights for 2023 (and beyond).
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What do the next two years hold?
The Accenture research team in collaboration with the High Tech and Semiconductor industry team developed a survey to understand where the industry is today and what can be expected over the next couple of years. I’ll admit, I was surprised to learn that semiconductor executives acknowledge their companies will continue to face major challenges, but are bullish on the industry’s ability to innovate and transform—as it always has been—to capitalize on emerging technologies, data and growth opportunities:
- Based on a survey of 300 global semiconductor executives, they report their expectations of what to see in 2023 and 2024—both in the challenges the industry faces and how current and future trends are creating significant potential for semiconductor companies to transform their business and grow.
- Inflation and economic concerns remain the top challenge for supply chain from some of the executives we surveyed. However, a large majority of executives are optimistic that supply chain challenges will be overcome and the talent shortage could be resolved.
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- Executives estimate that the role for artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to expand—both in the enterprise and in the semiconductor development process. For example, one in two (50%) respondents said they are either deploying or scaling AI’s use in analytics.
- Executives weighed in on four select demand-generating applications that hold the greatest potential for their companies to transform their business and offerings: metaverse, sustainability, mobility, and digital health. These areas represent the key influential technologies identified by CES (Consumer Electronics Show) as those with the greatest potential to advance work and life. I was just at CES and I can tell you that I saw a lot of this in action. These areas are also the great potential because regardless of country, these are among the top priorities across the global semiconductor industry.
- 42% said the metaverse will create new business opportunities; 37% said sustainability will play the biggest role in the semiconductor value chain in the future; 42% believe autonomous vehicles will begin to become a reality for mainstream personal use; and 89% agree that digital health innovations will increase the democratization of healthcare.
- Innovation, of course, remains top of mind. 65% believe that Moore’s Law in it’s traditional form will slow down by 2025, which will add greater pressure on companies to maintain their history of innovation and engineering excellence. Among the factors executives see with the biggest impact on innovation in the coming year are ecosystem considerations such as chip sovereignty and geopolitics (48%), cybersecurity (42%), and changing competitive landscape (39%).
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Executives had a lot more to say about these applications and their importance to their companies and the industry this year and beyond. I can attest that I’m beginning to see firsthand signs of these applications are becoming more dominant in the industry. To read more about the executive views and the growth opportunities these applications are creating for semiconductor companies, download our report, The pulse of the semiconductor industry: Balancing resilience with innovation.
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