Sekaran Letchumanan

M2M, Smart Automation and Business Intelligence Need to be Followed by the Companies

Flex, a multinational electronics contract manufacturer has made its name in the industry, because of its products quality and punctuality. Flex is serving its customers in all over the world. From a small consumer device to cloud infrastructure, from drug delivery systems to autonomous vehicle electronic modules, Flex provides everything and has become all-rounder in the same industry. While talking with Nitisha from BisInfotech, Sekaran Letchumanan, Vice President – Operations at Flex India shares the value of industry 4.0 in today’s world, some unique facts about the industry and upcoming projects.

Sekaran Letchumanan Vice President – Operations Flex India

1. Please share some unique facts of Flex and its presence in India?

Flex is the manufacturing partner of choice that utilizes technology, with trusted supply chain and domain expertise to help a diverse customer base design, innovate, build and deliver products that improve the world. Flex has been operating in India since 2001 and over the last nineteen years we have grown from strength to strength. We are present in six locations across India, including Chennai, Sriperumbudur, Pune, Bengaluru, and Sri City serving customers through three distinct lines of business, which are manufacturing, global business services and aftermarket services.

In India, Flex has three manufacturing sites in Chennai Industrial Park (CIP) which mainly builds products for domestic and export market in consumer, power, telecom, computing, automotive and industrial segments. The Flex Sri City facility in Andhra Pradesh, builds consumer products for the domestic market. We are one of the largest employers in India. We have over seventeen thousand employees with an average workforce tenure of more than five years.

2. How Industry 4.0 is going to help companies especially their supply-chain. The way forward and best practices for a seamless transformation?

It is undeniable that Industry 4.0 is fast changing the way organizations handle their core functions and a true game changer in the manufacturing sector. Emerging technologies such as VR, Autonomy, Cybersecurity, Big Data and the Cloud all hold massive potential for development and innovation. Globally, we have one thousand supply chains, one million component Stock Keeping Units (SKU), sixteen thousand suppliers, five million-dollar freight annual spend, and twenty thousand purchase orders executed daily from the thirty countries in which we operate.

Flex has a proven track record of adjusting quickly to changing market dynamics enabled by its deep partnerships and sophisticated supply chain management tools and processes. COVID-19 showed us that it is no longer only about driving down costs and increasing efficiencies but also about ensuring reliability across the end to end value chain. As the world’s complexities and uncertainties continue to grow, so do risk exposures. Ensuring end-to-end accountability and real-time asset monitoring is important, especially during current times. That is where Industry 4.0 comes into play.

Defined by unparalleled machine intelligence and connectivity, industry 4.0 introduces cyber-physical systems and IoT on the factory floor. Our modern manufacturing efforts are driving advancements in industry 4.0, bringing greater efficiency, enhanced quality and sustainability to the manufacturing process. Flex’s 4.0 priorities are M2M communication; Smart Automation and Robotics; Augmented Reality, Digitization, real time Supply Chain capabilities, Additive manufacturing and 3D manufacturing alongside Simulation and Visualization.

3. Unique offering of FLEX catering the current market demand?

We are in a distinctive position to see trends early because of where we stand in the value chain, and the diverse markets that we serve. We manufacture everything from small consumer devices to cloud infrastructure. Our manufacturing service also includes drug delivery systems and autonomous vehicle electronic modules. We operate directly and indirectly, in almost every country in the world. The demand for medical suppliers increased steeply during COVID 19, and the shortage of vital medical equipment hindered the ability of healthcare professionals to diagnose the extreme respiratory conditions caused by the virus.

Flex runs about hundred global operations and is partnering with businesses in the cloud, robotics and process innovators. We believe in always doing the right thing and we want to use our manufacturing expertise to make products that contribute positively to the world.

Flex is driving the evolution of Industry 4.0 by investing in a focused portfolio of advanced manufacturing capabilities and technologies to provide greater efficiency, quality, and sustainability for customers

4. Covid-19 has made contactless and automation a new normal. Future avenues it opens for Industry 4.0 solution providers and Flex expertise to tap this opportunity.

Our modern manufacturing efforts are driving advancements in industry 4.0, bringing greater efficiency, quality and sustainability to the manufacturing process. The shift to smart factories is already well underway. While robots performed a global average of 10 percent of factory tasks in 2015, by 2025, that number is expected to rise to 25 percent and as high as 40 percent in some sectors.

India has always been quick to respond and embrace the usage of newer technologies. We see the trend rising and it will continue to do so especially against the backdrop of COVID- 19. Cost and time efficiencies, the optimal utilization of manpower and market demands will all play a role in how fast these technologies are adopted. The emerging Industry 4.0 technologies provide cost benefits, improve efficiencies and has changed the competitive landscape. Emerging technologies such as IoT, Analytics and Cloud have helped manufacturing to be quick and relook at the way they operate. Technology is transforming the automotive industry and the potential disruptors are advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), domain controllers, AV powered sensors, electric vehicle applications, autonomous (AV) cross collaboration, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) features, IoT partnerships, 5G and Level 4 autonomy.

5. What kind of new technology adoption we will be seeing in manufacturing industry?

At the heart of Industry 4.0 and modern manufacturing, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications are the key to unlocking factories of the future. Traditional hardwired

connections between machines on the manufacturing floor are not designed for connectivity, which means these machines inherently require manual assistance from an operator. Machine-to-machine communications present the first real opportunity for contactless line maintenance, and one step closer to a fully automated manufacturing environment. With cloud and edge computing, connected intelligent devices are all over the factory floor, constantly collecting data that can be used to train machine learning models to monitor operations in real time and flag issues. In our experience, predictive maintenance can reduce downtime as much as 20%, a huge win considering bottlenecks on the production floor can make or break on-time shipment.

3D printing and Additive Manufacturing optimizes designs, for increased product customization, functionality and cost management in addition to introducing time efficiencies. Our “smart automation” solutions are designed with flexibility in mind. These modular, reprogrammable robotic systems are intended for quick change-over for faster manufacturing and less downtime. Advanced and remote simulation allows us to test production lines, products and more without affecting time, resources or capital in the real world. Our efforts to digitize and connect processes drive real-time decision making across the value chain. As it’s not just the production floor that is undergoing a revolution, with emerging technologies our entire ecosystem – from supply chains to logistics – can also sense risks and trigger workflows to correct issues before they become critical problems. Our software-based visualization tool, Flex Pulse, digitizes our global supply chain from end to end to identify events that might impact supply chain efficiency.

6. Designing and developing products is becoming more complex with advanced technology sweeping the tech corridors. How challenging is it in real use cases and Flex leadership in it?

Designing and developing products is becoming more complex. For example, autonomous driving technologies have proven to be a great challenge for decades. It requires high-performance processing capabilities to analyze huge amounts of data from various kinds of sensors including RADAR, LIDAR, and ultrasonic sensors. In addition, autonomous driving technology demands high-speed, parallel processing and distributed computing design capabilities that are usually used in the IT and telecoms industry. To top it off, it also requires ruggedized, high-reliability design crucial to the automotive industry.

Many in the industry have been talking about autonomous driving solutions, but few companies have mass production capabilities and experience in this area. While many traditional automotive suppliers and technology companies have devoted much time and resource in this area, not many have been successful in mass producing Level-4 autonomous parking solution devices. To help companies succeed in this arena, Flex is offering one-stop design services in the areas of electronics & electrical, mechanical, thermal, software and functional safety design. All our design services are customized to meet customer requirements. Along with design services, Flex also provides innovative & reliable supply chain and manufacturing services in support of the customer.

7. Strategies Flex opts to meet the market demand while providing reliability and cost-effectiveness with their solution.

We are in a distinctive position to see trends early because of where we stand in the value chain, and the diverse markets that we serve. We manufacture everything from a small consumer device to cloud infrastructure, from drug delivery systems to autonomous vehicle electronic modules. The Flex manufacturing team is dedicated to always finding a better way, moving fast and doing the right thing

We have always been conscious about the market demands and have remained relevant by quickly adapting to the current market requirements. For example, COVID-19 was driving significant demand increases in critical care products, such as oxygenators, patient monitors, testing equipment, and ICU-related necessities, all of which we manufacture and quickly responded to, by increasing production to help our customers meet demand.

We also started manufacturing five different ventilator programs. Typically, medical programs take nine to 18 months to ramp. We ramped and started shipping ventilators in five weeks. Flex has an incredible track record of innovation and leadership in our industry. At our core is a commitment to design-led innovation, whether in engineering services or advanced manufacturing, or in 5G or artificial intelligence. We employ modern manufacturing technologies and processes in our factories around the world to boost productivity and efficiency, while lowering downtime and costs.

8. Lastly major trends you see catapulting and dominating the technology innovation in coming time?

Manufacturing companies must react quickly to changing market conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused temporary shutdowns and the world's supply chain. When facilities are re-opening, manufacturers must preserve business continuity and performance. To anticipate, understand and respond to changing production levels manufacturers need to utilize Industry 4.0 innovations such as machine-to-machine communications (M2M), smart automation and business intelligence. Digital manufacturing innovation is a remotely enabled technology made possible by a combination of the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and real-time analytics. These tools provide insights that helps in getting back to normal production levels.

The combination of IoT technologies, cloud and analytics have primed manufacturing to adapt in the face of unexpected global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to our investment in these technologies, we were able to maintain forward momentum as operations stopped and restarted at our facilities.

Want Your Tech Dream Job in 2021, Here are the New Tech Job Skills! - Niloy Banerjee

Ok! 2020 has been a search job year for the newbies entering into the tech industry. Other already on boarded were confused on what proficiency and KRAs shall be the new Tech job skills for the industry given the dynamic digital pace. Coming towards 2021, you must be eager to know what will be the top tech job skills which can help you grow and equally make you relevant in every way in the tech industry. Top job skills in 2021 shall not just determine the options chosen for your tech career but your skill sets and understanding on newer technologies.

Now a report from Burning Glass Technologies states the two tech job skills paying the highest salary premiums today and in 2021 are IT Automation ($24,969) and AI & Machine Learning ($14,175). Hence automation and AI & machine learning will certainly peg the tech job skills. In a report Fortune stated that startups with a value of $1 billion or more are 33% more likely to prioritize one or several top ten tech job skills in their new hire plans versus their legacy Fortune 100-based competitors or colleagues. Hence watch out for the startups!

IT Automation The Big Pie in 2021

IT Automation expertise can earn technical professionals a $24,969 salary premium, the most lucrative of all tech job skills to have in 2021. Burning Glass Technologies defines IT Automation as the skills related to automating and orchestrating digital processes and workflows. Six of the ten job skills are marketable enough to drive technical professionals' salaries above $10,000 a year. At an average salary uplift of $8,851, proactive security (cybersecurity) job skills' market value seems low. Future surveys in 2021 will most likely reflect the impact of the SolarWinds breach on demand for this skill set. The following graphic compares the average salary premium by tech job skill area.

“Software Dev. Methodologies (DevOps) expertise is the most

marketable going into 2021.”

“Quantum Computing, Connected Technologies, Fintech and AI & Machine Learning expertise are predicted to be the fastest-growing tech job skills in 2021 and beyond.”

Significant Increase In Optimism Around AI in Indian Organisations

Over 90 percent of enterprises surveyed are implementing or planning to invest in AI solutions to address current business concerns.

AI has gone up significantly from 72% to 92%, and 45% of Indian organisations have increased the use of AI post Covid-19. Further, 94% of the respondents claim they have either implemented or are planning to implement AI in their organisations.

The PwC India’s survey suggests that around 70% of enterprises have implemented AI in some form in one or more functional areas compared to around 62% last year Travel and hospitality (89%) has taken the lead in AI adoption, followed by TMT (86%), financial services (82%), and healthcare and pharma (73%)

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of advanced analytics and AI around the world. According to a report launched by PwC India titled, ‘AI: An opportunity amidst a crisis’, India noted the highest increase in the use of AI as compared to major economies (the US, UK and Japan), with over 70% Indian enterprises having implemented AI in some form in one or more functional areas compared to around 62% last year. The report also highlights that there is increased importance of AI in driving revenues, optimising costs or managing risks.

Commenting on the study, Sudipta Ghosh, Partner and Leader- Data and Analytics, PwC India said, “The far-reaching consequences of the global pandemic have driven organisations to balance the competing priorities of safeguarding health and ensuring business continuity. AI is now regarded as a key enabler for organisations to repair (emerge from the present crisis), rethink (plan for transformation) and reconfigure (make fundamental changes to the operating model for lasting competitive advantage).

To get the best out of AI, businesses need to start viewing it as a necessity rather than luxury and weave it into the fabric of the enterprise. In developing countries like ours, improving demand may be a potentially more relevant benefit than savings through automation. Hence, given the availability of a large pool of skilled resources, AI efforts need to be directed towards complementing human capabilities and helping businesses prepare for the future,” he added.

The survey also reveals a shift in the nature of inhibitors from technical to business as organisations who were primarily focusing on pilots and proofs of concept (PoCs) are now attempting to scale up these solutions at the enterprise level. The change in the nature of inhibitors clearly signals an improvement in the maturity and willingness of organisations in terms of adopting AI as a tool for achieving business outcomes.

However, organisations adopting AI applications often face multiple challenges and fail to realise the optimum value from their AI investments. For instance, 37% of organisations find it challenging to identify the right use cases for AI implementation and 28% of enterprises lack high-quality data for use in AI solutions. Through the report, PwC India recommends a structured approach towards implementing AI to help overcome these challenges.

The increased adoption of AI can be attributed to the following factors:

1) Post COVID-19, AI-enabled use cases like contactless selling and delivery have gained traction due to changes in buying behaviour. 2) As organisations are reopening their manufacturing and office locations, AI-enabled tools are helping them enforce best practices from a health and safety perspective. 3) The remote workforce is relying more on AI-enabled digital assistants to do their work without loss of productivity. 4) As past knowledge and experience may fail to provide the right insights in these times of disruption, organisations are increasingly making decisions based on current data using AI-enabled predictive and prescriptive tools. 5) To reduce cost of doing business, combat disruption and become future ready, organisations are adopting AI-based digital twins and synthetic data. This is also enabling them to build resilient ecosystems (e.g. supply chain and operations).

Beyond 2021, Semiconductor Companies May Have More Difficulty Predicting Demand

What will drive semiconductor business in 2021? What will be the impact of Covid-19 and semiconductor players strategies in the post-pandemic era? Industrial, infrastructure and IoT segments would enjoy a stronger tailwind due to COVID-19 according to Renesas’ CEO, Hidetoshi Shibata. To further understand Renesas’ ahead strategies and focuses, legacy of innovations, technical know-how and megatrends, Niloy from BIS gets alongside Sailesh Chittipeddi, Executive Vice

President and General Manager, IoT & Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation.

1. Given today’s scenario, what are the key focuses of Renesas and according to the company which sectors are the new drivers for the semiconductor biz.

To answer these questions, let’s look back at Renesas Electronics’ 3rd quarter 2020 financial results announced on October 29, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, 3Q revenue was 178.7 billion JPY, +7.2% QoQ, with gross margin at 47.5% and operating margin at 20.4% (Non-GAAP).

All Renesas revenue, growth margin and operating margin beat the guidance provided three months earlier. The key reason was mainly driven by the recovery in the automotive market – Renesas’ agile production resulted in tighter manufacturing costs and better inventory management.

In addition, we can all agree that 2020 has been a unique year for all people and manufacturers around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the way people live, and the way industry and business operate. However, as Renesas’ CEO, Hidetoshi Shibata, mentioned at the Renesas Strategy Update meeting, all the applications in industrial, infrastructure and IoT segments would enjoy a stronger tailwind due to COVID-19. The areas Renesas experienced growth were the result of increased demand for network bandwidth, laptops, PCs and tablets, together with Renesas devices for healthcare and air quality monitoring applications. 5G was the other area where Renesas also experienced a good tailwind. And the surveillance and voice user interfaces (VUI) are starting to take on more importance because touch is becoming less important, especially in this environment, where people are a little bit more sensitive.

2. Can you elaborate about the technical and technological know-how of Renesas’ in the IoT business and key offerings to cater the digital-crony market?

With an estimated 14 billion devices connected to the Internet today and an estimated 50 billion connected devices by the end of 2023, the Internet of Things (IoT) offers a tremendous market opportunity. But it also presents a major security risk. Fortunately, technical standards and regulatory thinking concerning cybersecurity issues seem to be converging

Sailesh Chittipeddi

Executive Vice President and General Manager, IoT &

Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation and maturing. With security now deeply embedded in the regulatory process, everyone must address the issue directly and effectively. Therefore, planning for compliance and implementing best practices must proceed hand-in-hand. Security regulations and guidelines establish basic security principles. These principles include:

Design for Security

There are many existing design processes for embedded systems, all of which establish threat analysis, security requirements, secure design, implementation, test/verification for security, and a response plan in the event of any issues following the release of the product.

Multiple Protection Layers (Defense in Depth)

In security applications, protection is most often implemented in multiple layers to prevent different types of attacks and provide redundancy and traceability.

Protection across the Product Life Cycle

Lifecycle management is vital to an OEM’s ability to maintain the security and integrity of their products from production, to shipment, to deployment, and ultimately to their end-of-life.

Hardware Roots-of-Trust

Roots of Trust (RoT) are the foundation of assuring the trustworthiness of a device. As such, RoT is security primitives composed of hardware, firmware, and/or software that provide a set of trusted, security-critical functions (NIST SP800-164, Hardware Roots of Trust).

While the principles outlined above guide our security principles, our customers benefit from several other features. These include: hardware-accelerated cryptography, hardwareenforced isolation, secure key handling, immutable program Flash, JTAG and programmer protection, which protects our MCU and MPU memories from external access.

3. How Renesas is empowering the post-COVID-19 workplaces, types of application and User Scenarios if any?

The megatrends described at the beginning of the year, which are driving growth for the Infrastructure and IoT Business unit, are still valid, and COVID-19 has not changed that. All these trends were about data movement from the core to the end-point. The first trend is the disaggregation of data centers, with the hardware and software being broken up into memory clusters and processing clusters and interconnects. Then there is the 5G ramp-up trend, followed by the trend of more and more intelligence migrating to the endpoints. These three trends are still valid today.

In data centers, we at Renesas are not talking about memory or the processors, but about interconnect components for the data flow between memory and CPU, i.e. memory interface products. These components account for a large share of our sales in the infrastructure sector, plus components for digital power, timing, and optical components. The 5G ramp-up currently only refers to sub-6 GHz, but for this, we have RF, timing, and optical components. In addition, this year, we will be launching ICs aimed at 5G power applications. And when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge and endpoint, our MCUs and MPUs are the core of our business. Therefore, we have realigned our MCU/MPU roadmap. At the end of last year, for example, we launched ARM-based microcontrollers from the RA family. In addition, there are MPUs with which we can cover everything from motor control to graphics and surveillance camera applications. The RZ family, especially the RZ/V2M, is primarily used in video applications, where these products are characterized by the lowest power consumption. This means the developer gets a product with GPU-level processing power, but at a fraction of the cost and with a fraction of the power consumption.

4. Renesas technical support, partner ecosystem designin support for your solutions?

Renesas is enabling a comprehensive partner ecosystem to deliver an array of software and hardware building blocks that will work out-of-the-box with Renesas RA Family MCUs. The Renesas RA ecosystem will help accelerate the development of IoT applications, including core technologies such as security, safety, connectivity, and human-machine interface (HMI) among others. The RA MCU ecosystem has over 50 partners today with more planned. Each partner’s building block solution carries the "RA Ready" badge and is designed to solve real-world customer problems. RA Ready solutions accelerate time to market by providing plug and play options that enable a variety of IoT capabilities like security, connectivity, AI, machine learning (ML), and HMI.

5. How is Renesas creating products that are in sync with new realities?

In the new normal, AI, building & industrial automation, and smart home technologies will play an important role, as the human presence will be less owing to new guidelines post lockdown. We are ready to help our customers in the new normal with Renesas MPUs and MCUs and a wide range of analog, power, mixed-signal and connectivity products. We provide scalable computer processing solutions to our customers ranging from general-purpose MCUs to AI integrated microprocessors. The range comes with predictive analytics that can help our customers further in making business decisions. Similarly, our products have motor control that ranges from low-end suitable for home appliances to the high-end addressing robotics on the factory floor and other business environments. So, in nutshell, I can say that we are ready to face whatever challenge that the new normal throws at us.

6. Major focus and roadmap of RENESAS to escalate growth further in 2021?

According to Invest India, the Indian electronics market is expected to reach 400B by 2025 and per capita disposable income and private consumption have doubled in the past seven years. As a result, India has emerged as one of the world’s largest markets for electronic products. The MEITY’s Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI), Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components, and Semiconductors (SPECS) and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters Scheme (EMC 2.0) have the potential to position India as a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM).

We plan to be a part of the growth journey that India expects to enjoy. The IoT, mobility, medical, consumer, infrastructure and industrial sectors are emerging as winners in the postCOVID era. Bio-sensing is also an important application due to the coronavirus because getting inexpensive healthcare and air-quality monitoring to people is going to become much more important.

IoT, Industrial and consumer electronics provide stable growth possibilities as the country develops towards first-world capabilities. We are leveraging our scale by going deeper with existing customers, especially in industrial smart meters, motor control and voice user interfaces applied to smart devices and intelligent appliances.

Using winning combination solutions, product cross-selling, and product extensions--through the integration of Renesas, Intersil and IDT product lines--has widened our customer base. We are also deepening our engagements with existing customers. All of these steps are fundamental to our go-to-market strategy.

7. Given your leadership position, what will be the strategic approach of Renesas in coming years and alongside trends you envision to shape the semiconductor industry? According to reports from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $39.0 billion

for the month of October 2020, an increase of 6.0 percent compared to the October 2019 total of $36.8 billion and 3.1 percent more than the September 2020 total of $37.9 billion. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a threemonth moving average. Additionally, a newly released WSTS industry forecast projects annual global sales will increase by 5.1 percent in 2020, followed by an increase of 8.4 percent in 2021. Projections for both years are higher than they were in the previous WSTS forecast released in July. SIA represents 98 percent of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms. Industry forecast revised upward now projects moderate growth in 2020 followed by stronger growth in 2021.[1]

Beyond 2021, semiconductor companies may have more difficulty predicting demand because even greater uncertainty abounds about healthcare and business developments. As companies create long term plans and evaluate potential scenarios, trends in two areas deserve particular attention.

Over the past few months, people around the world have experimented with new ways of working, studying, and communicating through videoconferencing and other technologies. Such trends could have a lasting impact on semiconductor demand and open new possibilities for existing products and services. For example, as online collaboration grows, demand could increase for semiconductors that enables servers, connectivity, and cloud usage. Semiconductors may also be in high demand for products and services like contactless solutions, including touch screen and elevator buttons, assisted-living devices, including sensors that help elderly and chronically ill patients remain in their homes, rather than moving to traditional assisted-living facilities.

Also, automated-delivery solutions for the last mile, such as robots and drones will play a major role in assisting people. We’ve learned that we all need to embrace uncertainty as part of our operating model, and we must become agile and learn to adapt quickly in order to get through the coronavirus. As in previous downturns, those semiconductor companies that were agile and acted quickly emerged stronger. Modest CAPEX cuts, a focus on R&D innovation, and a pragmatic approach to M&A can help companies capture growth and create cutting-edge technologies that will be in high demand as the global economy recovers.

To close on a slightly different note, our ability to provide excellent support and service from engineering design all the way to parts shipments to our customer in the midst of any crisis will determine the trust and longevity of our partnerships. As long as, Renesas can outperform our competitors in this area, I am confident that we will emerge much stronger from this pandemic over time.

Tech Trends to Watch Out For 2021

Micron is excited by the combination of growth drivers coming into alignment for the industry for 2021. These growth drivers include: economic recovery from the pandemic; new CPU architectures, which are enabling higher server content; cloud, AI and machine-learning growth; robust mobile demand driven by 5G; and strength in gaming and automotive.

Mobile

The smartphone market has been impacted by COVID, but in 2021, we expect a rebound in smartphone unit volumes, coupled with robust average capacity growth across both DRAM and NAND solutions. 5G handset volumes could grow to approximately 500M units in 2021, from around 200M units in 2020, and these 5G products feature higher memory and storage content to enable enhanced user experience.

Data Center

The data center market continues to be a growth engine for Micron, and this year COVID-19 accelerated this growth, specifically in cloud. The market is expected to start its transition to DDR5 in the second half of FY21, and networking and 5G deployments, particularly in Asia, will drive healthy DRAM bit growth quarter-over-quarter.

PC & Graphics

Work from home trends continue to drive strong demand for notebooks, with pockets of nonmemory component shortages in the supply chain. We expect a resurgence in desktop PC sales after a weak 2020 due to pandemic-driven changes to customer buying patterns.

Automotive Memory

In 2021, Auto DRAM and NAND will continue to see robust demand autonomous vehicles and even connected cars promise more features including in-vehicle infotainment, 4K displays, AI-enabled features like gesture recognition and natural language processing, we’re seeing an exponential increase in memory and compute demands. The modern automobile has more lines of code than any other application or operating system—more than Facebook, Windows 10, airplanes, etc. In fact, the amount of compute performance needed for cars is reaching data center levels; in advanced driver assistance / autonomous driving, cars need hundreds of tera operations per second which is some of the highest levels of performance in the industry today, rivaling what you will find in data centers and servers. Given these trends, in 2021, we can expect to see automotive players increasingly turning to alternative options for low-power, energy-efficient memory and storage such as fast, high-bandwidth graphics memory and compact multi-chip packages.