Interview: ADI’s Martin Cotter on how Europe is driving change
After Analog Devices’ announcement of plans to invest €630 million at its European regional headquarters in Limerick, Ireland, we spoke with Martin Cotter, President of Analog Devices for the European Middle-East Africa (EMEA) region.
Cotter has recently added the role of ADI’s European president to his position as senior vice president of the Industrial and Multi Markets Business Unit. The investment in Limerick is getting Cotter off to a positive start in his role. It includes the creation of an additional R&D facility, the tripling of the wafer manufacturing capacity there, and the creation of 600 jobs.
Cotter did not provide the proposed manufacturing capacity but said the significance is not about the number of wafers so much as the variety of processes and products that can be made.
Also the timing on the project is not certain as ADI has applied to the European Union’s Important Projects of Common European Interest on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies (IPCEI ME/CT) initiative. The application is subject to final approval from the European Commission. However, the project has a high degree of support from the Irish government.
“There’s a lot of focus on foundries spending billions on high-performance silicon for the data centres. But you have to remember that all that data comes from real-world interfaces,” said Cotter. “At Limerick we make circuits for electric vehicles, industry 4.0, digital healthcare, 5G communications and so on. We are seeing increased silicon requirements. Foundries are investing in more advanced digital nodes but there is not enough investment in the high-featured nodes.”
Manufacturing business model
When you put the proposed Limerick investment along with a similar announcement out of Beaverton, Oregon, (see Analog Devices spending $1 billion on fab upgrade) it is clear that ADI feels the need to maintain control of a significant portion of its manufacturing. Cotter said that about 50 percent of ADI’s requirement is currently outsourced to foundries.
“We have a hybrid manufacturing business model,” said Cotter. Below 65nm or 40nm we go to external foundry. But at higher geometries we have some uniquely featured products and processes that other people can’t do. That might be a BiCMOS low-noise diode for example. And then there is a piece in the middle between 180nm and 90nm which we can make or we can outsource.”
The three layers therefore are: what’s unique to ADI; a “resilience” buffer zone; and what is externally sourced. But Cotter added that ADI is about much more than just making components and in sectors where it operates customers desire layers of manufacturing and software support. So that could be in the form of post processing for the addition of magnetics. ADI also operates an Integrated Passive Device (IPD) fab and may contract for board level manufacturing and the addition of software.
“Part of ADI’s strength is its diversity,” said Cotter. And that means diversity in terms of customers and the product base and services on offer, he said.
While most of ADI’s internal manufacturing is CMOS-based it is doing some compound semiconductor manufacturing and R&D on novel materials such as the wide-bandgap materials silicon-carbide and gallium-nitride. “We do R&D on wide-bandgap and manufacture some GaN,” said Cotter “GaN is still small in terms of end use but as low-voltage GaN comes in it is opening up industrial applications.”
Not a component company
Cotter appears to have taken on the European role just as global market trends are moving towards the continent. As a manufacturing region Europe is largely focused on the automotive, industrial and communications sectors – just like ADI. “Five years ago you might have said that those markets were tied to global GDP,” said Cotter. “But over the last three years it has been less so. Automotive is doubling electronics content; average robot/cobot electronics content has gone from $80 to $400. Industry 4.0, EV and digital health are all growing annually at double-digit percentage numbers.”
Cotter said the amount of automation that goes into freshly-built factories is astonishing. “There’s something like 60 brand new battery factories across Europe, at about $4 billion per factory.” And Cotter gave the example of industrial companies refreshing their manufacturing to consume 25 percent less power than previous generations.
“Europe has a significant role in leading the transformation in industrial, automotive and healthcare,” said Cotter.
“There is a change in the world. Globalization is being replaced by these alternative trends. And ADI is looking to capture more of the end solution. There was a time when we were a component company but not now.”
Catalysts and incubators
The latest R&D announcement comes a year after ADI announced a separate investment of €100 million in ADI Catalyst, its 100,000 square foot custom-built facility for innovation and collaboration at its Limerick campus.
Cotter explained: “ADI Catalyst is an accelerator not a startup incubator. It allows engineers from our customers to working alongside our own R&D engineers to really accelerate innovation. Those collaborations will often be with larger customers, but not always. The key thing is getting a technology researched, developed and into a customer’s product in record time.” That is something that the latest investment will itself help accelerate, Cotter said.
That said ADI does have its ‘Analog Garage’ startup incubator located in downtown Boston in Massachusetts. “We are thinking about an Analog Garage hub to go alongside the ADI Catalyst — somewhere in Europe,” said Cotter hinting at things to come. ADI has been present in Romania for four years and said that the development in Eastern Europe was an opportunity.
Cotter said that while 2023 provides some specific challenges in Europe, for the longer term the continent is well placed to drive technology development and that ADI intends to contribute to, and benefit from, that process.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Analog Devices taps Europe for €630m fab in Ireland
Analog Devices spending $1 billion on fab upgrade
Analog Devices appoints AI-savvy research exec as CTO
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
