Risks and opportunities

• Growth of the semiconductor industry and the intensification of competition in global markets and rising strategic importance
• Response to increasing geopolitical risks and supply chain disruptions and the creation of new business opportunities and ecosystems
• Expansion of the role of semiconductors in innovation and the resolution of social and environmental issues
• Technological advances and market expansion in innovative fields both in the miniaturization and stacking of semiconductors and expansion of applications for legacy fields
• Expansion of applications and social need for semiconductor technologies (such as life science-related materials, functional materials, and optical materials)
• Risk reduction and long-term stable growth through the diversification of the business and regional portfolios and multiplication of target markets
• Emergence of optical semiconductor and quantum computing markets and the increasing demand for new material development
• Increase in power consumption due to evolution and increased use of generative AI and rising demand for new energy-efficient semiconductors
• Increase in the customer’s need for further advances, complexity, and ultrahigh purification of semiconductor materials
• Coexistence of supply shortage areas and oversupply areas in semiconductor markets and the resulting complexity of silicon cycles
• Increasing importance of materials informatics (MI) and computational chemistry as a means of innovation creation
• Creation of better development environments through conversion to databases and automation and the promotion of a digital transformation