Podcast EP372: An Overview of Some Important New Sessions at Semicon West with Julie Rogers
00:07Hello, my name is Daniel Nenny, founder of SemaiWiki, the Open Forum for SemiconductorProfessionals.Welcome to the Semiconductor Insiders podcast series.My guest today is Julie Rogers, executive director of the ESD Alliance.Julie brings deep expertise in industry collaboration, technical conferences, and executiveengagement.She brings more than 30 years of experience driving growth, visibility, and alignmentacross complex, highly technical markets.
00:34She has widely recognized for her leadership in industry collaboration.collaboration, technical conferences, executive engagement, and ecosystem development.Over the past decade, she served as Director of Marketing and Operations for ESD Alliance,alongside seven years as Director of Marketing for Semi-Americas, where she led integrated marketingcampaigns, digital strategy, member development, brand advancement, media trades, and publicrelations efforts. Welcome to the podcast, Julie.Thanks so much, Dan. I'm excited to be here.Yes, I am too.
01:07I mean, we've known each other for so many years.We work together.We see each other all the time.It's good to have you on.Thank you.So let's start out.Can you tell us a little bit about your journey with semi and ESDA?Sure.
01:22So I had my own firm.I wrote grants for a large health care system, Dignity Health, now Commonsburg Health,in five different service lines with device companies.So I worked with some of the companies, Merck, some of the companies,some of the companies that we work in the semiconductor industry with.And things became less invasive, especially in cardiology and less electrophysiology.So I decided to switch to Silicon Valley and design.And a good friend introduced me to ESDA.
01:54And I was a consultant for ESDA and then became a permanent employee of semi eight years ago.And I handled ESDA's short for ESD Alliance marketing.director of marketing and operations as well as director of marketing for semi-americas and theni was fortunate enough this last april to jump into the job for executive director and it's beenfull speed ahead i've really enjoyed it and it's been a great opportunity and we have a reallyspecial first time in the history of semi at semi-con west focus on design and i'm excited to leadthat charge. Yeah, that's what we're going to talk about. I've been working with ESDA ever since thebeginning. And do you remember the soundbite that you created where electronics begins? Yes.
02:46Yeah, I thought that was very, very clever because EDA never really got the recognition that they deserve.And I've been in EDA for most of my career. And it always frustrated me because without EDA,there would be no semiconductors. That was like a turning point for me as well, that is a great, great program.We still use it. It's on our pull-up banners. We still use it today. And we are the foundation. And I'm glad the international news. Now the world understands that design is the foundation for everyone, whether it's, you know, we're bringing together at Semicund West for this ESDA design session. The fab, fabulous, equipment, materials. We're bringing everybody together. And design is at the forefront. We have opening day, which is the first.first time in the 50 plus history of Semi-Conn West. We have opening keynote with Sassine Ghazi, CEO ofSynopsis. It's unprecedented. And our leadership, that's why they merged with ESDA originallyeight years ago, semi-acquired ESDA and merged other technology coalitions. And that's the reason whyis to bring everybody in the ecosystem together to perpetuate forward the growth and development
04:02and work together on challenges along the way.And things are unprecedented at the rate of speed that they're now traveling with AI.So that's what we're going to talk about coming up here in October.Yeah, you know, I guess it's because we have the same mission statement.You know, when I started semi-Wiki, I wanted people to recognize that EDA is importantand is the foundation of semiconductor design.And, you know, now semi-Wiki is like the conduit between design and manufacturing,which is a great place to be because we get to see so much innovation and so much technology.
04:37But Semicon West is the premier show for the Semiconductor people.And you have this year, as you mentioned, you have the Semicom West Design Session,which has an impressive lineup of speakers and topics.This design session is something new.Can we talk a little bit of more about this, go a little bit more in depth?Yes, most certainly.So we will have a full day.Last year we had a half-day session, and it was standing room only.
05:00and we've primarily focused on the traditional EDA companieswith a couple of startups.This time, thanks to the help of our chair, Ming Zeng,with PDF solutions.He had a vision about how to bridge designand manufacturing with AI,utilizing his connections and at the VP level and above.And we are bringing in, as I mentioned before,
05:25all the categories, all the folks in the roomto discuss how we're gonna work together.And what are some of the challenges? What are some of the visions that these top-level leaders have?Some of the topics, for instance, we have opening keynote right outside of the keynote stage for SemiConn West is room 20,which is where our session the whole day will be. And our opening keynote is Dr. Elsie Liu with TSMC, a BP there.And he'll be talking about scaling leadership silicon with AI. We'll then go right intoCerebris, Building NextGen AI, redesigning,Waferscale, Computing for Hyperscale with J.P. Fricker.
06:08I don't know if you ever heard him speak or not,but it's a very strong lineup in the morning,and he's a very good speaker.Then we go into applied materials with AI enabled STCOfor advanced nodes with Subi Kinhjiri.And we then have Wally Rhine's CEO of Savaco,and he'll be moderating in the I-TRIPLEE,Triple E panel. And Ming will be moderating the morning session. And I also want to give a thanks to
06:37Yachtin Trevetti. And he will be moderating the afternoon session with Cap Gemini engineering.And he also helped to put together this E triple E panel. The panel, Semi will be hosting a lunch first come first serve.And we have Amin Joshi, who will be from Sandisk. And he'll be on the panel along withwith Areef Khan from Cadence, Vykas Sharma from Intel Foundry, Subi from Amat, David Freed with Lamb Research,and then we'll go into our afternoon session. So it's a very strong lineup.It is. I actually know every person that you mentioned personally.These people are not easy to get. I will say they're worldwide travel since this last yearand all that's going on in the world.
07:30Their schedules are very busy.We feel super fortunate to have them committed and secureto be able to do this.So we're very, very excited.Yeah, you know, Subi and I worked togetherat Varagologic years ago, and we stay in touch.Applied Materials is a sponsor of Semawiki,and so we keep an eye on his presentations,
07:48and he just is a really smart fellowand one of the more brilliant minds in the semiconductor industry.And of course, Wally and I are really good friends.And Elsie Lou, I worked with him at TSM years ago.He was in the PDK group.So he really, really knows the interface between design and manufacturing.And he speaks at all the TSM symposiums.And he's just a great guy.
08:12And so you definitely have an all-star lineup.That's for sure.So what is the goal of the design session?How did this come about?So it was something that we did last year.We did a half-day session.But really, we discussed it in our operating, ESDA operating council of which Ming Zing is a member of.And so he really formulated this vision of getting all the folks in the same room and directing.
08:42You know, it's not a commercial pitch for any one person.And we're not doing the deeper dive on just what that particular companies we're doing is going to do.It's to better understand how we can come together as an industry and address.these challenges and complexities that we have before us.You know, we're shifting devices driven by domain-specific AI chipletsand application-tailored architectures.We're raising the bar for design agility and verification speed.You know, we hear all about these agenic AI companies coming out of the gate
09:17with initial speed, come-to-market, you know, saving months off of time.But when it comes to the complexity of the more,bespoke design, how is that going to make it? And how is that going to happen? And what are some of thechallenges that we're going to face with rapid iteration? And so there's a big shift to be fasterNPI and flexible manufacturing and bidirectional feedback between design and manufacturing andresilient supply strategies. I mean, one thing that we don't want to happen, which we saw before,is a disruption in the supply chain. So how can we all keep up? We need to have everybody in the same room,and we need our greater design community to be in the room also for the Q&A, for the questions that need to be asked from all different facets of our EDA design community.
10:09And so it serves as looking at the entire life cycle from design to manufacturing and bridging it with AI and where can we incorporate I and AI.and where can we look for advancements and improvements and all work together in the same sandboxtowards the common goal.Yeah, I agree completely.But, you know, why is this design session relevant now?You know, what's happened?Oh, my gosh.So everybody, and we spoke of this a little bit earlier today, that now everybody in the world
10:43understands design where we've been under the radar for so long.We're the foundation of all of these segments.And we're talking about IP, we have international trade, everything comes back to design.And so these traditional larger companies in EDA have diversified and grown, and we're alla moving force and in the forefront of the design industry.So there's a lot of excitement surrounding AI to speed up time and verification.And it's important for everybody to understand one another's needs and challenges and workthrough the complexities together. So it's very relevant right now. There couldn't be a better time
11:22to be in the industry. It's so exciting. I agree with that completely. I have no plans on retiring.It's just so much fun. The conferences are just coming so fast and they are packed. I was at theInfra Summit, AI Infra Summit last week and I've been at their conferences for the last 10 years.And last year they had 3,000 people and we were like, wow, that's big. This year they had 9,000.And it's just packed.And it's just the most exciting time in semiconductors I have ever seen in my 45 years,but it's also the most complex.So put those two things together and you have a lot of activity.
12:01So what do you want attendees to leave knowing about the EDA community?What is your goal here?Well, first I wanted to briefly touch upon the afternoon.And so following our lunch panel, we'll come back with David from Lamb Research.And he's going to discuss from process to chips, how can AI increase velocity in chip manufacturingfrom the manufacturing side?Then we're going to move on from front end to advanced packaging, scaling AI-ready data platform,secure data exchange, and ecosystem collaborations with Keman Michaels from PDF Solutions.
12:38And then you will get a little bit, we have McKinsey coming in.And this is the managing partner from McKinsey in Detroit that leads theSemiconductors America portion of McKenzie. This is a very unique opportunity in which tohear somebody specifically that's going to be focusing also on design. Design at AI speed. How canAI compress time to silicon and be bringing in some of the market overview? Then we're going tolook towards cadence with IP and AI based silicon design with a RIFCon. And we'll have Intel,Vykas Sharma will be there with AI and technology developmental foundry from that perspective.And we will conclude with a brand new startup coming to Verifax with Madhulima, Tawari,
13:28and building the trust layer for autonomous chip design, verified correctness with sustainable AI economics.That'll be followed by a reception from 4 to 5 p.m.And I can't stress highly enough that listening to each person's perspective and all that they're going to address is going to be very relevant for everybody in the audience.And I'd really like for everybody to learn that AI is going to deliver a measurable impact.It's not going to be like the dot com or it's going to come and go or be a flash in the pan.This is here to stay.And what data infrastructures are required, how design houses, foundry, system companies.and equipment makers can collaborate to accelerate the semiconductor innovation is what it's all about.
14:17And ESDA provides that opportunity and the platform for the players to be able to discuss these topicsand advance our whole industry forward.There's no time like the present.It couldn't be a better time.Yeah, I just did a CEO interview a couple months ago with Madulama.And I think you pronounced her name wonderfully, the Verifax CEO.And I met her at DAC and then we did a follow-on meetings.And I tell you, she is definitely worth the price of admission.
14:45Just an incredibly brilliant woman and just so personal,she's really somebody that you really want to spend some time with.So I guess the question is, well, first, let's ask words held and what are the hours?We all know it's at the Moscone, but what other type of data can you provide us?Sure.So our design session will be on the 13th.That's Tuesday. And the opening keynote was the scene. You'd want to be there by 8.30. That'll be a full room. There'll be thousands of people.Just so you know, we have been sold out on the exhibit floor for months now. It's going to be packed.
15:20And so it's get there early. And then we have Semicon West, which runs from the 13th to the 15th.And we have increased our attendance. Last year, we increased it year over year by 50%. And we are,pacing well ahead of last year, so it's going to be great. In our CEO summit, we're also going to haveCommerce and State representation, and Bill Tronhofer, Director of Semiconductor Investment, willrepresent Commerce and Undersecretary Jacob Helberg will represent the State Department.Semi does a lot of advocacy in Washington, D.C., as you know, our larger EDA players have officesthere, and we work closely with advocacy on export controls and piracy.and obviously tariffs.
16:08And one of the other things I did want to mention is that six of our EDA companies also presented at Semicon, Taiwan,and there's worldwide opportunities.And our EDA companies are present and in the forefront as well as date as well.And so there's really a lot going on in the marketplace worldwide globally, as we all know, focused on EDA.So it's a wonderful opportunity for everybody to be together.And there's 500 plus speakers at Semicon West.So there's a lot.There's a big focus on workforce developments.
16:41We're also partnering for a career platform called Chip Path at Semi, which will help the designcommunity.All of our ESDA members will be able to put their job listings in there.And that touches all of the colleges as well as veteran reentry into the workplace.And we do education as well and help with certification and things to get peopleand help our member companies and the semiconductor design community overall to be sustainableand be able to meet the needs of all of this rapid growth.And so to register up on the semi-wiki homepage, there's a QR code that'll take you right there.
17:20And you'll be able to also look on the ESDA LinkedIn post, and you can register and see thefull EDA design session lineup in detail there.And I hope you'll all join us for this.important event and represent the greater design community and contribute to the ideas and the discussion.I agree completely and I will be there. There's another value. You can meet me.That's great, Dan. We'd love to have you. So thank you very much for your time, Julie. It's great to speak with you again.And we will see you at SemiConn West. Absolutely. Sounds great. See you in three weeks.That concludes our podcast. Thank you all for listening and have a great day.
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