The Race to Build the Fabs of Tomorrow
We are at the cusp of a transformative era, driven by the relentless demand for artificial intelligence and the imperative to secure regional supply chains. This surge in demand for advanced semiconductor technologies is increasing pressure on chipmakers to enhance efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and output of existing fabs and is creating a race to build the fabs of tomorrow.
In the coming decade, we will witness an unprecedented expansion in fabs around the world, marking a monumental shift in our industry.
Leading the Way to the Autonomous Fab
For years, Lam Research has been investing in research and development to create advanced service and support solutions — developing self-maintaining equipment, self-aware systems, self-adaptive processes, and collaborative robots (known as cobots). By leveraging the expansion of data availability and automation capability, our goal is to help chipmakers achieve their vision of creating the autonomous fabs of the future.
Not only are we helping to meet current demands, but we’re driving technological breakthroughs and overcoming challenges to shape a limitless future for the semiconductor industry.
Lam Is Introducing the World's First Cobots, Named Dextro™
Dextro™ is a mobile cobot designed to support engineers and technicians in the fab by offloading time-consuming, error-prone, or hazardous maintenance tasks — delivering precision and repeatability beyond what a human can achieve.
Cobots rely heavily on a rich set of data to perform tasks effectively. This wealth of data allows cobots to learn, adapt, and continuously improve their performance. By leveraging this dataset, Dextro™ can:
- Operate with the highest level of precision and efficiency, ultimately enhancing their ability to assist human engineers in critical maintenance tasks.
- Ensure that maintenance is performed in the optimal time, increasing productivity and reducing downtime and part consumption.
Do it right the first time, every time, to maintain high precision, high safety, and high efficiency, especially when tasks need to be repeated for hundreds or thousands of cycles under time, space, and accuracy constraints. Cobots working with humans provide the ideal synergy by combining the best of human ingenuity and robotic precision. This will translate to reduced costs and improved yield, providing customer value in the tens of millions of dollars per fab per year.
Additional Resources
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Dextro™ Cobot Saves Maintenance Time and Costs
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Lam Research Introduces the Semiconductor Industry's First Collaborative Robot for Fab Maintenance