Artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) has the potential to generate huge business value for semiconductor companies at every step of their operations, from research and chip design to production through sales. But our recent survey of semiconductor-device makers shows that only about 30 percent of respondents stated that they are already generating value through AI/ML. Notably, these companies have made significant investments in AI/ML talent, as well as the data infrastructure, technology, and other enablers, and have already fully scaled up their initial use cases. The other respondents--about 70 percent--are still in the pilot phase with AI/ML and their progress has stalled. We believe that the application of AI/ML will dramatically accelerate in the semiconductor industry over the next few years. Taking steps to scale up now will allow companies to capture the full benefits of these technologies. This article focuses on device makers, including integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), fabless players, foundries, and semiconductor assembly and test services, or SATS (for more information on our research, see sidebar, "Our methodology").

Artificial Intelligence-based Operations (AIOps) is the convergence of AI and traditional AM/IM operations. Like in all other domains, AI is going to have a significant impact on operations management. When the power of AI is applied to operations, it will redefine the way applications and the supporting application/infrastructure is managed. Multiple applications are running simultaneously generates a lot of data. The data is generated right from the network layer to the latency of an API call to an end-user.

When we think of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), we tend to think of a technology that is new and at the cutting edge. In reality, AI and ML have been around since the 1950s and 1960s. The concept of the technology hasn't changed; what's evolved is the technology that makes AI and ML easier to use and applicable to more industries. The companies that are further along in their innovation journeys, those identified as digerati and digital experimenters, have already mastered the foundational technologies. AI and ML are becoming a tool that smart companies are using to innovate on the foundation they have already put in place.