Electronica 2008 - Read our full show coverage from Munich 

There should be a new paradigm to succeed Moore's Law for semiconductor industry progress, Rich Beyer, CEO of Freescale Semiconductor, told the CEO Forum on the opening day of Electronic.

Whereas Moore's Law said that the industry can double the functionality it puts on a chip every year and a half, the new paradigm should be, said Beyer: "We can deliver more and more functionality with lower and lower power consumption." 

Energy saving technology, as a way of saving the climate, was the theme of the discussion, with special reference to the fact that the semiconductor industry can play the lead role in producing the technology to achieve this.

"12 per cent of the total energy used us used in generating electricity and 19 per cent of the electricity generated is used for lighting, and LEDs  reduce the energy used for lighting by 30 per cent and by 50 per cent if electronic power management is applied", said Rudiger Muller CEO of Osram Opto, "if we reduce the electricity consumption of Europe by 50 per cent, the reduction of CO2 is equivalent to the effect of a forest twice the size of Germany."

"40 per cent of all energy consumption is electrical. If we use semiconductor technology for power saving wherever possible,  we can reduce the consumption of energy by 25 per cent", said Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies.

There's been an eight per cent decrease in production costs in Germany in the last year while costs rose 4 per cent in the rest of Europe. And the dollar is strengthening against the Euro, this is good," said Jurgen Gromer, a director of Tyco.

"Overall CO2 emissions every year are 50bn tons. Out of that, 10bn tons is related to the cost of electricity. This is where the contribution of the semiconductor industry can be made," said Carlo Bozotti, CEO of STMicroelectronics, "we could save 17 per cent of the energy consumption of Italy by using modern energy control technology."

SThas tracked its investments in energy saving technologies since 1995 and has found that it has invested $300m for a $1bn saving. "It's produced a good return on our investment", said Bozotti, "in ST we say: Green is black'."

Legislation is one force pushing the industry towards greater energy saving measures. "The 120 grams of emissions per km per car by 2012 is one measure which, from the semiconductor perspective, we see very positively", said Infineon's Bauer. Such legislation is boosting markets for the semi industry.

"The best way to get rid of automotive emissions is to get rid of the engine", said Brian Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor, "the answer is electric engines but the  problem is they take too long to charge. We can speed up the charge time using a version of super-cap technology. On battery management today the technology is primitive. It can be dramatically improved."

This is good news for the companies represented at the CEO Forum. "The companies here are analogue companies", said Halla, "processing with analogue technology can be done far more efficiently than with digital technology. This spells a re-birth for the semiconductor industry, I'm wildly optimistic about the future of our industry."

See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining, authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor industry, from someone who knows. Sign up for the Mannerisms eNewsletter.

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