In 2015, Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute (SITRI) opened SITRI Innovations, a hardware accelerator in Belmont, California. Its purpose was to help Silicon Valley startups commercialize “More-than-Moore” devices—hardware whose value comes from sensors, MEMS, radio, optics, biology or energy functions rather than ever-smaller CMOS features—and connect those companies with Shanghai-backed pilot manufacturing, supply chains and markets.
The initiative addressed a specific bottleneck: promising device companies could build prototypes, but customized processes, small wafer volumes, limited funding and fragmented manufacturing often blocked the journey to production.
What “More-than-Moore” means
Beyond transistor scaling
“More-than-Moore” describes semiconductor and microsystem functions that expand what electronics can do without relying primarily on shrinking CMOS feature sizes. The approach complements conventional Moore’s-law scaling rather than replacing it. A product may combine a CMOS control chip with a sensor, radio-frequency component, optical device, biochemical interface or energy-harvesting element.
The device fields SITRI targeted
- MEMS, including motion and acoustic devices
- General sensors and chemical or force sensors
- Optoelectronics
- RF components
- Bioelectronics
- Micro-energy technologies
Examples of current or prospective volume products cited by SITRI adviser Kurt Petersen included accelerometers, gyroscopes, microphones, antenna tuners, power-amplifier filters, low-noise-amplifier filters, chemical sensors and force sensors.
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Why Shanghai opened an accelerator in Silicon Valley
A gap in China’s MEMS ecosystem
Jérémie Bouchaud of IHS said China had major Internet-of-Things and sensor ambitions but lacked a complete MEMS ecosystem spanning research and development, startups and integrated-device manufacturers. A Belmont location gave Shanghai-backed organizations access to teams and technologies developing outside China while overseas partnerships could be formed earlier.
A two-way commercial bridge
Peter Himes, general manager of SITRI Innovations and SITRI Ventures, said the institute could connect Silicon Valley startups to Chinese supply chains and markets. He described the broader objective as “building a global innovation network” involving Silicon Valley, Taiwan and Europe.
Yole Développement chief executive Jean-Christophe Eloy characterized the strategy as dual-purpose: help U.S. companies reach production faster while bringing business to Chinese semiconductor and electronics companies. SITRI and its partners would also gain earlier visibility into promising teams, ideas and companies.
What SITRI Innovations was designed to provide
| Program element | How it was described in 2015 |
|---|---|
| Technology scope | MEMS, sensors, optoelectronics, RF, bio and micro-energy devices |
| Prototype-to-production support | Mentoring and a route toward pilot fabrication, process development and commercialization |
| Manufacturing infrastructure | SITRI was building a Shanghai pilot-production wafer fab for MEMS and other materials and platforms |
| Planned platform technologies | III-V, RF-SOI, piezoelectric, magnetic and III-V-on-silicon technologies |
| Business access | Connections to Chinese supply chains, customers and markets |
| Geographic network | Silicon Valley linked with Shanghai, Taiwan and Europe |
The concept was not simply a desk-and-office incubator. It combined an overseas startup base with Shanghai infrastructure intended to shorten the distance between a working demonstration and a manufacturable product.
How a MEMS startup gets from prototype to volume
SITRI’s stated value proposition maps to a demanding sequence. The precise steps and facilities available to any individual company were not specified, but a practical commercialization path looks like this:
- Define the product and application. Establish the target device, performance, reliability, packaging and customer requirements before choosing a process.
- Match the design to a manufacturing platform. Select an appropriate MEMS, RF, optical, piezoelectric, magnetic or compound-semiconductor process rather than assuming a standard CMOS flow will work.
- Run pilot wafers. Use pilot-production infrastructure to expose yield, packaging and reliability problems at a scale larger than laboratory prototypes.
- Tune the process for the customer. MEMS foundries frequently have to modify or optimize a platform for each company entering volume production.
- Qualify the device and package. Demonstrate repeatable performance, environmental reliability and a supply chain that can meet the customer’s forecast.
- Scale only when demand supports it. Fragmented applications and low wafer volumes can make a large-fab strategy uneconomic, so production commitments and market access matter as much as device performance.
An accelerator can help coordinate these steps, but it cannot remove the underlying engineering and demand risk. A prototype is evidence that a device works; volume production requires a repeatable process, acceptable yield, qualified suppliers and customers willing to buy at a sustainable price.
Why MEMS foundries are difficult to scale
Processes are not standardized
“Processes are not standard in MEMS,” Bouchaud said. Even when a foundry advertises a platform, a new customer may require changes to materials, geometries, etching, deposition, release steps, packaging or testing. That customization consumes engineering time and makes the economics unlike a high-volume, standardized logic process.
The market is fragmented
Eloy attributed the challenge to the diversity of manufacturing processes and the fragmentation of More-than-Moore devices. Accelerometers, microphones, RF filters and chemical sensors do not share one universal process flow. Each application can have different materials, qualification rules and packaging needs.
Low wafer volumes weaken the business case
Many device companies initially need too few wafers to justify the capital and operating model of a major integrated-circuit foundry. Foundries, in turn, face a difficult choice: dedicate resources to a small customer, or prioritize standardized products with larger and more predictable volumes.
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Eloy illustrated the scale mismatch with a 2015 comparison: TSMC’s MEMS sales were “just above $50 million” while TSMC was described as a “$16 billion company.” The figures were reported in 2015 and describe that period, not current revenue.
The funding problem behind the manufacturing problem
Capital availability was a central reason for the accelerator model. Himes said venture funding had shifted toward wearables, cloud services and analytics, leaving relatively little new investment for semiconductor and future hardware innovation. Petersen said semiconductor-startup venture funding had “totally stagnated” since the last economic crash and that angel investors had stepped in.
Eloy noted that selected More-than-Moore areas—particularly imaging—were attracting financial-investor interest. Even so, hardware companies generally had a harder time demonstrating value quickly than Internet businesses. Their timelines include process development, pilot wafers, packaging, qualification and inventory, all before meaningful revenue may appear.
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What the financing environment means for founders
- Technical proof is not enough. Investors also need evidence that the process can yield consistently and that customers will adopt the product.
- Capital must cover the middle stage. The expensive gap often lies between a laboratory prototype and qualified production, not at the initial idea stage.
- Strategic partners can matter. Supply-chain, pilot-fab and market relationships may provide value that a generalist financial investor cannot.
- Longer timelines change valuation pressure. A device company may need to meet milestones over several years before its economics resemble those of a software startup.
What made SITRI’s model distinctive
The Belmont initiative joined three assets that are normally separated:
- Silicon Valley invention: access to engineers and founders developing new device concepts.
- Shanghai-backed infrastructure: a planned pilot-production wafer fab and associated materials and process capabilities.
- Chinese commercial reach: potential access to electronics companies, supply chains and markets.
Himes summarized the rationale this way: “Types of innovations the [More than Moore] market needs are still coming out of the Valley,” followed by, “We want to help those startups get off the ground.” Eloy said SITRI aimed to aggregate businesses “from devices to module and systems,” develop their products and help them benefit from the Chinese supply chain in which SITRI was involved.
What is known about SITRI’s status today?
The documented announcement establishes that SITRI Innovations had opened in Belmont and that SITRI was building Shanghai pilot-fab capabilities when EE Times reported on the initiative on October 19, 2015. The available information does not establish whether the Belmont accelerator is still operating, what its current ownership or terms are, or whether it accepts applications today. Those points require verification from a current SITRI or successor organization before relying on them for a business, investment or partnership decision.
Why the episode still matters
SITRI’s 2015 strategy identified a recurring problem in deep tech: innovation, manufacturing and market access often sit in different countries and organizations. For More-than-Moore devices, the critical challenge is not only inventing a sensor or RF component. It is building a repeatable process, finding enough demand to justify production and financing the long interval between prototype and revenue.
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