Industry Expert Blogs
Should smartphone OEMs design their own chips?EETimes Blog - Jim McGregorFeb. 23, 2012 |
It’s amazing how often the argument for OEMs to design chips raises its ugly head in the electronics industry.
You would think that at almost 40 years old, the semiconductor market would be mature enough to put this argument to rest, but the rapid pace of consumer device innovation manages to create micro-ecosystem lifecycles within the industry as a whole.
These lifecycles force the industry participants, both new and old, to constantly evaluate many of the same decisions that were faced before. One such decision is whether a device or systems OEM should design chips, especially the processors—the brains of the device.