Chip makers must shift from fabs to systems

Fabs "evaporated" as differentiator, says Infineon CEO

Rick Merritt, EE Times
(01/15/2008 9:42 PM EST)

SAN FRANCISCO — Semiconductor companies need to shift their focus from building fabs to building systems, and they must engage with customers at deep technical levels if they are to survive the current wave of consolidation. That's the view of Wolfgang Ziebart, chief executive of Infineon Technologies.

"The major thing giving semiconductor makers a competitive advantage has evaporated," said Ziebart in an interview in the San Francisco offices of EE Times. "Today everyone has access to the same process technology at roughly the same time. This access used to be what differentiated the best from the worst semiconductor companies, but now it has evaporated," he said.

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