D&R Headline News | Most Popular | SoC News Alerts | |

Commentary / Analysis

• Why China still can't create the next Texas Instruments (Monday Sep. 10, 2012)
  Will China ever create an enterprise comparable in size, creativity and impact to Texas Instruments? So far, it hasn't come close. For now, there’s not much chance it will.
  
  
• Apple said to cut Samsung memory order (Friday Sep. 07, 2012)
  Apple Inc. has reduced its order with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for memory ICs for its forthcoming model of iPhone, according to a Reuters report that referenced an unnamed source.
  
  
• Intel forum is next front in x86 vs. ARM war (Friday Sep. 07, 2012)
  Next week's Intel Developer Forum is shaping up as the next front in the battle over who will own the cloud and who will own the mobile client.
  
  
• Front-End Fab Equipment Spending to Grow 17 Percent in 2013 (Thursday Sep. 06, 2012)
  SEMI today released an update to its World Fab Forecast database, which indicates that total fab spending for equipment needed to ramp fabs, upgrade technology nodes, and expand or change wafer size could increase 16.7 percent in 2013 to reach a new record high of $42.7 billion
  
  
• London Calling: ARM's East copes with uncertainty (Wednesday Sep. 05, 2012)
  Warren East, the CEO of U.K. processor licensor ARM Holdings plc, is warning that sales will slow in second half in 2012 due global economic uncertainty.
  
  
• TSMC said to plan 450-mm production for 2018 (Wednesday Sep. 05, 2012)
  Foundry chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. now foresees the start of volume production of ICs on 450-mm diameter wafers in 2018
  
  
• VeriSilicon touts shift from fab lite to design lite (Wednesday Sep. 05, 2012)
  If you think chip companies are popping up everywhere in China, producing a flood of me-too products based on me-too business models, well, think again. VeriSilicon doesn’t fit the stereotype and defies many preconceived notions about Chinese technology companies.
  
  
• Semiconductor R&D Spending to Hit Record-High $53.4 Billion in 2012 (Tuesday Sep. 04, 2012)
  Spending on research and development by semiconductor companies worldwide is expected to grow 10% in 2012 to a record-high $53.4 billion compared to the current peak of $48.7 billion set in 2011, according to the Mid-Year Update of IC Insights’ 2012 McClean Report.
  
  
• Report: TSMC rebuffs Apple, Qualcomm (Wednesday Aug. 29, 2012)
  Apple and Qualcomm have each offered more than a $1 billion to foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to obtain a dedicated supply of processor chips, and both their offers have been rejected, according to a Bloomberg report.
  
  
• IHS Downgrades Semiconductor Market Outlook - Revenue Decline Now Expected for 2012 (Tuesday Aug. 28, 2012)
  Weakening economic conditions are spurring reduced demand for PCs and related electronic components, prompting IHS to downgrade its forecast for 2012 global semiconductor market chip revenue.
  
  
• After Apple win, Droids should feel afraid (Monday Aug. 27, 2012)
  The Android community should be very afraid in the wake of Apple’s clear win Friday in its case against Samsung in San Jose’s federal court.
  
  
• New twist in Intel, ARM server war: Interconnects (Friday Aug. 24, 2012)
  A new front has opened up in the war over server microprocessors between Intel and ARM—interconnect. The technology is key to a range of chip-to-chip uses from high-speed networking to future non-volatile memory interfaces, supercomputer clusters and 3-D chip stacks.
  
  
• European and Japanese Chip Suppliers Hit Hardest by Weak Q2 Semiconductor Market Growth (Thursday Aug. 23, 2012)
  Stifled by poor economic conditions, global semiconductor market revenue in the second quarter fell by 3 percent year-on-year, resulting in widespread revenue declines for chip suppliers, particularly those headquartered in Japan and Europe.
  
  
• Globalfoundries expected to pass UMC in foundry sales (Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012)
  Globalfoundries Inc. is expected to surpass United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) to become the No. 2 semiconductor foundry supplier in 2012.
  
  
• Asia-Pacific-Based OEMs Dominate Chip Spending Growth on Home Turf (Friday Aug. 17, 2012)
  On a worldwide basis Apple Inc. and other multinational OEMs may be the leading semiconductor purchasers in 2012, but within the all-important Asia-Pacific region it is the locally based companies that are No. 1 when it comes to chip spending growth.
  
  
• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts July 2012 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 0.87 (Friday Aug. 17, 2012)
  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.28 billion in orders worldwide in July 2012 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.87
  
  
• New IPC Study on North American PCB Industry Forecasts Production Growth to Resume (Thursday Aug. 16, 2012)
  North American printed circuit board (PCB) production declined considerably in 2011, but growth has resumed in 2012 and is forecast to continue through 2014. The North American PCB market also declined slightly in 2011.
  
  
• Toshiba cancels ARM-based computer (Thursday Aug. 16, 2012)
  Toshiba Corp. has cancelled plans to sell computers that run the Windows RT operating system from Microsoft Corp. and that are based on an ARM-based processor, due to delays in getting adequate supplies of components, according to reports.
  
  
• IC Insights Revises U.S. Economic Outlook (Thursday Aug. 16, 2012)
  Although the U.S. economy’s importance to worldwide GDP growth has lessened over the past 15 years, it is by far the largest individual country economy in the world and still represents almost one-quarter of global GDP. IC Insights estimates that 1H12 U.S. GDP growth was 1.7%, slightly lower than the 2.0% full-year U.S. GDP growth rate that IC Insights forecasts for 2012.
  
  
• Increase in Second Quarter 2012 Silicon Wafer Shipments (Tuesday Aug. 14, 2012)
  Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the second quarter 2012 when compared to first quarter 2012 area shipments according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
  
  
• Google cutting 20% of jobs at Motorola Mobility (Monday Aug. 13, 2012)
  Motorola Mobility, the mobile phone company acquired by Google in May 2012 for $12.5 billion, has reportedly notified staff that it plans to cut 20 percent of jobs and close one third of its 94 offices worldwide.
  
  
• Qualcomm Now Has Intel Inside (Monday Aug. 13, 2012)
  This week the semiconductor industry saw two high profile pieces of career news; Anand Chandrasekher (former senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Ultra Mobility Group) was hired by Qualcomm as chief marketing officer, and John Byrne was promoted to chief sales officer at AMD.
  
  
• Tower shortlisted to run Indian fab (Monday Aug. 13, 2012)
  Specialist foundry TowerJazz has said it has been shortlisted by the Indian government to build and run a 300-mm wafer fab in the country.
  
  
• ARM continues Synopsys EDA support (Friday Aug. 10, 2012)
  
  
  
• Long-Term Semiconductor Growth Rates Forecast to Improve. (Friday Aug. 10, 2012)
  Following a lackluster period of average annual market growth in the semiconductor industry, a significant upturn is in store for the next five years, according to data released in IC Insights’ Mid-Year Update to the 2012 McClean Report.
  
  
• Smartphone Applications Processor Revenue Soared 55 Percent in Q1 2012 (Wednesday Aug. 08, 2012)
  global smartphone applications processor market showed a solid 55 percent year-over-year growth in Q1 2012 reaching $2.47 billion, according to the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service report
  
  
• Reports: Wafer discounts, rush orders from MediaTek, Nvidia (Wednesday Aug. 08, 2012)
  The supply of chips from foundries in Taiwan is being complicated by discounting and rush orders as companies try to benefit from more-available 40-nm silicon to win against chips design in less available 28-nm, according to reports.
  
  
• Trust in the Semico IPI: 2012 Forecasts Up 7.7% (Wednesday Aug. 08, 2012)
  The Semico IPI is right again. As the IPI chart shows, starting in August 2011, the IPI began to dip, signaling a change in semiconductor revenue growth. At the beginning of 2012 Semico was more optimistic than the IPI indicated due to the belief that there was pent-up demand for PCs from the floods in Thailand and new smartphone, TV and Ultrabook models would increase electronic purchases. Semico has revised our 2012 forecast from 8 - 10% to 6 - 8%.
  
  
• Mobile DRAM Market Expands as Usage Increases in Smartphones and Tablets (Wednesday Aug. 08, 2012)
  With its relatively robust market growth and increasing usage in hot products like smartphones and media tablets, mobile DRAM is playing a more prominent role in the memory business—including acting as a key factor in Micron Technology Inc.’s recent acquisition of Elpida Memory Inc.
  
  
• Samsung plans ARM-based CPU for servers, says report (Monday Aug. 06, 2012)