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Commentary / Analysis

• Report: Abu Dhabi's chip unit still in the red (Thursday May. 10, 2012)
  Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC), the semiconductor unit of the Abu Dhabi government's Mubadala investment fund, lost money in each of the last two years and has accumulated a deficit that stood at about $1.12 billion at the end of 2011, according to a report by the Reuters news service that cited a regulatory filing.
  
  
• Activist investor Icahn chastises Mentor again (Thursday May. 03, 2012)
  Billionaire financier Carl Ichan is still agitating EDA vendor Mentor Graphics Corp.. Icahn, who controls about 15 percent of Mentor and last year saw three of his nominees to the company's board elected by shareholders after a proxy fight, issued a new open letter to Mentor Tuesday (May 1) describing his disappointment that two of the three directors were not re-nominated to serve on the company's board for another year.
  
  
• GlobalFoundries, Infineon, IBM, ST linked to Indian fab plan (Wednesday May. 02, 2012)
  More companies are being linked to the Indian government's plan to get one or more semiconductor wafer fabs constructed on the sub-continent. At least five chip companies have expressed an interest in supporting the project, according to a Hindu Business Line report.
  
  
• Six hurdles Intel must clear to be a major foundry (Wednesday May. 02, 2012)
  How far and fast Intel moves to enter the foundry business remains unknown, especially since is secretive about its long-term strategy. But that's not to say that the company is undecided about the potential opportunity in the foundry business.
  
  
• Script for the Intel foundry story is unwritten (Wednesday May. 02, 2012)
  In recent days, there has been much analysis and detective work devoted to figuring out what Intel's dabbling in the foundry business means as far as Intel's long-term future as a foundry player. But trying to read those tea leaves is a fool's errand. We do not yet know how involved Intel will eventually become in the foundry market. And neither does Intel.
  
  
• Intel is a technology explorer, not a foundry (Wednesday May. 02, 2012)
  Intel will not become the next big foundry. As advertised, it will remain a technology explorer content to disrupt the fabless/foundry ecosystem that supports such competitors as Qualcomm, Broadcom and others.
  
  
• Intel as foundry: Don't hold your breath (Wednesday May. 02, 2012)
  Foundry will never be more than a fun and modestly useful sideline for Intel. Intel believes it needs to own the product to win the market. It wants to define the system (aka platform) and sell several high value chips into it.
  
  
• NXP today: 'Practically a Chinese company' (Monday Apr. 30, 2012)
  For anyone who has known NXP Semiconductors since it was the Dutch giant Royal Philips’ subsidiary, NXP today feels much transformed. Instead of pledging changes every quarter, NXP has grown into a company with its own distinct personality and disciplines.
  
  
• Worldwide Semiconductor Market Grew 3.7% in 2011 to $301 Billion -- IDC Expects 6-7% Revenue Growth in 2012 (Monday Apr. 30, 2012)
  Worldwide semiconductor revenues increased more than 3.7% year over year to $301 billion in 2011. A number of mergers and acquisitions came to fruition in 2011, most notably Qualcomm--Atheros, Texas Instruments--National Semiconductor, SMSC--Conexant, Broadcom--NetLogic, CSR--Zoran, and Microsemi--Zarlink. This trend is expected to continue in 2012.
  
  
• Achronix chairman: Intel foundry gambit poised for payoff (Monday Apr. 30, 2012)
  Achronix Semiconductor Corp., eight years into its startup phase, is hanging its hat on Intel’s 22-nm FinFET process technology for its survival and envisioned victory as it prepares to go public in 2014.
  
  
• TSMC raises capex to record $8.5 billion, pulls in 20-nm (Monday Apr. 30, 2012)
  
  
  
• Chip execs see 20 nm variants, 3-D ICs ahead (Monday Apr. 30, 2012)
  Next-generation 20 nm processes can support optimized versions for low power and high performance, according to an IBM expert. GlobalFoundries will decide in August whether or not it will offer such variations.
  
  
• Three Chinese Cellphone Suppliers Join the Top 10 According to Forward Concepts (Thursday Apr. 26, 2012)
  Among the top 10 cellphone vendors, Nokia, Samsung and Apple topped 2011 unit shipments. Chinese suppliers Huawei, ZTE and TCL moved into the top ten. In revenue, however, Apple led over Samsung and Nokia. We expect Samsung to pass Nokia in smartphone shipments in 2012, taking the 2nd position behind Apple.
  
  
• 3-D FPGAs enable silicon convergence (Wednesday Apr. 25, 2012)
  The three-dimensional (3-D) field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is enabling the era of silicon convergence, according to Altera Corp. (San Jose, Calif.), which is incorporating application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard products (ASSPs), digital signal processors (DSPs) and micro-processor units (MPUs).
  
  
• Intel exec says fabless model "collapsing" (Wednesday Apr. 25, 2012)
  It’s the beginning of the end for the fabless model according to Mark Bohr, the man I think of as Mr. Process Technology at Intel.
  
  
• China mulls national CPU architecture spec (Tuesday Apr. 24, 2012)
  China government officials kicked off a program last month that aims to define a national processor architecture. If the initiative is successful, the processor could become a requirement for use in any projects seeking government funding such as purchases of computers or smartphones
  
  
• Time for a return to the customer-backed joint venture foundry? (Monday Apr. 23, 2012)
  Qualcomm and some other companies are leaving money on the table because they can't get enough 28-nm chips to meet demand out of foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Horror of horrors some customers are looking for ways to switch other companies' chips into slots previously designed around those vendors' ICs.
  
  
• Broadcom, Qualcomm, CSR, and Texas Instruments are Benefiting from $8 Billion Wireless Connectivity IC Market Bonanza (Friday Apr. 20, 2012)
  Wireless connectivity ICs totaled more than $8 billion in 2011 and will produce revenues close to $40 billion for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, and combo ICs through 2016.
  
  
• No fab for Qualcomm but firm mulls business evolution (Friday Apr. 20, 2012)
  The problems acknowledged by Qualcomm Inc. in getting enough 28-nm chips out of its foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. are not about to prompt the company to build or acquire its own fab, according to Steve Mollenkopf, chief operating officer of the fabless chip company.
  
  
• Analyst: Linear Tech's outlook signals IC recovery (Thursday Apr. 19, 2012)
  Wall Street analysts were lukewarm on Linear Technology Corp.'s stock following a quarterly report Tuesday (April 17) that came in in-line to slightly better than expectations. But one analyst said the company's better than expected guidance for the current quarter indicates that the semiconductor industry has begun to recover from its latest downturn.
  
  
• Qualcomm engages other foundries amid 28-nm capacity shortage (Thursday Apr. 19, 2012)
  Fabless chip vendor Qualcomm Inc. acknowledged Wednesday (April 18) that it was turning to other foundry suppliers amid a shortage of 28-nm capacity at its longtime foundry partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC).
  
  
• Intel says 25% of shipments will be on 22-nm in Q2 (Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012)
  Intel's 22-nm manufacturing process technology with FinFET transistors will be responsible for 25 percent of Intel's IC shipments in the second quarter of 2012, according to Stacy Smith, Intel chief financial officer, speaking on a conference call to discuss the company's first quarter financial results
  
  
• Buying MIPS would bring AMD nothing much, say analysts (Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012)
  A rumor doing the rounds on a couple of tech sites claims Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) might have set its sights on buying MIPS Technologies Inc.
  
  
• TSMC's Chang: 'The worst is behind us' on 28-nm (Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012)
  Morris Chang, chairman and CEO of TSMC, acknowledged Tuesday (April 17) that the foundry giant has experienced issues at the 28-nm node, but said the problems were related to capacity, not yield.
  
  
• TSMC to offer only one process at 20-nm (Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012)
  TSMC will offer only one process at the 20-nm node, a change from the multiple processes that the foundry giant has offered customers for the past several nodes, a TSMC executive said Tuesday (April 17).
  
  
• Google to bundle MIPS support with Android (Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012)
  Google is expected to boost its support in Android for cores from MIPS Technologies, giving the company a badly needed boost in the hot smartphone and tablet sector.
  
  
• GSA Reports A Decerase in March Semiconductor Funding Activity (Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012)
  In March 2012, venture investment dollars received by semiconductor companies (i.e., fabless companies, integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and semiconductor suppliers) was $28.9 million; a 81.9% decrease month-over-month (MoM) and a 84.9% decrease year-over-year (YoY).
  
  
• Nvidia calls for move to 450mm wafers (Friday Apr. 13, 2012)
  A top Nvidia engineer is calling for a move to 450mm wafers as one part of the solution to the growing complexity, cost and time-to-market challenges in chip design.
  
  
• Would the Chinese buy MIPS? (Friday Apr. 13, 2012)
  The report that processor and related IP licensor MIPS Technologies Inc. is seeking a buyer, if true and taken through to a final conclusion, would be a case of a one-time industry leader looking like a dinosaur after the meteor struck. And the meteor that struck the planet is the rise of mobile computing.
  
  
• Report: MIPS up for sale (Friday Apr. 13, 2012)
  MIPS Technologies Inc., a pioneer of the reduced instruction set computing (RISC) style of architecture, is looking for a buyer according to a Bloomberg report that referenced unnamed sources.