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Commentary / Analysis

• TSMC plans 3-D IC assembly launch early in 2013 (Thursday Feb. 02, 2012)
  TSMC plans to announce 3-D IC assembly service as a general offering at the beginning of 2013, according to Maria Marced, president of TSMC Europe.
  
  
• Mali graphics to lead in smart TVs, says ARM's East (Thursday Feb. 02, 2012)
  Mali graphics technology from IP licensor ARM Holdings plc shipped in tens of millions of partners' chips in 2011, and will do even better in 2012, particularly in digital televisions, according to CEO Warren East.
  
  
• ARM tips 'gods and giants' roadmap (Wednesday Feb. 01, 2012)
  Processor and related IP licensor ARM Holdings plc has disclosed the names, but little else, on the roadmap of cores it is working on in 2012 and revealed a gods and giants theme. The roadmap includes high performance processors, a low power microcontroller and graphics cores.
  
  
• LTE Expected to Dominate Wireless Infrastructure Spending by 2013 (Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012)
  The wireless technology known as 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) is expected to claim the lion’s share of wireless infrastructure capital spending next year as mobile carriers definitively migrate to that next-generation standard.
  
  
• Semiconductor Industry Revenue to Endure Slow Growth in 2012 (Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012)
  With global economic prospects remaining uncertain and semiconductor inventory not moving quickly enough to stimulate new production, the worldwide chip market is expected to suffer a slow year in 2012 marked by sluggish growth.
  
  
• North American Companies Held More Than Half of IC Sales in 2011 (Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012)
  Driven by the strong performances of ON, Qualcomm, Skyworks, LSI, and Intel, North American companies gained just over three points of marketshare in 2011 to account for 53% of worldwide IC sales, according to the data in the 2012 edition of The McClean Report
  
  
• Rebuilding America: Proposals emerge to fix 'dysfunctional' R&D tax credit (Monday Jan. 30, 2012)
  As the debate over how to revive U.S. manufacturing heats up, tax and other proposals are emerging to provide incentives for technology companies to boost investment in innovative research that could foster new engines of economic growth.
  
  
• Globalfoundries CEO says company is back on track (Monday Jan. 30, 2012)
  Globalfoundries CEO Ajit Manocha has praised his firm for what he called a “remarkable quarter” in Q411, and promised that the foundry was on track to “keep the momentum going,” after a year plagued with difficulties and setbacks.
  
  
• Who are Imagination's four missing customers? (Friday Jan. 27, 2012)
  As my recent blog asking about the top ten customers of ARM proved popular I thought I would try and repeat the trick with regard to graphics IP licensor Imagination Technologies, which of course is also a competitor to ARM.
  
  
• TSMC returns fire over 28-nm process issues (Thursday Jan. 26, 2012)
  Foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has hit back at analysts who have said it has yield problems with its 28-nm CMOS manufacturing processes.
  
  
• European startup attempts many-core revolution (Tuesday Jan. 24, 2012)
  French startup Kalray is attempting to break through the many-core barrier with a 256-core processor array integrated on a 28-nm CMOS chip.
  
  
• Intel, Samsung 2012 Capex Budgets in a League of Their Own (Monday Jan. 23, 2012)
  Announcements this week by Intel and Samsung regarding their planned capital expenditures in 2012 reveal there is, and will be, wide and growing separation between these two companies and their competition. Intel, with a capex budget of $12.5 billion, and Samsung, with $12.2 billion budgeted for semiconductor capex, are each forecast to more than double the 2012 capex spending of TSMC, the next largest supplier, which has budgeted $6.0 billion in capex.
  
  
• Opinion: ARM is no longer an underdog (Monday Jan. 23, 2012)
  On the one hand, ARM loves comparing itself to Intel, if only to whimper that the firm is so insignificantly tiny in terms of pure employee numbers. On the other hand, ARM points out it has a completely different business model to Intel and ships significantly more products.
  
  
• Could 450-mm wafers play away from the leading edge? (Monday Jan. 23, 2012)
  Many people have assumed that when the processing of integrated circuits on 450-mm diameter wafers comes, it will do so first for the most advanced digital manufacturing processes. But does it have to be that way?
  
  
• New Report Outlines Trends in U.S. Global Competitiveness in Science and Technology (Monday Jan. 23, 2012)
  The United States remains the global leader in supporting science and technology (S&T) research and development, but only by a slim margin that could soon be overtaken by rapidly increasing Asian investments in knowledge-intensive economies.
  
  
• TSMC's 28-nm process in trouble, says analyst (Friday Jan. 20, 2012)
  Mike Bryant, technology analyst with Future Horizons Ltd. has said that foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is in trouble with its 28-nm manufacturing process technologies, which are not yet yielding well.
  
  
• M&A Activity Shakes up Mobile Device Semiconductor Market, But Qualcomm Still Holds 30% of the over $25 Billion Market (Thursday Jan. 19, 2012)
  2011 marked a big year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the mobile device semiconductor market. From Intel’s acquisition of Infineon Technologies AG Wireless Solutions to NVIDIA’s purchase of Icera, the mobile device semiconductor market has seen a lot of moving and shaking. Despite all the M&A activity, however, the market is still projected to remain relatively flat, with only 5.6% CAGR from 2010 to 2016, pushing the market from $25 billion in 2010 to $35 billion in 2016.
  
  
• Analyst warns of chip downturn in 2013 (Wednesday Jan. 18, 2012)
  The semiconductor industry is expected to grow by 6 to 7 percent this year, but will contract in 2013 as the U.S. economy slows, according to Handel Jones, founder and CEO of International Business Strategies Inc. (IBS).
  
  
• 36% of Fabs in High-Risk Zones (Wednesday Jan. 18, 2012)
  Semico's 2011 Fab Database study provides key information on changes that occurred in 2011, and what plans are in place for upcoming fab construction and closures in 2012-2013. Key issues addressed in this report are the development work occurring with 450mm and 3D production.
  
  
• ARM's East unimpressed with Medfield, design wins (Monday Jan. 16, 2012)
  Warren East, chairman and CEO of processor technology licensor ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England), is unimpressed by the announcements made by chip giant Intel about the low-power Medfield system-chip and its design wins, according to a Reuters report.
  
  
• SuperSpeed USB-Enabled Device Shipments on Fast Track to 1 Billion in 2014 (Monday Jan. 16, 2012)
  New In-Stat research forecasts SuperSpeed USB-enabled device shipments are on a fast track and will surpass 1 billion in 2014, up from 70 million in 2011.
  
  
• Windows on ARM will not be terribly successful says analyst (Monday Jan. 16, 2012)
  While CES has previously been a show filled with big announcements and brand new technologies, this year’s show was a little different, with more incremental advancements centered on refining devices people already own.
  
  
• EDA Consortium Reports Revenue Increase for Q3, 2011 (Thursday Jan. 12, 2012)
  The EDA Consortium (EDAC) Market Statistics Service (MSS) today announced that the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry revenue increased 18.1 percent for Q3 2011 to $1543.9 million, compared to $1307.0 million in Q3 2010.
  
  
• IFI Announces Top Global Companies Ranked By 2011 U.S. Patents (Thursday Jan. 12, 2012)
  IBM remains in the #1 position, as it has for 19 straight years, with a record 6,180 utility patents, up nearly 5 percent from 2010. A wave of Asian companies fixed on amassing U.S. patent grants, however, continues to grow. Samsung trails second with 4,894, up 8 percent, and Canon, up 11 percent, replaces Microsoft in the #3 slot with 2,821. The next two, Panasonic and Toshiba, each move up one position from where they appeared last year.
  
  
• PwC sees China growth despite IP fears (Thursday Jan. 12, 2012)
  Some companies are still standing on the sidelines of growth opportunities as China expands its domestic market and technical clout, said a PriceWaterhouseCoopers executive.
  
  
• Who are ARM's top ten customers? (Wednesday Jan. 11, 2012)
  The leading customer of processor technology licensor ARM by revenue contribution in 2010, according to Nomura Equities Research, comes as a bit of a surprise. The financial brokerage and analysis house says it was ....
  
  
• Fab Spending Down in 2012 - Dip in First Half, but by Mid-Year Recovery Begins (Wednesday Jan. 11, 2012)
  Semiconductor fab equipment spending is expected to decline by approximately 11 percent in 2012, according to preliminary data from the SEMI World Fab Forecast report.
  
  
• Why the semiconductor industry will rise again (Monday Jan. 09, 2012)
  People ask me is there something wrong with the semiconductor industry if apparently good companies with good technologies such as SiliconBlue Technologies Inc. and PicoChip Ltd. are being sold for less than the venture capital invested in them over several years.
  
  
• Needed: A U.S. manufacturing renaissance (Friday Jan. 06, 2012)
  With the pox that is the U.S. presidential election campaign upon us, it’s a good time to begin looking at concrete proposals for reviving the U.S. economy and identifying a new engine for economic growth. I submit that the incumbent and all of his challengers begin by focusing on what could be called a U.S. manufacturing renaissance.
  
  
• Semiconductor Inventory Declines as Suppliers Adjust to Slow Market Conditions (Thursday Jan. 05, 2012)
  Chip inventories held by semiconductor suppliers declined in the third quarter of 2011, putting a halt to the steady expansion of the previous seven quarters, as the industry cut production in order to reduce oversupply.