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Commentary / Analysis

• Analysis: Why ARM-AMD makes sense (Wednesday Apr. 27, 2011)
  Warren East, CEO of processor licensor ARM, says there is no story here. East says that he and his CFO Tim Score were asked about AMD during analyst discussions over ARM's record first quarter financial results and that he had simply said that ARM has been trying to sell to AMD for long time – as ARM's shareholders would expect.
  
  
• ARM working on AMD to drop x86 (Wednesday Apr. 27, 2011)
  ARM Holdings plc is trying to persuade Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the long-time rival to global chip leader Intel Corp. to license ARM processors and use them instead of the x86 architecture.
  
  
• ARM sales soar on broadening license deals (Wednesday Apr. 27, 2011)
  ARM Holdings plc turned in yet another record quarter with Q1 sales revenue up 26 percent on a year before, compared with a semiconductor market that was up 13 percent.
  
  
• U.S. firms still dominate fabless rankings (Monday Apr. 25, 2011)
  U.S.-based companies captured nine of the top 10 places and 13 of the top 20 spots in a sales ranking of global fabless chip suppliers compiled by market research firm IC Insights Inc.
  
  
• Icahn letter highlights Mentor CEO's pay (Friday Apr. 22, 2011)
  Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has written an open letter to the shareholders of EDA software licensor Mentor Graphics Corp. attacking the performance of the board, highlighting the CEO's pay and arguing that a board including his nominees need not be focused solely on selling the company.
  
  
• Wafer Demand: Good to Grow in 2011 (Friday Apr. 22, 2011)
  The foundries are ramping 32nm/28nm production, but that's only one of the reasons wafer demand is forecast to grow at above average rates this year. MEMS and sensors will help to grow wafer demand at the ≥1000nm technology nodes. Microcontroller units are expected to grow by just over 10%, driving up the need for more silicon.
  
  
• India preps $5 billion two-fab plan (Thursday Apr. 21, 2011)
  The Indian government has announced renewed efforts to try and create a chip manufacturing industry on the sub-continent and is looking for investment of about $5 billion to build two wafer fabs.
  
  
• 3-D ICs stack up design challenges (Thursday Apr. 21, 2011)
  Mentor Graphics Chairman and CEO Walden Rhines (See picture) outlined the likely evolutionary stages of 3-D IC development, from today's relatively simple stacked dice to a distant future of design in a homogeneous 3-D space
  
  
• Report: Toshiba forced to halve NAND output (Thursday Apr. 21, 2011)
  Toshiba Corp. has told customers it will have to halve its output of NAND flash memory ICs in May and June because of a shortage of blank wafers and other materials.
  
  
• A wakeup call for the global semiconductor supply chain (Tuesday Apr. 19, 2011)
  The serious disruptions in the global semiconductor manufacturing and supply chain following the tragic events in Japan triggered painful but productive discussions. Some of the discussions focused on the weaknesses in today's supply chain.
  
  
• Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Rose by More Than $70 Billion in 2010, According to Final Results by Gartner (Monday Apr. 18, 2011)
  Total worldwide semiconductor revenue reached $299.4 billion in 2010, up $70.7 billion, or 30.9 percent from 2009, the largest dollar increase for the semiconductor industry in any one year, according to Gartner, Inc. However, the industry just fell short of the milestone $300 billion revenue threshold.
  
  
• A5: All Apple, part mystery (Wednesday Apr. 13, 2011)
  Apple Inc.'s iPad2 has only been publicly available for about a month. However, it appears this young device has kept few secrets since we have known there were 21 magnets in the smart cover and saw a die floorplan of the A5 within mere days of its release.
  
  
• Intel designs smartphone, says report (Tuesday Apr. 12, 2011)
  Intel Corp. has designed a cellular handset that could be manufactured by China's ZTE Corp., according to a report by the Bloomberg news service that cites two anonymous sources.
  
  
• Will TI + NSC be less than, greater than, or equal to the individual parts? (Monday Apr. 11, 2011)
  Now that the initial wave of analysis and comments on the proposed acquisition of National Semiconductor Corp. by Texas Instruments has crested, I thought I'd add my views to the next round of opinions. Will the acquisition be a success, a mistake, or mixed event?
  
  
• ARM versus Intel: a successful stratagem for RISC or grist for CISC's tricks? (Thursday Apr. 07, 2011)
  ARM and its licensees are striving to expand their overall market presence by tackling Intel’s x86 in servers and client desktop and laptop computers. Intel has responded by attacking ARM on its own turf: handsets, tablets, and the like.
  
  
• Analyst: Apple qualifying TSMC (Thursday Apr. 07, 2011)
  During the TSMC 2011 Technology Symposium, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) did not discuss its rumored foundry deal with Apple Inc.
  
  
• Why is TSMC moving into 450-mm? (Thursday Apr. 07, 2011)
  During the TSMC 2011 Technology Symposium, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) provided more details about its efforts in the 450-mm arena.
  
  
• Apple patent describes combo interface (Thursday Apr. 07, 2011)
  Apple won a patent on a combo interface for packing USB 3.0, DisplayPort and possibly Thunderbolt over one relatively small interconnect.
  
  
• Cadence exec discusses China strategy (Thursday Apr. 07, 2011)
  For the past few years, most of the growth in the EDA industry has been occurring in the Asia-Pacific Region, including China. A recent collaboration with China-based Spreadtrum Communications Ltd. has illustrated Cadence Design Systems' intention to seize opportunities and further strengthen its position on the Chinese market.
  
  
• 7 takeaways from Morris Chang's keynote (Wednesday Apr. 06, 2011)
  An outline of the seven main points made by TSMC Chairman and CEO Morris Chang in his keynote address at the TSMC 2011 Technology Symposium
  
  
• NXP next as TI resets market values? (Wednesday Apr. 06, 2011)
  
  
  
• Analysis: TI-National deal a smart use of cash (Tuesday Apr. 05, 2011)
  Texas Instruments, which has shied away from big acquisitions, put its cash reserves to work through its acquisition of National Semiconductor.
  
  
• SIA Reports February Global Chip Sales of $25.2 Billion (Monday Apr. 04, 2011)
  SIA today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors were $25.2 billion for the month of February 2011, a slight decline of 1.1 percent from the prior month when sales were $25.5 billion and in line with historical seasonal trends for the industry.
  
  
• Android Will Seize 45% of Smartphone Market by 2016, Says ABI Research (Friday Apr. 01, 2011)
  According to ABI Research 302 million smartphones shipped in 2010, chalking up a resounding 71% growth over 2009’s shipment levels.
  
  
• Report: Google could standardize Android on ARM (Thursday Mar. 31, 2011)
  Google Inc. may be entering talks with ARM Holdings plc about a standardization of Android operating system for an ARM-based chipset, according to a Digitimes report that references unnamed sources at notebook computer makers.
  
  
• Chinese Microcontroller Market to Expand by Two Thirds by 2015 (Thursday Mar. 31, 2011)
  Owing to a strong industrial sector and rising sales of consumer electronics devices, China’s microcontroller (MCU) market is expected to reach $4.7 billion in revenue by 2015, up more than two-thirds from $2.8 billion in 2010, according to new IHS iSuppli research.
  
  
• Icahn turns up heat on Mentor's board (Thursday Mar. 31, 2011)
  Billionaire financier Carl Icahn lashed out at EDA vendor Mentor Graphics Corp.'s board of directors Tuesday (March 29), slamming the board for rejecting his $1.9 billion takeover bid and announcing plans to raise up to $253 million through private placement of convertible bonds.
  
  
• Five predictions following Japan quake (Wednesday Mar. 30, 2011)
  Bill McClean, president of IC Insights Inc., provides his analysis of the situation in Japan and its effect on worldwide GDP, electronic system sales, and the worldwide semiconductor market.
  
  
• Is the end near for Intel's Itanium? (Thursday Mar. 24, 2011)
  Is the end near for Intel's Corp. Itanium processor?
  
  
• Wipro to expand IC design unit (Tuesday Mar. 22, 2011)
  For years, chip makers have been under pressure on two fronts. They must reduce costs but develop and ship devices in a timely fashion.