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Commentary / Analysis

• ST to deny rivals FDSOI access (Tuesday May. 21, 2013)
  STMicroelectronics is considering plans to offer its fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) process to second-tier foundries United Microelectronics Corp. and SMIC.
  
  
• Qualcomm and Samsung Pass AMD in MPU Ranking (Tuesday May. 21, 2013)
  A slowdown in notebook and desktop personal computer purchases coupled with strong growth in smartphones and tablet PCs knocked Advanced Micro Devices down to fourth place in microprocessor sales in 2012 from second, where AMD had been perched behind Intel since the 1990s, according to a new ranking of MPU suppliers by IC Insights.
  
  
• ST's strategy is a tale of two segments (Friday May. 17, 2013)
  ST tells analysts it is going to report financial results for its both digital and analog business segments for "transparency" but remains committed to exploiting manufacturing technologies it has Crolles, including its FDSOI process.
  
  
• TSMC plots system super chips (Tuesday May. 14, 2013)
  TSMC recently detailed its plans to dominate the "system super-chip" market in an exclusive EE Times interview with its chief technology officer and vice president of R&D, Jack Sun.
  
  
• What will the IP landscape look like in the future (Monday May. 13, 2013)
  Today the question is: When the 3rd party IP market/business was first conceived, it was a bunch of small startups plus a few more established players. Significant consolidation has happened and a lot of IP is now supplied by the EDA companies. What do you think the IP landscape will look like in the future? Who owns it?
  
  
• Eleven Companies Move Up in 1Q13 Top 20 Semi Supplier Ranking (Monday May. 13, 2013)
  The top-20 ranking includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and four fabless companies.
  
  
• Segars won't rock the ARM boat (Monday May. 13, 2013)
  The incoming CEO of ARM obviously believes in one timeless adage: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  
  
• Smartphone Apps Processor Revenue Soared 60 Percent in 2012 (Friday May. 10, 2013)
  Global smartphone applications processor market showed a robust 60 percent year-on-year growth in 2012 to reach $12.9 billion, according to the Strategy Analytics.
  
  
• Synopsys, Imagination make gains in semi IP ranking (Monday May. 06, 2013)
  Synopsys and Imagination made gains on leader ARM in the semiconductor IP market in 2012, according to market research firm Gartner.
  
  
• Global Semiconductor Sales Outpace Last Year through First Quarter of 2013 (Friday May. 03, 2013)
  SIA today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $23.48 billion for the month of March 2013, an increase of 1.1 percent from the previous month when sales were $23.23 billion.
  
  
• Analog IC Market Struggles to Gain Footing in 2012 (Thursday May. 02, 2013)
  Worldwide economic uncertainty has given the analog IC market plenty of ups and downs over the last several years; however 2012 was one of the worst years for this segment. Analog was down 7 percent from 2011 with revenues just shy of $40 billion, although this was the unfortunate reality for the entire semiconductor market, which had an average decline of 3 percent in 2012.
  
  
• Fabless Suppliers Play Increasing Role in IC Market (Thursday May. 02, 2013)
  Unlike the relatively close annual market growth relationship between fabless IC suppliers and foundries, fabless IC company sales growth versus IDM (integrated device manufacturer) IC supplier growth has typically been very different.
  
  
• Audio Semiconductor Market Achieves Loud and Clear Gains in Cellphones (Tuesday Apr. 30, 2013)
  Driven by their capability to improve sound quality and boost language-recognition user interfaces such as Apple’s Siri, audio integrated circuits (IC) are set for expansive growth in cellphones, with chips for noise reduction and natural speech expected to be the biggest uses during the next five years
  
  
• Recovery in 2013 Semiconductor Capex (Tuesday Apr. 30, 2013)
  Semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been on an upswing for the last few months. Combined data from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) shows three-month-average bookings have increased for five consecutive months through March 2013. Billings have increased for the last two months.
  
  
• MCU Market on Migration Path to 32-bit and ARM-based Devices (Monday Apr. 29, 2013)
  In 2012, MCUs turned into a convoluted marketplace with unit shipments surging 16%, but total revenues declining 3% and average selling prices (ASPs) plunging 17%. While uncertainty about the global economy played a factor in lowering MCU revenues, the market was significantly undermined by price erosion in 2012 as competition intensified in 32-bit microcontrollers.
  
  
• Top MEMS Foundries: TSMC passes specialty MEMS players in Yole's annual ranking (Monday Apr. 29, 2013)
  In 2012, TSMC’s MEMS foundry business enjoyed ~80% growth, achieved ~$42 million in sales and moved up to third place in Yole Développement’s annual MEMS foundry sector rankings. The Taiwanese foundry’s MEMS business is now the largest of any open foundry, putting it shoulder-to-shoulder with pure-play specialty MEMS foundries like TELEDYNEDALSA (~$39 million).
  
  
• SMIC rides on China fabless growth (Friday Apr. 26, 2013)
  Five consecutive quarters of revenue growth posted by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) through the first quarter of 2013 paint a picture of a new SMIC, with solid operations carefully managed by CEO T.Y. Chiu. It also tells a story of the rapid growth of China fabless companies over the recent years and how SMIC is finally profiting from that trend.
  
  
• AMD will go embedded with ARM (Tuesday Apr. 23, 2013)
  As Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) emerges from the management revolution of 2012 it is moving quickly to try and accommodate a computing revolution. Part of the revolution is the Internet of things which AMD says it plans to address and that surely means that AMD will be offering ARM-based solutions for embedded applications.
  
  
• Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Spending Declined 16 Percent in 2012, According to Final Results by Gartner (Monday Apr. 22, 2013)
  Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending totaled $37.8 billion in 2012, a 16.1 percent decline from 2011, according to final results by Gartner, Inc.
  
  
• Mobile SoCs still lacking good software model (Monday Apr. 22, 2013)
  The industry lacks consensus on how to program the heterogeneous mobile SoCs now on the rise in smartphones and tablets. But the good news is some promising power-friendly techniques are starting to emerge.
  
  
• Will ASICs be replaced in comms gear? (Friday Apr. 19, 2013)
  Nick McKeown, an engineering professor at Stanford University, expects a new breed of merchant networking processors to replace ASICs in routers and switches over the next decade.
  
  
• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts March 2013 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.14 (Friday Apr. 19, 2013)
  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.14 billion in orders worldwide in March 2013 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14, according to the March Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.
  
  
• Cheap smartphone boom bodes ill for Intel (Thursday Apr. 18, 2013)
  Intel is not well poised for the battle ahead in smartphones costing less than $350, expected to drive most of the sector’s growth, said a market watcher.
  
  
• ARM's low end undercut by Andes core (Thursday Apr. 18, 2013)
  Taiwan's Andes is shipping a processor core that uses 30 percent less power than an ARM Cortex M0 at the same performance as well as a new high-end core for networking.
  
  
• Could Intel's new CEO be blast from past? (Tuesday Apr. 16, 2013)
  The world’s biggest chip maker is due for a new chief executive in less than 30 days and a returning veteran could fill the chair nicely. The clock is ticking down toward the deadline for Intel to name a new chief executive, and people are starting to notice. Paul Otellini is set to retire on May 16 when the world’s largest semiconductor maker has its next shareholder meeting.
  
  
• What Imagination must do next (Monday Apr. 15, 2013)
  The integration of any two companies is a painful process. I got further explanation about the exodus of former MIPS people -- sales and FAEs -- in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China.
  
  
• 5 questions with TSMC founder Morris Chang (Monday Apr. 15, 2013)
  It’s a rare treat to get a chance to ask a few questions of Morris Chang, the man who invented the semiconductor foundry model when he helped found Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. back in 1987. The man referred to within TSMC simply as “chairman” typically travels to the U.S. just once a year.
  
  
• TSMC starts FinFETs in 2013, tries EUV at 10 nm (Friday Apr. 12, 2013)
  Facing heated competition from Globalfoundries and Samsung, TSMC pulled in plans for initial production of its 16-nm FinFET process to the end of 2013. In addition, it hopes to adopt extreme ultraviolet lithography to make 10-nm chips starting in late 2015 but is still researching e-beam as an alternative.
  
  
• Multimode "Thin" Baseband Chip Market Grew 892% in 2012 (Thursday Apr. 11, 2013)
  The highest cellular chip growth rate last year was the multimode stand-alone (3G/LTE) baseband chip market at 892% for a total of $852 million. That represented 50 million modems and another 20 million 3G/LTE digital basebands integrated with application processors (DBB Apps Processors) brought the 3G/LTE basebands to 70 million total units.
  
  
• Fourth-Quarter Reprieve Brings Little Relief to Semiconductor Makers in 2012 - but Spurs 2013 Rebound (Wednesday Apr. 10, 2013)
  Global semiconductor revenue in 2012 declined by 2.2 percent from 2011, according to final results from the IHS iSuppli Competitive Landscaping Tool (CLT) from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). The preliminary forecast issued by IHS in December projected a drop of 2.3 percent.