Word on the street is that TSMC is on schedule with 16FFC, 10nm and 7nm, which is a very big deal for the fabless semiconductor ecosystem. As Scotten Jones has illustrated in the graphic below, for the first time in the history of the semiconductor industry a pure-play foundry (TSMC) will have the process lead over Intel. And this is… Read More
Author: Daniel Nenni
Is AMD for Sale?
AMD has been artificially pumping up their stock of late so the question I have is; why? What is with the short term strategy? The only answer that I deem noteworthy is that AMD is trying to get acquired and there is a strong case emerging to support that. Also note that AMD CEO Lisa Su is currently the largest single AMD stock holder which… Read More
TSMC Fab 12 is a Pokemon Go Stop!
It only seems fitting that Fab 12 is a PokeStop since TSMC stands to make a lot of money from the augmented reality gaming craze that is sweeping the world. Unfortunately, most of the press I have read about Pokemon Go has been negative but that is the new “negative media” world we live in. As a player myself (level 25) and a semiconductor… Read More
The Role of IP Selection and Integration in First-Time Silicon Success
As IP expert Eric Esteve has written, Semiconductor IP has consistently outgrown the other design enablement segments and will continue to do so. This has been my personal experience as well during my EDA and IP career so we should all know how important Semiconductor IP is. We certainly know how valuable it is with ARM valued at $32B!… Read More
Next SemiWiki Book Signing Event: MIPI DEVCON!
This is the first MIPI DEVCOM event and the location is my favorite, the Computer Museum in Silicon Valley. For those of you who haven’t been, the Computer Museum preserves and presents for posterity the artifacts and stories of the information age, an age we all grew up in. For those of you who have been to the Computer Museum there … Read More
Apple will NEVER use Intel Custom Foundry!
The media already has Apple and Intel in talks to make the A11 SoC in 2018 as a result of the recent Intel/ARM IP licensing deal. This is probably one of the funnier media bumbles I have read in a while so let’s talk about it in a little more detail.
“According to Nikkei Asian Review, Intel is now perfectly poised to give TSMC a good run for… Read More
MediaTek is on the Move with TSMC!
MediaTek (MTK) recently made the news for announcing their first leading edge SoC (Helio X30), a 32% increase in quarter over quarter sales, and an expected 30% increase for the year. Both of which deserve a closer look as we move into the second half of 2016 which should be very strong for MTK TSMC, and the fabless semiconductor ecosystem.… Read More
What is Inside the iPhone 7?
TSMC is the bellwether for not only the foundry business, since they are the dominant player, but also the semiconductor industry as a whole. You could also argue that TSMC is a sneak peek into the world economy since they build capacity based on their customer’s forecasts and the world now revolves around semiconductors.
The other… Read More
Qualcomm is Back on Top of the SoC World!
In 2015 Qualcomm stunned the fabless semiconductor world with an unprecedented layoff. When I first heard about it the number was 5% but it kept growing and finally hit 15%. The big misstep here was, that after being the SoC leader starting in 2007 with the Snapdragon series of chips that powered the Smartphone revolution, QCOM did… Read More
TSMC and Pokemon Go!
As Pokemon Go invades the world, let me give you a firsthand player’s description of the game and why the next generation of augmented reality apps will energize the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and greatly benefit TSMC.
While I am not a “gamer” per say, I am a technologist and am always looking for new semiconductor market drivers.… Read More
TSMC N3 Process Technology Wiki