What is Inside the iPhone 7?

What is Inside the iPhone 7?
by Daniel Nenni on 08-20-2016 at 7:00 am

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!

Qualcomm is Back on Top of the SoC World!
by Daniel Nenni on 08-13-2016 at 7:00 am

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!

TSMC and Pokemon Go!
by Daniel Nenni on 08-09-2016 at 4:00 pm

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


efabless: Think GitHub for ICs and IP

efabless: Think GitHub for ICs and IP
by Daniel Nenni on 08-02-2016 at 4:00 pm

For those of you who don’t know, GitHub is the crowdsourcing version of the defacto industry standard GIT source code management software. Currently, more than 14 million people have deposited more than 35 million software projects (mostly open-source) on GitHub making it the largest host of source code in the world.

Now think… Read More


Why is AMD Stock Jumping?

Why is AMD Stock Jumping?
by Daniel Nenni on 07-30-2016 at 7:00 am

One of my favorite pastimes is listening to the quarterly investor calls of the leading semiconductor companies. I can then match up the talking points with the calls I do with Wall Street, the conferences I attend, and the other data points I have collected while working inside the fabless semiconductor ecosystem for more than … Read More


More Details on the Smartphone and Wearables Market

More Details on the Smartphone and Wearables Market
by Daniel Nenni on 07-26-2016 at 4:00 pm

The Linley Mobile Conference opened today with a nice keynote overview of the mobile market evolution. In the media I see a lot of doom and gloom articles about smartphones and wearables but if you look at it closely you will see a natural growth curve evolving.

The mobile semiconductor market is evolving as vendors split their focusRead More


Coming Up Next: ARM IoT ASICs!

Coming Up Next: ARM IoT ASICs!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-25-2016 at 12:00 pm

The History of ASICs is well documented in our book “Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry” which illustrates the earliest forms of design start driven collaboration. The history of ARM is well documented in our book “Mobile Unleashed” which illustrates an entire company culture based on design start driven… Read More


10nm Will Be an Epic Process Node!

10nm Will Be an Epic Process Node!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-21-2016 at 7:00 am

In the history of the fabless semiconductor industry the foundries have always been a process node or two behind the leading semiconductor manufacturers. Starting in Q1 2017, for the first time in fabless semiconductor history, the foundries will have a process node advantage. This is horrible news for some but great news for … Read More


IC and System Design for Mobile and Wearable Devices!

IC and System Design for Mobile and Wearable Devices!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-16-2016 at 7:00 am

The Linley Mobile and Wearable Conference is coming up so let’s take a look at what is in store for us. Bernard Murphy, Tom Simon, and I will be covering the event live for SemiWiki and we will also be doing a book giveaway/signing for our new “Prototypical” book (compliments of S2C Inc.) during the networking event on Tuesday evening.… Read More