Mentor – Cadence Merger and the Federal Trade Commission

Mentor – Cadence Merger and the Federal Trade Commission
by Daniel Nenni on 12-12-2010 at 5:33 pm


More consolidation is coming to EDA and so is the Federal Trade Commission. Corporate raider Carl Ichan owns 15% of Mentor Graphics and now owns 1% of Cadence. Ichan buddy multi billionaire George Soros, a long time CDNS investor, just purchased more than 76 million convertible notes of MENT.You do the math…

Unfortunately the FTC… Read More


TSMC vs GlobalFoundries IBM Samsung

TSMC vs GlobalFoundries IBM Samsung
by Daniel Nenni on 12-05-2010 at 9:52 pm


GlobalFoundries has brought the Common Platform Alliance back from the dead!?!?!?! Good thing too as it is probably their most comprehensive weapon against TSMC and answers the single biggest question customers have at 28nm and that is; Will there be enough CAPACITY?

The Common Platform technology alliance hosted its first-ever… Read More


Intel versus ARM (Linaro)

Intel versus ARM (Linaro)
by Daniel Nenni on 11-28-2010 at 11:35 am

More than 2,500 companies will be exhibiting and more than 120,000 people will be attending the next Consumer Electronics Show(CES) and it is an easy bet that ARM processors will dominate the show yet again. In fact, my money is on ARM to dominate future generations of computing platforms (smartphones) due in large part to one simple… Read More


Mentor Acquires Magma?

Mentor Acquires Magma?
by Daniel Nenni on 11-21-2010 at 5:39 pm

**This blog was written a year ago. Several people emailed me last week saying Mentor is trying for Magma again so I thought I would run it again to see what we can find out!D.A.N. 11/21/2011

“I believe that within five years only two EDA companies will survive,” said Magma Design Automation Rajeev Madhavan (Silicom Ventures LLC internationalRead More


Russian Silicon Valley

Russian Silicon Valley
by Daniel Nenni on 11-14-2010 at 6:22 pm

In case you missed it, last June Dmitry Medvedev (the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] President of Russia) visited Northern California to better understand and hopefully replicate the success of Silicon Valley in Russia. Last month Governor Schwarzenegger returned the favor by visiting Moscow with a delegate of Silicon Valley business leaders… Read More


TSMC Versus Intel?

TSMC Versus Intel?
by Daniel Nenni on 11-07-2010 at 7:18 pm


The big announcement last week was Intel opening up its 22nm manufacturing facilities to an outside company. Even better it’s an FPGA company. There are literally hundreds of write ups on this landmark event so it is definitely blog worthy. But what does it really mean? I have read (5) possibilities:

(1) Intel enters the FPGA businessRead More


Mobile 2Drive Semi 4Ever!

Mobile 2Drive Semi 4Ever!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-30-2010 at 12:07 am

In case you didn’t notice, TSMC’s communications revenue jumped 22% last quarter for a total revenue share of 42%, and that is just the tip of the iceberg for mobile internet. According to the global marketing research company Nielsen, double digit mobile internet adoption rates are the new normal and will continue to be so in the… Read More


Steve Jobs’ 5 Minute Anti Open Systems Rant!

Steve Jobs’ 5 Minute Anti Open Systems Rant!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-24-2010 at 12:58 pm

First of all it was not a rant, it was a clearly scripted rebuttal to the competitive pressures Apple is feeling from Android (here). As I blogged before, Apple is the Open Standards Antichrist and is trying to monopolize the trillion dollar mobile internet ecosystem with a CLOSED platform. According to Steve Jobs, “Open systems… Read More


Semiconductor Supply and Demand in 2010/2011

Semiconductor Supply and Demand in 2010/2011
by Daniel Nenni on 10-22-2010 at 6:41 pm


The semiconductor analysts are at it again, revising numbers, polishing their guesstimates, and patting each other on the back for being equally as inaccurate. I blame these crystal ball hacks for the semiconductor shortages and price hikes we are experiencing today.

These people get paid to guide investors, and the industry… Read More


Semiconductor Forecast: 2010 Boom – 2011 Bust?

Semiconductor Forecast: 2010 Boom – 2011 Bust?
by Daniel Nenni on 10-15-2010 at 6:34 pm


Again, my economic bellwether is TSMC, and judging by the first half, 2010 will go down as one of the most profitable years the semiconductor industry has ever seen. In the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] quarter the foundries again posted record breaking wafer shipments, revenues, and profits. 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] quarter foundry financials should… Read More