We all have echoed the fact that the arrival of fabless business model in the semiconductor industry has transformed it completely. The book, “Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry” provides several stories around that. In the backdrop of that, one key point to ponder upon is the start of pure-play foundries;… Read More
Is 7nm Coming to the TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum?
This is the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] TSMC Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum and it is not to be missed. Please note that the location has moved from the San Jose Convention Center to the Santa Clara Convention Center which is literally right across the street from the new Levi’s Stadium. If you haven’t been to the new stadium you really… Read More
TSMC (Apple) Update Q2 2015!
The TSMC quarterly conference call was last week and of course it stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Let me share with you my experience, observations, and opinions and maybe together we can come up with an accurate prediction for 2016. First let’s take a look at 20nm and what people now call the “Apple effect.”
Correct… Read More
Who Needs to Lead at the 14, 10 and 7nm nodes
IBM recently disclosed a working 7nm test chip generating a lot of excitement in the semiconductor industry and also in the mainstream media. In this article I wanted to explore the 14nm, 10nm and 7nm nodes, the status of the key competitors at each node and what it may mean for the companies.
After Five Years, 28nm Future Remains Bright!
Five years ago TSMC started 28nm mass production and it went on to become one of the most versatile and successful process technologies in history. The first wave was triggered by an unprecedented demand for application processors from smartphone and tablet vendors. Today it’s widely assumed that 28nm demand will continue growing… Read More
Why Did Intel Pay $15B For Altera?
While I was at the imec Technology Forum someone asked me “Why did Intel pay $15B for Altera?” (the actual reported number is $16.7B).
The received wisdom is that Intel decided that it needs FPGA technology to remain competitive in the datacenter. There is a belief among some people that without FPGA acceleration available for vision… Read More
TSMC Shows 10nm Wafer!
If you really want to know why I write about TSMC it is all about ego, my massive ego, absolutely. Blogs about TSMC and the foundries have always driven the most traffic and they most likely always will. Semiconductor IP is second, Semiconductor Design is third, and I don’t think that is going to change anytime soon:
SemiWiki BI: Daniel… Read More
"Cook’s Law" supersedes "Moore’s Law"-its impact on Apple, Samsung, TSMC & Intel
Apple drives the semi industry harder than Wintel ever did: Is winning Apple’s chip business a pyrrhic victory? Is 14nm done before it starts? Too short to be profitable?
Chips marching to an Apple cadence…
In the “old days” when Wintel ruled the roost and drove the semi industry, it was driving spending… Read More
Why does Apple do business with Samsung?
The Apple and Samsung relationship is an interesting one. On one hand they have co-developed some of the most innovative products on the market today (iPod, iPhone, iPad, iWatch) yet they are fierce competitors in the mobile market. Some call this type of business relationship “frenemies” others refer to the old Italian proverb… Read More
TSMC 10nm Readiness and 3DIC
At the TSMC Technology Symposium last month Suk Lee presented a lot of information on design enablement. Suk is an interesting guy with a unique background in ASIC, Semiconductor, EDA, and now Foundry. In baseball terms that would be like playing infield, outfield, home plate, and umpire!
Around the turn of the millennium Suk actually… Read More