At the SEMI ISS conference earlier this week, the last speaker in the technology challenges section was Handel Jones of IBS. I’ve known Handel since the mid-1980s when he came to VLSI Technology and told us we were losing money on 90% of the designs we were doing but our cost model was not good enough and so we didn’t even… Read More
International CES Wrapup
Semiconductor Intelligence attended the International CES last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. A wide variety of consumer electronics devices were displayed at the conference. These ranged from:
· Fascinating – but is it practical? (personal robots, drones)
· Exciting – but when will it be cheap enough for the mass market? (UHD TV,… Read More
The State of 450mm Wafers. And Intel Gossip
Paul Farrar, the General Manager of the Global 450mm Consortium (G450C) presented at the SEMI ISS conference today. What is G450C, it is a public-private consortium to develop a cost-effective 450mm wafer fabrication infrastructure, develop equipment prototypes and coordinate the industry move to 450mm. It is located in Albany… Read More
Technology Challenges: Intel, IBM, Xilinx, GlobalFoundries, IMEC
I spent the day at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium in Half Moon Bay. The early part of the day was devoted to technology challenges. Obviously everyone did not say exactly the same things, and had a little bit of a different spin depending on what business they are in. But there was a lot of commonality between Intel, IBM, Xilinx… Read More
GSA Silicon Summit
Every year the GSA holds the GSA Silicon Summit. This year it is on April 10th at the Computer History Museum. It runs from 9am until 2.15pm. This year the focus is mostly on technologies other than simply scaling semiconductor technology. The meeting is divided into 3 sessions, each of which starts with a presentation and then is … Read More
International CES: Day Three
Tuesday, January 7
Today was the official start of International CES. The crowds were huge – almost every area of the massive Las Vegas Convention Center was crowded.
Now that we have all spent lots of money replacing our old picture tube television sets with big flat panel HDTVs, manufacturers are pushing the next big thing: Ultra… Read More
International CES: Day Two
Monday, January 6, 2014.Press conference day at International CES, starting with LG at 8 am and finishing with Sony at 5 pm. Some of the most interesting presentations (I will not overuse the word “cool” today) were:
Izon, LLC introduced a glasses-free 3D TV. They demonstrated on a 24 inch screen playing the latest … Read More
International CES: Day One
Semiconductor Intelligence will be attending the International CES this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) puts on the show each year. The CEA insists the meeting be called “International CES” and states “CES” no longer stands for Consumer Electronics Show. The… Read More
SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium
The SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) is Jan 13th-15th at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. When I discussed this with my beautiful wife as a possible business trip for us and mentioned the agenda she stopped me and said, “You had me at Ritz-Carlton!” As you can see by the picture it has a beautiful ocean view and includes a world… Read More
Semiconductor equipment back on track
Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales have increased each of the last three quarters after dropping significantly in the second half of 2012, based on data from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). Much of the volatility is in sales… Read More
Intel’s Pearl Harbor Moment