Unit shipments of both PCs and smartphones versus a year ago have turned positive. According to IDC, PC shipments in 1Q 2024 were up 1.5% from 1Q 2023, the first positive year-to-year change since 4Q 2021. Smartphone year-to-year growth turned positive in 4Q 2023 at 8.5%. The growth continued in 1Q 2024 at 7.8%. 4Q 2023 was the first… Read More
Real men have fabs!
“Real men have fabs” was an insult AMD founder Jerry Sanders hurled at his poor competitors who could not afford to build fabs. A few years later, AMD would be fabless, spinning off its manufacturing facilities as GlobalFoundries. This was the beginning of a transformative period for the industry.
Lisa Su could rightfully retort:
Not all Smartphones are Created Equal
TechInsights recognizes Earth Day 2024 by lifting the screen on smartphone semiconductor sustainability
Smartphones are typically compared based on screen size, processor speed, and camera resolution. But when TechInsights looked at carbon footprints for manufacturing just the semiconductors of three flagship phones,… Read More
ASML- Soft revenues & Orders – But…China 49% – Memory Improving
ASML- better EPS but weaker revenues- 2024 recovery on track
China jumps 10% to 49%- Memory looking better @59% of orders
Order lumpiness increases with ASP- EUV will be up-DUV down
“Passing Bottom” of what has been a long down cycle
Weak revenues & orders but OK EPS
Reported revenue was Euro5.3B and EPS of Euro3.11… Read More
Semi Market Decreased by 8% in 2023… When Design IP Sales Grew by 6%!
Design IP revenues had achieved $7.04B in 2023, with disparity between license, growing by 14% and royalty decreasing by 6%, and main categories. Processor (CPU, DSP, GPU & ISP) slightly growing by 3.4% when Physical (SRAM Memory Compiler, Flash Memory Compiler, Library and I/O, AMS, Wireless Interface) slightly decreasing… Read More
Silicon Catalyst partners with Arm to launch the Arm Flexible Access for Startups Contest!
Winner and Runner-up to receive the contest’s largest ever technology credit for production tape-outs.
This is an example of why I enjoy working with Silicon Catalyst. They collaborate with our partners and do some really impressive things, all for the greater good of the semiconductor industry, absolutely. If you are not currently… Read More
ASML moving to U.S.- Nvidia to change name to AISi & acquire PSI Quantum
- Nvidia changing name to AISi (AI silicon) reflecting business focus
- Nvidia to buy PSI Quantum to combine AI & quantum efforts
- ASML to move to U.S. to reduce China & employee restrictions
- New Japanese consortia firms join Rapidus & IBM fab team
Nvidia renaming to reflect AI reality
Nvidia which is now clearly seen as … Read More
2024 Outlook with Srinivasa Kakumanu of MosChip
MosChip is a publicly traded company founded in the year 1999, they offer semiconductor design services, turnkey ASIC, software services, and end-to-end product engineering solutions. The company headquartered in Hyderabad, India, with five design centers and over 1300 engineers located in Silicon Valley (USA), Hyderabad,… Read More
Semiconductor CapEx Down in 2024
U.S. President Biden announced on Wednesday an agreement to provide Intel with $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans under the CHIPS and Science Act. Intel will use the funding for wafer fabs in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon. As reported in our December 2023 newsletter, the CHIPS Act provides a total of $52.7… Read More
Simulating the Whole Car with Multi-Domain Simulation
Next significant automotive blog in a string I will be posting (see here for the previous blog).
In the semiconductor world, mixed simulation means mixing logic sim, circuit sim, virtual sim (for software running on the hardware we are designing) along with emulation and FPGA prototyping. While that span may seem all-encompassing,… Read More


CES 2026 and all things Cycling