On July 9, 2019, I attended the TechTALK session hosted by Dave Kelf of Breker Systems, Inc. titled, “Applied AI in Design-to-Manufacturing.” I was happy to hear what Dave had put together for this since it is a topic I am keenly interested in and because I have known Dave personally through music and charitable activities we have … Read More
eSilicon’s Latest SerDes Solution is Here – And It Took A Village
I recently watched a webinar given by eSilicon about its project to enhance its licensable solution for 56 and 112 Gigabit per second PAM4 & NRZ DSP-based SerDes family in 7nm. I am sure it was complicated enough to coordinate a webinar with a host, a moderator, and three different technical presenters – however when we are talking… Read More
Great, early signs of a recovery in logic, not memory
A “Logic Lead” recovery confirmed- Memory still mired, 3400C = “Third times a charm”. EUV finally accelerates as all ducks now in a row.
ASML posted a good quarter with great orders and capped off with a strong outlook for the current quarter. Logic demand is sparking a recovery while memory remains essentially… Read More
Semicon West 2019 – Day 2
Tuesday July 9th was the first day the show floor was open at Semicon. The following is a summary of some announcements I attended and general observations.
AMAT Announcement
My day started with an Applied Materials (AMAT) briefing for press and analysts where they announced “the most sophisticated system they have ever released”.… Read More
Semicon West was sluggish with hopes of 2020 recovery
Bouncing along a not too bad bottom
Given that we have followed the semiconductor industry through many down cycles, we can safely say that this one isn’t all that bad by comparison. Everyone, big & small, is still safely profitable and in relatively good shape. Though we are seeing the normal week long holiday shut downs
The Nanometrics – Rudolph Technology Merger: What Was Nanometrics Thinking?
On June 24, 2019, Nanometrics and Rudolph Technology announced they will combine in an all-stock merger of equals transaction. The companies say the combination increases the SAM (served available market) opportunity to approximately $3B.
This article attempts to analyze the two companies in their different business segments,… Read More
Two Fun Things To Do at SEMICON West on July 9, 2019
I will be at SEMICON / EE Design West on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, and so should you!
Quantum computing will be a hot topic at SEMICON West and on Tuesday, July 9, the IBM Quantum Computer will be on display at the Smart Design Pavilion in the South Hall (Moscone Center) from 10:00am to 5:00pm. It looks like no other computer I have ever… Read More
Double-digit semiconductor decline in 2019
The global semiconductor market is headed for a double-digit decline for the year 2019 after a decline of 15.6% in first quarter 2019 from fourth quarter 2018. According to WSTS (World Semiconductor Trade Statistics) data, this was the largest quarter-to-quarter decline since a 16.3% decline in first quarter 2009, ten years … Read More
SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference – Imec design papers
At the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference Imec presented several design papers and I have had the opportunity to review the papers and speak with the authors. In this summary I am going to address three emerging areas in order of when I think they may be implemented from soonest to latest.
Specifically, I will discuss:
- Buried Power
Micron beats subdued guidance on output cuts
2020 capex likely down at least 20% vs 2019 DRAM & NAND price drops versus slowing capacity. Investors happy cause it could have been worse.
Micron reported $1.05 in Non-GAAP EPS beating street consensus of $0.79 by $0.26. While this looks like a big beat, we would remind investors that estimates for the quarter were about… Read More
Real men have fabs!