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This is an interesting article. Kind of a fluff piece but an easy read. Remember, Mark was the one who said the fabless ecosystem was dead. I met Mark after that at a symposium. He sat right next to me and we chatted on and off for three days. He is a low key and humble guy despite what the PR people said and did. Mark makes some interesting comments about Intel 10nm:
Intel’s forthcoming generation of 10-nanometer microprocessors is years behind schedule. That’s a major lapse that enabled rivals to catch up – and in some cases surpass – Intel technology. “We kind of overshot, I think, on our 10nm technology,” Bohr admits. He said the company was too aggressive in its goals for packing transistors onto computer chips. “We bit off a little too much at that step,” he said. “Maybe we should have relaxed a bit in our goals and it would have been a much easier transition.” Many observers have concluded Moore’s Law is at an end, that features on semiconductors are now so small that manufacturers can no longer wring more performance just by packing transistors together more densely. But Bohr insists Intel has learned from its mistakes on 10nm, and that smarter design and new manufacturing tools will enable Intel to resume the pace of innovation.
Mark Bohr Age: 65 Title: Senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration. Family: Married with two grown children. Background: Holds engineering degrees from the University of Illinois. Joined Intel in 1978 and moved to Oregon in 1979. Experience: Intel credits him with leading two major technological advances in semiconductor technology, the switch to new materials known as “high-k metal gate,” and “tri-gate” technology that added a third dimension to the standard transistor.
I first met Mark Bohr at Intel when I worked at the Aloha, Oregon facility, 1978-1980. Yes, a humble engineer who started out in the Technology Development group, but Intel had to exit the DRAM business which was the founding product for the company. Moving from NMOS to CMOS and BiCMOS was a smart transition to take for Intel during the Bohr years.
Losing a leading technology light while putting CFO in charge says all you need to know; innovation is out and "management" is in. If he saw a 10nm win coming soon or easily, why would he leave now rather than in a blaze of glory. Maybe his job is done in more ways than one.
Losing a leading technology light while putting CFO in charge says all you need to know; innovation is out and "management" is in. If he saw a 10nm win coming soon or easily, why would he leave now rather than in a blaze of glory. Maybe his job is done in more ways than one.
I think you may be right but even if Intel did hire a hotshot CEO I do not feel that Intel would regain the technology lead or any other lead. TSMC and Samsung are fierce competitors with a massive ecosystem to support them. In comparison Intel is all alone. That does not mean Intel will not be a financial success, in fact I'm sure they will be. Especially with a CFO as a CEO but the days of Intel showing us how it is done technically are over. Just my opinion of course.
I think you may be right but even if Intel did hire a hotshot CEO I do not feel that Intel would regain the technology lead or any other lead. TSMC and Samsung are fierce competitors with a massive ecosystem to support them. In comparison Intel is all alone. That does not mean Intel will not be a financial success, in fact I'm sure they will be. Especially with a CFO as a CEO but the days of Intel showing us how it is done technically are over. Just my opinion of course.
Perhaps another sign of the transition from Pax Americana to Pax Sinica+, also reading this huge >100 Billion$ investment announced by SK Hynix this morning. Asia seems the place to be in the third decade of the 21st century with Industry 4.0 getting started: SK Hynix plans to spend $107 billion building four memory chip plants | Reuters
The last bean counter in chief before this made that mistake, he believed iPhones ould never take off.... A computer in your pocket?? Next you will be saying that people will want their bread pre-sliced.
I think you may be right but even if Intel did hire a hotshot CEO I do not feel that Intel would regain the technology lead or any other lead. TSMC and Samsung are fierce competitors with a massive ecosystem to support them. In comparison Intel is all alone. That does not mean Intel will not be a financial success, in fact I'm sure they will be. Especially with a CFO as a CEO but the days of Intel showing us how it is done technically are over. Just my opinion of course.
I agree with you Daniel. imho TSMC's greatest strength is its massive ecosystem and deep collaboration with design tool partners like Cadence, Mentor, Synopsys, equipment providers like ASML, fabless customers like Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Xilinx. I work at ASML and can tell that TSMC is an aggressive and proactive collaborator who push ASML to their limits. TSMC is the lead customer for EUV at ASML. I see TSMC's lead over Intel and Samsung widen in 2020 with the move to 5nm.
I agree with you Daniel. imho TSMC's greatest strength is its massive ecosystem and deep collaboration with design tool partners like Cadence, Mentor, Synopsys, equipment providers like ASML, fabless customers like Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Xilinx. I work at ASML and can tell that TSMC is an aggressive and proactive collaborator who push ASML to their limits. TSMC is the lead customer for EUV at ASML. I see TSMC's lead over Intel and Samsung widen in 2020 with the move to 5nm.
This is just my guess but I think Samsung will eventually acquire GF to gain scale and also a good team of IBM semi engineers. There is good synergy with GF having leadership 22nm FD-SOI process and RF leadership along with a strong 14/12nm presence.
This is just my guess but I think Samsung will eventually acquire GF to gain scale and also a good team of IBM semi engineers. There is good synergy with GF having leadership 22nm FD-SOI process and RF leadership along with a strong 14/12nm presence.
That was my feeling too but after speaking to people who know Samsung does not seem to be in the running. I think GF will have to chop the fabs geographically since the US, EU, and China fabs might be protected by the respected governments. Still, given the positive semiconductor climate, I do not think GF will have any problem piecing the company out if that is the plan.
"Perhaps another sign of the transition from Pax Americana to Pax Sinica+, also reading this huge >100 Billion$ investment announced by SK Hynix this morning. Asia seems the place to be in the third decade of the 21st century with Industry 4.0 getting started: SK Hynix plans to spend $107 billion building four memory chip plants | Reuters"
Sorry for the poor editing, but isn't the $64,000 question here how fast newbie Chinese vendors can catch up on memory process? I am convinced that in a post Moore's Law world the memory market will get huge as processor power stalls.
