It was an interesting week in Taiwan for sure. Typhoon Fanapi, lightning storms, the first 28nm production silicon, foundry re-orgs, and most importantly Moon Cake pastries! Wednesday was the Chinese Moon (Zhongqiu)Festival, in Taiwan it is a National holiday commonly celebrated by people barbecuing various meats outdoors.… Read More
Semiconductor IP Innovation
By definition:
Invention is a new composition, device, or process.
Innovation is a new way of doing something or “new stuff that is made useful”.
Even better:
Invention is the conversion of cash into ideas.
Innovation is the conversion of ideas into cash.
In an industry bound by technical standards and the law of physics, innovation… Read More
Google versus Synopsys (EDA)
This Blog is a follow-up to my ever popular declaration that EDA is DEAD. I know comparing Google to Synopsys is apples and oranges, or more appropriately comparing apples and prunes, but the business model contrast is relevant. Googled: The End of the World As We Know It is absolutely the best book on Google to date. I also read Planet… Read More
UMC vs GLOBALFOUNDRIES
TSMC Versus Global Foundries and TSMC versus SMIC clearly indicate that TSMC is the number one foundry in the world and it will be that way for the foreseeable future. The question now is who will be number two? Who will seriously challenge TSMC?
UMC has 10 fabs, 8 in Taiwan, 1 in Japan, and 1 in Singapore. Global Foundries will have Chartered’s… Read More
TSMC UMC Lead Semiconductor Recovery – Record Year in 2010
TSMC posted its best net profit in a year for Q309, saying demand for chips across all applications improved. Third-quarter sales fell a modest 3.3% year over year to $2.76 billion, but increased 21% from the previous quarter. Earnings per American Depositary Share (ADS) were flat when compared to 2008, but 25% above the second … Read More
TSMC Open Innovation Platform Explained
Launched in April 2008, the TSMC Open Innovation Platform initiative is a collaborative strategy aimed at breaking the bottlenecks of semiconductor design enablement in order to promote growth for the industry as a whole. The TSMC iPDK Debate: Lets Play Monopoly! blog I did provides more technical detail.
While Wafer count is… Read More
TSMC versus SMIC
This blog is about the legal battle between TSMC and SMIC which is currently playing in the California court system. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) do what their names suggest – the manufacturing of semiconductors for an international… Read More
TSMC Versus Global Foundries
The big news last week was Global Foundries’ (GFI) agreement to acquire Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT) for $3.9B, but what does it really mean to the semiconductor world in total?
CurrentlyTSMC has 11 fabs producing wafers, 8 in Taiwan, 1 in Shanghai, 1 in Singapore, and 1 in Washington State. After the acquisition, Global Foundries… Read More
Semiconductor Wafer Allocation and Design Migration
In the name of blogging and increased transparency lets talk about wafer allocation, because it’s coming, believe it. There is already a significant delta between wafer demand and manufacture due to record low inventory levels and the exploding semiconductor demand in China. Both TSMC and UMC posted good July sales numbers: … Read More
Semiconductor IP Companies Still in Play
A recent EETimes article about memory IP vendors reminded me to follow up on my blogs about IP companies, which I believe are the best investments in semiconductor design today. It is a fluff piece, Mark LaPedus briefly mentions ARM, Synopsys, Virage Logic, and Denali, but his analysis is right on the mark. There is definitely money… Read More
AI Semiconductor Market