Semiconductor in China: Is 3rd Time a Charm?

Semiconductor in China: Is 3rd Time a Charm?
by Paul McLellan on 03-07-2015 at 7:00 am

China has recently announced extremely ambitious plans for becoming more self-sufficient in semiconductors. Today China is about 1/3 of the worldwide IC market but about 90% of that is imported. Think of something like the iPhone assembled in Shenzen with chips from TSMC, Samsung, Hynix, Toshiba/Sandisk , Micron and more (Taiwan,… Read More


Lights, audio, and waiting for action from Qualcomm

Lights, audio, and waiting for action from Qualcomm
by Don Dingee on 01-06-2015 at 3:30 pm

The news Qualcomm has shipped over a billion Snapdragon chips in Android smartphones broke last September. After reiterating that and a sustained outlook for smartphones over the next five years, the Qualcomm CES 2015 presser seemed to leave most media outlets a bit disappointed. Naturally, that prompts us to ask what is going… Read More


Who will be “lucky dog” in 4G LTE basebands?

Who will be “lucky dog” in 4G LTE basebands?
by Don Dingee on 09-19-2014 at 5:00 pm

The official term is “beneficiary rule”, but among colorful racing broadcasters, drivers, and fans it is more commonly referred to as the “lucky dog”: the driver who is down a lap, but gets to advance to the lead lap by virtue of being farthest ahead when a caution flag is raised.

Qualcomm has lapped the entire field when it comes to … Read More


Mobile: China Rising

Mobile: China Rising
by Paul McLellan on 06-09-2014 at 3:00 pm

The mobile numbers for Q1 are now published. At #1 as always is Samsung, who shipped 86M phones for 30% market share. At #2, with almost half as much volume, is Apple who shipped 44M phones. Round here in silicon valley pretty much everyone has either a Samsung Galaxy or an iPhone so you don’t get any sense of who the other major … Read More


Everything You Wanted to Know About the Internet But Were Afraid to Ask

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Internet But Were Afraid to Ask
by Paul McLellan on 06-01-2014 at 5:28 pm

Every year, Mary Meeker produces a huge presentation (140 slides) on important trends in the internet. This year’s came out at the end of last week. It is well worth the time it takes to go through it. Here is the first slide, effectively the table of contents:

  • Key Internet Trends
  • Status Update: Tech Stocks / Education / Healthcare
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SEMICON China Shanghai 上海

SEMICON China Shanghai 上海
by Paul McLellan on 02-23-2014 at 10:30 am

SEMICON is not just the event in San Francisco every July, there are other SEMICONs around the world. Coming up next, Shanghai China. In fact there are four colocated events:

  • SEMICON China 2014, March 18th-20th
  • The 8th PV fab managers’ forum, March 17th-18th (all things PhotoVoltaic)
  • FPD China 2014, March 18th-20th (all
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The Biggest Supplier in the Biggest Mobile Market is a Company You Have Never Heard Of

The Biggest Supplier in the Biggest Mobile Market is a Company You Have Never Heard Of
by Paul McLellan on 01-29-2014 at 10:05 am

If you live in the bay area it is easy to come to the conclusion that Apple has huge market share and is in a very strong position in the mobile market. Everyone has an iPhone.

But the truth is less flattering. Yes, Apple continues to make large profits and it made record iPhone shipments. However, only 51M and Wall Street expected nearly… Read More


Smart mobile SoCs: Made in China

Smart mobile SoCs: Made in China
by Don Dingee on 08-29-2012 at 2:00 pm

One of the comments to previous installments of this series was that there isn’t much left for the merchant suppliers of smart mobile SoCs, considering Apple and Samsung have majority share and design their own parts. The theory is this makes it hard for many suppliers to continue investing at the resource levels needed to bring … Read More


SNUG in Asia, US East Coast

SNUG in Asia, US East Coast
by Paul McLellan on 07-10-2012 at 8:05 pm

If you are in Asia then the Synopsys user group SNUG is coming up, soon in Japan and next month in China. Actually if you are in India I’m afraid you already missed it last month, just after DAC.

SNUG Japan is on 12th July in a couple of days time from 10am until 8pm in Tokyo.

In China there are 3 between August 14th and 21st

  • Beijing 北京
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