Intel and Samsung in Barcelona

Intel and Samsung in Barcelona
by Paul McLellan on 03-06-2015 at 7:00 am

This week it was Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Everyone who is anyone in mobile is there. Unfortunately I’m not since Barcelona is one of my favorite cities to visit. Two companies that set high expectations before the show were Samsung and Intel.

Samsung announced the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones on Sunday.… Read More


Intel NOT Inside Sematech?

Intel NOT Inside Sematech?
by Robert Maire on 03-05-2015 at 1:00 pm

Rumor that Intel has quit Sematech confirmed by website?
Potential industry impact-
Is this a consolidation by-product?
Do we need a trade group?
Does it benefit Intel?

We have heard from several sources over the last few days that Intel has quit Sematech, the semiconductor industry trade group focused on technology development… Read More


Who Leads Semiconductor Innovation?

Who Leads Semiconductor Innovation?
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-25-2015 at 5:30 pm

Semiconductor business is highly dependent on technology and that changes very rapidly in the semiconductor space. It’s important to recognize the importance of research and innovation activities in this space. In my last article on 7nm technology node, one respondent commented, very rightly, “It’s important to have competition… Read More


7nm node is arriving, which ones will continue past 2020?

7nm node is arriving, which ones will continue past 2020?
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-17-2015 at 6:30 pm

‘Laughing Buddha’ is eternal, but for semiconductor industry, I must say it’s ‘laughing Moore’. Moore made a predictive hypothesis and the whole world is inclined to let that continue, eternally? When we were at 28nm, we weren’t hoping to go beyond 20/22nm; voices like ‘Moore’s law is dead’ started emerging. Today, we are already… Read More


Samsung Continues to Top 300mm Wafer Capacity

Samsung Continues to Top 300mm Wafer Capacity
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-03-2015 at 7:00 am

In 1992, when Samsungbecame the largest producer of memory chips, it was not in top10 list of semiconductor companies. It was ranked at #11. Since then it has strived to attain higher ranks in the top10 list. In around 2000, it climbed to the ranks of top5 and then since 2002 until now it is at #2 in the worldwide semiconductor sales which… Read More


Translating Intel

Translating Intel
by Scotten Jones on 01-28-2015 at 10:00 pm

Some of Intel’s technology posts make some pretty specific statements and I have seen a number of posts where people seem to have misinterpreted what Intel was actually saying.

Multi Patterning
I have seen a lot of confusion on this one with some people saying Intel didn’t use multi patterning at 22nm and others saying Intel used … Read More


Tabula Closes its Doors

Tabula Closes its Doors
by Paul McLellan on 01-28-2015 at 3:55 pm

I heard a rumor at lunchtime that Tabula was closing its doors. A friend of mine talked to a couple of employees and it is true. They have to be given 2 months notice apparently so the doors don’t actually close until March 24th. I thought they had raised $150M but Wikipedia (not always reliable of course) says $215M. They were … Read More


Opto-Electronics to Take Care of Data Explosion

Opto-Electronics to Take Care of Data Explosion
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-28-2015 at 11:30 am

As we come nearer to an intelligent IoT world, one of the major concerns we talk every day is about data explosion, its storage, and access and so on. In the beginning of the year, I had blogged about some facts that indicated successful emergence of IoT in very near future. My faith gets further strengthened when I envision the semiconductor… Read More


Altera Back to TSMC at 10nm? Xilinx Staying There

Altera Back to TSMC at 10nm? Xilinx Staying There
by Paul McLellan on 01-28-2015 at 7:00 am

Xilinx announced their quarterly results last week. They slightly missed their number due mainly to a decline in wireless sales. Of course Xilinx parts don’t go in the smartphones since the cost and power are too high, but they are very heavily used in basestation, backhaul etc especially in China. Xilinx’s business… Read More


30+ Years of Semiconductors – The base matters!

30+ Years of Semiconductors – The base matters!
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-25-2015 at 10:00 am

Although CMOS technology in semiconductors was patented in 1960s, commercial ICs and electronic systems based on CMOS ICs started picking up in 1970s, and the real growth with personal computer (PC) market took place in 1980s. Then Intelmicroprocessors started dominating the semiconductor market with increasing processing… Read More