Rarely do I fly first class but I did on my recent trip to Asia. It was one of the new planes with pod-like seats that transforms into a bed. The flight left SFO at 1 A.M. so I fell asleep almost immediately missing the first gourmet meal. About half way through the flight I found myself barely awake staring straight up and what do I see? STARS!… Read More
Tag: mediatek
An Open Letter to Qualcomm CEO
Dear Steve,
Let me first clarify about myself that I am a humble blogger at Semiwiki and admire your company as the #1 Semiconductor Fabless Company and #4 in terms of overall semiconductor sales of the top10 semiconductor companies in the world as per 2014 data. Also, I must mention another point of admiration that your company is… Read More
MediaTek Breaks the ‘Core’ Barrier, Again
Who says Asian companies can’t innovate? Just look at how Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc. has conceived a 64-bit system-on-chip (SoC) that features 10 Cortex-A cores in a tri-cluster configuration. MediaTek’s Helio X20 processor is also the first mobile SoC that boasts ARM’s latest CPU and GPU cores. Moreover,… Read More
Linley: Mobile Peaked in 2013?
Last week was the Linley Mobile Conference. Mobile is a huge semiconductor market and, outside of Intel, is the main driver for next generation process technologies. A new generation of mobile phones comes along, fills the leading edge fabs for a year or two and then moves on to the next generation. Nothing comes close to requiring… Read More
Qualcomm LTE Modem Competitors? Samsung, Intel, Mediatek, Spreadtrum, Leadcore… or simply CEVA!
What is common between the 4G LTE modems from Samsung, Intel, Mediatek, Spreadtrum or Leadcore? All these chips are architecture with CEVA XC4000 family supporting 4G LTE-Advanced, LTE, HSPA/+, W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, and legacy GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Samsung organization is vertical, the company design and manufacture DRAM, NAND and… Read More
SoCs in New Context Look beyond PPA
If we look back in the last century, performance and area were two main criteria for semiconductor chip design. All design tools and flows were concentrated towards optimizing those two aspects. As a result, density of chips started increasing and power became a critical factor. Now, Power, Performance and Area (PPA) are looked… Read More
Who Leads Semiconductor Innovation?
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
Can Android1 Lead the Way for Google in New Smartphone Market?
I had been wanting to write about it since Google’sbig bang announcement of Android1 in India in Sep this year and their associated strategy to capture some of the large pockets of Smartphone market within a matured or declining cell phone market and maturing overall market of Smartphone. Since I wrote my last article hereon maturation… Read More
TSMC (TSM) is Having Another SoC Year!
TSMC’s stock has more than doubled in the last five years. Coincidentally that is when I started blogging about TSMC. QCOM stock has experienced a similar doubling during this time as have other TSMC customers. The question is: What is next for TSMC? As I have mentioned before, you would be better off taking stock tips from your dog… Read More
Intel is Still Missing Mobile!
Paul McLellan was on assignment in Hong Kong last week so I attended the Linley Mobile Conference and was not surprised Intel did not present. During the networking sessions I asked more than a dozen people why and the answers were pretty focused on “Intel still does not play well with others” and “Intel’s current mobile offerings… Read More