What products shown at CES will drive electronics and semiconductor growth in 2012?

What products shown at CES will drive electronics and semiconductor growth in 2012?
by Bill Jewell on 01-17-2012 at 11:20 am

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week in Las Vegas, Nevada was the largest in history, with over 3,100 exhibitors and over 153,000 attendees – over 20% international. Hopefully this was a good sign of a solid recovery in the electronics and semiconductor industries. The major Japanese and Korean consumerRead More


ARM vs Intel? Just look at ARM Top Customer in 2010!

ARM vs Intel? Just look at ARM Top Customer in 2010!
by Eric Esteve on 01-16-2012 at 3:47 am

Looking at the ARM Top Ten customers list (for 2010) brings useful information about the volumes production generated by the chip makers involved in the wireless handset segment. Revenue for an ARM licensee comes from upfront license and royalties. Upfront license are in the few $ million range (max), when the below listed contribution… Read More


Will Rising Smartphone Tide Lift Semiconductor Boats in 2012?

Will Rising Smartphone Tide Lift Semiconductor Boats in 2012?
by Ed McKernan on 12-16-2011 at 5:12 pm

Memo to Self: When all else fails, return to the Smartphone Market!

The announcement by Intel earlier this week that they would come up short this quarter is a reminder that it is not growth, but very high growth that covers a Multitude of Economic Sins (many which are unforeseen). The semiconductor industry has had to endure three… Read More


Intel Proves Last Year’s Conventional Wisdom Wrong

Intel Proves Last Year’s Conventional Wisdom Wrong
by Ed McKernan on 12-11-2011 at 7:00 pm

Back in the 1990’s, Richard Branson, the legendary Entrepreneur and investor was asked how to become a millionaire, and he allegedly responded, “There’s really nothing to it. Start as a billionaire and then buy an airline.” I think the same principle can be applied to a large part of the Semiconductor… Read More


Media Tablet & Smartphones to generate $6 Billion market in… power management IC segment by 2012, says IPnest

Media Tablet & Smartphones to generate $6 Billion market in… power management IC segment by 2012, says IPnest
by Eric Esteve on 11-15-2011 at 10:59 am

With worldwide annual media tablet shipments forecast changing –growing- almost every quarter, the latest from ABI research calling for shipment to approach 100 million units in 2012 and passing 150 million in 2014, with the same kind of forecast for smartphone passing 400 million units this year (438 million) and approaching… Read More


Jen Hsun Huang’s Game Over Strategy for Windows 8!

Jen Hsun Huang’s Game Over Strategy for Windows 8!
by Ed McKernan on 11-15-2011 at 6:00 am

It is always a treat to listen to the nVidia earnings conference call as Jen Hsun Huang offers his take on the industry as well as a peek at his company’s future plans. Invariably a Wall St. analyst will ask about Windows 8 and Project Denver – the code name for the ARM based processor designed to run Windows 8 with great graphics performance… Read More


Arteris vs Sonics battle…Let’s talk NoC architecture

Arteris vs Sonics battle…Let’s talk NoC architecture
by Eric Esteve on 11-04-2011 at 6:23 am

The text of this very first article about Arteris had disapeared from Semiwiki, for an absolutely unknowed reason…If you have missed it, this is a pretty useful introduction to NoC concept, as well as to the legal battle between Arteris and Sonics:

The Network on Chip is a pretty recent concept. Let’s try to understand how … Read More


Amazon’s Kindle Fire Spells Trouble for nVidia, Qualcomm and Intel

Amazon’s Kindle Fire Spells Trouble for nVidia, Qualcomm and Intel
by Ed McKernan on 10-05-2011 at 11:50 am

With the introduction of the Kindle Fire, it is now guaranteed that Amazon has the formula down for building the new, high volume mobile platform based on sub $9 processors. In measured fashion, Amazon has moved down Moore’s Law curve from the initial 90nm Freescale processor to what is reported to be TI’s OMAP 4 in order to add the … Read More


Magic Media Tablet: illusion about a niche market?

Magic Media Tablet: illusion about a niche market?
by Eric Esteve on 08-24-2011 at 9:31 am

According with ABI research, worldwide annual media tablet shipments are expected to top 120 million units in 2015, which is more than decent for a niche market. But if you compare it with the smartphone market (you can find the smartphone shipments forecast here), media tablet will weight 15% in unit shipment of the smartphone … Read More


Smartphones shipments, Sky is the limit…

Smartphones shipments, Sky is the limit…
by Eric Esteve on 08-08-2011 at 8:50 am

…or a global recession, but that’s not the purpose of this blog. As everybody knows, Apple is designing and selling smartphones, only. Does it mean that only smartphones are generating profit in the mobile industry? As we have seen recently in Semiwiki, Apple makes 2/3 of profit of entire mobile industry.

Let’s have a look (below)… Read More