As I wait for my plane to Taiwan I’m wondering what the New Year has in store for the fabless semiconductor ecosystem. Good things I hope but to make sure let’s take another look at one of my trusted economic bellwethers (TSMC) which I’m guessing will break the $25B revenue mark this year. That is more than a 25% growth rate year… Read More
What makes the world smart?
The simple answer is when everything in the world is smart. But if you think deeply, you would find that the continuous progression to make things easy in life is what makes the world smarter day-by-day – the sky is the limit. In the world of computing, consider the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century era when humanbrain was used as a computer … Read More
Intel 2014 Investor Meeting and 14nm Status
Intel’s investor meeting was held yesterday and for me the presentation that is most interesting is Bill Holt’s. The presentations are available on the Intel website: Intel Corporation – Presentations Material 2014. Here is the 2013 version of this presentation: Intel Corporation – Presentations Materials 2013… Read More
Who is REALLY Using TSMC 16FF+?
As I wrote last week there is a whole list of companies on LinkedIn with people working on TSMC 16nm. Today TSMC released a list of customers that have risk production 16FF+ silicon. Most of us knew this already but now we can talk about it in more detail. This is a really big deal for the FinFET doubters out there. Just because Intel had… Read More
Money for data and your MEMS for free
An ongoing IoT debate centers on the notion that just because we can do something does not mean we should. From discussions at the recent MEMS Executive Congress, looking at what TSMC and some others see as the endgame for a trillion sensors signals possible trouble ahead.… Read More
Who is Using Samsung 14nm?
As I have mentioned before, there are very few secrets in Silicon Valley. Just last week I was minding my own business at a Starbucks when I overheard two engineers complaining about Samsung 14nm shuttles being delayed. They had badges on but I won’t out them because it could have easily been any of the fabless companies in Silicon … Read More
Let the FinFET Yield Controversy Begin!
It never ceases to amaze me how people point fingers and create controversy to cover their mistakes. It happened at 40nm, 28nm, and again at 20nm and now it is time for the regularly scheduled yield controversy. Of course any conversation about semiconductor yield generates clicks for SemiWiki so I’m happy to play along.
It generally… Read More
Semiconductor IP Forecast 2014 – 2020
Given that the majority of my 30+ years in Silicon Valley has revolved around semiconductor IP it should be of no surprise that IP is a big part of SemiWiki and our first book “Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry”. That is also why one of my first round blogger draft choices was IP expert Dr. Eric Esteve. Eric has… Read More
Silvaco at the TSMC 2014 Open Innovation Platform
The success of our semiconductor eco-system depends on collaboration, so the annual TSMC OIP Event just held on September 30 at the San Jose Convention Center was a prime example of that. I didn’t attend this year, but I did follow up with Amit Nandaof Silvaco this week to hear about what they presented. As a consultant I’ve… Read More
Cliff Hou at TSMC OIP
I attended Cliff Hou’s keynote at TSMC OIP Forum earlier this month. OIP is a huge undertaking. It currently has over 100 ecosystem partners, 10 technology generations, 7600+ IPs, 60+ EDA tools, 7000+ tech files and 150+ PDKs.
Most of Cliff’s presentation gave details on where TSMC are with the various processes. … Read More