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Commentary / Analysis

• The IP companies creep toward an SoC (Thursday Oct. 22, 2015)
  The announcement of VeriSilicon’s acquisition of Vivante heats up the IP space, and puts pressure on Synopsys (which recently acquire Viralogic, which previously acquired ARC) to get a GPU, and VeriSilicon to get a CPU, so they can compete across the board with ARM and Imagination Technologies.
  
  
• SEMI Announces Continued Annual Growth for Silicon Shipment Volumes (Wednesday Oct. 21, 2015)
  SEMI recently completed its annual silicon shipment forecast for the semiconductor industry. The results show polished and epitaxial silicon shipments totaling 10,042 million square inches in 2015; 10,179 million square inches in 2016; and 10,459 million square inches in 2017 (refer to table below).
  
  
• Server Benchmark Debuts at ARM Event (Tuesday Oct. 20, 2015)
  A new benchmark for data center servers will be described at ARM Tech Con next month. ScaleMark aims to provide processor-agnostic performance metrics using typical workloads.
  
  
• iPhone 7: Will It Have Intel Inside? (Tuesday Oct. 20, 2015)
  Apple already relies on Intel to provide the processors for its Mac computers, and may ask the chipmaker to supply a key component for the next-generation iPhone, the so-called iPhone 7.
  
  
• Shanghai Seeks 'More-than-Moore' in Silicon Valley (Monday Oct. 19, 2015)
  In a global quest for “More-than-Moore” innovations, the Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute (SITRI) has come to Silicon Valley to open a hardware accelerator in Belmont, Calif.
  
  
• TSMC Slashes 2015 Capex by over 25% to $8 Billion (Monday Oct. 19, 2015)
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which for the first time this year led the world’s chipmakers with the largest announced capital expenditure, will cut the 2015 budget by more than a quarter to $8 billion after demand slumped.
  
  
• Apple Gives a Foundry Lesson (Monday Oct. 19, 2015)
  The rush to analyze Apple products has led to distorted conclusions from some who fail to appreciate the nuances of semiconductor technology, says one analyst.
  
  
• Report: Analog Devices, Maxim in merger talks (Thursday Oct. 15, 2015)
  The share prices of both Analog Devices and Maxim Integrated Products spiked late on Wednesday Oct. 14 after reports that the two companies are in talks about a potential merger.
  
  
• More-than-Moore Will Lead, Argues GloFo's Wijburg (Thursday Oct. 15, 2015)
  At the opening press conference for the Semicon Europa exhibition being held here in Dresden Germany Rutger Wijburg, senior vice president and general manager of fab management at Globalfoundries Inc., made the case for More-than-Moore semiconductors as the enabler of the next wave of electronics.
  
  
• Researchers Demonstrate Single-Ended Die-to-Die Transceiver (Thursday Oct. 15, 2015)
  Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Integrated Systems Laboratory have have created a 20 Gb/s single-ended die-to-die transceiver to address some of the challenges presented by the technology likely to replace double data rate (DDR) memory.
  
  
• Will Intel, with CDMA, Gun for iPhones? (Thursday Oct. 15, 2015)
  A strategy of what might be called a protective — or pre-emptive — investment in the latest modem technology is Intel Corporation’s apparent key to survival in the mobile business.
  
  
• Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Capital Spending to Decrease by One Percent in 2015 (Thursday Oct. 15, 2015)
  Worldwide semiconductor capital spending is projected to decline one percent in 2015, to $63.9 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. This is a down from the 2.5 percent growth predicted in Gartner's previous quarter's forecast.
  
  
• Analysis: VeriSilicon to Acquire Vivante (Tuesday Oct. 13, 2015)
  VeriSilicon Holdings Co., a Shanghai-based provider of IPs and custom silicon design services, announced Monday (Oct. 12) a definitive agreement to acquire Vivante Corp., a Santa Clara-based embedded GPU IP vendor, in an all-stock transaction.
  
  
• Analyzing Apple's Statement on TSMC and Samsung A9 SoCs (Monday Oct. 12, 2015)
  Since we first learned that the A9 SoC in Apple’s iPhone 6s lineup is dual sourced - that is that it's being made by two different vendors with two distinct manufacturing processes - one major question has remained in the process of reviewing these two phones.
  
  
• Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Sales Expected to Decline 0.8 Percent in 2015; First Revenue Decline Since 2012 (Monday Oct. 12, 2015)
  Worldwide semiconductor revenue is forecast to total $337.8 billion in 2015, a decline of 0.8 percent from 2014, according to Gartner, Inc. This is first decline in revenue since 2012 when the market declined 2.6 percent. This forecast is down from the previous quarter's forecast of 2.2 percent growth.
  
  
• SMIC to Report Tunnel-FET Extension to CMOS (Monday Oct. 12, 2015)
  Chinese foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. has manufactured complementary Tunnel FETs (C-TFETs) that operate at 0.4V using a CMOS baseline technology.
  
  
• Leading Edge Leads the Way in Pure-Play Foundry Growth (Friday Oct. 09, 2015)
  The total pure-play foundry market is forecast to grow 6.1% to $44.9 billion in 2015. The entire increase in pure-play foundry sales is forecast to be due to sales of devices built using leading edge (<40nm) feature sizes. The <40nm pure-play foundry market is expected to increase 24% to $16.1 billion in 2015 compared to $13.0 billion in 2014.
  
  
• Silicon on Insulator Penetrates Apple/Intel/IBM (Thursday Oct. 08, 2015)
  In a exclusive interview, Soitec's CEO and board chairman reveals that the Apple iPhone 6s has multiple RF chips built on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates and even long-time rejector of SOI--Intel--and IBM are using SOI for their silicon photonics push.
  
  
• Global Semiconductor Sales Decrease Slightly in August (Monday Oct. 05, 2015)
  SIA today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $27.7 billion for the month of August 2015, a decrease of 0.5 percent from the previous month when sales were $27.9 billion.
  
  
• iPhone 6S: A9 May Be Dual Sourced (Thursday Oct. 01, 2015)
  In several areas, most notably the application processor, Chipworks reckons Apple is dual sourcing. So, as expected both Samsung and TSMC are providing versions of the Apple A9.
  
  
• Upgraded Components in iPhone 6S Plus Costs Apple an Extra $16 Per Device (Thursday Oct. 01, 2015)
  Upgraded components in the new iPhone 6S Plus cost $16 more than the components in the earlier iPhone 6 Plus. The bill of materials (BOM) for an iPhone 6S Plus equipped with 16 gigabytes (GB) of NAND flash memory costs $231.50, according to a preliminary estimate from IHS Inc.
  
  
• EDA Consortium Reports EDA Industry Revenue Increase for Q2 2015 (Monday Sep. 28, 2015)
  The EDA Consortium (EDAC) Market Statistics Service (MSS) today announced that the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry revenue increased 8.5 percent for Q2 2015 to $1906.5 million, compared to $1757.9 million in Q2 2014.
  
  
• Startup Goes Multi-Die to Customize MCUs (Monday Sep. 28, 2015)
  A startup company from Southern California has made use of the increased availability and lower cost of multi-die packaging to offer custom microcontrollers. The company reckons this approach and the advent of IoT could make the world its oyster.
  
  
• M&A Activity Continues Through Uncertain Business Climate (Monday Sep. 28, 2015)
  In just the first half of 2015, announced semiconductor acquisition agreements had a combined total value of $72.6 billion, which was nearly 6x the annual average for M&A deals struck during the five previous years (2010-2014).
  
  
• MCU Vendors Add DSP for Consumer Wireless Apps (Friday Sep. 25, 2015)
  The target of chip vendors with new DSP-enhanced MCU and SoC designs is the next generation of wireless, wearable IoTs and a range of video and audio related consumer designs.
  
  
• TSMC's 2015 Forecast May Be Warning for Supply Chain (Thursday Sep. 24, 2015)
  A forecast of 2015 revenue yesterday by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., (TSMC), may have sounded a warning for other companies in the electronics supply chain.
  
  
• 16 Insights on ICs (Wednesday Sep. 23, 2015)
  The semiconductor industry is poised for slow steady growth that will drive more consolidation, but big technology transitions are just two to three years away. That was the conclusion of the annual fall forecast that Bill McClean, president of IC Insights, delivered here.
  
  
• TSMC Discusses Next MEMS, Monolithic Mics (Tuesday Sep. 22, 2015)
  To expand its role as a supplier to fabless MEMS vendors foundry TSMC plans to use its advantages in being able to combine CMOS logic and MEMS sensors together to come up with innovative sensors and use cases.
  
  
• Design Options for Next Billion IoT Devices (Monday Sep. 21, 2015)
  Among a surfeit of theories, predictions and technology horse-race stories on IoT, it's time to hear from an executive who has actually done the due diligence, made design choices and developed his own new IoT chipset.
  
  
• Microcontroller Market Growth Tied to Rise in Internet of Things Applications, IHS Says (Monday Sep. 21, 2015)
  The market for microcontroller units (MCUs) used in Internet of things (IoT) applications is on the rise, which is having a positive effect on overall MCU market growth. The market for MCUs used in connected cars, wearable electronics, building automation and other IoT applications is expected to grow at an overall compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent, from $1.7 billion in 2014 to $2.8 billion in 2019, according to IHS Inc. .