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Commentary / Analysis

• ARM tips 64-bit 'big-little' processors, partners (Wednesday Oct. 31, 2012)
  Processor IP licensor ARM disclosed details on Tuesday (Oct. 30) of its next generation of big-little processors that support 64-bit processing and addressing. The Cortex-A53 and -A57 processors are aimed at 20-nm implementation.
  
  
• Two burning questions for ARM (Tuesday Oct. 30, 2012)
  ARM will flex its muscles at its annual ARM TechCon here this week, an event to which I bring two questions.
  
  
• Communications and Auto to Out-Pace IC Market Growth Through 2016 (Monday Oct. 29, 2012)
  The communications and automotive IC markets are forecast to out-pace the growth of the total IC market through 2016 according to data in IC Insights’ soon-to-be-released IC Market Drivers 2013.
  
  
• CEO Clemmer carving out NXP 2.0 strategy (Monday Oct. 29, 2012)
  Rick Clemmer, who took the reins as CEO of debt-ridden NXP Semiconductors nearly four years ago, expects to complete the Dutch chip maker's transition to NXP 2.0 by the end of 2013.
  
  
• ARM rides shotgun for AMD? (Monday Oct. 29, 2012)
  I am writing this at 38,000 feet on my way to California primarily to attend ARM TechCon, the conference and exhibition organized by EE Times' publisher UBM Electronics on behalf of processor intellectual property licensor ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England).
  
  
• Huawei using ASICs for first time (Thursday Oct. 25, 2012)
  Chinese telecom and networking equipment vendor Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is using ASICs in some of its gear for the first time, displacing FPGAs supplied by Altera Corp.
  
  
• Core demand driving ARM revenue (Wednesday Oct. 24, 2012)
  ARM Ltd., citing strong demand for its processor core technology and rising royalty rates, reported $227.9 million in Q3 revenue, up 18 percent compared with the same period last year. Year-to-date revenues were up 14 percent to $650.3 million.
  
  
• ARM and Vivante see GPU SoC market share increases (Monday Oct. 22, 2012)
  Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated mobile devices graphics chip shipments for the first half of 2012. Mobile devices include smartphones, tablets, and game consoles.
  
  
• AMD eyes ARM IP and realignment (Friday Oct. 19, 2012)
  On a conference call with analysts to discuss AMD's third quarter financial results the company's CEO Rory Read has outlined a change of business model that will see the company "building reusable IP blocks" to reduce development costs and improve speed of execution.
  
  
• McNamara comes clean on Adapt IP (Thursday Oct. 18, 2012)
  Recently, a gossip rag that will remain unnamed tried to make up a story about how Michael (Mac) McNamara of Cadence had demanded that he be given control of their C-to-Silicon tool and when he failed, left the company. That
  
  
• Xilinx cutting spending after lackluster quarter (Thursday Oct. 18, 2012)
  Xilinx Inc. Wednesday (Oct. 17) became the latest chip company to blame macroeconomic sluggishness for lackluster quarterly results and revenue forecasts.
  
  
• Mobile DRAM Revenue Hits Record High in Q2 (Thursday Oct. 18, 2012)
  Revenue for mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) rose to the highest level yet in the second quarter driven by increased bit shipments and relatively steady pricing, according to an IHS iSuppli DRAM Dynamics Brief from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).
  
  
• Communications to Surpass Computers As Leading Application for ICs (Thursday Oct. 18, 2012)
  In a major shift for the IC industry, communications applications are forecast to surpass computer applications as the leading end-use for ICs starting in 2014 and lasting through at least 2016, according to data in IC Insights’ soon-to-be released IC Market Drivers 2013
  
  
• TSMC taps ARM's V8 on road to 16-nm FinFET (Wednesday Oct. 17, 2012)
  TSMC laid out roadmaps for 20-nm planar, 16-nm FinFET and 2.5-D stacks at its annual event here on Tuesday (Oct. 16). The Taiwan foundry will use ARM’s first 64-bit processor, the V8, as a test vehicle for the 16-nm FinFET process with the first tape out of a test chip probably within the next year.
  
  
• Does Amazon want TI's OMAP? (Monday Oct. 15, 2012)
  Retail giant and tablet maker Amazon is reportedly showing interest in picking up Texas Instruments' mobile chip business, according to reports.
  
  
• Japan set to save Renesas (Monday Oct. 15, 2012)
  Struggling Japanese chip company Renesas Electronics Corp. now looks set to be saved by a Japanese buy-out led by a government investment fund.
  
  
• Is Cisco Intel's $1 billion foundry deal? (Thursday Oct. 11, 2012)
  The word on the street in Bratislava, Slovakia, is that Intel's foundry operation has started or will start to make chips for Cisco. What is more the deal could be worth as much as $1 billion.
  
  
• Europe must not exit chip business, says SEMI (Wednesday Oct. 10, 2012)
  Europe's leading chip companies must join forces to compete in the investment-intensive semiconductor business, according to Heinz Kundert, president of the Europe branch of industry association SEMI.
  
  
• Telecom Segments Forecast to Lead Top-Growing IC Markets in 2012 (Wednesday Oct. 10, 2012)
  Though overall IC market growth is expected to decline 1% in 2012, nine product categories are expected to show positive growth. Leading the way are three categories related to the telecom industry.
  
  
• U.S. warns telcos not to buy gear from Chinese firms (Tuesday Oct. 09, 2012)
  A U.S. Congressional committee Monday (Oct. 8) warned American operators not to buy equipment from China's leading telecom equipment makers, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp., citing potential risk to U.S. national security interests.
  
  
• Moore's Law threatened by lithography woes (Monday Oct. 08, 2012)
  Moore's Law, the engine of semiconductor innovation for decades, is losing steam due to delayed introduction of next-generation extreme ultraviolet lithography.
  
  
• Globalfoundries' 14-nm is 'low-shrink' node (Monday Oct. 08, 2012)
  The 14XM FinFET manufacturing process node being introduced by Globalfoundries Inc. for volume production in 2014 is aimed at reducing power consumption, but it will provide users with little or no size reduction over the previous 20-nm planar bulk CMOS node.
  
  
• Achronix shifts gears, offers FPGA IP for SoCs (Friday Oct. 05, 2012)
  Fabless FPGA vendor Achronix Semiconductor Corp. has jumped into the SoC market by offering to license its FPGA technology to chip companies.
  
  
• Smartphone Apps Processor Growth Lifts Broadcom, MediaTek and ST-Ericsson in 1H 2012 (Friday Oct. 05, 2012)
  Global smartphone applications processor market showed a robust 61 percent year-on-year growth in 1H 2012 to reach $5.5 billion, according to the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service report.
  
  
• Semiconductor Foundries Enjoyed Strong Q2, but Slowdown Looms (Thursday Oct. 04, 2012)
  Pure-play foundry semiconductor manufacturers enjoyed a robust second quarter following the enthusiastic consumer purchasing of wireless products like mobile handsets and tablets, but the industry is slowing down in the second half of 2012 as economic tremors roil the supply chain.
  
  
• 4G Intellectual Property Royalties Set to Quadruple over the Next Five Years (Thursday Oct. 04, 2012)
  Royalties raised from 4G cellular technologies in 2017 will be quadruple that of 2012, reaching over $6B in 2017. This correlates with the growth of 4G devices and is dominated by handsets.
  
  
• Slideshow: Facebook remakes the server (Thursday Oct. 04, 2012)
  Facebook showed EETimes its first working prototype of Open Rack, an energy efficient server that's intended to power data centers which can theoretically scale to more than 100,000 physical machines.
  
  
• IDMs Rapidly Transitioning Logic Production to Foundries (Thursday Oct. 04, 2012)
  Arguably, no other trend has so quickly swept through the IC industry and stirred up so much debate about the future of chip making as the spread of “fab-lite” (or “asset-lite”) business models, which are being embraced by a growing number of major IDMs worldwide.
  
  
• Global Semiconductor Sales Remain Flat in August (Wednesday Oct. 03, 2012)
  SIA today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $24.30 billion for the month of August 2012, a slight increase of 0.1 percent from the previous month when sales were $24.27 billion and a 3.2 percent decrease from the August 2011 total of $25.1 billion.
  
  
• EDA Consortium Reports Revenue Increase for Q2, 2012 (Tuesday Oct. 02, 2012)
  The EDA Consortium (EDAC) Market Statistics Service (MSS) today announced that the EDA industry revenue increased 10.8 percent for Q2 2012 to $1593.0 million, compared to $1438.1 million in Q2 2011.