Archive for February, 2012
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
To finish off our series of predictions, I would like to point you to another series of interesting and informative prophesies. Click on the following topics to see these predictions collected by Brian Bailey, Editor of EDA DesignLine.
Industry Trends
Tools
ESL
IP and Physical Design
The Bold Prediction for EDA
A big THANK YOU from Ed & me (Liz) to all who shared their eye opening predictions with us. Click on their names to see their predictions. Mike Gianfagna, Karen Bartleson, Paul McLellan, Jens Andersen, Bob Smith, Steve Schulz, Mathias Silvant, Herb Reiter, Max Maxfield, Chris Edwards, John Barr.
Only time will tell……
The Persistence of Memory, 1931, Salvador Dali
Tags: 2.5D, 2012, 3D, 3D stacked die, Ansys, Atrenta, Cadence, Dassault, Double Patterning, EDA, EDA & IP, eda 2 asic Consulting, EDA DesignLine, EDA360, EdXact, Electronic Design Automation, Engineering & Technology, FPGA, Invarian, investment, IP, Lee PR, Lithography, low power, Low Power Design, Low-Power Design Blog, Magma, Maxfield High-Tech Consulting, Mentor, Needham, New Electronics, Programmable Logic, Programmable Logic DesignLine, publishing, Semi-wiki.com, Semiconductor IP, semiconductors, Si2, SoC, SoC Realization, social media, software, Standards, Synopsys, System on Chip, Tech Design Forum, textbooks, www.leepr.com No Comments »
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
In 2012, we’ll see tablets and smartphones changing the world. That’s another way of saying Apple’s moves will have huge implications in semiconductors, foundries and EDA.
Apple’s use of the Samsung foundry has started an arms race between Samsung, TSMC and Global Foundries. Samsung is ramping up to meet the capabilities and capacity of TSMC. Intel is being pushed to stay ahead technologically and to consider new business models. Global Foundries continues to work to ramp its yields.
This situation will be good for semiconductor equipment and EDA vendors as well. Their tools will facilitate the new processes and the link between design and manufacturing.
Another element: in 2012, we’ll see the supply chain continue to consolidate. Why? The cost to design a complex SoC requires a big budget and a big market opportunity. Only the largest of semiconductor companies can tackle these designs. This increasing cost helps the FPGA vendors.
The foundries face increasing technology and capital requirements to move to new process nodes. Only a few will make it.
The public markets have been closed to EDA companies for a number of years making acquisition the most likely exit for EDA startups. Apache chose to be acquired by Ansys in 2011. It has been difficult for a new, large EDA competitor to emerge. This bodes well for Big EDA in its negotiations with Big Foundry and Big Semiconductor. In 2012 I believe there are several EDA companies poised to go public.
Who will be the beneficiary of these changes in 2012? Apple. Consumers should also benefit as new, leading edge fab capacity will be used to make exciting new devices.
John Barr
Portfolio Manager
Needham Aggressive Growth Fund
Needham Growth Fund
445 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022
(212) 705-0462
Tags: 2012, Ansys, Apple, EDA, EDA & IP, Electronic Design Automation, Finance, foundries, Global Foundries, Intel, investment, IP, Lee PR, Needham, Samsung, Semiconductor IP, semiconductors, SoC, System on Chip, TSMC, www.leepr.com No Comments »
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