Is EDA still an appropriate term for what we do? What applications will drive future semiconductor design innovation? Will further consolidation be required for EDA to thrive again? They are all good questions, questions that will hopefully be properly addressed at the EDAC CEO Forecast and Industry Vision event next week but here are my thoughts:Brilliant! Theres no other word to describe the first part of this headline! As per IC Insights forecast of 2010 billion-dollar fabless IC suppliers, excerpted from a ranking of top 50 fabless IC suppliers in its 2011 edition of The McClean Report, as many as 13 fabless IC suppliers are tipped to cross the $1-billion mark in sales in 2010! As per IC Insights, this is a significant step up from 10 companies in 2009 and eight in 2008.There are rumors that Microsoft will be showcasing some kind of Windows for ARM at CES January 6-9th, but also, its rumored that actual release may be an early demo because of the need for ARM Drivers? What kind of drivers can possibly be needed to be ported for Windows or the like to work on ARM Powered systems? Webcams? Those are in the SoC anyways arent they? Printers? Cloud printing solutions such as the one from Google or Apples AirPrint should solve that shouldnt it?I came across an article titled Global Semiconductor Companies Turn to India for Growth published on India Knowledge@Wharton. Isnt this reason why global semiconductor companies enter a specific market in the first place to grow their own markets and regions? So, why should it be different with India? India is very well known globally for its talent, chip design capabilities (especially in the Indian arms of the global semicon firms) and as the worlds embedded bastion! This particular article is brilliantly written, and kudos the author. The clinching paragraph is tucked away at the end, starting with: None of the global players, however, is currently looking at setting up a semiconductor fabrication plant, or fab, in India.
The marketplace for semiconductor IP (SIP) continues to grow at double digit rates. According to Gartner Dataquest, the SIP market will reach $2.3B in 2014. IBS and Semico believe that the market will be over $3B in 2014. What is driving this growth? What are the major trends that we see in IP?