TSMC: 10nm To Be Greater Than 10% Of 2017 Wafer Revenue


TSMC’s financial results for the 4th Quarter of 2016 were released on January 11, 2017 (PST) and showed that year-over-year fourth quarter revenue increased 28.8% and simultaneously net income and diluted EPS both increased 37.6%.  In U.S. dollars, TSMC’s fourth quarter revenue was $8.25 billion. TSMC's CFO, Ms. Lora Ho, reported that 2016 was a good year for TSMC and that the company set ... » read more

What Can Go Wrong In Automotive


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss automotive engineering with Jinesh Jain, supervisor for advanced architectures in Ford’s Research and Innovation Center in Palo Alto; Raed Shatara, market development for automotive infotainment at [getentity id="22331" comment="STMicroelectronics"]; Joe Hupcey, verification product technologist at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; ... » read more

Border Tax Shakeup


A border tax is the talk of the financial world. While this has clear implications for car manufacturers, where it's rather easy to tell where parts such an engine block or a braking system were manufactured, it's far less tangible when it comes to electronics in general, and semiconductors in particular. In a complex SoC, IP can be developed in more than one country, and multinational techn... » read more

The Power And Limits Of Money


[getperson id="11694" p_name="Wally Rhines"], CEO of [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"], sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to discuss how semiconductor engineering teams make their dollars work even when budgets are limited. The issue is as important as ever, given the industry's unrelenting margin and cost pressure and the growing competition for top talent. What follows are... » read more

Era Of 3D Printing Begins


3D printing has always been an interesting side technology. It's now about to become a mainstream technology. Until recently, the majority of applications for this technology have been limited for several reasons. First, there simply isn't enough history to bet the bank on commercial manufacturing using 3D printers. The initial patent for fused deposition modeling was issued in 1986, but ... » read more

Things To Come This Year


What will happen in the Internet of Things during 2017? No one truly knows. Some 2016 trends can be teased out to provide prognostications for the 12 months ahead. Parks Associates released a white paper in December, “Top 10 Consumer IoT Trends in 2017,” which notes that U.S. broadband households have an average of more than eight connected computing, entertainment, and mobile devices, a... » read more

SiFive: Low-Cost Custom Silicon


One of the lessons learned years ago in the open-source Linux world is that free software isn't always good enough. Consequently, being able to add commercial value around freeware can turn into a lucrative business. Red Hat Software, for example, has turned this approach into a thriving multi-billion-dollar business. But nothing comparable has ever succeeded in the SoC world. Enter SiFi... » read more

EDA, IP Up 7%


EDA and IP growth increased to $2.094 billion in Q3, a 7% gain over the $1.958 billion reported for the same period in 2015, according to just released data from the Electronic System Design Alliance Market Statistics Service. All geographic regions reported growth last quarter. So did computer-aided engineering, the largest single category, which grew 5.0% to $666.7 million in Q3, up from $... » read more

Foundries See Mixed Future


Amid a tumultuous business environment, the silicon foundry industry is projected to see steady growth in a number of process segments in 2017. As in past years, the foundry market is expected to grow faster than the overall IC industry in 2017. But at the same time, the IC industry—the foundry customer base—continues to witness a frenetic wave of merger and acquisition activity. Basical... » read more

IP Liability Changes Ahead?


Patent lawyers are keeping close tabs on a biotech patent infringement case that went before the Supreme Court this week because it could have a significant impact on IP content in other markets, including semiconductors. On Tuesday, attorneys for Life Technologies Corp. and Promega Corp., presented arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court involving an enzyme for amplifying DNA analysis. For ... » read more

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