How Healthy Is The Chip Market?


By Ed Sperling & Ann Steffora Mutschler The inclusion of semiconductors in more products across more market segments—many of which historically have not been large consumers of chips—is having a big impact on how they are designed and manufactured, as well as how they are tracked and quantified. In the past, semiconductor sales were so closely tied to the success of personal computers... » read more

Equipment Sales Were Mixed Bag In 2015


Semiconductor equipment billings were up in Q3 of 2015, the most recent statistics available from SEMI, compared with Q3 of 2014. The strongest growth was reported in China, which grew 63%, and Taiwan, which was up 22%. Billings in North America were down 23%, while in Korea they were down 22%. Europe was down 36%. Japan was up 2%, which is consistent with the growth seen in recent EDA C... » read more

EDA, IP Numbers Strong


EDA and IP sales were 7.1% in Q3 across all major segments and all geographical regions, increasing to $1.957 billion compared with $1.828 billion in the same period in 2014, according to just-released numbers from the EDA Consortium. The four-quarter moving average was up 8.8%. "This was an excellent quarter for EDA," said Wally Rhines, board sponsor for the EDA Consortium's Market Statisti... » read more

EDA, IP Numbers Up


EDA and IP numbers increased another 8.5% in Q2, with all regions but Japan showing positive growth. Total revenue was $1.91 billion for the quarter, up from $1.76 billion in Q2 of 2014. The largest category, computer-aided engineering, was $657.2 million for the quarter, up 9.6% compared with the same period last year. IC physical design was $379.2 million, up 6% year over year, and IP was ... » read more

Finding Defects Is Getting Harder


Chipmakers are plotting out a strategy to scale the transistor to 10nm and beyond. Migrating to these nodes presents a number of challenges, but one issue is starting to gain more attention in the market—killer defects. Defects have always been problematic in the yield ramp for chip designs, but the ability to find them is becoming more difficult and expensive at each node. And it will be... » read more

Analysis: Applied-TEL Scrap Merger


After several delays due to a myriad of complex regulatory issues, Applied Materials’ proposed deal to buy Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) has been scrapped. It appears that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) stepped in and blocked the deal. Now that the deal has been terminated, Applied Materials and TEL are separately re-grouping, and are back to where they originally started as fierce compe... » read more

Applied-TEL Deal Faces Delays


Applied Materials’ proposed move to acquire rival Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) faces a possible delay. The blockbuster deal could get pushed out until next year amid a host of complicated regulatory issues. As reported in September of 2013, Applied Materials announced a definitive agreement to acquire TEL in a stock deal valued at around $9.3 billion. Under the terms, Applied Materials would ... » read more

Fujitsu Reorgs For Manufacturing


Fujitsu officially announced its intention of reorganizing its semiconductor manufacturing businesses, including dividing the Aizu Wakamatsu factory and Mie factory as branches of the foundry companies. The rest of the organization, including the system memory department and Fujitsu Electronics will become a part of Fujitsu’s semiconductor group. The new Foundry Company will also be a part of... » read more

Changes In NAND Flash Market


Things are changing quickly in the NAND flash market. Newcomers are challenging long-time market leaders and shifting the lineup in this market. A survey of NAND flash vendors, conducted by DRAMeXchange, a Singapore market research firm, shows that in Q1 of this year Samsung was firmly in first place with $2.175 billion in revenues, followed by Toshiba with $1.548 billion and SanDisk with $1... » read more

Smartphones Drive Component Sales


The impact of smartphones on electronic components and semiconductors is growing. As reported by the Nihon Keizai Newspaper in October, the total value of orders received in Q3 for six major electronic components set a record. Also, in Taiwan, the overseas orders in September increased to 38.4 billion dollars, which is a 2% increase compared with the same month of the previous year, as reported... » read more

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