Plumbing is important
Plumbing for Semis – Arm and SiFive are M&A targets, they provide crucial plumbing for almost all chips today, and their ultimate fate will have a big impact on the industry.
Category Archives: Components
Roll Your Chips – What Could Go Wrong?
Roll Your Own Chips – When you design products that someone else is going to manufacture using processes that trip against quantum physics effects, no one is cool enough to not be a little worried that something will go wrong.
Let’s Build a Chip – With Math
Let’s Build a Chip – We lay out the costs of building a chip – with spreadsheets!
Who wants to build a chip?
Pretty much everyone. We have been doing a lot of work lately on in-house silicon, most recently with our post on Google’s VCU. And it got us thinking about who […]
The 5-Year Plan for Semis
The 5-Year Plan for Semis – the whole debate about industrial policy for the US semis industry is muddled. One clue – whenever people start talking about Shenzhen it means they are focused on some other problem.
Where did Apple’s margins come from?
Where did Apple’s margins come from? – The M1 probably added only $300m to Apple’s gross margins this quarter, but it probably also helped them sell a lot more MacBooks, the benefit of Apple Silicon is strategic not cost savings.
Intel 2.0’s customer dilemma
Intel 2.0’s Customer Dilemma – If Intel can sort out its manufacturing process, if it can find the funds it needs, if it can build up a true customer service capability, and if can do all this in under three years, then IFS may be viable.
Could? Should? Would? – Mobile OS
Could? Should? Would? – In which we totally make up a scenario in which mobile operating systems get better.
You’re On Allocation
You’re On Allocation – The electronics supply chain is knotted up with shortages seemingly everywhere. We think we are probably past the worst of it and do not believe it will last into 2022.
RF Semis Update
RF Semis Update – On the competitive front Qualcomm’s growing heft in RF semis does not affect Broadcom much, but is a growing problem for Skyworks and Qorvo.
