Despite conventional wisdom, building a software company can be just as capital intensive a building a semis company. With the huge disparity in valuations at every venture round, it is clear that there can be a massive opportunity in semis investing.
The risk profile for venture investing in hardware and software are of course very different, but the market is shifting, making hardware investing much more appealing.
Google recently published a paper on the history of its TPU chip. There are some valuable nuggets of information in here that can help others think about building chips, and also help outsiders understand many of the changes in the semis industry today.
How to create a fundamental technology? – There is no easy answer. Start-ups face enough challenges, but building ecosystems for an entirely new, foundational technology need a lot of time, capital and luck to succeed.
Start-up Semis Live – CRN published a great list of ‘hot’ semis start-ups. We hope this encourages more investors to support chip companies.
Semiconductors’ Midlife crisis – Chip companies need to start thinking about how they want to spend their golden years – save up for retirement or blow it all on big splashy initiatives that remind them of the glory days.
Like a Boss – Do big company executives make for good start-up CEOs? It depends….
The Haves and the Have Nots – No one can predict how the economy will fare, for now the tech industry is propped up by a healthy dose of investor cash. Eventually this spigot will be shut off, and it is important to be prepared for a long winter.
Corporate Venture Capital teams often get short shrift by traditional firms, but when they are well structured, they can be a great fit for the right start-up.
Everybody Wants to Be a Technology Company – Big companies working with start-ups requires a lot of patience and flexibility on both sides