RE: "...remain objective..."
1. ALTR and XLNX are on the leading edge of Moore's law progress, 300mm, 130 and 90 nanometers.
2. Moore's law lowers price/performance. (1M gate FPGA $2000 in 1998, $20 in 2003)
3. Start up costs, masks, etc., increase significantly as Moore's Law progresses. This raises the costs of ASICS and requires higher volumes for viability and competitiveness.
4. These two trends, falling PLDs and rising ASICs are continuing. PLDs beat ASICs if costs are equal.
5. XLNX and ALTR have platform leverage, i.e. software, IP relationships, EDA relationships, because there are only two of them and they are over 80% of the industry and the percent is rising. 3rd place is only 10%, 4th, 5%. |
