SteveG: Here is an interesting read, note the bolded sentences..... until later.
Lucent Exec Says Semiconductor Industry Must Adapt to Evolving Markets and Technologies
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 1997--A leading semiconductor industry executive today called on his peers to adopt more meaningful measures of semiconductor markets and technology progress.
In a speech prepared for delivery at the Semiconductor Industry Association's (SIA) annual forecast dinner here, Curtis J. Crawford noted, ''There are forces at work in the semiconductor industry today that are forcing us to think differently about the industry and driving new business.''
Crawford, who is president of Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group, said that the product categories currently used within the semiconductor industry to track sales do not capture the industry's trend of integrating whole systems on a chip. ''I predict that in five years, more than 10 percent of the semiconductor industry's sales will come from system-level integrated circuits (ICs). We need a new product category to capture this key development.''
In addition to urging the adoption of more meaningful categories for tracking semiconductor markets, Crawford will note the need for better measures to convey progress in semiconductor technology. ''Moore's Law, which predicts the doubling of transistors on a chip every 18 months, has been a hallmark for decades in helping us understand the progress of the industry,'' said Crawford. ''The more transistors, the more powerful the chip. Now, fundamental changes in the industry are requiring that we also look to other criteria - speed, cost and power consumption - to understand progress in the benefits technology brings to us.''
Crawford proposed that the industry adopt a three-dimensional metric, which he called the IC Performance Cube, to rate chips. The size of the cube for a given chip is determined by that chips speed, cost and power consumption. ''The smaller the cube, the better,'' Crawford noted.
Finally, Crawford noted that the semiconductor industry is becoming increasingly segmented, with fewer vertically integrated companies. ''In the future, there will be so many different functions on a single chip that it will be even more difficult for any one company to be the best at all the pieces,'' he said.
''One decade's core competencies are becoming the next decade's niche industries. For example, companies are emerging that specialize in the development and licensing of designs for system-level chips. Other companies may offer expertise in the design tools needed to integrate system-level functions on a single chip.''
''In the next decade, our industry will consist of a continually shifting series of partnerships and alliances among various companies with complementary strengths,'' he added. ''To survive in this increasingly complex future, companies will need to define their core competencies, focus their resources on what they do best, and develop key relationships with other companies to get whatever they lack. The ability to forge such partnerships will be an essential ingredient for success.''
Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is Lucent's research and development arm.
Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated circuits, optoelectronic components, and power systems for the computer and communications industries. The full text of Curtis Crawford's speech can be viewed through the Microelectronics Group's Web site at www.lucent.com/micro |
