E,
I wouldnt sell lsi either based on announcements from ibm, vlsi,
or ti. For IBM, microelectronics is one of the few h/w divisions
that is seeing any significant growth. Looks like IBM has been
really focussing on the big big big asic's... while expensive,
these also tend to be very low volume parts. I mean how many
Cray's designed with ibm chips are going to be bought? I
know i'm not in the market for one. You dont find many
consumers buying devices with 5M gate chips costing in the
hundreds perhaps 1000s.
Lsi on the other hand is grabbing more mainstream, smaller size, but
but much bigger volume (DVDs, Dig Cameras, Cell phones, video
game consoles, set tops, etc...). In the high growth consumer
markets i dont see much of ibm wins, where as there is a lot of
lsi. Its more cost(small die size), low power type chips that
you find in these markets. And it takes a different type
of process, technology, etc... The battery life of a cell
fone is important, so you want low-voltage technology using
a low power design.
There is a lot more money to be made on the higher volume parts...
your roe is much higher. It looks like IBM is trying to
penetrate this market, like their new ti knock off dsp core aimed
at cell phones, etc... But i feel they are not experts here.
Sid
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