The digital chip wars
forbes.com
>>Digital TV is the next killer application for the consumer device-related chip business much as the Internet has proved to be for the personal computer business. Internet technologies like "push technology" and "IP multicasting" used the television broadcast model, with only one obvious difference--they allowed computer users to preset their preferences and maintain control over them. DTV brings that flexibility to television.
>>It will also change the focus of the semiconductor business from personal computers to other consumer-type devices like digital televisions, digital set-top boxes and satellite receivers. The San Jose, Calif.-research group Dataquest forecasts that by the year 2002, these types of devices will consume $3.6 billion dollars worth of silicon. That may not be much when compared with the $20 billion-plus in chip sales to the personal computer industry, but it's still a substantial piece of change. For the past 25 years the personal computer has been the real growth engine for the semiconductor business, making erstwhile startups like Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) into multibillion-dollar multinationals.
>>Industry watchers can expect to see a whole slew of newcomers compete for the digital television dominance.......
>>From relative newcomers, such as Teralogic, to established giants, like Lucent Technologies, IBM, VLSI Technology, LSI Logic, Philips and STM Electronics, to struggling chipmakers, such as C-Cube Microsystems--the list of contenders for this new silicon Wild West is a long one.........<<
forbes.com
>>A majority of Teralogic employees are former employees of LSI Logic Corp., where they developed core technology for Sony Electronics (SNE) PlayStation videogame console and EchoStar Communications Corp.'s DVB set-top box. As a result the company has expertise in MPEG-2 technology and video and graphics processors, the cornerstone of the digital TV revolution. And Teralogic has come up with a low cost (between $10-$15 a chip), high-performance chip, already adopted by electronics giants like Toshiba. The chip will be used in DTV sets and digital set-top boxes for cable and satellite.<< |
