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Technology Stocks : LSI Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duane L. Olson who wrote (17374)	3/12/1999 5:54:00 PM
From: Bob Howarth	Respond to of 25814

Down this week almost 3 points. That convert was a real stink bomb.

To: Duane L. Olson who wrote (17374)	3/15/1999 7:06:00 AM
From: Jock Hutchinson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25814

LSI Logic nearing SOC with mixed-signal magic CMP Media Inc Mar 12, 2:06 am Related Mar. 12, 1999 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Silicon Valley- In what may amount to a monumental leap forward for system-on-a-chip design, LSI Logic Corp. has added mixed-signal modules to its forthcoming 0.18-micron G12 ASIC process. The first offspring from last year's marriage between LSI Logic and Symbios Inc., the digital G12 process will incorporate two mixed-signal transistors, allowing mixed-signal cores to operate at higher speeds and lower voltages than in the past. According to industry watchers, the Milpitas, Calif., ASIC supplier has now mastered two of the three fundamental SOC elements: high-performance RISC processors (both ARM and MIPS), and mixed signal. LSI Logic has yet to promote the third SOC component-embedded DRAM-although it's been coy about revealing what capability it gleaned from an earlier technology exchange with DRAM manufacturer Micron Technology Inc. When compared to the gains inherent in the acquisition of mixed-signal technology, however, analysts said, embedded DRAM would have a much smaller payoff for LSI Logic, given its targeted markets: cellular handsets and consumer mass storage. While the company has offered various mixed-signal cores since 1993, it is hoping with the new process modules to earn a reputation as a leader in mixed-signal integration. By pairing its strengths in mixed-signal ICs and embedded-RISC design, for example, LSI Logic could use its G12 process to combine previously disparate system blocks. Customers are particularly interested in integrating devices such as cellular-phone chipsets to keep pace with ever-shrinking system designs, according to Irene Song, LSI Logic's mixed-signal product marketing manager. "We're seeing a lot of demand for integration of IF [intermediate-frequency] capability," as well as certain RF functions, Song said. Indeed, by integrating mixed signal-the so-called "real world" interface in applications such as computer graphics, networking, and telecommunications-OEMs can realize significant cost and power savings. For this reason, more than 70% of system-level ICs will contain some mixed-signal functions by 2005, up from about 10% in 1998, according to International Business Strategies Inc. (IBS), a Los Gatos, Calif., research firm. Through its acquisition of Symbios, and more recently of Ethernet-IP developer Seeq Technology, LSI Logic is quickly building momentum to challenge the reigning mixed-signal champions-Texas Instruments and Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group, said IBS analyst Handel Jones. Since 1995, LSI Logic has transformed itself from a designer primarily of gate arrays into one of the top three suppliers of standard-cell ASICs. And of the company's $1 billion standard-cell ASIC revenue last year, as much as 40% was derived from mixed-signal designs, said Jones. "That's a good achievement for a company that five years ago was not even in mixed signal," he said. The G12 process, set to sample in the third quarter, will enable LSI Logic to integrate 1.8-, 2.5- and 3.3-V mixed-signal cores, 1.8-V digital logic, and 5-V-tolerant I/Os on a single chip. With the added on-chip features, the company will aim to create designs for satellite and digital TV receivers, and disk-drive applications.