Category Archives: Supply Chain

Fabless Silicon Manufacture: How Much Quality Do You Need ?

First off, we need to define what is meant by “quality” for this discussion. In generic terms it means something like “how well a product does its job”. For a chip, or a rather what comes out the end of a chip supply chain, this isn’t simply a measure of

Fabless Semiconductor Company Value Chain

Michael Porter developed the value chain concept in 1980 in his book “Competitive Advantage”. A value chain is a series of activities within a company in order to deliver a product or a service. The total value delivered by the company is the sum total of the value built up

ASIC Model vs. COT Model

Each semiconductor company reaches at some point to the manufacturing dilemma – how to go into production in the cheapest, most efficient and highest quality way? Is it using an external full turnkey partner – e.g ASIC model, or work directly with semiconductor suppliers –  e.g. COT model.
 
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Chipmaker Allwinner is Enabling a $79 Laptop

Allwinner Technology, a Chinese fabless semiconductor company that design and manufacture SoC processors announced a new laptop that could cost $79. Since its founding in 2007, Allwinner has released more than 15  SoC processors that have been widely implemented in Android-based tablets, as well as in smartphones, laptops and more.
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Glassify’s Brewing a Semiconductor Beer Glass

Israeli start-up Glassify joined the IoT revolution and introduces the first beer glass integrating a semiconductor chip. The beer glass allows consumers to connect the glass to the smartphone using NFC technology.
 

 
According to the company the new beer glass allows consumer to enjoy a more personal

Understanding IC Cost

There have been many debates around the final cost of an IC. Over the years the misconception and failure to agree on what the calculated IC cost would be. The reason for this is that ICs are a simple concept anymore. Technology moves at an extremely fast pace and chip