It all started with Apple and its iPhone app store. Soon almost all electronic devices, from handhelds to car infotainment sets to airplane landing systems, took to application frenzy. Even governments now have app stores peddling public services-related mobile applications.
Consumers are charmed; so are app developers and device makers, as a steady stream of revenue trickles in. But in this flurry, the semiconductor industry, with margins being chipped away as they struggle to improve processor performance for enabling new applications, is staring at an inflexion point.
In the mid 1990s, chipmakers opted for a tech-lite model, choosing to outsource the tools for designing and engineering the processors. That widened the road for the electronic design automation industry. Towards early 2000, that business model gave way to a fab-lite era where many chipmakers opted to outsource chip fabrication.
(This story appears in the 17 December, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Processors have been bellwethers of the technology industry. Earlier people would look up to companies like Intel to see where the tech industry was going. Not anymore...The pace is too fast and big companies are not nimble enough. Though Intel, with a spate of new acquisitions, esp with McAfee, intends to ride the curve faster. It'll be an interesting space to watch.
on Dec 14, 2010