Winners & Losers

Who’s Up?
IMEC, the Belgian research agency, gained another research partner—Hynix. The South Korean company will work with IMEC on 32nm chip technology and future process nodes after that. Given the fact that Hynix’s top domestic rival, Samsung, is one of IBM’s inner circle, it’s no surprise that Hynix joined forces with a rival research ecosystem.

Freescale, had no such reservations, however. After fleeing out of the Crolles Alliance (not including some lingering contractual relationships) it joined forces with IBM, Samsung, Infineon and Chartered Semiconductor, which are working on a Common Platform technology at the 32nm process node. According to initial estimates, development costs should exceed the gross domestic product of most developing countries.

Synopsys’ revenues were up 7 percent for its fiscal quarter, but the really good news is net income was up about eight times. The company attributed that to better sales and lower operating expenses. It’s hard to argue with a boost in sales. Lower operating expenses are another matter, though. Unless there was runaway overspending, which is highly unlikely, or a cutback in R&D—even less likely—lower operating expenses typically indicate that everyone is now pitching in to do things formerly done by people who got paid far less money to do it—generally for a reason, too. 

Mentor Graphics was up. Top-line sales grew 8 percent year over year, and net income was back in the plus column. And all this in time for DAC. You’d think somebody planned it that way.

Apple’s iPhone scored big in consumer perception, but at $499 the audience will be extremely limited. That may be part of Apple’s cool-factor buzz, but it’s not the way phone companies work. The question now is whether Cingular will subsidize the sale the way cellular carriers subsidized other phones as part of a multi-year contract.

Who’s Down?
IBM’s gee-whiz air-gap process for insulating wires at future process nodes was on the receiving end of a body slam by Intel, which said it analyzed that approach and dismissed it because it was too costly. Time will tell who’s right. With the current development schedule, that should take exactly two years.

Intel and AMD drew completely different pictures in recent weeks about their multicore strategies. While it’s difficult to say definitively who’s right—or really how far different they are—this kind of information only confuses consumers. And a confused consumer is a potential buyer who sits on the sidelines and waits until the dust settles—particularly when there’s no compelling reason to upgrade a computer. 

Intel and STMicro formed a joint, independent flash memory company. While this is potentially a good decision, it’s a sign that neither company wants to participate in what has become a blood-letting business. What does that say about their rival combatants?

Atmel’s investors knocked down a plan by ousted CEO George Perlegos to regain control of the company through a board of his choosing. This is a good decision, too, but the negative attention it has focused on the company is painful.

–Ed Sperling, Editor in Chief