Alerts, Articles, Briefs, Papers, Reports, Presentations

2017 Trends

brief:

Politics Pushes Business, Semiconductors

2017 may mark the start of a new era in business with political and government policy changes sparked in 2016. Consider how these may affect the semiconductor industry and the electronic equipment and OEMs that depend on the chips with the interlocking global footprint. The semiconductor forecast for 2017 will be driven more by memory price swings than those policy changes.

— 7 pages. January 2017 ($ 0)

2016 Trends

white paper:

2015 Reflections and
2016 Outlook

2015 turned soft near the end which can carry over to growth or contraction of electronics markets in 2016. An extended review of some key topics, drivers, products, and markets will lead to Objective Analysis's forecast for 2016 semiconductors.  

— 15 pages. January 2016 ($ 0)

Apple, Samsung

white paper:

Volume Skews Smart Phone Leaders

The very different ways that Apple and Samsung address the smart phone business can seriously impact the profitability in each company as considered in this paper. Apple keeps it focused while Samsung is all over the map.  

— 4 pages. February 2014 ($ 0)

2012 Trends

presentation:

Clouds in the Forecast –
2012 Electronics Trends

A look at some highlights, trends, and issues in the electronics industry as 2012 begins and coming off the most recent Consumer Electronics Show, as reviewed in this presentation for the ElectroStatic Discharge Association.

— 24 slides; January 24, 2012 ($ 0)

ARM at AMD

brief:

Look at AMD Before Thinking It Should License ARM

Commentary on Speculation

The licensing of ARM processor cores by AMD, as suggested in a recent article, would have little impact on AMD’s business.  AMD has not demonstrated a command of the real embedded market in the past and it is unlikely that use of the ARM core will change that for AMD.

— 4 pages. April 29, 2011 ($ 0)

Japan Quake

brief:

Japan Earthquake Update

Chips Still Shaky in Japan Two Weeks Later

The March 11 earthquake in Japan turned out to be more than an instantaneous event. Two weeks later Objective Analysis reviews the evolving issues and impact on chip vendors and electronic equipment builders.

— 3 pages. March 23, 2011 ($ 0)

Multi-Core 101

presentation:

Multi-Core 101: The Architectural Options

For EETimes' Virtual Conference entitled Approaching MultiCore, Strategy Sanity analyst Tom Starnes put together and hosted two Panel Discussions. This is the presentation material used for the overview and the live Q&A for the Multi-Core 101: The Architectural Options panel.

— 30 slides; Sept. 30, 2010 ($ 0)

MC S/W Tools

presentation:

Multi-Core
Software Development Tools

For EETimes' Virtual Conference entitled Approaching MultiCore, Strategy Sanity analyst Tom Starnes put together and hosted two Panel Discussions. This is the presentation material used for the overview and the live Q&A for the Multi-Core Software Development Tools panel.  

— 20 slides; Sept. 30, 2010 ($ 0)

MCHP-SST

brief:

Microchip to Acquire SST

Microchip takes SST in a Flash of Cash

The Flash technology of SST looks even more attractive when the whole company can be bought fairly cheaply. Utilize the Flash where it makes sense in Microchip's MCUs and collect royalties on licensing the technology as well. A couple twists are investigated and some loose ends tied up in this Objective Analysis paper.

— 4 pages. Feb. 13, 2010 ($ 0)

MIPS M14K Core

brief:

MIPS Boosts MCU and Linux Cores

MIPS Technology extends their core offering with the M14K. This review explains its use with particular note of its microcontroller possibilities.

— HTML. November 2, 2009 ($ 0)

  + NEC = Renesas

brief:

ReNECas: The Merger Of Three MCU Companies?

Adding NEC into the fresh MCU conglomerate of Hitachi and Mitsubishi semiconductor operations will have its challenges.  Renesas will need to balance all of the product lines while getting costs down, as this Objective Analysis brief discusses.

— 2 pages. April 16, 2009 ($ 0)

RTECC 2009

presentation:

The Seven Seas Washing over Embedded Systems

A number of trends in embedded applications are highlighted in Tom's keynote presentation from this Real-Time Embedded Computing Conference. The advantages of convenience, consolidation, communications, connectivity and power conservation are reflected in the processor chips underlying today’s embedded systems.

— 21 slides.  March 19, 2009 ($ 0)

CES 2008

report:

Analyst Trip Report — 2008 Consumer Electronics Show

It takes a special sense to discern the relevant information amongst all the noise at the Consumer Electronics Show.  Gain from the eyes-and-ears of an experienced analyst who puts a unique perspective on the gems at this annual event.  Not everything that happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, as these insights and images reveal.

— HTML.  January 2008 ($ 0)

DAC 2007

presentation:

Multi-Core Processor Considerations in Modern Day SoC Designs

This presentation given at the Design Automation Conference in mid-2007 shows some of the issues of the current state of multi-core and multi-processing in semiconductor chips. Examples are given.

— 15 slides.  June 4, 2007 ($ 0)

“In Print”

article:

An Objective Analysis of the Industry Outlook for 2016

2015 turned soft near the end which can carry over to growth or contraction of electronics markets in 2016. An extended review of some key topics, drivers, products, and markets will lead to Objective Analysis's forecast for 2016 semiconductors.

-Tom Starnes, Jim Handy    Electronic Design    January 2016

article:

Is 2015 the Year for IoT, ADAS, 4K UHD, or Surround Cameras?

The Internet of Things continues to be the shiny object that is driving the electronics industry, from the giants to the start-ups come and many makers.  The IoT continues to ride along pivoting with the dominant platform of the smart phone, often a key link in the chain of a complete system, although tablets may be waning.

-Tom Starnes    Electronic Design    February 9, 2015

article:

Forecast for Semiconductors and Things in 2014

2014 should be a banner year for semiconductors with revenue forecast to grow 20% or more. Demand is strong despite softness in PCs as consumers shift spending to smart phones and tablets. Meanwhile, Things on the Internet and sensors of all kinds will further drive markets and new applications. See what the new year has in store.

-Tom Starnes, Jim Handy    Electronic Design    December 18, 2013

article:

Ancient Aliens Fail: Electronics Industry Looks to 2013

The Mayan calendar failed to see the continuation of Earth. But has the Personal Computer been relegated to the Work Computer (WC)?  Will ARM keep its firm grasp on the ever-present Smart Phone, or push its nose into Intel's server tent? Issues of power consumption continue to prevail from chip to grid.  Read what the near term has to offer the semiconductor industry.

-Tom Starnes, Jim Handy    Electronic Design    December 17, 2012

article:

Memory Considerations for Faster MCUs

The use of Flash and other memory within microcontrollers (MCUs) and its speed in relation to that of the processor has changed as 32-bit MCUs, their peripherals, and applications have evolved. Different vendors address these issues in different ways, even when using the same ARM processor cores. Compare them.

-Tom Starnes   Digi-Key's Tech-Zone Magazine   January 2012

article:

Clouds Loom On The 2012 Semiconductor Horizon

The fourth year of a struggling global economy continues to cloud the outlook for the near future. But there are bright spots, growth areas, interesting technologies, and a few duds to watch. The letter "A" stands proud as ARM, Atom, Apple, and Android are highlighted, Power-conserving, green electronics continue to help with battery life as well as heat generation, while Cloud computing forges forward.

-Tom Starnes, Jim Handy   Electronic Design   December 27, 2011

article:

Your MCU is Just Starting to be Connected

Microcontrollers are no longer isolated electronic brains performing a single function.  Connectivity has elevated to a networked form with USB, CAN, Ethernet, and wireless options that greatly increase the reach of an MCU, all the way to the Internet.  

-Tom Starnes   Digi-Key's Tech-Zone Magazine   April 2011

article:

Multicore processors:
Now a movement

Multi-Core is upon us, in many varieties and to serve many purposes. Heterogenous and homogenous, symmetric and asymmetric, and even many-core architectures are embedded into cell phones, network equipment, home entertainment systems. This article points out the inevitable.   

-Tom Starnes   EETimes   September 27, 2010

article:

How Soon Can The New Decade Start?

The year 2009 showed how a few seemingly disconnected events can bring down the global economy as well as our electronics industry. A few observations try to put some perspective on what happened and give some hope for the new year. But this could be a long slump.   

-Tom Starnes   Electronic Design   January 7, 2010

article:

Find your low-power path

There should be no doubt that lower power is part of every new product design. Look at the problems that have crept up on us and some of the solutions for pinching power out of a system’s design.

-Tom Starnes   EDA Tech Forum   April 2009

article:

NEC and Renesas Have Challenges Ahead

Renesas adds NEC into the mix with Hitachi and Mitsubishi. One consolidation is about over as another begins. It may not get easier to pull off this next big union.

- Tom Starnes   Gerson Lehrman Group News   April 28, 2009

article:

The lights go out on
February 17, 2009

Analog television broadcasting will be turned off in the USA and a new era of TV will begin.  How well will the downside be handled?  Are people being left behind?

- Tom Starnes   Embedded.com   April 28, 2008