Three enablers to drive IC innovation

Tired of the doom and gloom in the marketplace? Yes!

Despite the slew of bad news, the semiconductor industry must not stand still. "During the economic downturn, we have to innovate,'' said Misha Burich, senior vice president of research and development at Altera Corp. (San Jose, Calif.), during the DesignCon technology event last week.
##CONTINUE##
''The semiconductor revolution is alive and well,'' added Paolo Gargini, Intel fellow and director of technology strategy for the Technology and Manufacturing Group within the chip giant, during a keynote at DesignCon here. At the event, Gargini received the International Engineering Consortium (IEC) Distinguished Fellow Award.

During the keynote, he listed three market enablers that could drive innovation and new products. Here are Gargini's three enablers:

1. 1 billion mobile Internet users.
2. 100-megabit-per-sceond wireless throughput.

3. 1 billion transistors available for chip designs that are on-the-go.

Many of the technologies are already available or will be ready by 2013, thereby giving designers the ability to devise new products. For example, Intel itself leveraged many of these enablers and devised the Atom, a processor geared for the so-called netbook or mobile Internet device (MID) market.

The shift towards the netbook could propel more products and a ''new set of devices,'' he said. All told, the Intel technologist remains upbeat despite the doom and gloom. ''The future is bright,'' he said. ''Technology innovation continues to enable new product waves.''

-----------------------------
BY Mark LaPedus
Source：EE Times

Copyright © 2009 TechInsights, a Division of United Business Media LLC All rights reserved.