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DIGITIMES regularly interviews leading industry executives, inviting them to talk frankly about the technology issues and the business challenges of our rapidly changing industry. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss industry trends and issues face-to-face, via email or during a conference call. The text is available free of charge for three days after publish date; older interviews require membership. Please contact us if you're interested in arranging an interview. |
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20 Nov 2009: | Strong partnerships and complete solutions drive growth: Q&A with LSI executive VP and general manager Jeff Richardson Despite the economic downturn in 2008, LSI saw annual revenues increase. With complete solutions and a strong position in the storage and networking markets, LSI is expected to continue growing. In a recent interview with Digitimes, Jeff Richardson, executive VP and general manager of semiconductor solutions group at LSI, talked about LSI's advantages in the market and what strategies it is employing in pursuit of further success.
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14 Oct 2009: | Business opportunities from smartbooks and e-book readers: Q&A with Inventec Appliances chairman Jackson Chang Inventec Appliances is an ODM maker rolling out MP3 players, GPS devices, smartphones, VoIP phones, and 3G data cards, and yet it is also the vendor of OKWAP-brand handsets. In addition, the company has recently unveiled its smartbooks and e-book readers.
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30 Sep 2009: | A peek at the semiconductor industry from the materials side: Q&A with Wouter Taen, BASF director of business management, Asia Headquartered in Germany, BASF is the world's largest chemical company, operating all over the world and covering a vast number of different industries, including the semiconductor, flat panel and solar industries.
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| Failure as opportunity to learn: Q&A with Corning CEO Wendell P Weeks Many companies went bankrupt in the financial storm, and the remaining companies also learned the lesson the hard way. In the aftermath of the financial woes, many enterprises are looking forward to recovery, but questions remain whether the crisis is really over.
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25 Sep 2009: | Taiwan renewable energy feed-in tariffs not final: Q&A with Huey-ching Yeh, director general of the Bureau of Energy At a September 24 public hearing held by the Bureau of Energy (BE) under Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to discuss its recently announced tentative feed-in tariff rates for renewable energy, representatives of Taiwan-based companies engaged in photovoltaic and wind power generation all criticized the pricing as too low to be attractive. Digitimes had the opportunity to discuss the reaction with BE director general Huey-ching Yeh, who presided over the public hearing.
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10 Sep 2009: | Telecom equipment demand to pick up in 4Q09: Q&A with Alcatel-Lucent North Asia president Alain Biston Demand for telecom equipment in the North Asia region is expected to stage a major upturn in the fourth quarter of 2009 as carriers in the region are beginning to deploy their LTE (Long Term Evolution) and GPON (Gigabit passive optical network) infrastructure, said Alain Biston, president of North Asia at Alcatel-Lucent, in a recent interview with Digitimes. Biston also believe that the emerging demand will last into 2010.
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8 Sep 2009: | Bosch-Akustica acquisition a win-win strategy: Q&A with Akustica founder Michael E Elchik MEMS microphone supplier Akustica was officially acquired by automotive MEMS IDM Robert Bosch North America in August 2009. Michael E Elchik, Akustica's founder and VP of sales, recently came to Taiwan to talk about the acquisition with Digitimes.
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31 Jul 2009: | Acer aims to be top-five smartphone vendor: Q&A with Aymar de Lencquesaing, president of SHBG at Acer Acer aims to ship 2-2.5 million own-brand smartphones in 2010 and the company expects its annual shipments to increase to 20 million units by 2012-2014, making the company a top-five global smartphone vendor with a 6-7% market share. Aymar de Lencquesaing, president of Acer's Smart Handheld Business Group (SHBG), recently provided insight to the company's view of the smartphone industry and Acer's strategy to succeed in the segment during an interview with Digitimes.
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30 Jun 2009: | Chipbond gearing up 12-inch wafer bumping output: Q&A with chairman Fei-Jain Wu Gold bumping service provider, Chipbond Technology, which also offers COF/COG (chip-on-film/chip-on glass) turnkey services, has identified outsourcing of LCD driver-IC bumping and packaging for 12-inch wafers from Japan-based IDMs as a contributing factor to its future growth. In addition, more South Korea-based driver IC design houses are likely to seek OEM partners due to insufficient backend capacity.
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11 Jun 2009: | ACM Research finding strength in megasonic cleaning tool: Q&A with CEO David Wang ACM Research has developed a 300mm single-wafer megasonic cleaning tool, which has been adopted by several leading foundry houses, according to company founder and CEO David Wang. Its megasonic technology, dubbed space-alternated phase shift (SAPS), delivers a particle removal efficiency (PRE) of over 99% without damaging the patterned wafer, said Wang during a recent interview with Digitimes.
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4 Jun 2009: | Killer app for the networked TV: Broadcom talks up OTT video While the traditional WLAN market has been sluggish due to a slump in the economy, chip specialist Broadcom recently noted that the company has seen a rebound in its traditional WLAN businesses for PCs, notebooks and routers in the second quarter. In addition, the company is seeing strong growth in its mobile and media businesses. So despite a weaker economy, Broadcom expects its networking business to see growth this year.
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| A glimpse into Taiwan IPC industry: Q&A with Lanner Electronics During Computex Taipei 2009, Taiwan IPC maker Lanner Electronics (Nangang Exhibition Hall, L808) launched what it claimed was the world's first Intel Atom-based fanless embedded computer with discrete graphics for digital signage.
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3 Jun 2009: | Kingston playing supportive role in Taiwan DRAM rescue: Q&A with company co-founder John Tu Kingston Technology, the US-based memory module maker who has long been a supportive partner for Taiwan's financially-distressed DRAM makers during difficult times, intends to play a role in helping restore the dynamics of both the chip and module markets, company co-founder John Tu said in a recent interview with Digitimes.
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2 Jun 2009: | Smartbooks vs netbooks: Q&A with Qualcomm senior VP Luis Pineda While US-based Qualcomm has been a major player driving growth in the wireless handset market over the past 20 years, the company is now looking to expand its market scope into mobile computing with its Snapdragon processor and smartbook platform. Recently, buzz about the smartbook platform has ratcheted up and Qualcomm is expected to make some announcements during Computex about its progress with smartbooks and Snapdragon.
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| Nvidia's 5-year plan coming to fruition as GPU compute goes mainstream, Q&A with Ujesh Desai, vice president of product marketing Nvidia built its name around satisfying PC gamers' desire for better graphics, higher resolutions, and higher frame rates, from one GPU generation to the next. But around five years ago the Santa Clara-based chipmaker started looking beyond just 3D performance to a future where GPUs could be used for more than just rendering graphics.
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14 May 2009: | CIS market to see more consolidation: Q&A with Aptina marketing VP Sandor Barna More designers are entering the CMOS image sensor (CIS) market, but Sandor Barna, vice president of marketing for Aptina, told Digitimes in a recent interview that smaller players may not survive in a game that needs considerable funding and long-term stable foundry support.
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28 Apr 2009: | Applied Materials optimistic about a-Si thin-film PV Declining polysilicon prices may impact demand for amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules, but Applied Materials is confident of the development of thin-film PV modules because of their advantage in large-scale power generation, as well as building-integrated applications such as electrochromic glass used as curtain walls, according to Mark Pinto, the company's senior vice president and CTO as well as general manager for Energy and Environmental Solutions Group (EES), during a recent interview by Digitimes.
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25 Mar 2009: | Globalfoundries already finding potential customers in Japan and Taiwan: Q&A with CEO Doug Grose Globalfoundries, the spin-off of AMD's former manufacturing operations, is working to build its customer base in Taiwan and Japan, according to company CEO Doug Grose. Grose, who visited Taiwan on March 24, said in an interview with Digitimes that Globalfoundries will initially focus on 45nm production, and schedules to transition to the 32nm- and 22nm-class nodes by 2012.
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23 Mar 2009: | MEMS microphone market continues growing: Q&A with Akustica founder Michael E Elchik MEMS microphone supplier Akustica in the third quarter of 2008 appointed Joe Jacobson, then company Akustica CFO, as its new CEO. Since then market watchers have been eager to see where the new CEO is taking the company. Digitimes recently had the opportunity to interview Akustica founder Michael E Elchik, currently the company's VP of sales, to find out its outlook for 2009.
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2 Mar 2009: | Gearing up for 28nm FPGA: Q&A with Altera CEO John Daane Although the global semiconductor industry will continue to decline this year, Altera is confident of its performance in 2009. The company will maintain strong relationships with foundries for development of next-generation 28nm FPGA chips this year, John Daane, CEO of Altera, noted in a recent interview with Digitimes.
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4 Feb 2009: | Expanding through acquisitions: Q&A with STMicro CEO Carlo Bozotti STMicroelectronics has made four major acquisitions since 2007 – Genesis Microchip, Nokia's 3G and 3.5G R&D team, NXP Semiconductors and Ericsson Mobile Platform (EMP). Digitimes recently had an opportunity to talk to STMicroelectronics CEO Carlo Bozotti about the company's strategy and development.
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21 Jan 2009: | Timing crucial to DRAM consolidation, says A-Data chairman Simon Chen Digitimes recently talked to Simon Chen, chairman of A-Data Technology, about the Taiwan government's bailout program for the island's fragile DRAM industry. According to Chen, the Taiwan government should speed up its bailout efforts, and in the process push for some consolidation among makers from Japan, Taiwan and the US.
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26 Dec 2008: | No gains can be expected from DRAM monopoly, says Kingston co-founder David Sun Digitimes recently talked to David Sun, co-founder of US-based memory module maker Kingston Technology, about the DRAM industry and his advice for Taiwan's money-losing DRAM players. Sun said that no one could expect any gains from a monopoly in DRAM supply, and that Taiwan's struggling DRAM makers may recover only when the world recovers from the financial "tsunami." The following is a summary of Sun's views on the DRAM woes.
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22 Dec 2008: | Industry consolidation key to DRAM recovery: Q&A with PSC chairman Frank Huang Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC) has urged Taiwan's DRAM makers to forge partnerships with local, Japanese or US so as to counter Korea's dominance in the global DRAM market. Frank Huang, chairman of PSC, noted in a recent interview with Digitimes that PSC has partnered with Japan's Elpida Memory and local counterparts ProMOS Technologies and Winbond Electronics are also welcomed to join them.
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19 Dec 2008: | Taiwan DRAM deserves rescue: Q&A with ProMOS chairman ML Chen The Taiwan DRAM industry has been constructed and developed progressively for over 10 years, playing a decisive role in the global semiconductor market, according to ML Chen, chairman of Taiwan-based DRAM maker ProMOS Technologies. Digitimes had a chance to sit down with Chen to discuss why government-backed investment should pour into Taiwan's DRAM industry, as well as outlining ProMOS's approach to sustainable development.
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15 Dec 2008: | Learning from Taiwan IC industry's marketing sensitivity: Q&A with China-based VeriSilicon CEO Wayne Dai VeriSilicon, a China-based provider of silicon IP services, has been drawing much attention for two reasons. Though VeriSilicon currently has no plan for an initial public offering (IPO), the IC design service provider is supported by a strong investor base that includes Austin Ventures (AV), IDG Technology Venture Investment, Sierra Ventures, the WI Harper Group, Intel Capital, and Legend Capital. Besides, VeriSilicon targets its home country, one of the world's largest consumer markets.
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27 Nov 2008: | Efficiency, differentiation, time-to-market and localized service are keys to probe card success: Q&A with FormFactor CEO Mario Ruscev FormFactor, a leading provider of advanced wafer probe cards, has inevitably taken a hit to its operations as a result of the tough economic times. Due to the global economic downturn having led to a negative output gap, FormFactor saw quarterly losses for the first time in 2008. Downsizing workforce has become an essential consideration in every enterprise's expenses-reduction strategy, but FormFactor stresses the importance of continuous investment in R&D in order to develop more cost-effective solutions.
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26 Nov 2008: | Staying focused on wireless connectivity: Q&A with CSR CEO Joep van Beurden Despite unsatisfactory 2008 financial results, UK-based CSR, which has over 50% market share of built-in Bluetooth chips for handsets, is still diversifying its products and increasing research investment during the economic downturn. Digitimes had the opportunity to interview CSR CEO Joep van Beurden on the company's future strategies as well as development of Bluetooth technology.
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13 Nov 2008: | Opportunity is always present in the midst of crisis: Q&A with Freescale CEO Rich Beyer Rich Beyer, CEO of Freescale Semiconductor, was attending a technology seminar held in Beijing early this month, providing his insights into the current economic conditions and particularly the prospects of the technology industry. Digitimes took the opportunity to interview Beyer on Freescale's future investment strategy and its deployments in other segments with growth potentials.
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12 Nov 2008: | MEMS-based digital micro shutters as an alternative to LCD: Q&A with display start-up Pixtronix founder Nesbitt Hagood Pixtronix, a US-based start-up with a staff size of about 45, claims it has been doing what everyone else in the flat panel display industry has been trying to achieve: low-cost and energy-saving solutions without trading off picture quality. After three years of product development since the company's establishment in 2005, Pixtronix is now looking for manufacturing partners to produce its MEMS-based display using its own Digital Micro Shutter (DMS) technology. The display has a similar architecture to that of an LCD panel, but it uses micro shutters instead of liquid crystals. And unlike LCDs, DMS displays do not need polarizers or color filters. Pixtronix founder, CTO and president Nesbitt Hagood stresses that DMS displays have better light transmission efficiency than LCDs, hence lower power consumption. He claims that the manufacturing costs of DMS displays will be 10% less than those for LCDs.
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10 Nov 2008: | Portable projector with media player: Q&A with Aiptek chairman Peter Chen Taiwan-based digital image products maker Aiptek International has introduced its first pico projector with built-in media player and 1GB memory. Peter Chen, chairman of the company, believes that such products combining portable devices and projectors will be the next hit in the market.
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5 Nov 2008: | The future of network video: Q&A with Tim Chen of Lanner Electronics Network video shows potential in a growing range of industries, from surveillance and security, to health care, industrial automation, and transportation. This is largely thanks to the boom in image sensor technology and the ability to capture high-resolution, high-fidelity audio/video. But at the same time the trend to higher quality has put pressure on other elements of the ecosystem, in particular how to effectively cater to the increasing bandwidth demands of these video streams, and how to store, manage and archive cost effectively. Digitimes recently had a chance to talk with Tim Chen, Senior Vice President for Video Communications at Lanner Electronics, about Lanner's move into the network video market and its recent release of a 16-channel all-in-one H.264 video encoding motherboard.
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23 Oct 2008: | Solar energy market to grow at a very aggressive rate: Q&A with Gilad Almogy, senior vice president, Applied Materials Despite the rapid decline of oil prices and a slowdown in the semiconductor and FPD (flat-panel display) industries recently, global investment in solar energy has continued to build – a trend that has helped bring in a backlog of orders for thin-film solar products at Applied Materials. Digitimes recently had an opportunity to talk with Gilad Almogy, senior vice president and general manager of display and thin-film solar business group at Applied Materials, on the prospects of the global photovoltaic market.
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20 Oct 2008: | MEMS mass production to lead to increased foundry outsourcing: Q&A with Siimpel CEO Chee Kwan Increasing global demand for smartphones has resulted in related advancements in handset functionality and increased competition among component suppliers. In August of this year, Siimpel announced that it MEMS-based silicon camera technology was shipping in Motorola's Ming A1600 handset, marking a key design with for the company.
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9 Oct 2008: | Shrunken 65nm process is more competitive: Q&A with Kumi Higuchi, vice president of Elpida Memory Japan-based Elpida Memory has recently come out with a shrunken 65nm process for the production of DRAM chips, which the company claims will be able to compete effectively with the 50nm-class processes currently being developed by rivals in South Korea. Elpida vice president for investment and public relations, Kumi Higuchi, discussed the company's deployment plans for the shrunken 65nm node, as well as her view of the prospects for the DRAM industry in a recent interview with Digitimes.
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30 Sep 2008: | ARM-based MID products to hit the market in 2009: Q&A with Warren East, CEO of ARM ARM Holdings recently held its annual board meeting for 2008 in Taipei, highlighting the importance of the Taiwan market to its long-term business deployment. Digitimes took the opportunity to interview ARM CEO Warren East about ARM's business prospects and future technology roadmaps.
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23 Sep 2008: | GPU will continue to grow for another 15 years: Q&A with Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia Digitimes recently had a chance to talk to Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia to discuss recent issues surrounding the chip design giant.
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15 Sep 2008: | Semiconductor equipment localization – Don't act like a cry baby: Q&A with Hermes Epitek Archie Hwang One of the most well known local Taiwan providers of semiconductor equipment, Hermes Epitek believes that extending its business presence is a natural extension of its long-term practice of developing its technology and industry expertise, starting from its agency business decades ago.
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| Product difference and virtual localization: E-ton general manager talks about Taiwan's PV industry His eyes sparkle when Chin-Yao Tsai, general manager of E-ton Solar Tech, talks fervently about solar energy and in particular the photovoltaic (PV) industry in Taiwan. He has confidence in the sector and firmly believes that solar energy will be another star industry driving Taiwan's economy and propelling Taiwan to the top among its competitors in the worldwide PV sector. "Strength, confidence, and perseverance: with these we can achieve something unglaublich." That is the "DNA" that Tsai is trying to instill in all of E-ton's workforce. With a strong commitment to doing the right thing, Tsai has helped E-ton carve out a place in the PV industry. Now he hopes to enlist the resources available through SEMI to create a blue ocean for Taiwan's PV industry.
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12 Sep 2008: | Economic takes its spot next to technology: Talking techonomics with Synopsys CEO Aart de Geus For much of the history of the semiconductor industry, Moore's Law was the industry's driver. Though Moore's law remains a strong and vibrant driver today, it has been joined by economic pressures, namely the cost requirements of continued technology progress.
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11 Sep 2008: | Economic and technology challenges moving to 32nm: Q&A with ATMI As the semiconductor industry addresses the move to 32nm, it is important for players in the industry to acknowledge that the macro market environment it serves is rapidly changing. The successful growth of the industry has happened through incredible gains in efficiency and functionality driven by continuous innovation and process improvement. This has enabled the adoption of low-cost, high-utility semiconductor functionality into nearly every segment of government, industrial and consumer markets. However, the semiconductor industry growth rate has slowed, which, when combined with the high variation in market applications, causes a very different economic dynamic than it has faced before.
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| The state of the semiconductor industry: Q&A with SEMI president Stanley Myers When looking to divine the direction of the semiconductor industry, it makes sense to turn to SEMI, the global industry association serving companies that provide equipment, materials and services used to manufacture semiconductors devices.
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9 Sep 2008: | KLA Tencor sees the capex glass as half full Although a global economic recession has cast a cloud over the entire semiconductor industry, leading inspection and metrology tool supplier KLA Tencor expects that the soft capital expenditure (capex) trend in 2008 foretells of a recovery in 2009. Therefore, the company is taking advantage of the present industry trough to continue its R&D on cutting-edge technology.
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22 Jul 2008: | More outsourcing from IDMs implies business potential: Q&A with Global Testing president and CEO Paul Yang While admitting that its sales exposure to IC design houses is relatively high, Global Testing (GT) aims to grow its exposure to IDMs in order to grab more business, especially as IDMs are also growing their outsourcing ratio amid cost concerns.
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18 Jul 2008: | If you can be number one in China you can be number one in the world: Q&A with Freescale senior VP Henri Richard During the recent Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) in the US, company senior VP, chief sales and marketing officer Henri Richard noted that one of the great pleasures he has had since joining Freescale last year was to find a really good team in Asia. Asia is all about growth, he noted, and Freescale has been active over the past few months in adding new people in distribution management in Greater China to reinforce its team there.
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15 Jul 2008: | Opportunity and challenge in China semi inspection and metrology market: Q&A with KLA-Tencor China president Su Hua With China being one of the key hubs for semiconductor production and key market for semiconductor sales, leading process control and yield management tool supplier KLA-Tencor believes the business potential from corresponding inspection and metrology tools is guaranteed. While seeing substantial business opportunities in the region, the equipment vendor also identified some challenges in establishing a foothold in China.
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11 Jul 2008: | Rohm & Haas ready for 18-inch wafer and new process migration: Q&A with president of microelectronic technologies James Fahey While number-one semiconductor equipment supplier Applied Materials projects that semiconductor companies will trim their capital expenditure (capex) by 40% in 2008, and some leading players are already making moves to migrate to 18-inch wafers, Rohm & Haas, being a leading material supplier, is confident that its business strategy will provide it with stable sales and profitability.
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25 Jun 2008: | From Hollywood to your digital life: Q&A with Dolby marketing vice president Francois Modarresse The "Dolby" logo is deep-rooted in every cinema goer's mind, with the logo signifying a guarantee of a lively audio experience. Dolby Laboratories has also made moves to bring that Hollywood experience to more areas of the market, extending its digital audio reach to home entertainment devices and even to handsets, with its Dolby Mobile and a partnership with Sharp.
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23 Jun 2008: | Dennis Chen, chairman of LED chipmaker Huga Optotech While upstream LED companies did not see their revenues grow as much as expected in the first half of this year, LED chipmaker Huga, founded by Inventec and Yulon, maintained growth and the company set a revenue record in May of this year with sales of NT$230 million. Its accumulated revenues thorough the first five months of this year reached NT$923 million, up 56.39% on year, and the company estimates its EPS will reach NT$3 for the year.
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18 Jun 2008: | No plan for 450mm wafer migration yet: Q&A with Chartered CEO Song-Hwee Chia With Intel, Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) having recently reached an agreement on 450mm wafer production, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, as a leading foundry, said it would not follow suit yet. The company will also follow its own pricing mechanism, despite an announcement by number-one pure-play foundry TSMC that it will adjust prices for high-end process nodes.
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10 Jun 2008: | Own brand strategy: Q&A with TPV Group vice president CH Tuan TPV Technology's own monitor brand AOC overtook Samsung Electronics as the number one monitor brand in China in the first quarter of 2008 and TPV aims to ship a total of 11.5 million units of its own-brand monitors worldwide in 2008. Digitimes spoke with TPV Group vice president CH Tuan about the TPV's own-brand development strategy.
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| Daily silicon: Q&A with Gary Homan, VP of Hemlock Semiconductor What is going on in the polysilicon industry? It is common knowledge that silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust (after oxygen) and the third in the planet's mantle (behind oxygen and magnesium), so any sort of silicon shortage may sound like nonsense. However, this is the situation.
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| Dr. Chii-Ming Yiin, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Digitimes recently had the opportunity to interview Taiwan's new Economics Minister Dr. Chii-Ming Yiin, to discuss current issues being handled by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), including regulations on investments in China, planned infrastructure projects in Taiwan and the effect of rising oil prices on Taiwan's economy.
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9 Jun 2008: | Trends in storage, the economy and network: Comments from LSI CEO Abhi Talwalkar LSI was founded in 1981 as an ASIC company that did service functions, which meant basically it turned others companies' IP into silicon. The company did that for more than 20 years, but in the years from 2000-2005 it seems that the company sort of lost its way. It had great technology but it was participating in a lot of different markets and there was no clear corporate strategy.
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| Trends in the Wi-Fi industry: An interview with Michael Hurlson of Broadcom Just before Broadcom spoke at the Computex CE Summit on June 4, Digitimes had the opportunity to chat with Michael Hurlson, vice president and general manager for the Home and Wireless Networking Business Unit at Broadcom about trends and topics in the global WLAN industry.
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6 Jun 2008: | Intel is ready for MID challenge: Q&A with Anand Chandrasekher, manager of Intel ultra mobility group With Nvidia recently revealing its Tegra processor for mobile computer products to challenge Intel's Atom platform on MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices), Digitimes took the opportunity to talk to Anand Chandrasekher, manager of Intel's ultra mobility group to discuss Intel's views on the new development.
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| Ubiquitous media connectivity: A discussion with Alice Chang, CEO of CyberLink Improvement in PC hardware in recent years has helped spur the development, creation and manipulation of multimedia, especially video. CyberLink is well known for its multimedia software applications and has grown and adapted with changes in the digital media world for nearly 10 years.
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5 Jun 2008: | WiMAX is an opportunity for Taiwan to become leading total solutions provider: Interview with John Hsuan, vice chairman of UMC John Hsuan, vice chairman of United Microelectronic Corporation (UMC) and concurrently chairman of Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL), is a 30-year veteran of the Taiwan IT industry and has witnessed numerous shifts in technological evolution. Of late, Hsuan has been betting on WiMAX technology, committing personal equity investments in two of Taiwan's licensed WiMAX operators - First International Telecom (Fitel) and Global Mobile.
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30 May 2008: | Profitability more important than ranking: Q&A with UTAC president and CEO JC Lee Being one of the top-ten IC packaging and testing companies in terms of sales, United Test and Assembly Center (UTAC) stresses the importance of profitability rather than ranking, though the company is always wishing to advance its ranking, said company president and CEO JC Lee.
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21 May 2008: | A focused CMOS image sensor maker: Q&A with OmniVision sales VP Ray Cisneros Despite the CMOS image sensor market undergoing a structural change, as evident in Micron Technology spinning off its CMOS image sensor unit as Aptina Imaging, as well as the rising roles of smaller-scale players, OmniVision, which has regained its throne in the industry, recently stressed the importance of being a "focused" fabless company.
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20 May 2008: | Distributing NXP ICs is "easy": Q&A with NXP Asia Pacific sales and marketing VP TL Chow Soon after meeting with distributors in the Asia Pacific region, NXP Semiconductors Asia Pacific sales and marketing vice president, TL Chow met with Digitimes and shared his comments about doing business with NXP, as well as how NXP differentiates itself from other semiconductor vendors.
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16 May 2008: | Well-positioned for an audio IC boom: Q&A with Wolfson CEO Dave Shrigley Seeing demand for good quality audio performance penetrating a wide array of consumer electronics, Wolfson Microelectronics, a leading-player in the high-end audio solution market, is confident it has secured a solid position to grab the substantial business potential ahead.
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14 May 2008: | Pursuit of a 100% on-year sales growth in 2008: Q&A with PTMD general manager Tom Lei Despite the price plunge in NAND flash dragging PTMD, a joint-venture between ProMOS Technologies and China Potevio Company on memory card sales, into losses in the first quarter of 2008, company general manager Tom Lei stated that the company aims for a 100% on-year sales growth in 2008 on substantial potential from a new China ATM card.
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12 May 2008: | From ASIC to CSSP: Q&A with QuickLogic Greater China sales director David Kuo David Kuo, sales director for QuickLogic in Greater China, emphasized that QuickLogic will shift its focus from field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to customer specific standard products (CSSPs) in the future. Through the transition, the company expects to have an extended presence beyond military and industrial applications.
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29 Apr 2008: | Pegatron needs more time: Q&A with Denese Yao, spokesperson for Pegatron and Unihan A quarter has passed since Asustek Computer spun-off its ODM business, however, there are still many questions surrounding the roles the two spun-off companies will play in the market – Pegatron Technology (in charge of PC OEM) and Unihan Technology (in charge of non-PC OEM) – and their relationship with Asustek. Digitimes recently had a chance to talk to Denese Yao, spokesperson for Pegatron and Unihan to discuss the current status of the companies.
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24 Apr 2008: | A "Renaissance" in IC testing and packaging: Q&A with ASE R&D chief officer Ho-Ming Tong Already holding a secure foothold in the flip-chip (FC) IC packaging sector, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) believes that a Renaissance in the testing and packaging industry has arrived, with a wide array of new packages to hit the market at a more rapid pace. When the different forms of IC packaging grow, strong partnerships from all sectors will be highlighted.
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| Taiwan WiMAX deal with Intel a new beginning: Q&A with Ho Mei-yueh, chairperson of CEPD Ho Mei-yueh, chairperson of Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), helped initiate the development of the WiMAX industry in Taiwan in 2002. Ho played an important role in the recent signing of a new MOU (memorandum of understanding) between Taiwan's government and Intel for further promotion of the WiMAX industry in Taiwan. Ho spoke about the blueprint of Taiwan's WiMAX industry during an interview with Digitimes.
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23 Apr 2008: | Fair business environment necessary: Q&A with Tessera COO Mike Bereziuk Starting from the second half of 2007, Tessera Technologies filed a series of lawsuits with leading semiconductor companies, including Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), ChipMOS Technologies, Siliconware Precision Industries Limited (SPIL), STATS ChipPAC, and DRAM makers and some IDMs.
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17 Apr 2008: | Hello Mr Chips: Q&A with former Korean Minister of Information amd Communication, Chin Dae-je Few people have enjoyed the success in both the private and public sector that IT maverick Chin Dae-je has had over the past 20 years. After returning to his native South Korea two decades ago – after PhD studies at Stanford and a stint at IBM – Chin worked his way up to the executive suites at Samsung Electronics before moving on to become Minister of Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).
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3 Apr 2008: | MEMS microphone is a business of dedication and diversification: Q&A with Akustica sales VP Michael E Elchik As a leading micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphone maker, Akustica has established a solid foothold quickly. Company vice president of sales, Michael E Elchik, attributes the company's success to the flexibility offered by standard CMOS processing, as well as its dedicated focus on niche markets.
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28 Mar 2008: | Pursuit of market share and sales growth to be consistent: Q&A with Freescale sales and marketing senior VP Henri Richard Freescale Semiconductor has built success on its micro-controller unit (MCU) deployment, but the aggressive push from Motorola has prompted concern among market watchers about whether the company is placing too heavy a focus on its handset chip division. Company sales and marketing division senior vice president, Henri Richard, however, prefers to highlight the proven sales that Freescale has achieved in the MCU business.
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27 Mar 2008: | Handset demand growth in China promising: Q&A with NXP Greater China VP Stephen Lin Having an early presence in the China TD-SCDMA chip solution market, NXP Semiconductors reiterates its confidence about the penetration of the TD-SCDMA standard in China in 2008 amid anticipated positive catalysts stemming from the upcoming Beijing Olympics. While projecting positive handset demand growth this year, however, uncertainties still exist.
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21 Mar 2008: | MEMS market growth to beat expectations: Q&A with TSMC mainstream technology business development director George Liu In contrast to the interpretation of marketers that micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) is a niche market/process, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, said it is now able to integrate MEMS process with traditional CMOS process, prompting this "niche" to expand further.
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18 Mar 2008: | The prospects for medium-size-panels: Q&A with HannStar Display president David Joe HannStar Display, whose second 3G LCD panel plant has just been taken over by Wintek, has recently been dogged by rumors that it is also seeking to sell off its 5G plant (or 5.3G as the company describes it). But HannStar president David Joe has told Digitimes that he cannot understand the rationale behind the rumors, as the company's finances are in good health. He detailed the company's expansion into the medium-size segment and talked about the prospects for building a next-generation plant.
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| Merger as key to growth: Q&A with GM of analog IC design house GMT The announcement at the end of February that Taiwan analog IC designer Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT) had reached a merger agreement with Aimtron Technology shook Taiwan's IC design industry, as it was the first-ever merger between Taiwan-based listed or over-the-counter (OTC) analog IC design houses.
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14 Mar 2008: | Silicon Laboratories expects strong growth in MCU business this year: Q&A with VP Derrell Coker Although analogue-intensive and mixed-signal IC designer Silicon Laboratories entered the MCU (micro control unit) market less than five years ago, the fabless company was able to post sales of more than US$50 million for the segment in 2007, and the company projects growth of 35-40% in 2008.
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13 Mar 2008: | Snowstorms spur communications infrastructure demand in China: Q&A with Frank Liang, general manager of Greater China at Broadcom In recent years, Broadcom has seen its sales in China's domestic market grow at an accelerating pace. In order to cater to the demands of its ever-increasing clientele in the China market, the fabless company has been building up its staff, which now totals more than 200.
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12 Mar 2008: | China domestic demand still strong: Q&A with NXP regional executive for Greater China, Mike Yeh While seeing demand for electronics in China not being dampen by heavy snows that fell there, NXP Semiconductors has a positive outlook for demand prior to the Olympics Games and sees several directions for potential business. Digitimes recently had the opportunity to talk with the company's regional executive for Greater China, Mike Yeh, about his outlook for China and the global industry in 2008.
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11 Mar 2008: | Capacity expansion not the sole criteria to judge competitiveness: Q&A with Green Energy president Hurlon Lin, part II After seeing first-quarter 2007 sales dampened by a fire incident in late 2006, Green Energy Technology has not taken a long time to become a leading solar-grade silicon wafer supplier in Taiwan. The company postponed its initial public offering (IPO) in Taiwan due to weak capital market trend in 2007 and only guides for a 35% on-year capacity expansion for 2008.
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26 Feb 2008: | Enhanced user experience at core of handset solution: Q&A with TI senior VP of wireless terminals business unit, Greg Delagi Digitimes recently had the opportunity to talk with Greg Delagi, senior vice president and general manager of the wireless terminals business unit of Texas Instruments (TI), to hear his comments about the latest handset trends and outlook for the industry.
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22 Feb 2008: | Configurability, differentiation and margin: Q&A with ARC CEO Carl Schlachte Silicon can today only command value if it contributes directly to a compelling consumer experience - this statement could be categorized as the fundamental principle of ARC International. In line with such a sentiment, the British intellectual property (IP) vendor continues holding its ConfigCon series of conferences, where it makes its case for how silicon providers can use ARC processor cores to differentiate their products without sacrificing time-to-market schedules.
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15 Feb 2008: | Nvidia talks smartphone plans: Q&A with Michael Rayfield, general manager, mobile business unit Nvidia's recent introduction of the APX 2500 applications processor indicates that the company is getting serious about its offerings in the smartphone market. However, the company faces stiff competition from established players, including Texas Instrument (TI), Broadcom and Qualcomm, and so will need to leverage its strengths in graphics chip development to carve its own niche in the market. Digitimes recently had a chance to talk to Michael Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia's mobile business unit, to discuss Nvidia's outlook and plans for the smartphone market.
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13 Feb 2008: | TPO Displays aiming for record performance in 2008: Q&A with company CEO William Chang Digitimes recently had the opportunity to interview William Chang, CEO and president of Taiwan-based small- to medium-size panel maker TPO Displays, during which he talked about the company's goal and capacity expansion plan for this year, the development roadmap for AM OLED products and the forecast for the worldwide LCD panel industry in 2008.
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24 Jan 2008: | More functions not resolution key to advancing digital cameras: Q&A with Casio's "digital camera father" Digitimes recently spoke with Jin Nakayama, general manager for OV Unit of Planning Department under Casio Computer about Casio's development strategies for its digital cameras and business outlook for the segment. Casio internally dubs Nakayama as the father of its digital cameras.
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15 Jan 2008: | Providing a start-up platform for equipment localization: Q&A with Applied Materials While the Taiwan government has recently been pushing to increase the localization of semiconductor equipment and component procurement, the world's number-one equipment supplier, Applied Materials, has looked into such deployment for years. Digitimes recently has the opportunity to meet with company general manager for Taiwan and China global services, George Yi, who shared his thoughts about equipment localization in Taiwan.
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10 Jan 2008: | Persistent technology advancement to enable growth to beat industry average: Q&A with KLA-Tencor Taiwan GM With the semiconductor industry seeing a slowing of growth in recent years, equipment suppliers are being exposed to challenges stemming from capital expenditure (capex) trims by customers. KLA-Tencor, as a leading process control and yield management tool supplier in the industry, anticipates its performance will beat the industry average regardless of industry trends. Digitimes recently had the opportunity to talk with the company's Taiwan branch general manager, Shuei-Rong Chang, about his thoughts about the industry and the company's sales outlook.
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7 Jan 2008: | NXP-GloNav consolidation synergy to materialize as new solution to launch soon: Q&A with NXP EVP of mobile and personal business unit Following the acquisition of the US-based global positioning system (GPS) fabless company GloNav in late December of 2007, NXP Semiconductors is ready to offer customers in all fields, including the handset sector, with stronger functionality solutions. In light of the encouraging penetration trend in handsets of functions such as Bluetooth and FM radio reception, NXP is gearing for an upcoming launch of a GPS single chip solution in the near future.
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25 Dec 2007: | Braving the storm in the NAND flash market: Q&A with 3S general manager Hu Ting-chung For Solid State System (3S), a relatively late comer to the NAND flash controller IC sector, it may be the worst of times to list on Taiwan's over-the-counter (OTC) stock market when the NAND flash market is at a low. But 3S, which has solid ties with Toshiba, and has received orders from Kingston Technology, started trading on Taiwan's OTC market on December 24. Hu Ting-chun, general manager of 3S, recently talked to Digitimes about the prospects of the company and the market.
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12 Dec 2007: | Eyeing the China market: Q&A with David Sheu, chairman of equipment supplier Spirox David Sheu, chairman and CEO of Taiwan-based equipment supplier Spirox, expects spending by Taiwan's semiconductor players for 2008 to fall, chiefly because of reduced investment from the DRAM sector. Sheu, who has just returned to Taiwan from a trip to the United States, claims that US demand during the end-of-year shopping season is being dampened by the subprime woes, but the demand in China may be very strong ahead of the Lunar New Year in February. Digitimes has talked to Sheu about the prospects of the semiconductor market.
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11 Dec 2007: | Penetrating the Japan network-equipment market: Q&A with Toru Okubo, managing director of D-Link Japan Taiwan-based network-equipment vendor D-Link has been promoting its own-brand products worldwide for over 10 years. It now holds a 23.8% share in the SOHO and SMB (small and medium business) segments of the global network-equipment market. However, due to the unique ecosystem of the Japanese market and to avoid conflicts with its OEM clients in Japan, D-Link has refrained from making inroads into Japan until 2006 when it reentered the market there. Toru Okubo, managing director of D-Link Japan, spoke about D-Link Japan's strategy as well as its goals during a recent interview with Digitimes.
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5 Dec 2007: | Gearing up for PV industry: Q&A with Applied Materials SVP Mark Pinto Applied Materials on December 4 held a forum in Taipei on the photovoltaic (PV) industry during which Digitimes had the opportunity to interview Mark Pinto, the company's senior vice president, chief technology officer and general manager for energy and environmental solutions.
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4 Dec 2007: | Freeing your phone: Q&A with Sean Moss-Pultz, president of OpenMoko, Part I Google's announcement of Android in early November brought a lot of press to the idea of an open handset platform. Such an idea, however, is not new and OpenMoko is one company that has been publicly pursuing such a goal for more than a year. Digitimes had the opportunity to talk with Sean Moss-Pultz, president of OpenMoko, about the latest developments at the company and what effect Android will have on the project.
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27 Nov 2007: | LED refrigeration lighting: Q&A with Ledtech chairman Frank Liu Taiwan's LED production value will reach NT$93.2 billion by 2010, and the region will account for 14% of the global LED market, according to Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). While a number of LED makers are targeting flat-panel and handset applications, LED maker Ledtech Electronics has been active in downstream lighting applications, such as for refrigeration units.
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26 Nov 2007: | Solar energy business an imperative: Q&A with CMO president Jau-Yang Ho Apart from continuously growing its core business, Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), a Taiwan-based LCD panel maker, now is expanding into the solar energy market and expects to volume produce thin-film solar energy products in 2009. Digitimes had the chance to talk with CMO president Jau-Yang Ho about the outlook for the LCD industry, the company's business strategy in the solar power market, CMO's next-generation LCD plant as well as LCM deployment. Ho also spoke about his plan for retirement in 2009.
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23 Nov 2007: | Treating every customer like Intel: Q&A with Tower CEO Russell Ellwanger Israel-based Tower Semiconductor recently opened a representative office in Taiwan to step up development of the Asia-Pacific market. Digitimes recently talked to Tower CEO Russell Ellwanger about his outlook for the company and the semiconductor industry.
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22 Nov 2007: | Talking LCD TVs: Q&A with ViewSonic America president Matt Milne Although LCD monitor demand remains strong, with global shipments expected to increase 30% this year, annual growth will begin to drop off starting next year, with DisplaySearch forecasting that growth in the global LCD monitor market will total 12% and 9% for 2008 and 2009, respectively, and yearly growth in 2010 and 2011 will fall to 7% per year.
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20 Nov 2007: | The Eee PC is an extra profit line: Q&A with Jonney Shih and Jonathan Tseng, CEO and president of Asustek Asustek Computer's recent launch of the low-cost Eee PC has prompted a wide range of opinions across the market. Some say the Eee PC sacrificed too many functions and performance for its price, while others are optimistic over the product's future.
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| Aiming high: Q&A with Mike Yeh, NXP regional executive for Greater China More than a year after it was spun off from Philips, NPX has become the second-largest semiconductor player in the Greater China region. Digitimes recently talked to Mike Yeh, NXP's regional executive for Greater China, about the Chinese market and the company's plans for the region.
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15 Nov 2007: | No conflict in handset chip market share and profitability: Q&A with STMicroelectronics COO Alain Dutheil By strengthening ties with number-one handset vendor Nokia in 3G handset chip solutions in August 2007, STMicroelectronics raised eyebrows as the collaboration may allow the company to extend its influence in the handset chip market further in 2008. While some industry players say the race in the handset chip market for market share means a sacrifice in profitability, STMicroelectronics COO Alain Dutheil, however, thinks there is no conflict between the two.
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8 Nov 2007: | Differentiation the fundamental profit driver: Q&A with Rambus CEO Harold Hughes As a leading memory licensing company that focuses on competitive-edge technologies that meet high-performance memory requirements, Rambus stresses the significance of differentiation, while delivering an optimistic outlook for all major memory-related sectors in 2008.
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