What would you name a semi firm that makes a speciality of mixed-signal chips produced on trailing edge manufacturing processes? These accustomed to the trade would say that’s an analog semi firm. By that very same definition, perhaps we must always consider GlobalFoundries as simply one other analog chip firm.
An extended-time good friend pointed this out and we predict it’s price exploring as a result of it helps us not solely perceive GlobalFoundries’ prospects, but in addition how we take into consideration trade definitions.
At first blush, this equivalence doesn’t make sense. GlobalFoundries is a foundry, manufacturing chips for third events. Analog firms like Texas Devices design their very own chips and generally manufacture them as nicely.
Editor’s Observe:
Visitor creator Jonathan Goldberg is the founding father of D2D Advisory, a multi-functional consulting agency. Jonathan has developed progress methods and alliances for firms within the cell, networking, gaming, and software program industries.
The entire world has spent the previous three years studying the distinction between fabless and foundry firms. Once we seem on podcasts, that is normally the primary level we make. However dig a bit deeper and the similarities begin to seem.
Each firms really manufacture comparable chips, or at the least chips that find yourself in comparable finish markets – industrial, automotive, wi-fi infrastructure, and so forth. And all these chips carry out simply positive on trailing edge processes. GlobalFoundries acquired off the Moore’s Legislation treadmill at 16nm, and most of Texas Devices’ chips use even older processes. That is the analog area and analog indicators don’t scale the way in which digital processors do, so mature processes work simply positive more often than not.
Folks will argue that GlobalFoundries doesn’t have chip designers, a significant capability that’s completely unstaffed. That is true, besides, fabless analog firms are inclined to work way more carefully with their fab operations. There may be much more scope for backwards and forwards, so whereas GF will not be actually speaking to end-customers, they find yourself doing plenty of the design work.
So the 2 firms are usually not similar, however they’re pretty comparable. They manufacture comparable merchandise for comparable finish markets and sit in comparable locations in semis processes. Going ahead, it most likely is smart to consider GlobalFoundries as an analog firm. For GF, that probably means its future rests on convincing a few of the smaller analog firms to outsource their manufacturing to GF and forego capability enlargement.
Theoretically, GlobalFoundries might even begin working straight with finish prospects. We all know they signed a cope with Ford through the capability crunch, however from what we are able to inform that isn’t precisely a well-reasoned endeavor with clear strategic finish objectives. However it’s not not possible for them to go down this path.
We’re most likely going to see much more blurring like this. As soon as upon a time, semis firms all did their very own manufacturing. And whereas there are nonetheless many the explanation why vanguard fabs will likely be constructed by foundries ($20 billion causes, per plant), for everybody else the financial case for splitting the 2 must be rethought.
The current capability shortages woke lots of people as much as that actuality. With Moore’s Legislation not working at full throttle, many firms will begin to think about increase manufacturing as a core competency as soon as once more. The pendulum isn’t going to swing again all the way in which and eclipse the fabless mannequin, neither is the pendulum standing nonetheless.