"Never waste a good crisis," Henri Richard, senior v-p at Freescale, told the CEO Forum at Electronica this morning.
"Some of our distinguished customers now realise that you don’t make semiconductors like you make sheet metal," said Richard, "so some education was done. There’s more of desire to partner with us."
Richard took a more robust view to the crisis than fellow panellists Carlo Bozotti, CEO of STMicroelectronics and Rick Clemmer, CEO of NXP. While Clemmer and Bozotti talked of a return to normality, predictability and stability in 2011, Richard took a more positive view of the disruption.
"We’re an industry that thrives on innovation, so why should we want stability? Come on. Those two things are antagonistic. We want disruption," said Richard.
Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon, agreed: "Normality is a state that doesn’t exist", he said, "we’re always on the run for new applications."
Richard pointed out that customers will always buy the most innovative products – making it vital for the semiconductor industry to supply the most innovative technology.
Current problems of supply are normal. "Cancellations and put-outs are part of my daily life, said Richard, if I got excited about that it would be difficult to live."
Richard was bullish on the industry’s future pointing out that the generation born in the 80s and brought up on the Internet are now earning good money and will be spending their money on techie products.
"This will have a big effect on things," said Richard, "the industry has gone through hell and we’ve come out of it strong and looking at a very bright future."