The rise and rise of ARM, the importance of Android means the only constant in the chip industry is change, says Chris Rowen, chief technology officer and founder of Tensilica
The end of the year, of course, is the natural time to look back, and look forward, at the fundamental trends rippling through the electronics industry. Granted, no profound change ever emerges and plays out in a single year, so these trends are likely to gather strength and have downstream effects for a long time.
As I look back at 2011, these four stand out:
• Android becomes real as an alternative to Apple across phones and tablets.
• Widespread awareness of high-speed wireless for networking and video makes “4G” become a must-have brand.
• ARM becomes visible as emerging alternative to x86 as an applications CPU across tablets and ultra-books to servers, but functional and energyspecifications for ARM and x86-based designs are converging.
• Semiconductor design increasingly is a “sport of kings” – the fabless chip start-up faces increasingly visible barriers to success.
Looking forward to 2012, I see four trends that are likely to be more fully recognised soon:
• The high-bandwidth and low cost help LTE wireless make it a strategic alternative outside of traditional cellular networks - to DSL, cable and broadcast for living room platforms, for home/business femtocells, and for machine-to-machine networking, for example in smart meters.
• Larger semiconductor companies get significantly more agile in system-on-chip design. Their design economies of scale and foundry connections allow them to pump out an exploding number of mobile and living room design variants.
• Smartphone consumers move from consciousness to obsession with battery life, pushing recognition that a further 10x reduction in apps processor energy is both possible and necessary. Application off-load is recognised as an essential power reduction method.
• Widespread experimentation with new mobile device form-factors – from wearables to mini-tablets to voice-centric assistants.
It all reinforces the truism that the only constant, is change. We live in not just interesting times, but exciting times.
www.tensilica.com