Dear Warren,
Perhaps you can help me. I don't get out much and I tend to spend a lot of time at work. I feel used and underappreciated by internal groups that only want to get me into their chip. The pattern is always the same. At first, we get together often and talk for hours about how we can work perfectly together. I give them everything, and then, after tape-out, the phone calls stop and they move on.
I'm really thinking about dating around a little more, as these one-night-stands are tiresome. My friends tell me I'm pretty and should be playing the field. How do I know it's the right time to open myself up for external licensing?
Signed, Lonely Internal IP
Dear Lonely, the question about whether internal IP is fully valued is a question I get all the time from semiconductor companies with large portfolios of internal IP. In the late 90's the whole semiconductor industry realized the growing importance of IP and began to not only buy IP from other companies, but invest heavily in creating the environment for internal IP to be developed into "crown jewels" that could be utilized between groups and as a differentiator from competitor's products.
Now 10 years later, the world is again changing and these same companies that saw the value of keeping IP protected within the four walls of their fabs are seeing the strategic opportunity to take advantage of a disaggregating semiconductor industry by seeding the world with their technology.
Gartner says as much in an article back in August of 2006, citing that one possible evolution of semiconductor companies is to become IP companies. (Chip IP market set to rise 25% in 2006, says Gartner)
So my Dear Lonely, you are not alone in thinking that others outside your group could be interested in what you have to offer. Give me a call, I can set you up with a very nice fellow. In fact, I'll bet there will be a line of waiting suitors.
