GLG News by Semiconductor Experts in GLG Member Programs (California)

Jim TurleyOwner and AnalystSilicon Insider

Oracle should kill SPARC. It's among the slowest CPU chips around, and the engineering costs are staggering.

May 14, 2009

Analysis of:Ellison Insists Sun's Sparc Still Has a Future | seekingalpha.com

* Microprocessor development is hugely expensive, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year, every year, forever. * It's an expensive treadmill. You can never stop improving the processor or you rapidly fall behind. * Unique CPU technologies do not translate into customer benefits. So what's the point? * In-house CPU development is largely an ego-driven enterprise. "Real men make microprocessors" is not a good business strategy. * SPARC is a dog. If you're going to bet the farm on an in-house CPU, pick a different one. * Using Intel (or other commercial supplier's) chips would be a much better use of Oracle's resources and it wouldn't hurt customers a bit.

Jim TurleyOwner and AnalystSilicon Insider

Do It - It's the Best Option for a Dwindling Sun

April 6, 2009

Analysis of:IBM Talks Teeter as Sun Board Splits | online.wsj.com

* Sun's value in the industry has been declining for years. It needs an exit strategy before all the value is gone. * The company no longer innovates in any meaningful way and it's lost its importance, becoming an undifferentiated provider of hardware by the pound. * IBM would benefit from Sun's market share, and perhaps some patents and other technology.

Jim TurleyOwner and AnalystSilicon Insider

No, they're both better off separate

April 3, 2009

Analysis of:Should Nvidia Merge with AMD? | www.rahulsood.com

Merging nVidia and AMD is a fair question. After all, there's a lot of consolidation happening in the industry, with more to come. But this particular combination won't work well. For starters, AMD already owns ATI, nVidia's major competitor. Acquiring nVidia as well would put both of the major formerly independant graphics companies under AMD's umbrella. Apart from antitrust concerns, it just just doesn't help AMD -- or nVidia -- very much. There's no synergy between ATI and nVidia technology, so there's no real gain to be had there. AMD would find itself with two very complelx and competing technologies and no good way to combine them. The whole would be worth exactly the sum of its parts. Second, the acquisition would be expensive. AMD's had a tough enough time swallowing the price of ATI, with little to show for it. Gobbling up nVidia too would be tough.   Finally, although it might take nVidia out of Intel's hands, Intel doesn't need nVidia, either.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Time is Ripe for Some Consolidation

March 6, 2009

Analysis of:Where chip industry is headed today | www.mercurynews.com

The stage is set for consolidation in the semiconductor industry.  The firms that will be hit hardest with this are those that make commodity products in low-growth markets.  In particular this will impact Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Qimonda, Elpida, Powerchip, and Nanya.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Seminal Changes Afoot for the NOR Flash Business?

March 6, 2009

Analysis of:Spansion Files for Bankruptcy Protection in the U.S. | www.bloomberg.com

Spansion's bankruptcy filing could indicate the beginning of the end of the high-density NOR flash market.  This would force changes in design methodology at cell phone makers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Bird, and many others, and breed new chipset designs at companies like TI and Qualcomm.  Numonyx, the NOR spin-off formed out of Intel and ST could find that its products' market would decline due to a lack of a viable alternate source.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

How SanDisk's x4 fits into the NAND flash Equation

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:SanDisk Announces Worlds First HIgh Perforomance 4 bit per cell X4 Flah memory Technology | finance.yahoo.com

The NAND flash market will continue to see strong price declines, driven by a combination of Moore's law and new technologies like x4.  This makes it difficult to find profits for any NAND chip maker that does not have a competing technology.  The move has strong implications for Toshiba, Samsung, Hynix, Intel, Micron, Numonyx, and even Spansion.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Get Ready for DRAM Consolidation

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:Winbond open to DRAM consolidation, says company executive | www.digitimes.com

DRAM vendors must consolidate.  This is driven by basic economics.  The consolidation will result in fewer vendors, starting with the elimination of those at the bottom of the market share ranking.  Suppliers Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Elpida, Powerchip, ProMos, Nanya, Infineon, and others will be impacted.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Infineon Looking Better, but Still Ripe for Takeover

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:Infineon Gains After Boosting Savings Target, Reducing Spending | www.bloomberg.com

Infineon has been looking for a suitor for over a year, and this latest news will not change that.  The consolidation that is overdue in the DRAM market is driven by basic economics.  Consolidation will result in fewer vendors, starting with the elimination of those at the bottom of the market share ranking.  Suppliers Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Elpida, Powerchip, ProMos, Nanya, Infineon, and others will be impacted.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

HDD Makers are Under No Immediate Threat

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:Solid State Hard Drives Go Mainstream | www.thestreet.com

Flash SSDs are poised to replace HDDs in the notebook PC market provided users want them to.  If that happens it will be a big plus for SSD makers like SanDisk, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel, Micron, STEC, SuperTalent, SMART Modular, and many other firms.  It will meanwhile serve to harm Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, another part of Toshiba, and Fujitsu.  The PC OEMs: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, and many others will be observers of this battle, as they can switch from one side to the other easily without any harm to themselves.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Intel/Hitachi SSD Deal Good for Intel, Good for Hitachi

December 17, 2008

Analysis of:Hitachi, Intel to Co-Design High-End SSDs | www.pcmag.com

With the recent announcement that Hitachi will be making Fibre Channel and SAS implementations of Intel's proprietary SSD architecture both companies should profit.  This will pose a threat to companies like Seagate, Western Digital (WD), and Fujitsu who do not have such an SSD and rely on sales of enterprise HDDs, as well as to less sizeable SSD firms like STEC, SMART Modular, and others.

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