The semiconductor industry is at an inflection point facing challenges, including rising development costs, shrinking margins, market saturation and unprecedented consolidation.
Although no stranger to boom and bust cycles, semiconductor companies are actively seeking a return to stability via a more sustainable and collaborative business paradigm.
In this context, Rambus and the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) have jointly published a think piece that explores:
* The state of the semiconductor industry.
* The economics of open-source innovation.
* Reprogrammable chips – straddling the line between ASICs and FPGAs.
* Monetizing silicon with Features as a Service (FaaS).
“Charting a new course for semiconductors,” also discusses the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT), which continues to encourage the development of new technologies and business models such as reprogrammable silicon and FaaS.
Indeed, reconfigurable silicon could potentially enable chipmakers to sell a single ‘minimum-functionality’ configuration, thereby allowing OEMs to pay for the enablement of additional capabilities on an ‘as-needed’ basis. Simply put, reprogrammable chips can help reduce development and inventory management costs – while simultaneously creating new opportunities for downstream revenue.
“We are excited to have supported the creation of this piece as it is a call to our industry to work together to evolve our business models to leverage the inherent and fundamental value of semiconductors in our digital world,” said Rambus CMO Jerome Nadel. “We hope this provokes conversation and collaboration to chart and new course for the industry and beyond.”
The full text of “Charting a new course for semiconductors” is available for download here.
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