News Article
Conference review
The changing landscape
The 17th annual International Electronics Forum (IEF) conference hosted by Future Horizons was held in the exotic location of Dubai. David Ridsdale attended the annual event and discovered a changing industry landscape.
The 17th annual International Electronics Forum (IEF) conference hosted by Future Horizons was held in the exotic location of Dubai. David Ridsdale attended the annual event and discovered a changing industry landscape.
Every year a varied group of technology and industry leaders from the electronics industry meet at the Future Horizons international electronics forum to discuss trends, challenges and opportunities along the electronics value chain. The over riding theme posed by the conference was whether the global electronics ecosystem was a revolution or an evolution. Unfortunately despite the appropriate questions being asked within the conference organisation, the question was not really answered.
The venue chosen by Future Horizons CEO, Malcolm Penn for his annual IEF always provides a particular focus for discussion. Dubai’s extraordinary engineering feats in such harsh conditions raised discussions on traditional and emerging technologies as well as the changing face of the world economy. Dubai was an appropriate choice for such questions as it is a prime example of an evolving region. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a mixture of traditional Arabic culture combined with some of the most advanced infrastructure in the world. Nowhere is change more evident than in the capital Dubai. The extreme growth in the region shows how the people of UAE take on board any idea to its extreme. A fact I discovered to my peril with an over zealous customs officer.
Dubai provides a perfect example of what can be done when technology and a whole lot of cash is applied in a directed manner. The extraordinary changes that have been accomplished in the desert by the ruling authority are breathtaking but also demonstrate how intertwined the links between technology and economy have become.
These close links have the unfortunate effect of sometimes stifling open conversation about the impact that changing economics have on technological development. More generalised discussions often pointed out the impact of tighter margins on research capabilities. However when specific questions on these topics were presented to the panel or other speakers there was reticence to tackle the subject directly. One panel participant went from describing investors on company boards as vultures to a strenuous defence of all the good the investment community has done for the semiconductor industry. There were also diversionary responses that on one hand would cast the investment community as a singular group unless there was criticism and suddenly there were specific sectors of investors and questions would need to be more specific if an answer was to be found.
This is a common sight at industry conferences around the world as misconstrued comments can easily reduce company stock prices. Unfortunately it stifles the very open discussions that the industry requires as costs increase beyond most companies capabilities. The semiconductor industry is extraordinarily insular when it comes to dealing with industry issues. It is amazing that an industry sector that manufacturers the key hardware components for the entire electronics’ value chain appears to have so little control over its own destiny.
In fact the conference highlighted a number of facts regarding the changing industry. As one journalist pointed out, the actual IC devices a little more than clever plastic with little value until software is added to make a useful device. He felt that it the software was the real value of the final product to the consumer but I disagree as it is impossible to tell one from the other. Try selling software with no hardware to run it. The real point he raised and one that the industry needs to get on top of is that the value of the end product is the combined efforts of a number of disciplines resulting in a final electronic device, which becomes the true value to the end user.
Consolidation and integration
The integration of a number of disciplines and processes is fast becoming the driving force for the semiconductor industry as the rising cost of research and development reduces the economic sense of evolution for many companies. Rather than look at the next Moore’s Law inspired shrinkage, many companies are now looking at improving the current methods of manufacturing in order to achieve their improvements. Of course there will be a few companies that will continue to pursue the traditional improvements as can be seen by the recent joint announcement regarding 450mm manufacturing. Those companies will continue to strengthen their stranglehold on their perspective markets.
This is something Penn knows well and was represented in his presentations. Penn presented his company’s latest market forecast and industry analysis, maintaining that despite current fears of a market recession the industry is fundamentally “still in good shape”. He pointed out that the overall view of a semiconductor industry was a limited view as it was made up of a group of niches. He demonstrated this well by taking memory out of the equation to show the sudden improvement to the overall industry figures. Overall he remained optimistic predicting a 12 percent industry growth this year, pointing out that the US economy is no longer a singular factor and any poor showing in the US should be offset by growing economies around the world.
“IEF provides an unmatched opportunity to meet current and past leaders of the electronics industry. “Penn said. “The forum once again has proven itself as an industry catalyst, bringing together the brightest minds from all over the world, from both large and small companies to discuss the current trends and future direction of the global electronics industry. It’s invaluable to executives and professionals from the semiconductor, electronics and related industries, especially those at the start of their business ventures.”
This admirable viewpoint is true of the direction and opportunity that Penn and the Dubai Silicon Oasis provided for the forum bit has stated above, the opportunity was not taken by all speakers or participants. There was however more positive discussions on the real future of the industry and it was interesting to hear comments form companies like Nokia and Philips stating very clearly the need for an open source approach for mobile devices. One can only hope that the industry has learnt from the difficulties in the PC world based on an operating system that is thrust upon the industry.
Unfortunately there was little suggestion on how such a positive space would be achieved. Will the industry allow the last man to stand or proactively seek the best operating system for the consumer of the products? There is much talk of meeting consumer needs but recent gadgets from companies such as Apple suggest a return to sterile isolated platforms that reduce innovation by disallowing input from other sources.
Other presentations looked at the emerging opportunities arising with topics including “Present and Future of Digital Technology, Challenges in Introducing 32nm and 22nm Technology Nodes and Applying Nanomanufacturing Technologies beyond the IC.” Companies will remain under pressure to continually reduce size and power consumption of IC’s which J.J.Yamaguchi of NEC Electronics felt will push the wireless industry towards further consolidation to reduce R&D costs. On the other hand, Mark Pinto, Applied Materials discussed fascinating forthcoming opportunities for nanotechnology in areas including solar cells, energy storage and LCD’s.
All in all the forum provided an exceptional opportunity to network and discuss key issues but I would love to see the same level on the public stage and not just in the coffee breaks and social events which were once again first class. I was lucky enough to join the occasionally created industry band and will always remember playing the blues in the desert. One can only hope that this will not be the fate of too many companies in what promises to be a couple of years of consolidation and change.
The venue chosen by Future Horizons CEO, Malcolm Penn for his annual IEF always provides a particular focus for discussion. Dubai’s extraordinary engineering feats in such harsh conditions raised discussions on traditional and emerging technologies as well as the changing face of the world economy. Dubai was an appropriate choice for such questions as it is a prime example of an evolving region. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a mixture of traditional Arabic culture combined with some of the most advanced infrastructure in the world. Nowhere is change more evident than in the capital Dubai. The extreme growth in the region shows how the people of UAE take on board any idea to its extreme. A fact I discovered to my peril with an over zealous customs officer.
Dubai provides a perfect example of what can be done when technology and a whole lot of cash is applied in a directed manner. The extraordinary changes that have been accomplished in the desert by the ruling authority are breathtaking but also demonstrate how intertwined the links between technology and economy have become.
These close links have the unfortunate effect of sometimes stifling open conversation about the impact that changing economics have on technological development. More generalised discussions often pointed out the impact of tighter margins on research capabilities. However when specific questions on these topics were presented to the panel or other speakers there was reticence to tackle the subject directly. One panel participant went from describing investors on company boards as vultures to a strenuous defence of all the good the investment community has done for the semiconductor industry. There were also diversionary responses that on one hand would cast the investment community as a singular group unless there was criticism and suddenly there were specific sectors of investors and questions would need to be more specific if an answer was to be found.
This is a common sight at industry conferences around the world as misconstrued comments can easily reduce company stock prices. Unfortunately it stifles the very open discussions that the industry requires as costs increase beyond most companies capabilities. The semiconductor industry is extraordinarily insular when it comes to dealing with industry issues. It is amazing that an industry sector that manufacturers the key hardware components for the entire electronics’ value chain appears to have so little control over its own destiny.
In fact the conference highlighted a number of facts regarding the changing industry. As one journalist pointed out, the actual IC devices a little more than clever plastic with little value until software is added to make a useful device. He felt that it the software was the real value of the final product to the consumer but I disagree as it is impossible to tell one from the other. Try selling software with no hardware to run it. The real point he raised and one that the industry needs to get on top of is that the value of the end product is the combined efforts of a number of disciplines resulting in a final electronic device, which becomes the true value to the end user.
Consolidation and integration
The integration of a number of disciplines and processes is fast becoming the driving force for the semiconductor industry as the rising cost of research and development reduces the economic sense of evolution for many companies. Rather than look at the next Moore’s Law inspired shrinkage, many companies are now looking at improving the current methods of manufacturing in order to achieve their improvements. Of course there will be a few companies that will continue to pursue the traditional improvements as can be seen by the recent joint announcement regarding 450mm manufacturing. Those companies will continue to strengthen their stranglehold on their perspective markets.
This is something Penn knows well and was represented in his presentations. Penn presented his company’s latest market forecast and industry analysis, maintaining that despite current fears of a market recession the industry is fundamentally “still in good shape”. He pointed out that the overall view of a semiconductor industry was a limited view as it was made up of a group of niches. He demonstrated this well by taking memory out of the equation to show the sudden improvement to the overall industry figures. Overall he remained optimistic predicting a 12 percent industry growth this year, pointing out that the US economy is no longer a singular factor and any poor showing in the US should be offset by growing economies around the world.
“IEF provides an unmatched opportunity to meet current and past leaders of the electronics industry. “Penn said. “The forum once again has proven itself as an industry catalyst, bringing together the brightest minds from all over the world, from both large and small companies to discuss the current trends and future direction of the global electronics industry. It’s invaluable to executives and professionals from the semiconductor, electronics and related industries, especially those at the start of their business ventures.”
This admirable viewpoint is true of the direction and opportunity that Penn and the Dubai Silicon Oasis provided for the forum bit has stated above, the opportunity was not taken by all speakers or participants. There was however more positive discussions on the real future of the industry and it was interesting to hear comments form companies like Nokia and Philips stating very clearly the need for an open source approach for mobile devices. One can only hope that the industry has learnt from the difficulties in the PC world based on an operating system that is thrust upon the industry.
Unfortunately there was little suggestion on how such a positive space would be achieved. Will the industry allow the last man to stand or proactively seek the best operating system for the consumer of the products? There is much talk of meeting consumer needs but recent gadgets from companies such as Apple suggest a return to sterile isolated platforms that reduce innovation by disallowing input from other sources.
Other presentations looked at the emerging opportunities arising with topics including “Present and Future of Digital Technology, Challenges in Introducing 32nm and 22nm Technology Nodes and Applying Nanomanufacturing Technologies beyond the IC.” Companies will remain under pressure to continually reduce size and power consumption of IC’s which J.J.Yamaguchi of NEC Electronics felt will push the wireless industry towards further consolidation to reduce R&D costs. On the other hand, Mark Pinto, Applied Materials discussed fascinating forthcoming opportunities for nanotechnology in areas including solar cells, energy storage and LCD’s.
All in all the forum provided an exceptional opportunity to network and discuss key issues but I would love to see the same level on the public stage and not just in the coffee breaks and social events which were once again first class. I was lucky enough to join the occasionally created industry band and will always remember playing the blues in the desert. One can only hope that this will not be the fate of too many companies in what promises to be a couple of years of consolidation and change.
