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The El-Ouazzane Leap: Intel to STMicroelectronics

The El-Ouazzane Leap: Intel to STMicroelectronics

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
European semiconductor companies are traditionally run by executives who have spent the better part of their careers with a single company, breathing the same familiar air for decades. But Remi El-Ouazzane, president of STMicroelectronics’ microcontrollers and digital ICs group, is a relative newcomer to ST who acknowledges that his predecessor laid the cornerstone of its strategy for its success over the next five years. If that’s the case, then what is expected of the nontraditional El-Ouazzane, a transplant to Geneva from faraway Santa Clara?

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Arm ecosystem

Will Arm Risk RISC-V?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Andes Technology, a Taiwanese CPU core IP company, began phasing out its proprietary processing architecture in favor of RISC-V in 2015, as it prepared to go public. Is adding RISC-V an option for Arm before its planned fiscal-2022 IPO? While Arm’s too-big-to-fail ecosystem makes this notion unlikely, can Arm convince investors and shareholders that it can continue to grow without an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA)?

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Renesas Kofu fab

Renesas Looks to Resurrect Chip Production in Japan

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake? 
Renesas is upping its stakes in power electronics at a time when all suppliers are beefing up production capacity. At stake is Renesas’ future. Can its use of 300mm wafers create enough of an edge to restore its manufacturing clout? More important, where is Renesas’ long-term plan to address the future of power electronics — namely, SiC and GaN? 

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Chips Act: Europe’s Ambitious R&D Agenda

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Europe is no longer content to be a niche player in the global microelectronics industry. Instead of remaining focused only on established strengths (i.e. MEMS, sensors and power electronics), Europe has awakened to the significance of manufacturing. Three elite microelectronics research institutes aim to help actualize the EU’s new industrial policy.

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EU chips

Targeted Chips Act Puts Europe Back in the Race

By George Leopold

What’s at stake?
American and European policymakers are united in their efforts to begin moving chip manufacturing back from East Asia. The trick is targeting financial incentives to yield humming production lines, well-paying jobs, supply-chain security and strategic partnerships with growth industries. The European approach, which will hand industry a roadmap along with a check, appears more likely to succeed.

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