By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake: Sanjay Mehrotra, chairman, president, and CEO, of Micron Technology, is 66 years old, well passed the retirement age at the semiconductor memory supplier. We ask: Who will succeed Mehrotra whenever he retires, which can be anytime from now? The list is short for such an important question, considering Mehrotra’s successor will inherit plans that include spending up to $200 billion on new fabs in a market notorious for irregular cycles. 

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At 66 years old, Sanjay Mehrotra is the oldest chief executive Micron Technology has had since it was founded 47 years ago. Prior to Mehrotra, the company’s leaders either retired or died in office before they were 60.

Mehrotra and Micron have not indicated who is being prepped to succeed the long-term semiconductor executive, but that question cannot be far from the minds of the management, board of directors, and investors. Micron occupies a unique position in the global semiconductor business, being one of the top 5 memory IC vendors, and a key vendor to the rapidly growing artificial intelligence sector.

Whoever takes over at Micron from Mehrotra will inherit a series of mega tasks. The new CEO will have to figure out how to finance the company’s huge spending plan, meet stringent American conditions for CHIPS Act-related grants and loan guarantees, beat, or at least match, stiff and growing competition from the likes of Kioxia, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Western Digital, and plan for the industry’s next numbing downcycle.

Read More »Who Will Succeed Mehrotra as CEO at Micron?

By Peter Clarke

What’s at stake: As a semiconductor manufacturing process industrialized in Europe, FDSOI is partially a badge of honor that has served European needs while showing the world that Europe has what it takes in R&D and engineering creativity. But it is a badge that is becoming tarnished and out of date.

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Fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) is a style of semiconductor manufacturing that has offered an alternative to planar CMOS and FinFET for many years.

Now, the FDSOI manufacturing process technology is being pushed with European taxpayers’ money, with the goal to get the process down to 10nm and 7nm nominal nodes. FDSOI test chips are expected at 10nm in 2027 with further work happening in 2028 towards achieving the 7nm milestone.

Read More »FDSOI’s Path to 7nm is Blighted by More Push and Little Pull

To survive, Wolfspeed, must deal with the effects of legacy actions taken by America’s CFIUS and its former CEO. Troubles in the SiC market will only compound the challenges facing the company. A bankruptcy will offer only temporary reprieve.

Quantum Computing is a new frontier, one that holds great appeal for AI market leader Nvidia. A recent shares filing by Nvidia hints at plannings ahead by CEO Jensen Huang to set up the company as a leader in quantum computing.

Arm has responded to deep changes occurring in the automotive design and manufacturing world with Zena CSS, a platform it sees most auto OEMs adopting as they seek to reduce development time and costs. Will they bite?

American political leaders see unbridled access to the hottest AI processors as a threat to the country’s goal of remaining the world’s sole superpower. But as companies like Nvidia groan loudly about restrictions on the exports of their products to China, will America yield or clamp down on perceived opposition to its stated ambitions?

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

In a brutally honest review, a Stellantis executive details how US and European automakers can compete successfully against Chinese rivals. They must rearchitect the car, rapidly adopt innovations, change sourcing strategies, create common platforms, collaborate more with solutions providers, and prepare for lower car prices. EVs are “better vehicles,” he insists, and not just a response to climate change.

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Apple Inc.’s foray into the mobile handset business nearly two decades ago dramatically changed the company’s fortune. It marked the beginning of the “software-defined phone,” and the beginning of Apple’s meteoric climb to the top of the global equity market.

Embattled Western auto manufacturers see some parallels in Apple’s experience in what is happening in the transportation sector, but they are also keenly aware that their own situation has become a struggle for survival rather than the mere start of a jump in value.

“When Steve Jos introduced the iPhone, phones became more expensive,” said Joachim Kahmann, senior vice president, purchasing for electric and electronics, at Stellantis, in a presentation at the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) European Executive Forum, held earlier this month in Munich. “Vehicles cannot become more expensive. They must become more affordable again. That is absolutely mandatory.”

Read More »Automakers Seek Lessons in Apple’s iPhone Launch Feat

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

Lip-Bu Tan’s predecessor as Intel CEO wanted to build multiple new fabs in Europe and US. Chip equipment makers, fab shell builders, political leaders and communities were counting on the planned $100 billion-plus capex splurge. Will Intel revive Gelsinger’s dreams or were they so implausible from the beginning that it’s a risk Intel must avoid?

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Lip-Bu Tan’s comments at his first analysts’ conference call as CEO at Intel Corp. included an indictment of the tenure of Patrick Gelsinger, his predecessor, and even some prior leaders of the chipmaker.

Tan didn’t mention any of Intel’s five past substantive CEOs – Gelsinger, Bob Swan, Brian Krzanich, Paul Otellini and Craig Barrett – by name. He may not have meant to indict these people, but the scathing verdict delivered by Tan about what Intel has become represents a condemnation of the company’s previous leadership.

“One of my biggest learning so far is that we need to fundamentally transform our culture and the way in which we operate,” Tan said. “Organizational complexity and bureaucracies have been suffocating the innovation and agility we need to win.” Intel had developed a “siloed” operating system,” Tan said. “I’m here to fix this.”

There is a lot hanging on Tan delivering that “fix.” For this report, though, we will focus on fabrication and process development plans made by his predecessor Gelsinger, who promised to help fabless chipmakers and governments in America and Europe resolve their dependence on semiconductor fabs based in Asia. During Gelsinger’s tenure, Intel announced plans to spend a range of $100 billion to $200 billion on new fabs and back-end processing facilities, most of them to be based in the United States. What will be the fate of Gelsinger’s promised fabs, the sites selected in Ohio, Magdeburg, Germany, and plans to help fund semiconductor education at community colleges in the United States?

Read More »Intel: Will Lip-Bu Tan Build Gelsinger’s Promised Fabs?