Comments on: Startups Abandon Moore's Law

By: iPhone 4 Sensors Highlight a Bright Spot for VCs

iPhone 4 Sensors Highlight a Bright Spot for VCs — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:07:08 +0000

[...] digital one, which is great for not only a variety of old-school semiconductor manufacturers, but certain later-stage startups as [...]

By: Sajal Dogra

Sajal Dogra — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:25:14 +0000

Two things:

1. Analog doesn’t scale. Digital does. The startups you’ve mentioned using older technologies are all mixed-signal analog names.
2. You need smaller process nodes to also be cost-efficient in the semiconductor space. Cramming more chips on a single wafer amortizes the startup cost on a larger number, and lowers your COGS.

If you’re a startup proving a new design, you can do a proof-of-concept in an older node, and port it once you get funding on the basis of the earlier design.

By: RIP Microprocessor Startups - GigaOM

RIP Microprocessor Startups - GigaOM — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:00:23 +0000

[...] Friday, April 25, 2008 at 8:00 AM PT Comments (0) I’ve been talking about the enormous amount of cash it takes to create any kind of chip company and expressing doubts about the number of startups we [...]

By: VCs Start the Year With a Whimper - GigaOM

VCs Start the Year With a Whimper - GigaOM — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:16:46 +0000

[...] as optimistic, saying it wasn’t an area that was good for early-stage investing. Given the expense and technical difficulties that come with designing chips, she’s probably wise to steer [...]

By: Extreme Makeover: Fab Edition - GigaOM

Extreme Makeover: Fab Edition - GigaOM — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:00:42 +0000

[...] old, trying to keep the costs associated with fab operations down. We’ve written about startups trying this same tack. Magnella declines to make big investments in technology at the fab that won’t pay for [...]

By: To Beat Intel, You Need to be Flush - GigaOM

To Beat Intel, You Need to be Flush - GigaOM — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:43:35 +0000

[...] a smaller and more energy efficient core. Sweet idea, but to illustrate my point about building leading-edge chips costing some serious cash, Montavlo has raised about $73 million. The money comes from New [...]

By: MEMS the Word - GigaOM

MEMS the Word - GigaOM — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:00:40 +0000

[...] cheaper to produce MEMS, because they are typically built in older fabs. But manufacturing millions of such [...]

By: Kevin Krewell

Kevin Krewell — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:13:04 +0000

Another start-up of note that jumped off the Moore's Law treadmill is Luminary Micro. It's building very low cost ARM microcontrollers using at least N-4 process technology. The chips are small enough that they don't need cutting edge process and the older process is really cheap.

Some start-ups still do compete on the leading edge process, like Raza Micro, P.A. Semi, and Cavium, but the costs of funding those start-ups is very high.

By: Startupd Abandon Moore’s Law « nPost Startup Blog

Startupd Abandon Moore’s Law « nPost Startup Blog — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:02:47 +0000

[...] Abandon Moore’s Law About time. Based on this article, it sounds like people are starting to smarten up about potential returns [...]

By: Top Posts « WordPress.com

Top Posts « WordPress.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:01:31 +0000

[...] Startups Abandon Moore’s Law Producing a cutting-edge chip today is more difficult and more expensive than it’s ever been. With a foundation […] [...]