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We’ve heard it many times before: Venture Capitalists (VCs) are no longer interested in semiconductor startups. They are too expensive, take too long, and the return on investment (ROI) is simply not there to justify the risk and the capital requirements. To be frank, many of these claims can be substantiated with data. Take for example the National Venture Capital Association data we analyzed in the middle of last year, where it was clearly evident that over the last decade the amount of investment into semiconductors has been decreasing year over year. And while the low came shortly after 2008, as expected, the trend has not reversed significantly since then. Similar data has been obtained by the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) and as show in the table below depicts the amount of funding for fabless companies over the last decade:

In part I of the GSA silicon series recap on opportunities in analog/mixed-signal design we covered the general trends as presented by Sanjay Krishna, and opportunities as presented by Tyson Tuttle. The last part of of the series consisted of a brief panel discussion on “The Brave New Frontier of Analog/Mixed-Signal at 28nm and Below.” The panel was moderated by Mahesh Tirupattur, Executive VP at Analog Bits, and the panel included: Joze Alvarez - Design Collateral Manager at Freescale Semiconductor, John Heinlein - VP of Marketing for the Physical IP Division at ARM, Ana Hunter - VP Foundry at Samsung Semiconductor, and KT Moore - VP of Product Marketing and Business Development at Magma Design Automation. What follows is a summary in paraphrased form of the opinions expressed by the panelists during the discussion:

Ajinder Singh is passionate about semiconductor product definition, strategic marketing and branding. Ajinder leads a team of systems engineers at a major semiconductor company and has extensive experience working in China. He can be reached at ajinders@me.com or www.ajinders.com

American creativity and ingenuity was key to fight the trade wars with Japan, Korea and Mexico. China is a different story, however. "What is stunning about China is that for the first time we have a huge, poor country that can compete both with very low wages and in high tech," says Harvard University economist Richard B. Freeman. "Combine the two, and America has a problem." There is a myth that the U.S. would remain the knowledge economy and China the sweatshop.

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Silicon Series made a stop in Austin last week at the swanky Barton Creek Resort & Spa. Last year, when the GSA arranged a luncheon in Austin, the focus was on emerging home networking technologies, consumer electronics and mobile computing. This time around the presentations were strictly focused on semiconductor technology, particularly analog and mixed signal design. The meeting was kicked off by Sanjay Krishna, presently a consultant and semiconductor expert at Keystone Strategy, with a high level overview of mixed signal design and trends. Tyson Tuttle, SVP and COO at Silicon Labs, gave the keynote speech titled “Opportunities in Analog/Mixed Signal Design.” The meeting was concluded with a panel discussion on “The Brave New Frontier of Analog/Mixed-Signal at 28nm and Below.” The panel was moderated by Mahesh Tirupattur, Executive VP at Analog Bits, and the panel included: Joze Alvarez - Design Collateral Manager at Freescale Semiconductor, John Heinlein - VP of Marketing for the Physical IP Division at ARM, Ana Hunter - VP Foundry at Samsung Semiconductor, and KT Moore - VP of Product Marketing and Business Development at Magma Design Automation.