ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

UK leads Europe in chip design

By Matthew Broersma, ZDNet.co.uk, 6 August, 2002 15:09

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

ARM, Semiconductors, Design, Processor, Revenues

NEWS
The UK is well ahead of other European countries in what industry analysts say is the next big trend in the microprocessor world: chipless and fabless design. Britain accounted for 39.2 percent out of a total of $1.99bn (about £1.27bn) of revenues from European contract design, fabless and silicon intellectual property companies, according to the European Chipless & Fabless IC Design House Report published by UK research firm Future Horizons. These firms, including well-known names such as ARM Holdings, rely on third-party manufacturers, focussing their efforts on chip design. Sixty-nine of a total of 195 European firms in the sector were located in Britain, Future Horizons said. "The UK is well out ahead of other European countries in terms of that cycle, it is very de-industrialised," said Future Horizons semiconductor industry analyst Chris Ryan. Israel had the second-largest share with 15.5 percent, while Germany and Benelux both took in 12.2 percent. Industry analysts say that such companies, and particularly chip intellectual property (IP) firms, are a growing force in the microchip industry. Fabless companies manufacture their own products but outsource silicon wafer processing to foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). Contract design companies are used by large manufacturers as a dedicated source of chip designs. Chip IP companies do not build or manufacture complete chips, but design and license chip building blocks to a large customer base of manufacturers. The biggest semiconductor companies, such as Intel, Texas Instruments or Infineon still control most of their own design and manufacturing process, but they are increasingly turning to third-parties for designs or IP, as chips require more and more complex capabilities. For example, Intel uses ARM designs along with its own technology in the XScale chip architecture for embedded devices such as PDAs and tablet PCs. "System and semiconductor companies alike are increasingly challenged to find both the knowledge and resources necessary to achieve the mammoth task of managing and designing the complex ICs, and are increasingly resorting to outside expertise," the report said. Future Horizons said that the European IC design, fabless and chipless sector grew by compound annual growth rate of 29.7 percent between 1995 and 2001, to its current size of nearly $2bn, the European semiconductor industry over the same period declined by 0.6 percent. IC design firms first became a force in the industry in the early 1980s, with fabless companies emerging in the late 1980s and chip IP companies, or "chipless" companies, becoming mainstream only in the mid-1990s, according to Future Horizons. IC design activity is now decreasing, with the emphasis increasingly on fabless and chipless firms. Other examples of chipless companies are ARC International of the UK and Rambus and Mips of the US, while well-known fabless chip makers include Broadcom and 3DLabs of the US. Ryan said that the UK's strength in the contract design, chipless and fabless sector is partly due to a strong pool of design skills in the country, and partly because Britain no longer has many large electronics companies. "There aren't many electronics companies left in the UK that originate in the UK. Those companies have shrunk to a very small percentage of the GDP," he said. "Those designers have started their own companies over the past 20 years." Other European countries still have world-class semiconductor manufacturers, including ST Microelectronics, the result of a French-Italian merger, which is headquartered in Geneva; Infineon, in Germany; and Phillips in the Netherlands.
See Chips Central for the latest headlines on processors and semiconductors. To find out more about the computers and hardware that these chips are being used in, see ZDNet UK's Hardware News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Chips Central Forum. Let the Chips Central editor know what you think by email. And sign up for the weekly Chips Central newsletter.

Related stories

ARM broadens its reach

Motorola prepares to battle XScale

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

BrownieBoy

@Jack, > Works really well for thieves.... Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally irrelevant, even it were...

24 minutes ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks
bootlegger

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

3 hours ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out
tinycg

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

6 hours ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move
TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

11 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

20 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Marg Menzies Harrison

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

2 days ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

2 days ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

Citrix Online

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

This white paper explores how to define objectives for employees and clients and how the business can benefit from encouraging... Read more

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

IBM

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

This IBM research paper looks at how businesses are thinking more about business resilience by improving the ability to adapt to a continuously changing business... Read more

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

SunGard Availability Services

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

Cloud computing has been the belle of the IT ball, but can you trust it to keep data reliable and... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault