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Industry Overview
Semiconductors are the integrated-circuit (IC) chips which control everything from PCs and cellular phones to aircraft navigational systems and elevators. (Technically, semiconductors, primarily doped silicon, are the key raw ingredients of ICs, but the term has come to refer to the chips themselves, too.) Increasingly, ICs are showing up in every imaginable electronic consumer good, from toys to refrigerators. Partly because semiconductor manufacture is very capital intensive, the industry regularly faces temporary slumps and shake-outs. (The most recent one, compounded by the Asian financial crisis of 1998, hurt memory chip makers in particular.) Despite that, however, the industry should grow over the long term—as will the industry's thirst for engineers and other qualified personnel. Overall, this is a robust segment creating products with an increasing number of applications.
Integrated circuits contain millions of transistors and perform a wide range of functions; logic chips do mathematical calculations, signal processors decode music and video, memory chips store information, microprocessors run computers and other devices, and controller chips run electronic devices such as VCRs or printers. Within the IC world, PC microprocessors account for the most lucrative part of the market. Intel is the dominant industry leader. Other key players include Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, Motorola, and Cyrix.
A smaller but faster-growing segment is digital signal processors, the stand-alone microprocessors used in cell phones and PC modems, which some estimate will be a $50 billion market in the next decade. Texas Instruments owns 40 percent of this market, with Lucent Technologies, Analog Devices, and Motorola chasing it. More and more intellectual property is going onto chips, increasing their functions and giving them even greater applications, especially in consumer electronics. This industry segment should grow to huge proportions as more digital products are developed.
This industry has its own law. Gordon Moore, one of Intel's founders, predicted the power of microprocessors would double every 18 months. Known throughout the industry as Moore's Law, this pronouncement has largely held true since he made it in 1965. By virtue of this doubling— and the applications which this increase in power has made possible—the semiconductor industry has thrived.
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