Amid continued debate on whether semiconductor R&D is an endangered species or is successfully evolving to adapt to changing realities, Intermolecular Inc. and Semiconductor Research Corp. braved the debacle, with each announcing their own R&D initiatives. Intermolecular reported on a memory R&D pilot line, while SRC described emerging programs in analog, energy, medical and multicore.
The IC industry still pours billions of dollars annually into R&D. But in recent years, as costs have skyrocketed, chipmakers have been outsourcing more of their R&D requirements—with implications for intellectual property control—to consortia, silicon foundries and third-party vendors. Some observers fear the trends portend a distant scenario in which the vast majority of chipmakers cease R&D, relegating the once-mighty industry to a service sector populated by branding houses.
