Chip Design outsourcing appears inevitable, EEs told

EE Times ^ | September 25, 2003 | Ron Wilson

[nwrep]

ping

[Servant of the 9]

PING !!

So9

[elfman2]

I’m waiting for these guys to take over. Don’t give me any “free market platitudes”, this is the real threat…

[oceanview]

any freepers with college bound children should read this carefully: steer your children out of this field and other related fields, they are history in the USA. the entire semiconductor and software industry will be gone in 10 years, and very little of other tech will survive.

child speech therapists around here get $85/hr.

[magellan]

Moore's law says one can put more and more transistors into the the same space. This means integrated circuits can be more an more complex over time. The demand for new features in electronics will drive more capability into the same space (witness the cell phones with built-in cameras, satellite TV set top boxes with digital recording built-in, etc.).

The overseas design houses are limited to simpler designs. They will grow as more and more things incorporate electronic technology. However, there will also be needs for very complex ICs in ordinary electronic products.

For many years, computer central processing units have been dominated by American designers. When a cell phone chip has the power, functionality, and transistor count of a personal computer, who will design it? Americans.

Because of this, I do not believe the American seminconductor design industry will be outsourced, instead it will be upleveled.

The IC pie is going to get much, much bigger. That is the point many people are missing.

[Georgia_JimD]

Train you kids for a job in government or law.

[liberallarry]

It's about money.

If a company can get more bang for the buck by going abroad it will do so. Our government will first and foremost protect the capital of investors and only after that is done will it seek to protect jobs of American workers.

[oceanview]

no way. it won't get upleveled because there is no investment in it here, all of the investment (by the top corporations and the foreign governments) is offshore. who is going to invest here in the US to uplevel our chip industry?

[steplock]

WE - AMERICA - have one big major advantage - that is if we don't "Dumb Down" our children any more....

We attained our great level from MOTIVATION, NECESSITY, and IMAGINATION.

The American inventiveness - due to our CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM - has been unsurpassed and all the other countries in the world are jealously trying to steal it.

But you can't steal an attitude! You CAN only destroy it from within.

These three things are under attack in our publik skulz.

Through the systematic use of DRUGS on our children, especially the male - sorry but males have tetostrone which is the main source of motivation and inventiveness, thanks to the females of the species! I know this sounds a bit sexist but facts are facts. the male mind is more suited for the wild creations, whereas the female mind is perfect for making our wild creations workable. Hey! It's a partnership!

Through drugs, "PC Speech", and other left-wing radical ideas being hammered into the childrens' minds, our kids are lacking in imagination, concentration, and are perfect for being little SLAVE-ZOMBIES - and if that doesn't work - import illegal aliens for slave labor and get rid of the American Mind.

[steplock]

ENCOURAGE your children in these fields! Also teach them the necessary skills for battle.

[Iscool]

Saxenian described the redistribution of the industry not as outsourcing but as a new global division of labor

Pitiful...So as long as the engineers stay here, all this means is that it's a little longer trek to the shop floor...

Most people don't hang out at FR so they just don't get it...This is the very beginning of a very large exodus to eliminate the US of the middle class...

And we're expected to be proud of the group that is behind it...

[Dan Evans]

Train you kids for a job in government or law.

Yeah, that's what this country needs. More politicians and lawyers.

[oceanview]

sounds nice. i don't want my kids fighting for the scraps with Chinese engineers making 1/10th the salary.

[oceanview]

exactly right.

[Dan Evans]

any freepers with college bound children should read this carefully: steer your children out of this field and other related fields, they are history in the USA.

Naw, that wouldn't be a good thing. Maybe the reason this field is leaving the US is because Americans are leaving this field. It's just getting too expensive to hire help in the chip industry.

If we want to keep this country free. We need to have high tech workers.

[JammingJAY]

New around here, but I like the way you think :)

Jammer

[hunter112]

The IC pie is going to get much, much bigger. That is the point many people are missing.

Exactly. You can make a living being a chef without having to personally pick the lettuce.

They can move the manufacturing, design, and software writing overseas, but they cannot move the customer there. Look at tennis shoes, the money is made in the Athlete's Foot store where they fit the customer to the shoe, not in the factory where the workers get a few cents off each hundred dollar pair of sneakers.

[JohnSmithee]

"The IC pie is going to get much, much bigger. That is the point many people are missing."

Why wouldn't the Chinese companies (or government) simply take over the entire process and bring in needed experts when the need arises?

[JohnSmithee]

"We need to have high tech workers."

Engineering has been in decline for years. Just check out the Want Ads from any large parper to get an idea of what skills are in demand.