On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 7:14 AM, William "Chops" Westfield wrote: > >> Microchip owns its IP which is a big advantage over ARM based >> licensed IP. > > But not PIC32, which is licensed from MIPS, right? That is why I say Walter Banks' comment is not valid for PIC32. MIPS owns majority of the IP. >> [PICs cost more because] that they cost Microchip to produce due to >> the older process nodes they are in (older PIC16F and PIC18F). I did not say this is the only reason, but it is part of the reason. > > I'm not entirely convinced. =A0While this is part of the conventional > wisdom, and I'm by no means an expert in semiconductor economics, > State-of-the-art Fabs are extremely expensive to build, to the point > where fewer and fewer companies own their own fabs, and it's been > suggested that the limit to Moore's law will be economic rather than > physical. =A0In the long run it may work out Microchip running "big" > chips on their old but owned-and-paid-for vs other vendors running > modern chips on third-party fabs that are still trying to recoup their > construction costs, and I'm not sure how those will compare... > Yes for big players, it may still be necessary to have your own fabs. Some IDM companies are shrinking their fab and use Fab-lite technology. TI may be one of them, and now they have big delivery problem. Bigger players like ST, TI will have their fabs. On the other hand, just look at Microchip. They use outside fabs for high end parts, including PIC32 and those 3.3v only device without EEPROM and lousy Flash life (PIC18J, PIC24F, dsPIC33, PIC32). I think the new K (PIC18K, PIC24K) device are produced in-house with better Flash life. So at least for Microchip, it is more economic to produce the bigger chips outside. SST buy may help Microchip to have better Flash technology. BTW, why Microchip's analog product can never catch up with ADI or Maxim or TI? Because they use the same process of the MCU to product analog parts whereas ADI/Maxim/TI have dedicated proprietary process for the analog parts. -- = Xiaofan http://mcuee.blogspot.com -- = http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist