Semiconductor Execs on Post-Earthquake Second Sourcing and Moore's Law

摘要

This summer I had conversations about the state of our industry with a top manager from each of the five leading automotive semiconductor suppliers: Renesas, Freescale, Infineon, STMicroelectronics and NXP. Here's some of what I learned. Whether or not customers are showing much interest in second sourcing depends on which semiconductor supplier you talk to. While NXP's Kurt Sievers saw a number of customers who desperately tried under short notice to find backup sources right after the Japanese earthquake, he has seen "very little" mention of second sourcing in his company's recent quote requests. However, STMicroelectronics' Paul Grimme is seeing a requirement for second sourcing in at least half of his high-volume RFQs. "The Japanese earthquake only reinforced interest in the subject of risk mitigation strategies," he said.