Will 2017 match the disruptive 2016?
31
Dec
2016
Happy new year to our readers! 2016 was a disruptive year with lots of acquisitions in the MCU segment. Even though some valuations are high, small semiconductor companies that offer differentiation are plenty: SLAB, Ambiq Micro, Nordic Semi to name a few. In 2017, we will also watch for more MCUs with integrated RF, how 32-bit MCUs will continue to steal share from the bottom (8-bit), and how it will increase its penetration of the hot automotive market.
No change this month.
Infineon had no updates this month.
Microchip continues to add parts to its low cost 32-bit PIC32MM with the lowest cost parts of the family. From the PIC32MM0016GPL028T-I/M6 ($0.84/5k 16/4kB of Flash/RAM) to the PIC32MM0064GPL036T-I/MV ($1.12/5k 64/8kB of FLash/RAM), 22 products were added. It will be interesting to see how they compare with the LPC800 family, see below.
No change this month.
There were no changes at NXP. NXP released its roadmap for the LPC800 and LPC54. The LPC800 will go closer to the 8 bit segment with lower frequencies (15 MHz) and smaller Flash memory – 16 kB while the LPC54 will see Flash and Flashless versions of its Cortex-M4 running at 180MHz.
No change this month.
Silicon Labs EFM8 had 8 new products in the busy bee and sleepy bee families. All of them are Automotive grade version of existing parts.
The EFM32 had 25 parts with a new silicon revision, mostly Happy Gecko and Jade Gecko. Like its small cousin, the Jade Gecko got 3 parts with automotive qualification.
Spansion was quiet this month.
ST ad only minor releases with extended temperatures or tape and reel extensions, 11 new parts in total.
TI gave birth to 7 new Delfino (TMS28377D), the dual core flavor, running at 200 MHz. These are all pricey parts, above $17@1ku.
Nuvoton going direct after TI and Microchip
30
Nov
2016
As the semiconductor concentrates, we are experiencing another trend. Have you seen efforts by TI and now Nuvoton to provide full shopping cart experiences? This is no news to veterans like Microchip, but as more users get an Amazon-like experience from their semiconductor suppliers, what will become of our current “household” distributor names: Digikey, Mouser, Arrow, Avnet and all the others? Food for thoughts as we get closer to 2017, a likely disruptive year.
Atmel added a few Tiny(ies) to its AVR army. The 20MHz 4kB Flash ATTiny417 comes in 2 packages while the 814/6/7 add 4kB Flash and touch logic with respectively 14/20/24 pins.
No change for the Smart ARM family.
No change this month.
Infineon has no change.
Microchip added a couple of packages to the PCI16(L)F1707 and another 50 products to the PIC24FJxxxGA7 (64, 128 and 256 kB of Flash) with a 32MHz 8-bit CPU and 2 to 3.6V power supply range.
No change at Nordic this month.
No change at Nuvoton this month.
NXP is getting closer by the day to its acquisition by QCOM. No new products were found.
No significant change to the portfolio this month.
Silicon Labs EFM8 and EFM32 portfolios were quiet this month.
We added the PSoC4 and PSoC5 families to our watch list this month with 276 products. We are still busy working on it but will have more insight next month.
44 new products appeared this month at ST in the F413/423 families. These are 90nm, Cortex-M4 devices with 1 or 1.5MB Flash and up to 320 kB RAM. The 423 is essentially the same as the 413 with hardware cryptographic functions.
TI was quiet this month.
| Sign up for our newsletter |