UK Semiconductor Giants – The Best Companies to Work For

After noticing that Intel made Glassdoor.com’s Top 50 Best Places to Work list, I wanted to dig a little deeper to find out how our home-grown leaders fare against this, and as it turns out the result is as top-notch as their technologies!

Both ARM and Imagination Technologies, two of the UK’s biggest success stories, scored a fantastic 3.7 and 3.6 respectively, showing they can give Intel’s impressive 4.0 a run for its money in the coming years.

An ARM employee said “It is great to work for a very successful company at the forefront of the tech and communications industry.” (They are) “Increasingly involved in new markets - servers, internet of things etc - which brings lots of opportunities for personal growth and development.  The company strongly promotes a healthy work culture whether work/life balance, work environment, general health and well-being and respect for your peers.”

A view that is fully supported by ARM’s exceptionally well run promotion program, and the fact that many of their engineers spend their entire careers there very happily. Imagination, the relative ‘youngster’ of the two, embraces its recent success by remaining true to their young, friendly atmosphere, allowing their engineers to flourish as they choose, with the full backing of the company;

“Friendly people, exciting company philosophy, it is really interesting to work there. The company is leader on the GPU for mobiles market, and so the projects are amazing. Not too much pressure from the hierarchy, we can feel really involved in the company achievements.”

(Engineers at Imagination) “Develop leading technology across multiple fields so there are numerous interesting projects to be part of / learn about. Growing very rapidly so opportunities for career development as teams have to scale. Very exciting times as the company becomes more well-known and talked about. Invests heavily in its employees so it’s not a company people want to leave.”

Well done Britain, we do love working here!

Reaching the Gods of Semiconductor Equipment

Looking at the Semiconductor Equipment Sales over the last 5 years is akin to plotting a roller coaster ride. We’ve gone from the highest of highs and been hurtled towards the floor at maximum velocity!  But we climbed out of the depths and now find ourselves looking back down with relief on where we were, but still striving to get to the elevated heights we’ve reached in the past.

This is, in the main, a harmonious and co-operative industry (which is why we enjoy being part of it so much!) We assisted one another out of the 2008/2009 chasm, where unfortunately some stayed, but as an industry we overcame the crisis and now look forward (we hope) to another healthy climb upwards. 

We’re at an interesting point.  Mt Semicon’s crown is hidden by cloud, and we cannot currently see the top. Finding profit below 20 nm and / or in 3D structures may mean we take two different paths to get there! The good news is that with TSMC’s new fab, Intel’s new Haswell Chips, and many  fab/foundries poised for an upgrade,  many of us are still striving to stand alongside our very own Gods, Messrs Shockley, Kilby and  Moore (nominations still open for inclusion in the pantheon). And of course to do this, our clients have begun that search for labour - for the skills needed to bring their company beyond the clouds and into the sunlight on the mountain peak. Do you have the skills to make that last climb? Are you the final element needed by an ambitious team of climbers  to reach the top?

Share your thoughts with us…

Semiconductors & the History of the PC

Semiconductors & the History of the PC (Part Two)

IC Resources is the recruitment partner for some of the most influential companies in the semiconductor industry.  IC Resources provide a large number of semiconductor jobs such as Semiconductor Equipment Engineers, Digital CAD Flow Developers, Analog/Mixed Signal IC Design Engineers, Field Application Engineers (FAE) and Project Management, both permanent and contract for professionals specialising in semiconductors.

The Semiconductor industry is one of the most important industries in the world today. Semiconductors are in fact the cornerstone of the post-modern age, the reason technology surges forward at such a rate and enabled the birth of modern electronics and the instigator of our reliance on electronic gadgets and entertainment and the phenomenon of the home computer. Following on from the previous post, “How Semiconductors Changed the World,” we continue our charting of the history of the personal computer from 1971 to 2001:

• 1971: The unveiling of the Kenbak 1, an 8-bit computer with 256 bytes of memory, considered to be the first personal computer.
• 1973: Based on an Intel 8008 microprocessor, the Micral N form the French company Réalisation d'Études Électroniques (R2E), was the first ever commercial non-kit computer.
• 1975: The Altair 8800 was launched by MIT featuring Intel’s second 8-bit microprocessor the 8080. The S-100 bus became the standard computer bus and its programming language saw the beginnings of Microsoft with Altair BASIC .
• 1976: The single board Apple I, designed and hand built by Steve Wozniack.
• 1977: The Commodore Pet (Personal Electronic Transactor), Commodore's first full-featured computer announced.
  Apple II introduced, replacing the Apple I, featuring a printed circuit motherboard, keyboard, games paddles and a backed up by cassette.
  Based on a TRS-80 microprocessor, the hugely popular Tandy Radioshack desktop computer was launched.
• 1981:  The first time a personal computer was called a PC, IBM based its machine on the Intel 8080 and an OS that they named PC-DOS and which was later renamed MS-DOS.
• 1983: Compaq cloned the IBM PC.
  The launch of the earliest viable PC networking software revived the Novell Corporation.
• 1984: The Apple Macintosh boasted a graphical interface and the first to use a mouse.
  The AT from IBM was launched using an Intel 80286 microprocessor.
• 1985:  A leap forward in the shape of Microsoft Windows.
• 1987: IBMs PS/2 employed 3.5” floppy discs and enjoyed a high resolution video display.
• 1989:  A meeting of minds – Microsoft and IBM form an alliance to develop systems software enhancing MS-DOS, OS/2 and LAN to work with Intel 386 and 486.
  Novell reaches prominence in networking software with the Netware 3.1x range.
• 1990:  Windows 3.0, the next phase in the Microsoft march to OS domination is launched.
• 1993:  Microsoft strikes again with Windows NT. Unlike its predecessors this is not a 16 bit OS, for networking this is the big contender to Novell.
  The Mosaic web browser, credited with popularizing the World Wide Web, is launched.
• 1995:  Not resting on its laurels, Microsoft launches the fully integrated 32 bit Windows 95 to replace Windows 3.11, Windows for Workgroups and MS-DOS. There is also the introduction of the server OS Windows NT 4.0.
• 1998:  Windows 98 integrated 95 and the Microsoft browser IE 4.0.
• 1999:  As a challenger to the growing monopoly that is Windows, Linux is born.
  Novell begins to concentrate more on the internet.
  The dot-com bubble begins to grow as internet based industries spring up.
• 2000:  Windows 2000 arrives with network server software.
  The dot-com bubble bursts, several companies stock prices tumble, some going bust and investors lose millions.
• 2001:  Windows XP replaces Windows 2000.

For semicoductor jobs, recruitment services and more information about the semiconductor industry, visit IC Resources.