GSA Executive Forum

Last week, IC Resources exhibited at the GSA Executive Forum in Munich. The format this year emphasised panel discussions and a “fireside chat” between Joep van Buerden, the CEO of CSR and Rick Clemmer, the CEO of NXP. Therefore there was plenty of good debate and discussion. The presentation by Henri Seydoux, the founder and CEO of Parrot, was particularly well received and entertaining. Nothing like a UFO-esque tablet-controlled helicopter to intrigue a group of tech execs!

The mood seemed the most buoyant for the last 2-3 years, with the majority of equipment suppliers and service companies feeling optimistic about the 2nd half of 2013.

Oh and Paul Malisse of IMEC won a bottle of very fine (we hope) single malt whiskey in our prize draw…next one at Cambridge Wireless’ International event at the end of the month….

IC Resources is a trusted business partner to a wide range of semiconductor companies around the world, ranging from international blue chips (Intel, Broadcom, TI, Qualcomm, Infineon, ARM, TSMC, etc) to pure start ups.

GSA's mission is to accelerate the growth and increase the return on invested capital of the global semiconductor industry by fostering a more effective ecosystem through collaboration, integration and innovation.

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…

The UK ASIC market: not-so-little Britain

How times have changed from a few years ago!

The ASIC market in the UK has come a long way from the murkiness of 2009, and, happily, we’ve since seen the demand for top-notch ASIC / SoC designers increasing year on year.

This has, in large part, been as a result of the enormous success of “home grown” powerhouses such as Imagination and ARM. But success breeds success, therefore in recent years we’ve seen an energising trend with foreign companies recognising and tapping into UK design competencies and setting up shop on our shores; NVIDIA's acquisition of Icera and Samsung’s purchase of part of CSR being two recent high profile examples. This has resulted in a lively market in areas from telecommunications and wireless communications to digital media to GPU computing.

There’s no doubt that the silicon landscape in the UK has changed; we’re now seeing strong UK-owned market leaders intermingled with myriad overseas investors; many of whom are calling for experts in RTL Design, Verification and Physical Design.

All this makes for a very optimistic outlook for the rest of the year!

The Rise of Formal Verification

In the past, Formal Verification was something often discussed and rarely implemented, pushed aside for simulation based techniques. With only a select few specialists in this area the technology that has been around for over a decade looked set to sit on the bench, despite its obvious advantages in reducing the time and cost of ASIC design, when compared to standard functional verification techniques.

Here at IC Resources, we have noticed a shift in this trend in recent years, with a huge rise in the demand for engineers with formal verification experience, and indeed for specialist engineers concentrating solely on formal verification and its development. So where did this come from?

A definite source has been the growing number of researchers concentrating on formal methods, who have joined companies with the specific intention of expanding the use of these techniques to improve functional verification, and succeeding! With the rising complexity of IC designs, formal verification is now more important than ever, and looks set to become a standard part of all future verification plans. Hooray!

Click on the links below to view all the formal verification opportunities available today, and get involved!

Formal Verification & Validation Engineer - London
Formal Verification R&D Engineer - Cambridge
Principal Verification Engineer - Cambridge
Digital Design Verification Engineer - Bristol
Staff Verification Engineer - Sheffield
Senior Verification Engineer - Munich

A day in the life of IC Resources

Good news for IC companies in the UK

Late last year, Neil Dickins (a founder of IC Resources) worked closely with NMI to submit two detailed reports to government about skills shortages in our sector.

This work has resulted in IC Design Engineering and IC Test Engineering appearing on the Skills Shortage List, which makes obtaining visas for such professionals a quicker and easier process.

Hopefully this will help the UK to convince foreign companies / investors thinking about setting up new design centres that the UK is the right place to do business.

Any questions, please contact us asap.

First Time Attending Global Semiconductor Forum (GSF)

IC Resources is one of the sponsors of this year’s GSF event, taking place 13-15 March in Shanghai.

Neil Dickins, one of IC Resources’ founders and directors, is looking forward to networking with some of the semiconductor community’s leading lights. This is clearly a critical and in some ways uncertain time for the IC manufacturing sector, with Moore’s Law stretched to breaking point and the commercial benefits of moving to smaller nodes being questioned in many quarters. What is certain (based on the impressive speaker list) is that this year’s conference will offer up questions, answers and insights from a range of individuals who are the forefront of our industry.

IC Resources has a dedicated China division, therefore Neil will be interested to discuss commercial requirements (sales / marketing semiconductor jobs) throughout greater China, as well as commercial and technical semiconductor jobs throughout Europe.

IC Resources is one of the world’s leading semiconductor recruitment organisations; a number of our senior consultants originally hail from within the semiconductor industry.