Debates about globalization are focused on offshore outsourcing of manufacturing and services. This approach, however, neglects an important change in the geography of knowledge--the emergence of global innovation networks (GINs) that integrate dispersed engineering, product development, and research activities across geographic borders.

Jay Vleeschhouwer just sent out his DAC report. A very comprehensive and detailed analysis of what he thought were the important "take aways" from the conference. Of course Jay is mainly concerned with the impact the technology will have on financial returns, especially for the EDA companies whose stock is publicly traded. His report is worth thinking about.

Magma Design Automation Inc., is announcing that preliminary results indicate the company exceeded all previously announced guidance for its fiscal 2010 first quarter, ended August 2, 2009.

On July 15th at SEMICon West, Waldon Rhines, CEO of Mentor graphics stated in his keynote address "World Semiconductor Dynamics: Myth Versus Reality" that the recession is not as bad as it seems. Historically, semiconductors have performed better than the overall economy. In fact, the correlation between the overall economy and semiconductor sales is a miniscule 0.084, signifying almost complete independence between the two measures. Dr. Rhines remarks are reported below.

If you believe what was said at International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) Summer Public Conference the week before DAC, the EDA industry is about to experience a major disruption.

In the last few days there have been speculations on the DAC floor about the financial health of Magma Design Automation. The rumors appear to originate from the financial action described below. In an eminently technical environment with localized knowledge of financial rules and operations this can be damaging. In keeping with my belief that it is helpful to report on financial issues I decided to address the subject in as timely a manner as I could.

For months pundits speculated that this year DAC would not be well attended, and that the effects of the global recession would significantly impact the conference. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact that I have waited two days before writing about DAC should give you an indication of how busy I have been.
I` want to say, before I get to the details, that DAC has been a positive experience. Yet it did not start out that way.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. (TSMC) unveiled Reference Flow 10.0, the latest version of its design methodology to lower design obstacles, improve design margins, and increase yields. Reference Flow 10.0 is one of the key collaborative components of the Open Innovation Platform which improves time-to-market, increases return on investment and minimizes waste.

On July 14, Anand Chandrasakher, senior vice president, Intel Corp. talked about "Mobility's Next Wave And Growth" in his Semicon West keynote speech. He began by describing the development of the Centrino platforms at the turn of the century. The economy was starting to see the effects of the.com failures, and personal computer sales were down. At that time Intel had targeted that one billion Intel Architecture (IA) mobile devices would exist in 2015.