Last month, the semiconductor industry lost the microchip pioneer Jack Kilby, co-inventor of the integrated circuits to cancer. Kilby’s invention, which laid the foundation for a wave of miniaturization and integration, ushered in the digital age of personal computers, cell phones and the Internet.

Since the day ICs were invented, there has been a sea change in the quality of life for people across the globe. Many years from now, we will narrate stories to our grandchildren, about the good old days of how we actually used today’s cell phones, iPods or Pentium processors to run our computers. They’ll probably laugh! In a matter of years, there will be new range of gadgets we can hardly imagine today—all embedded with tiny semiconductor chips that will have a lot more processing.

With the semiconductor market more buoyant than ever, demand is not the problem. However, there is a strong undercurrent of nervous tension about the future of semiconductor manufacturing. The issue is whether or not the industry will be in a position to give customers increased level of performance; they have come to expect year-after-year over the past 20 years, or whether the limits of semiconductor technology are just around the corner.

Early this year, Mentor Graphics Chairman and CEO Walden Rhines presented several contradictory statements made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, including his 1975 revision increasing from one year to two the amount of time in which the number of transistors on a chip would double, as evidence that the terms of Moore’s Law have been in flux over the years.

Rhines argues that Moore’s Law is not a law but only an empirical observation and is based on a fundamental law of nature—the cost-per-unit of anything decreases by a fixed percent every time the total cumulative volume doubles. Going forward, it is going to take longer and harder to double the transistor count. This will pave way for better design and manufacturing technology—an approach that combines chemistry, physics and biology.
This month we have on cover a man originally from the semiconductor industry. Sanjiv Sidhu, chairman and founder, i2 Technologies, speaks about his vision for tomorrow. He is at the forefront of building the framework to make the next generation of supply chain. As he moves in a cutthroat industry dominated by giants , Sidhu’s conviction and persuasiveness is something we should watch out for.

Like Sidhu, our leader of the month S A Ibrahim of the Radian group identifies innovation, patience and focus as the key to sustain growth.

It is always interesting to know about how Indian enterprises are deploying world-class technologies to stay ahead of the race. In this issue, we bring to you how IT is enabling the oil giant ONGC to gain efficiency and keep competitors at bay.

Like always you’ll find informative stories and thought-provoking ideas in our pages. We appreciate your time and look forward to your feedback.

Pradeep Shankar
editor@siliconindia.com