Letter to the editor: IP pros, cons (Jonah Probell)

 
I received a plethora of e-mails regarding my recent article, entitled "Semi IP sector is a lost cause"

Then, I asked for the IP vendors themselves to respond to a set of questions. Here's one letter to the editor:

Editor,

I did engineering for Lexra, founded Ultra Data and ultimately sold its video processor technology to a chip company, did sales for ARC, and am about to join a fourth semi IP company. I've studied the processor IP core business model in perhaps as much depth as anybody.

I believe that the principles of third party IP licensing are sound. Where functions are highly standardized (e.g. SONET, 802.11, DDR DRAM, USB, MPEG, DVB, Windows) semiconductor makers derive no differentiation advantage from implementing such IP. Therefore, it is most efficient for the industry if semiconductor makers focus their resources on developing technologies from which they can derive a competitive advantage and license IP from companies that can spread the cost of implementing standards across multiple semiconductor vendors.

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