There may be a few sessions tomorrow but SEMICON is nearly over and, to be frank, Sleuth is worried.

While the industry is enjoying a bumper year there's a sense of resigned dread about the halls of the Moscone Center. Good times might be here again but no-one's banking on the future.

There's been a lot of nostalgia in the show. Speakers have harked back to the golden age of the 50s and 60s, where men were men, women were ignored and R&D spending really got results. Now we're seeing much tighter margins, women in the business who have ground through the ingrained sexism of the industry and genuine fears for the future.

On the technological side the limits of silicon are already being felt. Processors are requiring more and more trace elements, something the world has a short supply of and, at the moment, China has the whip hand in dispensing.

But the industry also fears itself. All too often chip manufacturers will try and beat the market and this is now a long-established commodity industry. AMD and IBM are squaring up against Intel and Micron over collaborative verses sole trader approaches to chip design. It's going to be interesting to see who wins.

15 Jul 2010