Semiconductor & Technology Specialist, Ingenuity

William Keating

Dr. William Keating is a highly experienced senior executive with over 25 years experience in the IT/Semiconductor Industry. The majority of Dr. Keating's career was spent at Intel Corporation where he held senior leadership positions in Europe, the US and Asia from 1992 through 2014. He served as Intel's IT Director for APAC, China & Japan from 2005 through 2014 when he was based in Hong Kong and was responsible for the IT systems (Infrastructure, Networks, Data Centres, ERP, Sales & Marketing systems, Business Intelligence etc. ) for all of Intel's offices & factories through the region. From 1998 through 2005, he was the founder & director of an internal IT Consulting Organisation (IT Flex Services), a 500-person team which remains a core part of the Intel IT Organisation to this day. Dr. Keating's first 6 years at Intel were spent in charge of the Factory Automation Systems (Robotics, Databases, Networks, Servers, Clients etc.) supporting Intel's then state-of-the-art 200mm factory network. Since leaving Intel in 2014, Dr Keating established his own Technology Research & Consulting Company (www.ingenuity.hk) where he focuses on the products, roadmaps & technologies of companies such as Intel, AMD, Samsung, Apple, Micron- as well as the key equipment suppliers to those companies e.g. ASML, AMAT, Canon, Nikon etc. Dr. Keating specializes in niche topics of high significance within the semiconductor industry. These include the future of Moore's Law and in particular the significance of Lithography in maintaining Moore's Law (EUV, SDA, NanoImprint), the role & growth of the GPU in specialised applications such as Deep Learning (Neural Networks) for Voice, Image & Pattern recognition at companies such as Facebook, Google & Baidu. He also holds regular discussions on the future of memory, in particular the rise of 3D NAND and the emergence of new memory technologies such as 3D Xpoint.

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist

Learnings From The History of Memory Part 4- The Insatiable Demand For NAND Flash

Learnings From The History Of Memory Part 5-  China's NAND Flash Mega-Billions Gamble

Micron's Latest Earnings Reaffirms A Healthy Memory Market Environment Heading into 2018

Learnings From The History Of Memory Part 2- DRAM Supply, Demand & Pricing Are Foregone Conclusions

Learnings From The History Of Memory Part 1 - China's DRAM Dreams

A Brief Analysis of Semiconductor Wafer Fab Equipment's Current Growth Cycle

Ingenuity

Our focus is exclusively on in-depth research & consulting in the broader semiconductor industry. We focus on the key players, namely Intel, Micron, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, NVIDIA, AMD, TSMC & Global Foundries - as well as some of the lesser known, but nonetheless critical, companies such as ASML (for EUV), Mellanox, Cavium, Xilinx etc. We specialise in their products, roadmaps, process technologies, competitive advantages & threats etc. We also help our clients understand the implications of new and emerging technologies, e.g. 3D X-Point, 3D NAND, Carbon Nanotubes, Autonomous Driving, Graphene, Silicon Photonics, Wafer-Level Optics, Artificial Intelligence, FPGA, GPU, ASIC etc. 

Semiconductor Analysis & Research

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Greece Semiconductors and semiconductor equipment / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>After peaking at just over $8 billion in 2006, NOR Flash revenues have been declining ever since and in 2016 amounted to just over $2 billion. This year, however, has seen a resurgence in demand for NOR Flash and, coupled with the decisions by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/609" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:609:1">Cypress Semiconductor Corp</a> &amp; <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/13382" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13382:1">Micron Technology Inc</a> to exit the lower-margin commodity end of the market, a global under-supply situation accompanied by steadily rising prices is emerging. This trend is a significant boost for Taiwanese players <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/9177" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9177:1">Winbond Electronics Corp (2344 TT)</a> &amp; <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/3247" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3247:1">Macronix International (2337 TT)</a>, both of which have announced plans to increase capacity to meet the growing demand. Chinese Gigadevice is also highly likely to benefit from this trend. In this Insight, we examine the history of NOR Flash from its invention in the mid-1980's through the present day. We focus on how the applications for NOR Flash have evolved over time and review the key players in the industry today. Finally, we look at the drivers behind the current upsurge in demand and opine on the likely opportunity it presents in particular for Winbond, Macronix and Gigadevice. </p>

After peaking at just over $8 billion in 2006, NOR Flash revenues have been declining ever since and in 2016 amounted to just over $2 billion. This year, however, has seen a resurgence in demand for NOR Flash and, coupled with the decisions by Cypress Semiconductor Corp &amp; Micron Technology Inc to exit the lower-margin commodity end of the market, a global under-supply situation accompanied by steadily rising prices is emerging. This trend is a significant boost for Taiwanese players Winbond Electronics Corp (2344 TT) &amp; Macronix International (2337 TT), both of which have announced plans to increase capacity to meet the growing demand. Chinese Gigadevice is also highly likely to benefit from this trend. In this Insight, we examine the history of NOR Flash from its invention in the mid-1980's through the present day. We focus on how the applications for NOR Flash have evolved over time and review the key players in the industry today. Finally, we look at the drivers behind the current upsurge in demand and opine on the likely opportunity it presents in particular for Winbond, Macronix and Gigadevice. 

Learnings From The History Of Memory Part 3- The Amazing Resurgence of NOR Flash