Semiconductor & Technology Specialist, Ingenuity

William Keating

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist

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

Equity Bottom-Up

Altera Corporation is a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures, and markets programmable logic devices and associated development tools. The Company's products, include a variety of programmable logic devices and hardcopy application-specific integrated circuits.

<ul>
<li>Intel yesterday announced that it was selling a 51% stake of its Altera business to Silver Lake for $4.46 billion</li>
<li>The deal values Altera at $8.75 billion, roughly half what Intel paid to acquire the company over a decade ago</li>
<li>Altera's CEO, Intel veteran Sandra Rivera, will be replaced with a new CEO, Raghib Hussain, formerly president of Products and Technologies at Marvell</li>
</ul>


Intel yesterday announced that it was selling a 51% stake of its Altera business to Silver Lake for $4.46 billion
The deal values Altera at $8.75 billion, roughly half what Intel paid to acquire the company over a decade ago
Altera's CEO, Intel veteran Sandra Rivera, will be replaced with a new CEO, Raghib Hussain, formerly president of Products and Technologies at Marvell


Intel Offloads Altera Majority Stake At Steep Discount

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) / Equity Bottom-Up

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. manufactures and markets integrated circuits. The Company provides the following services: wafer manufacturing, wafer probing, assembly and testing, mask production, and design services. TSMC's ICs are used in computer, communication, consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial equipment industries.

<ul>
<li>TSMC reported March 2025 revenues of NT$285.96 billion, up 10% MoM and up 46.5% YoY.</li>
<li>Revenue for January through March 2025 totaled NT$839.25 billion, an increase of 41.6% YoY.</li>
<li>At the forecasted exchange rate of NT$32.8 to the US$, this translates into Q125 revenues of $25.58 billion, marginally above the guided midpoint of $25.4 billion</li>
</ul>


TSMC reported March 2025 revenues of NT$285.96 billion, up 10% MoM and up 46.5% YoY.
Revenue for January through March 2025 totaled NT$839.25 billion, an increase of 41.6% YoY.
At the forecasted exchange rate of NT$32.8 to the US$, this translates into Q125 revenues of $25.58 billion, marginally above the guided midpoint of $25.4 billion


Intel Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells computer components and related products.  The Company's major products include microprocessors, chipsets, embedded processors and microcontrollers, flash memory products, graphics products, network and communications products, systems management software, conferencing products, and digital imaging products.

<ul>
<li>
<em>We remain steadfast in our belief in our company’s future. That said, there are <strong>no quick fixes</strong>. We need to demonstrate consistent execution and results over a sustained period</em>. Frank Yeary</li>
<li>Intel's ELT scored themselves a remarkable 29.7 out of 35 for their 2024 “Product Leadership” goal, despite mounting data center market share loss and Gaudi being an abject failure</li>
<li>While Pat Gelsinger's departure from Intel was labelled a "retirement" last December, the Proxy Statement refers to it as a "resignation". Which was it?</li>
</ul>



We remain steadfast in our belief in our company’s future. That said, there are no quick fixes. We need to demonstrate consistent execution and results over a sustained period. Frank Yeary
Intel's ELT scored themselves a remarkable 29.7 out of 35 for their 2024 “Product Leadership” goal, despite mounting data center market share loss and Gaudi being an abject failure
While Pat Gelsinger's departure from Intel was labelled a "retirement" last December, the Proxy Statement refers to it as a "resignation". Which was it?


Intel's Annual Shareholder Meeting Proxy Statement Has A Few Interesting Gems

<ul>
<li>Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me the truth</li>
<li>I intend to under promise and over deliver. I will not be satisfied until we delight you</li>
<li>How long will I stay at Intel? I'm here for as long as it takes</li>
</ul>


Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me the truth
I intend to under promise and over deliver. I will not be satisfied until we delight you
How long will I stay at Intel? I'm here for as long as it takes


Intel Vision: Lip Bu Tan's First Keynote As Intel CEO

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>On September 18 2024, one of the three co-founders of Silicon Box, Dr. Sutardja, sadly passed away. An industry visionary, much loved by many. May he rest in peace.</li>
<li>The company's website still does not reflect this fact, and an interview with their Head of Business just two weeks after his passing, bizarrely doesn't mention it at all</li>
<li>With just six press releases in four years, the company is slow to communicate progress and remains vague on precisely which specific technologies they offer. Still a black box IMO</li>
</ul>


On September 18 2024, one of the three co-founders of Silicon Box, Dr. Sutardja, sadly passed away. An industry visionary, much loved by many. May he rest in peace.
The company's website still does not reflect this fact, and an interview with their Head of Business just two weeks after his passing, bizarrely doesn't mention it at all
With just six press releases in four years, the company is slow to communicate progress and remains vague on precisely which specific technologies they offer. Still a black box IMO


Silicon Box. A Sad Development & Sadly, Still A Black Box

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.