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

Korea Stock Market Monthly Recap #40 (September 2019) & Samgyetang

WDC – Using the Toshiba JV to Improve Profits

Toshiba - Is Japan Government Trying to Put Together Knockout Bid?

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)

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

It has been fascinating to watch how the current memory (DRAM &amp; NAND) down cycle has unfolded. Of particular interest has been the various strategies being deployed by the leading producers. While the initial response was cutting future CapEx to limit capacity growth, that quickly switched to reducing wafer starts. There are various reports about <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/micron-technology-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13382:1" rel="noopener">Micron</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sk-hynix-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16955:1" rel="noopener">SK Hynix</a> and Toshiba and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/western-digital-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1094:1" rel="noopener">Western Digital</a> all taking such actions and indeed increasing the size of those cuts over time.<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-electronics-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:191:1" rel="noopener">Samsung</a>, however, made no such cuts, at least through the first half of the 2019. According to details revealed in the company's latest interim report, Samsung has maintained the utilization of its memory production lines at 100% throughout the downturn. Indeed, they have maintained that 100% utilization rate as far back as we have checked to 2014. So, who is right, Samsung or their competitors? Neither and here's why it doesn't matter.

It has been fascinating to watch how the current memory (DRAM &amp; NAND) down cycle has unfolded. Of particular interest has been the various strategies being deployed by the leading producers. While the initial response was cutting future CapEx to limit capacity growth, that quickly switched to reducing wafer starts. There are various reports about Micron, SK Hynix and Toshiba and Western Digital all taking such actions and indeed increasing the size of those cuts over time.Samsung, however, made no such cuts, at least through the first half of the 2019. According to details revealed in the company's latest interim report, Samsung has maintained the utilization of its memory production lines at 100% throughout the downturn. Indeed, they have maintained that 100% utilization rate as far back as we have checked to 2014. So, who is right, Samsung or their competitors? Neither and here's why it doesn't matter. 

To Cut Or Not To Cut Wafer Starts During A Memory Down Cycle & Why It Doesn't Matter!