February 4, 2010 -- You might expect that the semiconductor industry would mirror the broader economy’s malaise; this scenario has indeed occurred in many technology and product sectors. The x86 CPU business has bucked the general trend, however, as continued R&D investment and resultant new-IC output demonstrate. “Irrational exuberance,” a term that former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan coined in 1996, has thankfully not been evident. However, the microprocessor and core-logic-chip-set suppliers know full well that, with the rapid evolutionary pace of the PC industry, to tangibly slow down in the short term might be sufficient to ensure demise in the long term. This insight is evident in the continuation of their prerecession momentum.

By Brian Dipert, Senior Technical Editor, EDN.