EE Times, Oct 15, 2009
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Dongbu CEO: Analog to fuel green revolution
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By Mark LaPedus
Analog has not received the same attention as digital, but the technology will help enable the green revolution, according to the chief executive of Korean foundry vendor Dongbu HiTek.
The analog world is already ahead of the curve, said Yong-In Park, CEO of Dongbu HiTek (Seoul), during a keynote address during the Analog Semiconductor Leaders Forum 2009 here.
These days, the buzzword is green and power efficiency, Park said. The analog side already thinks about efficiency, noise and performance.
Going forward, this mindset will be critical in various markets, such as the mobile world. For example, Nokias M95 handset consists of 50 discrete parts, according to the Dongbu executive.
Within the cell-phone, there are five memory devices, four MCUs, five logic ICs and nine passive components. Of the 50 parts, some 29 devices are analog-oriented products, he said.
Dongbu itself is one of the players in the analog foundry business. In a separate interview with EE Times, Park indicated that the overall foundry business is projected to fall from 10-to-20 percent in 2009 over 2008.
For Dongbu, its been a quarter-by-quarter story. Like all foundry vendors, Dongbu saw a major slowdown in the first quarter of 2009. By the third quarter, we returned to normal, he said.
Now, the companys fabs are nearly full. Were seeing strong demand, he said.
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