GSA Forum: IoT an aspiration more than a business

Wally Rhines, CEO of Mentor Graphics, summed up the industry’s dilemma with IoT: “We haven’t yet got into whatever the IoT is going to generate,” he told the conference.

Udo-Martin Gomez, CTO of Bosch Sensortec, said that Bosch has set up a business unit specifically targeted at IoT, adding: “We are at the beginning.”

Gomez’ view was reflected by Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon, who said that “IoT offers new entry points, it opens new doors.”

Jalal Bagherli, CEO of Dialog, was probably the most bullish among the CEOs on the IoT: “I challenge the view that this is going to be a 10c or 50c business,” said Bagherli adding that Dialog is selling parts which enable the IoT for $5 or $6.

Aart de Geus, founder and Co-CEO of Synopsys, was probably the most sceptical of the CEOs pointing out that the typical IoT products used tiny amounts of silicon and said “it is difficult to see how it will fill the fabs.”

However Imec takes the view that sensors could become a leading-edge technology product which could join products like DRAM, flash and FPGA as process technology drivers.

There was a feeling among delegates that IoT is a blanket concept which could stimulate innovation but not many saw it as anything more than an aspirational market at the moment.

Although there was no one who could point to a big business in IoT, most companies were looking at how to prepare their portfolio for possible IoT applications.