Xilinx Inc.’s decision to dispense with United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) as a foundry, in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics, raised the question in the minds of many commentators: if Xilinx and Altera have the same schedule for getting to 28-nm processes, does it cut into their ability to differentiate from each other? Now that most IC design companies are fabless, and foundry alternatives are shrinking to a few Asian giants, this problem is common – but the Xilinx/Altera rivalry brings it into a particular focus.
