Ask the right question
Rick Nelson, Senior Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 9/1/2001
The big question at Semicon West this year wasn't "What's new?" but instead the fretful, "When will the economy turn around?" Attendees representing the test community might have felt particularly burdened, not just by today's economy but by years of incessant complaint about the high cost of test (Ref. 1).
For engineers, however, dwelling on dollars and cents-from the macro global-economy level to the micro product-price level-is counterproductive. Instead, we should focus on "What's new?" In fact, many new products emerged during Semicon West and the weeks leading up to it. You can see highlights in this issue (p. 66) and online (www.tmworld.com/news/semicon2001.htm).
But downturn gloom kept inappropriate emphasis on economic concerns. None of us, after all, are economists-our direct input to economic policy begins and ends on federal election days. At other times, we should focus on doing what we do best: designing new products and solving the technological challenges that could impede their march to market.
An excessive focus on money was criticized in what was billed as a Silicon Valley Round Table, held the Monday after Semicon West (Ref. 2). Judith L. Estrin, CEO of Packet Design (Mt. View, CA; www.packetdesign.com), explained "over the last couple of years . . . the valley lost its association with being the place where you were in love with technology and innovation and became the place where you are in love with getting rich."
The result has been a marked decline in "getting rich." Of course, economic considerations shouldn't be ignored. Price, for example, is as important a specification as clock rate. But some perspective is necessary to prevent panicked responses-"My raise fell through!" or "The economy's at fault!" or "Test costs too much!"-that hinder rational decisions.
I argued for a more reasoned approach with respect to test costs at last year's International Test Conference (Ref. 3). At Semicon West this year, Nicholas Konidaris, president and CEO of Advantest America, suggested something similar as he commented on the often bemoaned fact that it costs nearly as much to test a transistor as to build one. It's not the cost of testing a transistor that's critical, he said, it's the cost of testing the complete device that incorporates the many individual transistors.
Such insight can keep us focused on reaching reasonable price/performance levels to benefit our wallets, our companies' bottom lines, and even the global economy. The alternative is to reach the unproductive conclusions of the cynic who, as Oscar Wilde said, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. T&MW
References
- See, for example, Gelsinger, P., "Discontinuities Driven by a Billion Connected Machines," IEEE Design & Test of Computers, January-March 2000. p. 7.
- "So, Technology Pros, What Comes After the Fall?" The New York Times, July 29, 2001. Section 3, p. 1.
- "Why Should Test Costs Scale?" www.tmworld.com/articles/news/itc_rick.htm.
