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karophi
Each year, the temperature of NYC’s start-up scene seems to get turned up ...
Diogenes53
"IMEC executives expressed the hope that the memory could be deployed as a ...
10 top startups to watch in 2013
Peter Clarke
12/21/2012 2:30 PM EST
Processors, memory, manufacturing processes, chip architecture, EDA, MEMS, RF, touch screens, servers and the Internet of Things are markets where startups can still make a difference.
What follows are ten rising companies worth tracking in 2013.
Nantero Inc. (Woburn, Mass.) was founded in 2001 and has been working on the use of carbon nanotubes in non-volatile memory applications since then. Having made some noise about a trench-based device structure in 2006 things went quiet again until 2012.
The company has changed its device to an even more scalable in-via structure and has announced additional funding of $10 million led by a couple of strategic partners. In addition microelectronics research center IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) announced a joint development program to make CNT non-volatile memories with critical dimensions of less than 20-nm, and senior IMEC executives expressed the hope that the memory could be deployed as a replacement for DRAM.
If this technology is going to fly it should be able to demonstrate more progress in 2013 and perhaps we will find out who are the strategic partners?
www.nantero.com
Cross-section of Nantero's carbon-nanotube variable-resistence memory structure. The structure is thought to be scalable to 15-nm wide elements and even down to 5-nm.
Related stories:
Partners back nanotube memory for production push
IMEC backs carbon nanotube memories
Next: SuVolta
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GroovyGeek
12/24/2012 2:31 PM EST
Nantero made the list? Really? They have been around for more than 10 years and there has been little to watch. Why start now? :-) And since when did IMEC become this authority in technology trends. They mostly seem to be a touch behind the leading edge.
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lcovey
1/2/2013 12:59 PM EST
I think Rick's last sentence is the necessary disclaimer. With nanotubes, the question is always "IF?"
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lcovey
1/2/2013 1:01 PM EST
Sorry, meant Peter. Was looking at Rick's comment while typing ;)
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BobsUrUncle
12/26/2012 8:12 PM EST
An 11 year old company with no income is not a startup, just a money sink. Sorry, but the VCs have probably diluted all the employees shares by now so there's not much motivation for the working stiffs. Good luck anyway.
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rick.merritt
12/27/2012 11:46 AM EST
FWIW, SuVolta's Scott Thompson was one of the most lively speakers at an IEDM panel moderated by a Globalfoundries tech exec.
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docdivakar
1/2/2013 2:14 PM EST
SiTime is not alone in MEMS timing devices, many others including IDT are catching up fast. These devices are NOT replacements for more accurate TCXO's/OCXO's so the Silicon timing market (pegged at $1.2B total, a subset of frequency control components market at $4B). Of this, the MEMS oscillator market is projected to be at ~$440M by 2017... so the market is starting to get crowded.
MP Divakar
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psevalia
1/11/2013 2:26 PM EST
Hi MP, you are referring to a forward-looking forecast from Yole, which also gives SiTime 80% share of MEMS Timing. As with most technologies, once adoption accelerates, most forecasts are revised significantly upwards.
Along the same lines, here is a report of actual data published on the QIAJ (Quartz Industry Association of Japan) website.
http://times.hinet.net/news/finance/10959691;jsessionid=2A5D5CBD46B9348EC9E0CCE7A3CB124D
Translation of key points:
1) Orders in Nov 2012 for QIAJ member companies are 25% lower in units and 23% lower in revenue compared to 1 year ago. Compared to October 2012 (1 month), they are 11.2% and 8.5% lower respectively.
2) 19th consecutive month of production decline of quartz crystal devices. Production decreased 27.6% on an annual basis. It's unclear if capacity was reduced.
Piyush Sevalia
Exec VP, Marketing, SiTime Corp.
psevalia@sitime.com
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docdivakar
1/17/2013 1:11 PM EST
Piyush, I appreciate the follow up. The link above went to a Kanji-font website so I reposted it below thru Google translate:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftimes.hinet.net%2Fnews%2Ffinance%2F10959691%3Bjsessionid%3D2A5D5CBD46B9348EC9E0CCE7A3CB124D
The TAM for MEMS may increase this year but we are already seeing rumblings about component price increases in 2013. I don't know how this is going to manifest itself...
MP Divakar
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SiliconVwhiz
1/2/2013 5:02 PM EST
You guys are missing the point....start-ups are considered young, bold, attractive. The heavy hitters only look at the VC ones. There are, for example, small beverage companies slowly climbing the cliff. Triple-S Michelada (Brownsville), for example, is a small company causing quite a stir in the beverage world and is virtually unknown at this point still. Zimbio, Technorati, Orkut are other ones that should be up and coming pretty soon. No matter the company---the class product they represent is the difference between $$ and $$$$$$$$$$$$.
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nannasin28
1/21/2013 3:27 AM EST
it have probably diluted all the employees shares by now. http://www.hqew.net
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ValenS
2/13/2013 3:55 PM EST
I would strongly recommend, based on experience on both sides, that the advice notice to be read state that the most risky investment are where external shareholder have less than 50% of the voting rights and/or there are any loans from controlling directors however small (for they can put the company into receivership by calling in the websites like http://britainloans.co.uk/ and refusing as directors to pay and then simultaneously asset strip to their benefit).
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Dr Rad
2/14/2013 11:55 AM EST
I think IEEE Spectrum picked them as a big looser a couple of years ago
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Netteligent
2/14/2013 12:50 PM EST
SiTime will end up with Solyndra and 123Systems
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James Walker
3/10/2013 2:11 PM EDT
If this technology is going to fly it should be able to demonstrate more progress in 2013 and perhaps we will find out who are the strategic partners? http://ancala-azsearchforhomes.com/
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karophi
3/24/2013 3:15 PM EDT
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Bob @ JVD Inc.
4/16/2013 2:59 PM EDT
I've worked for many startups in my 40 years in the chip business, but none of them were nearly as old as these companies. When are you going to start following some real "Start-ups"?
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Diogenes53
4/16/2013 9:40 PM EDT
"IMEC executives expressed the hope that the memory could be deployed as a replacement for DRAM". Let me express the hope that AAPL returns to $700 before Jan., 2014. TYVM.
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karophi
5/16/2013 11:45 AM EDT
Each year, the temperature of NYC’s start-up scene seems to get turned up another five degrees, with 2013 yielding by far the largest number and widest spectrum of companies. I think http://www.gfa.si is the most prominent company among all of those in list.
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