IBM "sells" its semiconductor bussiness. In other news, flying pigs were spotted - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 07:44:02 am
content: So, IBM "sold" its semiconductor division...http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/struggling-ibm-pays-1-5-billion-to-dump-its-chipmaking-business/I wonder what do they actually want to live off, having previously removed the desktop/notebook stuff as well as other stuff. Honestly, I'm disappointed - IBM seems to be going from an industry leader to a glorified software and service company for "big data" who'll outsource all the good stuff whilst trying to appease the investors through the miracle of numbers... At least that's how I see it

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 07:48:38 am
content: Look at which companies have been the rising stars the last decade and see that they don't make and sell hw only sw and services. Don't blame the companies blame society

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 08:37:28 am
content: The big problem with making semis is that a new wafer fab is several $B and is out of date in three years. That's fine if you're churning out lots of high end processors or RAM, but it's jsut not feasible to stay up there without big volumes.Quote from: Kjelt on October 21, 2014, 07:48:38 amIf only Apple followed this path, they'd stop patenting rounded corners.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 09:20:28 am
content: We shouldn't be afraid to see big companies die or split off. If businesses cannot adapt to the market place they have no place in the market. I just feel sorry for the inevitable lay-offs when IBM does go defunct.

author: VintageTekFan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 05:40:22 pm
content: IBM has been laying off lots of people for a long time... And that only seems to barely keep them going.

author: LabSpokane
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 05:57:12 pm
content: IBM should have gotten out of the toaster oven business long ago. It's actually a smart business move on their part.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 01:21:19 am
content: QuoteAs a society, we have gone from a country of makers to a country of BSers. Don't blame the IBMs of the world. Blame the culture, blame the people, blame all those environmental regulations and pensions, etc.Blame ourselves.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 01:32:42 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on October 22, 2014, 01:21:19 amEnvironmental regulations?Yes, it'sourfault IBM is failing and we're turning into a country of BSers, because we wouldn't let the poormakersshit all over their own (and our) environment.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 02:46:43 am
content: For those interested in IBM, read this:http://www.anysubject.com/the-decline-and-fall-of-ibm-by-robert-cringely

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 03:25:30 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on October 22, 2014, 01:21:19 amOf course I agree that the last thing any reasonable person needs is clean air to breath and food when they are too old to work. However, I think I see a flaw in your argument. IBM moved all its high labour cost stuff to cheap labour countries years ago.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 03:26:57 am
content: IBM was a supplier for the company I used to work for. It was incredibly hard to get anything out of them, they were slow, unresponsive and their service quality sucked. I was involved in several enterprise scale projects with them so I know first hand. I guess there were other reasons which I was not aware of why my employer paid them big buck.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 03:33:54 am
content: Quote from: Bud on October 22, 2014, 03:26:57 amIBM has a long history of spending a huge amount on basic research, and building whole new industries on the results of that research. It looks like they skipped the research step when they decided to become a pure services company. They don't seem to have figured out how to do it well, or do it in a sustainable way. On a more positive note, I guess they trained a huge number of people who now operate more focussed services businesses.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 04:36:44 am
content: Quote from: VintageTekFan on October 21, 2014, 05:40:22 pmIt used to be that in the industry we referred to IBM as "I've Been Moved". They were well known for never firing people, they would just offer you a relocation that you wouldn't take. But that was many decades ago, they also were infamous for telling you what friends you should keep, it was the essence of corporate America where every employee represented the company so you better be on your best behavior. I do believe they had a dress code as well.But I never worked for them so it's all hear say, the reason I never even attempted to apply there was because of the rumor mill to begin with.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 04:43:35 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on October 22, 2014, 04:36:44 amYou don't have to work for them to know about the dress code. Where do you think the nickname "Big Blue" came from?

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 04:53:26 am
content: It's been a while, I long forgot about itEdit: last time I met people from IBM they wore jeans, this was at Solana TX at DFW, they had a big campus there at one time the whole Solana was IBM.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 11:42:00 am
content: Read the 2014 bookThe Fall and Decline of IBMhttp://www.amazon.com.au/The-Decline-Fall-IBM-American-ebook/dp/B00KRHWZ22. The eBook cost me about $3 or $4 and it was worth every cent. It is a shocking read, but gives an insight into an iconic company that has lost the plot and is headed for self destruction.I know a lot about the company. I worked for them for 19 years. The early years were exceptionally good until Louis B. Gerstner came along. IBM sold our electronics plant off to another company. "You either join the new company or you will be deemed to have resigned from IBM in which case there will be no redundancy" were the exact words verbatim of Australian CEO Robert Savage. As IBM pushed us out, I was recognised for my 19 years of dedication with an offer of 30% discount off retail price on an IBM Aptiva PC, and as it turned out the confiscation of a large chunk of my superannuation. That was mean, very mean, especially considering I was part of a core team of about 10 people in the US who engineered the recovery of about $US 100 million to IBM in one year just a year earlier. I guess it takes penny pinching to a new level.I learnt a big lesson from the leadership at IBM...Look after number one because no-one else will.

author: eurofox
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 11:59:51 am
content: I was involved in IBM's industrial activities, I think very few people know that IBM got main frame computers with I/0's managing refinery processes.I got colleagues from IBM involved in the space projects (Space shuttle program)It is sad that such a company that is on the origin of so many inventions is getting in this situation but the world is changing very quickly .....

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 12:28:21 pm
content: On the other hand they are hiring personell by the thousands at the moment, unfortunately in China

author: JoeO
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 12:37:50 pm
content: I started at IBM in 74 and retired in 09, 35 years to the day. I saw IBM go from the pinnacle of success to the pits.It started to decline when they looked at people as a resource, instead of human beings.VK3DRB is correct. The downhill spiral started when Gerstner came to power.

author: Kevman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 03:23:30 pm
content: Supposedly the only thing keeping their fabs busy were the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360- which is funny if you think about it.Now that those are gone (though the Wii U still uses an IBM CPU), what production volume do they have left? Certainly not enough to justify the massive fixed costs associated with the industry...I just didn't think they were in bad enough shape to have to PAY a company $1.5B to take the division.You know, I wonder how much they've earned off the video game industry over the years...

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 05:46:43 pm
content: Quote from: Kevman on October 22, 2014, 03:23:30 pmNot much, 300 million units over many years:http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Edit: Then again, I don't know how much those companies paid for those PowerPC chips, if $100 each, then it's $30B

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2014, 11:23:01 pm
content: QuoteObviously, not enough to keep them in business,In the fab business, you need to have lots of capital (to invest in the fab and to sustain environmental liabilities), and lots of volume (so you can spread the capex and overhead).If you look at the successful chip makers, they are either gorillas, or fab-less (mostly in the US), or in locales where environmental protection is light (the Taiwanese). The rest are specialty fabs (Jazz for example).The situation is slightly better for analog chip makers where the need to keep up with advancing technology (thus repeated capex) isn't as much.Most of US chip makers have divested their fabs: AMD, HP/Agilent, Rockwell, ..... Intel is the largest (sole?) exception, owing, I think, to their near monopolistic market positions.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2014, 08:28:09 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on October 22, 2014, 05:46:43 pmI suspect they are getting much less than $100 per chip, but even so if that's over ten years it's £3bn a year. with 10% of that put aside to pay for the next fab, it means they can only upgrade once every ten years, but they need to upgrade every two or three years.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2014, 10:56:54 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on October 22, 2014, 04:53:26 amHa! I've been there. One of my former employers had a datacenter in the building with IBM. They also had a lot of IBM staff that consulted full time with them.