Continuous cost-down pressure characterizes the semiconductor market and is the driver behind the industry's dis-aggregated infrastructure. In the 70's, we outsourced packaging and test; in the early 80's, EDA; in the late 80's, wafers; and in the early to mid 90's, we outsourced IP and front-end design services.

Is there another opportunity to outsource? Operations is the next semiconductor value chain link that will be outsourced by leading edge industry thinkers to maximize "return-on-design," reduce overhead costs, and drive profits to the bottom line.

Who will benefit? Whether a small semiconductor company or the IC division of a large systems company seeking to alleviate the need for temporary technical help; or larger companies looking to permanently slash overhead and reinvest resources in core competencies, operations outsourcing is the next dis-aggregation trend that will further business success.

Mr. Wilson has over 20 years of experience editing and reporting on the engineering and engineering management and 10 years experience in high-tech engineering and marketing. He has been Executive Editor of EDN since January 2006.

Mr. Koeter joined Synopsys in 1998 and is currently Group Director of Marketing for the Solutions Group. In that capacity, he is responsible for the marketing of Synopsys' DesignWare¨ intellectual property, Professional Services and System-Level Design products. Before coming to Synopsys, Mr. Koeter held marketing, engineering, and corporate application engineering positions with Texas Instruments and Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Koeter holds a BSEE degree from Cornell University.

Kalar Rajendiran is the Senior Director of Marketing for eSilicon Corporation, where he is responsible for the company's product marketing, corporate marketing, marketing operations and semiconductor IP strategy. He joined eSilicon in 2000, prior to the company's public launch and he plays a key and major role in eSilicon's growth. He established many of the business processes, systems, forward cost models, pricing models and other sales and marketing tools used by eSilicon during its customer engagement phases.

Mr. Oseth has over 28 years of high tech experience in the computing, networking and storage industries, working with both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. Todd most recently served as the CEO of ColdStor Data, a provider of cloud-based archiving products.

Bob Quinn has more than 20 years of high-tech industry experience. Before 3Leaf Systems, Mr. Quinn was founder and CEO of Network Virtual Systems (NVS), which developed scalable architectures and chips for x86 and Itanium SMP servers. Prior to NVS, he was founder and chairman of iMODL, an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software company.

Mr. Paulsen is responsible for TSMC's business development of several key customer sales groups including Emerging Accounts, Eastern U.S. & Canada Region and a Major Accounts team. Paulsen's Emerging Account team sets TSMC's engagement model and strategic direction for the support and development of newly funded fabless accounts while the Regional and Major Account teams are focused on the support and development of established fabless and IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) accounts.