Altera executive bets big on Asia

American economist Larry Summers ranked the rise of Asian economies alongside the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution as among the most important turning points in economic history. That claim may be up for debate, but what is undeniable is that the Asia Pacificregion is indeed seeing a lot of excitement these days, and the semiconductor industry is taking a huge piece of the action.

Programmable-logic pioneer Altera Corp. is among industry players who saw the promise of the Asian market early on. The firm started deploying PLDs in the region through independent distributors in the early 1990s, just several years after it was established. Today, as one of only two market leaders in programmable logic, Altera maintains a formidable presence in the Asia Pacific, with a product portfolio that includes a mix of devices tailored for the low-cost, high-volume manufacturing market here.

Speaking to EE Times-Asia, Erhaan Shaikh, Altera's newly installed regional VP and managing director for Asia Pacific, acknowledged the opportunities spawned by the growing manufacturing and design activity in the region. "The Asia Pacific is an incredibly exciting geography for us at Altera, indeed I'm sure for many companies in the semiconductor industry," Shaikh said. "The most significant aspect for us is the tremendous pace of growth in the market place. While the region is traditionally known for outsourced manufacturing, a number of local companies have emerged that are taking their position in the world stage and competing with global incumbents."

The outsourced manufacturing industry, combined with ODM model types and the presence of local independent design houses contribute to the region's rapid growth, Shaikh said.

Challenges and opportunities
But as with any growing market, there are just as many challenges as there are opportunities. And competition is among the major hurdles Altera faces in the Asia Pacific. Shaikh said the firm's competitors are not just other PLD companies but also other semiconductor vendors offering traditional technologies such as ASSPs, ASICs, DSPs and some types of microprocessors. "The attraction of all these competition to the same market we are after creates challenges for us," Shaikh said, thus the critical "need to offer customers better value."

Another hurdle that Altera is facing is the diversified end products being developed in the region, which go beyond the conventional communication infrastructure systems "that have been the bread and butter of PLD companies in the past," Shaikh said. The communications infrastructure market demands high complexity and performance, which naturally carries a price premium. On the other hand, the consumer, industrial and, increasingly, the automotive segments cannot tolerate high costs due to the volumes being driven. This presents Altera the challenge to continually innovate solutions that meet the price point and volume requirements of these segments, which have emerged as the most dynamic end markets in the region.

Helping the engineering community in the Asia Pacific gain proficiency in designing with custom logic is another challenge for Altera. This proficiency is not only in terms of using structured ASICproducts, but this as opposed to designing with fixed function devices. Engineers must recognize that they are able to accomplish more with programmable logic than fixed function products, Shaikh said. Altera hence invests in training and education to "promote a design approach that may be different from what some of these engineers have been used to in the past."

Altera's Shaikh: "The Asia Pacific is an incredibly exciting geography for us at Altera, indeed I'm sure for many companies in the semiconductor industry."

On the technology side, a major challenge is the ever-growing complexity of customers' system designs in terms of size, density and capability. Coupled with that is the requirement to constantly drive down power consumption, as customers are pushed to deliver more performance without exceeding a very limited power budget. There are also associated challenges in productivity, with engineers these days designing with millions and millions of logic gates.

These demanding challenges, ironically, are the things that make the industry interesting for Shaikh. "The pace of change, how dynamic things are, really experiencing the new challenges our customer face, and finding innovative ways to help them overcome those challenges--these are what keep us going everyday."

To be No. 1
Shaikh is confident Altera Asia Pacific is up to these challenges. The Altera executiveintends to lead the company to the top and make it "the clear No. 1 market share leader in programmable logic" in the region.

An industry veteran backed with 18 years industry experience, both in the PLD and EDA segments, Shaikh is also bent on driving market share growth in custom logic, where Altera's structured ASIC line is a leading contender. Altera has both programmable and structure ASIC products in the same portfolio, and these are not simply discrete products but are tied together, Shaikh explained. PLDs serve as the prototyping vehicle that allow customers to test their designs and reduce implementation risk before migrating to standard ASIC.

Shaikh also envisions Altera to be recognized as the best partner for customers and its distributors in the region. This entails a strong customer focus, listening carefully to get a sense of their needs, not just for today but in the future, notes Shaikh, so the company could adapt its approach to business and enhance its products and technology to meet, as well as anticipate, those needs.

While Altera Asia Pacific is staffed by a very capable team, Shaikh believes in investing in individual growth to further enhance the team's skills set. Another item in Shaikh's agenda is academic support, which he sees as an important ingredient in driving the adoption of PLDs in the region. Altera's university program is aimed at training next-generation engineers in programmable logic, ensuring that they will enter the industry adept in the technology and familiar with Altera products.

SOPC World
Perhaps a step towards reaching his vision for the region, Shaikh will deliver the keynote in the Wuhan and Chengdu legs of Altera's annual SOPC World conference, which will run October and November across six cities in the Asia Pacific: three in China, one in Taiwan and two in India. The event aims to help system designers in the region meet their business and technical goals in the face of growing design demands.

"I am extremely pleased to be responsible for the most interesting geographies in the world," Shaikh said, "and privileged to be part of an excellent team."