Multi-Nationalization of the Product Development Process

Conventional wisdom states that the more experience a semiconductor designer has, the better. Years of direct, hands-on work gives designers unique insights into anticipating and solving problems. But there is a hidden downside to experience: it can harden into habit and breed resistance to change. This quiet but potent liability is becoming a pressing concern as the industry faces a host of challenges in next-generation semiconductor design, from low power design to improving yields through design for manufacturing.

That is why India’s future looks so promising in semiconductor design. A growing force of fresh well-educated designers, working in partnership with established multi-national companies, positions India at the forefront of assimilating new design methodologies. Dr. Rhines’ will examine three areas-semiconductor place & route, low power design and verification - that are undergoing major transformations, offering India its greatest potential to move to the vanguard of design. In each of these cases, old methodologies will certainly be replaced in the next few years and the first to adopt will be the first to gain significant competitive advantage.

About Walden C. Rhines

Dr. Walden C. Rhines is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mentor Graphics.

Prior to joining Mentor Graphics, Rhines was Executive Vice President of Texas Instruments’ Semiconductor Group, sharing responsibility for TI’s Components Sector, and having direct responsibility for the entire semiconductor business with more than $5 billion of revenue and over 30,000 people.

During his 21 years at TI, Rhines managed TI’s thrust into digital signal processing and supervised that business from inception with the TMS 320 family of DSP’s through growth to become the cornerstone of TI’s semiconductor technology. He was also responsible for development of the first TI speech synthesis devices (used in “Speak & Spell”) and is co-inventor of the GaN blue-violet light emitting diode (now important for DVD players). He was President of TI’s Data Systems Group and held numerous other semiconductor executive management positions.

Rhines served as chairman of the Semiconductor Technical Advisory Committee of the Department of Commerce, as an executive committee member of the board of directors of the Corporation for Open Systems and as a board member of the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers' Association (CBEMA), SEMI-Sematech/SISA, Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDAC), University of Michigan National Advisory Council and Sematech. He seved three two-year terms as Chairman of the Electronic Design Automation Consortium and is currently Vice-Chairman. He is also currently a Board member of the Semiconductor Research Corporation, the Portland Classic Wine Auction and Lewis and Clark College.

Dr. Rhines holds a bachelor of science degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Michigan, a master of science and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Stanford University, a master of business administration from Southern Methodist University and an Honorary Doctor of Technology degree from Nottingham Trent University.