CEO Interview: Moshe Gavrielov of Xilinx

London — Moshe Gavrielov (pictured), the relatively new CEO of Xilinx Inc., came to London to launch Xilinx’s Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 ranges of FPGAs and to spread a little celebration around the world – celebration of Xilinx’s 25th birthday. In a difficult environment Gavrielov reckons that FPGA-makers are sitting in some of the better seats.

EE Times Europe: Could you comment on the current economic situation and whether price deflation could take hold in the semiconductor sector?

Moshe Gavrielov: Well in our fourth quarter sales were down 5 percent from Q3. But that is better than most other semiconductor companies. The consumer sector is getting hit hardest and soonest. We don’t have an enormous amount of exposure to the consumer sector. We have high hopes for Spartan-6 but consumer is not a high level of application for us. We are mainly used in military and communications, some industrial. We are projecting calendar Q1 to be 15 to 25 percent down. I don’t think anyone is seeing improvement until the second half of 2009. It’s going to get worse before it gets better but I think we’re doing better than most.

EE Times Europe: Who is making your Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 silicon; Samsung and UMC?

MG: We have the ability to make both at multiple suppliers. The Spartan-6 is being made at a more consumer-oriented fab and UMC has been our partner for many generations of technology. We have a long-term relationship with our suppliers. We make sure they are available. A weak supply chain is the last thing we need.

EE Times Europe: Are you prepared to allow your customers to brand the silicon like as ASIC customer of a foundry would? You talk about FPGAs moving up to take over more ASIC and ASSP slots at higher volumes. Surely this would help?

MG: With Spartan-6 we have a viable platform to do that. That’s where you will start to see the trend starting. You could even start to handle the stacked margins. With ensuing generations it will capture more of the market. Private labeling is something we actually do already in certain security applications. We are very open to all options but there has to be a volume there to justify taking the chips out of the conventional flow. It is a distraction to us. Some customers are able to remove the logo without damage.