The invention of the integrated circuit generated life-changing technological advances in electronics, and TI believes a continued investment in research and development is imperative for delivering the semiconductor innovations critical to its customers. TI’s investment is significant, with $1.5 billion forecasted for R&D in 2009.

However, the days of the monolithic R&D effort are over, and TI has built a collaborative R&D model that balances its internal research and development initiatives with strong partnerships with universities, customers and industry consortia around the world. This approach allows us to best evaluate, understand and capitalize on the technology advancements that will result in differentiated products that meet our customers’ evolving needs.

TI has long been at the forefront of process technology R&D, but TI’s history of innovation also includes industry-leading advancements at the circuit design, software and systems level. Today’s ongoing R&D initiatives continue to include all aspects of semiconductor design with a focus on investigating and pursuing the breakthrough technologies that will solve our customers’ most pressing problems, including improvements to energy efficiency, healthcare, public safety and more.

Customer connections

Internally, TI engineers work closely with the sales team to ensure customer feedback is funneled into the product research and development pipeline early to shape our product roadmaps and gain greater customer satisfaction. With the industry’s largest field sales and support network, TI has the ability to stay closer to all of its customers regardless of size. By building cross-functional teams internally that include talent from the field with engineering, product development and marketing, TI has established a culture that keeps the customer front and center when defining new features, applications or products.

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A birthplace for invention

You must have JavaScript and Flash enabled to view this content. Ajith Amerasekera, director of TI’s Kilby Labs, on how TI is innovating for the future

TI is furthering its collaborative approach to bring university researchers and TI engineers together in its Kilby Labs, named in honor of Jack Kilby and created to build upon his 50-year legacy of the integrated circuit. Announced in September 2008, Kilby Labs serves as a place to fuel TI’s product pipeline with breakthrough ideas and chip advances that will make a difference in areas such as medical, low power, public safety and energy efficiency. Including dedicated teams of both design and process technologists, Kilby Labs is an important investment that will result in highly innovative and disruptive proof of concept on silicon ideas that may ultimately bring to fruition new products and technologies, including energy harvesting applications that can be used to gather intelligence to detect and report critical conditions in factories, automobiles, office buildings and homes – all without wiring or batteries.

Kilby Labs will also serve as a magnet to draw top research talent, reinforcing TI’s commitment to cultivating the next generation of engineers. Jack Kilby personified how creative problem-solving and technology are the solutions to global challenges, and TI’s vision is to build upon his contributions by giving the next generation of innovators the chance to find new and exciting ways to improve lives through technology.

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Creative partnerships

TI is engaged with a number of leading universities and industry consortia to understand near-term technology advancements and their impact over the next five to 10 years. This includes, for example, TI’s recent partnership with the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the state of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas and The University of Texas System to establish The Texas Analog Center of Excellence (TxACE). TI has committed $2.7 million over the next three years toward the TxACE’s mission to create leading-edge analog technology to advance traditional electronics and fuel emerging applications. First results from the center’s research are expected to be ready for use in devices within the next five to eight years. For more information, click here.

To understand the longer-term implications of breakthrough or disruptive ideas, TI is actively involved in many programs with consortia such as the Nano-Electronics Research Corporation (NERC) to research beyond-CMOS technology that will enable the semiconductor industry to extend Moore’s Law. TI was also the lead corporate investor in the establishment of Southwest Academy of Nanoelectronics (SWAN), headquartered at The University of Texas at Austin and established to develop and commercialize new nanoelectronics materials and devices. For more information about this initiative, click here.

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