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Follow UsRené is responsible for overseeing the product creation
processes, focusing on the key areas of Innovation, Technology and
Research. In this role, he is part of the
executive management team (EMT), headed by Rick Clemmer.
René previously held the position of senior vice president
and Chief Technology Officer at Philips Semiconductors prior to the
formation of NXP. He started working for Philips Research in 1984
before moving to NXP Semiconductors in 1987 and brings to his position
at NXP a deep understanding of the design and technology needs of the
semiconductor industry. His career evolved from various technical and
managerial roles in CMOS development, into management of platform and
design technology as well IP creation. Most recently, system technology
and research have been added to his portfolio. René holds an
MSc in physics from the University of Nijmegen and a Ph.D. in device
physics from the Technical University of Twente, the Netherlands. In an
interview with Dataquest, Rene shares an update on NXP's technology
strategy and some of the innovations that are underway at NXP.
What are your thoughts on innovation during slowdown and how it has
impacted innovation coming out of NXP?
A: If you are ambitious company, you continue to invest in tough times.
Downturn might take 6 quarters ,but to create a new product takes 6
quarters to 8 quarters. What you do today is ready only after a certain
time. NXP has been in scrutinizing mode. We have become more cost
conscious with caution on discretionary expenditure. But when it came to
R&D, product creation,we
have continued with our innovation. Any discussion we have with our
customers and learn about innovation and it is all about
differentiators. You get innovation and differentiators only by
investing in development and in R&D.
NXP has its focus on improving quality of life as a primary focus
areas? What are some of the new innovations around this area?
A:We have announced strategy on high performance mixed signal and that
is exactly the type of technology domain that allows you to create
solutions that help to make better life. The recent partnership with
BP Solar is around this only.
Renewable energy is a key thing for the world to develop, apart from
the aspect of solar cells and modules which creates energy in
principle. Energy has to be converted into battery and into the grid.
The actual conversion there is a very tricky thing to do. What we have
done with Tata is to create an optimized solution for this conversion.
We also announced a system whereby you can buy electricity by using
prepaid card and in very remote locations. This will help local
community and allow local energy generation at a much lower threshold
than what we do today. Our relationship with Tata goes to show our
efforts to do join development with companies who are close to our
customers by bringing the domain expertise of the end customers and the
expertise that we have in house.
What is the latest from the field of
(near field communication)?
A: We are pleased to see that Nokia has designed and launched 5 phones
that have NFC and we are starting to see some applications being
developed. It is a very tough process to get NFC into the world. But
this is going to happen. NFC is a capability in which telecom service
providers have a role. To enable NFC, we need have component providers,
service providers. The retailers and banks have to create
infrastructure to support NFC using standards, the authorization and
security levels that are required. All these challenges are posing
problems in getting NFC to the market place quickly. The entire chain
of people, stakeholders-they all have to be aligned. It is
not going to happen anytime soon. What we do see is that the momentum
is strongly increasing and the fact that Nokia is shipping 5 handsets
with NFC is an important element in that acceleration.
Detailed interview with Rene
will appear in forthcoming issue of Dataquest...
Global CTO Interview --Rene Penning de Vries, Senior Vice President & CTO, NXP Semiconductors
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