editor's blog
Subscribe Now

Google’s $12.5 Billion Moat Monster

Thomas Jefferson must be rolling in his grave.

Google wants to spend $12.5 billion to acquire the part of Motorola that still makes cell phones, but it’s really Moto’s patents, not its hardware, that is the real attraction. How important are the patents? During the official announcement, Google CEO Larry Page used the words “defend” and protect” several times, but never once mentioned “innovation,” “enabling,” or invention.” In short, Moto’s portfolio of 17,000 patents (with another 7,000 pending) will be used to build a defensive moat around the company.

How broken is that? Patents that don’t enable anything; that merely construct a legal wall to help keep out invaders. Patents as defensive weapons. And freakin’ expensive ones, too. That $12.5 billion is enough money to buy–outright purchase–Xilinx, MIPS Technologies, and Micron–combined. You could buy US Steel four times over with that money.

That’s $12.5 billion that won’t build any factories; won’t hire any employees; won’t purchase any components; won’t fund any R&D; won’t be spent developing new products. It’s more evidence — as if any was needed — that patents have become strategic-defense weaponry, fueling a hyper-expensive arms race among super-wealthy corporations. It’s a far cry from “protecting the lone inventor” that we used to hear.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, and a handful of other companies are spending their way to a technical monopoly. They use their astonishing wealth to lock up inventions and erect expensive legal walls. This has nothng to do with innovation, discovery, or progress. Rest in peace, Mr. Jefferson.

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Nov 30, 2023
No one wants to waste unnecessary time in the model creation phase when using a modeling software. Rather than expect users to spend time trawling for published data and tediously model equipment items one by one from scratch, modeling software tends to include pre-configured...
Nov 27, 2023
See how we're harnessing generative AI throughout our suite of EDA tools with Synopsys.AI Copilot, the world's first GenAI capability for chip design.The post Meet Synopsys.ai Copilot, Industry's First GenAI Capability for Chip Design appeared first on Chip Design....
Nov 6, 2023
Suffice it to say that everyone and everything in these images was shot in-camera underwater, and that the results truly are haunting....

featured video

Dramatically Improve PPA and Productivity with Generative AI

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

Discover how you can quickly optimize flows for many blocks concurrently and use that knowledge for your next design. The Cadence Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer is a revolutionary, AI-driven, automated approach to chip design flow optimization. Block engineers specify the design goals, and generative AI features within Cadence Cerebrus Explorer will intelligently optimize the design to meet the power, performance, and area (PPA) goals in a completely automated way.

Click here for more information

featured paper

3D-IC Design Challenges and Requirements

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

While there is great interest in 3D-IC technology, it is still in its early phases. Standard definitions are lacking, the supply chain ecosystem is in flux, and design, analysis, verification, and test challenges need to be resolved. Read this paper to learn about design challenges, ecosystem requirements, and needed solutions. While various types of multi-die packages have been available for many years, this paper focuses on 3D integration and packaging of multiple stacked dies.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

The Future of Intelligent Devices is Here
Sponsored by Alif Semiconductor
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Henrik Flodell from Alif Semiconductor explore the what, where, and how of Alif’s Ensemble 32-bit microcontrollers and fusion processors. They examine the autonomous intelligent power management, high on-chip integration and isolated security subsystem aspects of these 32-bit microcontrollers and fusion processors, the role that scalability plays in this processor family, and how you can utilize them for your next embedded design.
Aug 9, 2023
13,798 views