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Last night was the second annual ACE Awards.
As I sat at a table with a company that was nominated but did not win, I couldn’t help but be struck by the progress that we’ve made as an industry. Here we were honoring companies, design teams, managers, and individual contributors like they were rock stars. And the truth is that they deserve every bit of attention and the accolades that they receive. But then so do many, many others.
Giving awards is an imperfect science. I’m sure that some were disappointed. But if the response of the executive at my table is any indication, true appreciation for what the industry has accomplished is alive and well in Silicon Valley. While the winners sitting near me had jubilation written all over their faces, the other nominees that I could see had genuine pleasure on their face as their competitors stepped forward to receive their award.
All in all it was a fantastic night. If you didn’t make the event this year I heartily recommend planning to go next year.
Wilf Corrigan was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award. As he began to speak about the $300 million industry he entered in 1962, I thought back to my own entry thirty years ago. If the industry was small enough for me to know most of my peers at other companies, I can only imagine the small circle that Wilf entered. Today many observers think that the semiconductor industry is a commodity business prone to single digit growth, risk adverse, and managed by the financial community.
Wilf sees a more positive future. One in which the opening of new consumer markets in China, India, and other parts of the world give us a return to double digit growth.
I see it a bit differently. Our industry is on the brink of potential great change. Down one path leads to Wilf’s vision of a reinvigorated industry. The other leads to stagnation and a rust belt management mentality.
The path we take is up to each one of us. Which one will you choose?
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