“Partnership” might possibly be the most overused word in the high-technology industry. But at Xilinx®, it transcends cliché as a foundation principle behind the company’s highly successful business model since its inception.

Today, the Xilinx way of thinking reflects a rare mindset about the value of an interconnected ecosystem of like-minded companies and the benefits such an approach can bring to Xilinx, its customers, and to the partners themselves.

To say that Xilinx was founded on the Spirit of Partnership is no overstatement. In the original 1984 business plan, the second bullet under the “strategy” section (after the primary strategy point of “maximizing our strength in product architecture and design”) articulated the idea to partner with complementary suppliers. The Xilinx founders thought that through an extreme focus on a few core competencies, Xilinx could deliver highly differentiated products and drive technology innovation forward.

Most notably at the outset was the need for a manufacturing partner. The founders fundamentally believed that there was no need to fund such a capability in-house – a radical concept in the era of “real men own fabs.” (The average price tag for a fab at the time was $300 million, about one-tenth of today’s going rate, but still a hefty investment for a startup company in 1984.)

Company founder Bernie Vonderschmitt leveraged past relationships and his solid reputation for fair play to negotiate a manufacturing deal with Japanese giant Seiko, which agreed to allow Xilinx-designed chips to be produced in its fabs. Sealed with only a handshake, Xilinx had its first partner and the industry had a new model – the fabless semiconductor company.

In short order Xilinx signed up another critical partner as its first distributor, because the founders viewed the sales process as they did manufacturing: essential, yes, but not necessarily something the company needed to “own.” As with Seiko, the distribution agreement was built on mutual trust and a benefit to both sides – a benefit that could be measured beyond just dollars and cents.

Since then, Xilinx has formed partnerships with a wide range of other suppliers in the semiconductor supply chain, all guided by a consistent principle.

“When we look at forming a partnership, the first question we ask is ‘what’s in it for you?’” Xilinx CEO Wim Roelandts says, explaining a philosophy that may seem counterintuitive to the traditional approach. “It really should be weighted 51-49 in the partner’s favor. They need to get something out of it, as much – if not more – than we do.”

Such an approach has helped Xilinx assemble critical components to fill the “solution gap” in its offerings, allowing it to focus on developing the core technology for which it has gained the deserved reputation of a world-class innovator. It has also made Xilinx one of the most respected companies in all of high technology and a favorite among complementary suppliers both large and small.

“For us, a partnership is more than a financial transaction or relationship. It really is about shared goals and ways of thinking,” says Sandeep Vij, vice president of worldwide marketing at Xilinx. “Yes, we use partnerships to maintain our own focus and we know it doesn’t make sense economically for us to invest in all areas. But it comes down to results – our partnerships are aimed at making breakthroughs that allow our customers to scale new heights.”

Manufacturing Partnerships
Manufacturing still represents the most substantial of the Xilinx partnering strategies, if only because of the cost of today’s modern fabrication facility. Xilinx has emerged as one of only a small handful of semiconductor companies that truly “pushes the envelope” when it comes to implementing new technology processes. Recently, it became the first company to ship a production device based on 90 nm process geometries, considered the leading edge of expertise. It also is among the leaders in the use of 300 mm wafers to produce its chips. Both manufacturing achievements allow Xilinx to reach new price/performance milestones with its products and further distance itself from its competitors.

Although such advances are enabled by choosing the right type of company to partner with (for manufacturing, Xilinx partners with UMC™ and IBM™), Xilinx itself is a key contributor to driving manufacturing advancements. The company has more than 100 engineers on-site at UMC, for example, working in tandem with their R&D teams. And because of the “regular” nature of its structure, programmable logic technology is an excellent means for manufacturers to characterize new processes, as UMC has done with its last several generations of new process nodes. But perhaps the secret ingredient is mindset.

“Our partners must share our view on risk-taking. They must be willing to engage in joint risk-taking and be willing to try new things. It is the only way to stay on top of leading-edge technology, to truly innovate,” says B.C. Ooi, Xilinx vice president of operations and the man responsible for seeing that Xilinx products stay on the leading edge. “Programmable technology requires the smallest geometries and advanced processes – and we must be a leader in those areas. We are willing to invest to be able to achieve such things as producing the world’s largest dies, to be first to 90 nm. And our partners must be, too.”

Ooi also points out that because Xilinx is a mission-critical supplier to its customers, its partners must share that sense of urgency and flexibility. “They have to be able to scale with us,” he says of an increasingly valuable asset in the cyclical semiconductor industry.

Vincent Tong, vice president of product technology, agrees, adding that the number-one criterion for a Xilinx partner is to be a “technology leader.

“We can’t afford to partner with companies that aren’t leaders in what they are doing. Three or four years ago, when it came to manufacturing, you could kind of throw a design over the wall. Today we need to be engaged tightly with our partners to drive technology forward. We have more than 80 process engineers and we don’t even own a fab,” he says, underscoring the commitment level of Xilinx even in areas in which it chooses to partner.

Through its partnership strategy in manufacturing, Xilinx is already pushing into areas beyond the current state-of-theart, including joint development work in 75 and 65 nm process geometries.

The Link to the Customer
As with manufacturing, Xilinx made the decision early on that it would work with partners to sell and distribute its products (notably, field support of those products was always viewed as a critical internal function).

“It was a decision borne out of necessity and practicality,” explains Vice President of Sales Steve Haynes, who’s been with the company for nearly 20 years. “We knew that as a company we needed to focus on what we do best – design, technology, innovation. We needed a ready-made channel to get our technology in the hands of the customers. There were, and still are, firms that bring an expertise and reach that we couldn’t or didn’t want to develop ourselves.”

Today Xilinx uses a network of close to 30 partners to deliver its products to customers around the world. Some are broadline distributors who sell complementary technology to round out the use of programmable logic. Others are regional or vertical market specialists. In most cases, Xilinx is the most significant product line they represent, and in all cases the relationship is based on mutual trust and shared values.

“When a customer looks at a rep [resentative], they are looking at Xilinx. We have to be on the same page in all facets of the relationship. We have to know them as well as we know ourselves,” says Haynes.

Haynes and his team meet regularly with sales partners to align their goals and strategies, and make sure the company’s products are being represented consistently with the “Xilinx Way.”

The formula is surely working, as Xilinx sales and customer satisfaction metrics show. But it’s a constantly evolving process, as Haynes well knows. “Good partnerships evolve. Our channel looks a lot different than it did 20 years ago. It’s like being in a marriage – you have to work at it.”

Comprehensive Solutions
The design and use of programmable logic has become an increasingly complex process. In the early days of Xilinx, third-party design tools were just coming to market as the EDA industry took shape, and commercial IP cores were almost nonexistent. Today, they, along with a set of other capabilities, are essential to developing multi-million gate, multi-function systems on chip (SoCs). Thus, the Xilinx partnership model has expanded significantly to include technology partners who can round out the core offering.

“Today’s markets call for a complete solution, which includes the FPGA and a full set of components and tools,” says Senior Manager of Strategic Relationships Jasbinder Bhoot, who oversees all of the partnership programs at Xilinx. “Xilinx has been successfully delivering for years the best FPGA products in the industry. Now, together with our partners, we have a focused emphasis on providing comprehensive solutions to our customers. We seek out and collaborate with best-in-class companies to complement our product offerings with EDA tools, IP, design services, reference designs and manufacturing kits.”

Xilinx partners must share our sense of business integrity and win-win philosophy. “We are fairly selective in who we work with. Yes, they must bring a best-of-breed offering, and yes, it must make economic sense for both sides. But these are the companies with whom we will be on the front lines with our customers, so we have to be in synch on many different levels,” explains Bhoot.

Bhoot and his team use well-defined metrics to gauge how effective each and every partnership is for Xilinx and its customers. And they are constantly on the lookout for new areas to develop partnerships and make Xilinx technology more accessible and complete.

Today, Xilinx counts some 250 complementary technology and service providers in its “ecosystem” of companies that help it deliver the most robust solutions in the industry. From industry leaders such as IBM™, Cadence™, Mentor Graphics®, Synopsys™, Synplicity™ and Wind River™ to specialized experts in key areas, Xilinx partnerships provide maximum breadth and depth of technology offerings.

Among the areas in which Xilinx partners are:

• Intellectual property cores. Xilinx works closely with independent thirdparty core developers to produce a broad selection of industry-standard solutions, deemed AllianceCORE™, dedicated for use in and optimized for Xilinx programmable logic.
• Design tools. Xilinx AllianceEDA partners are among the tool leaders for each step in the design process, including such critical areas as high-level design, synthesis, logic verification, and complete PCB design. Xilinx and its partners develop the methodologies and tool flows that help make programmable logic users productive and well positioned to take full advantage of Xilinx devices.
• Design services. Xperts are a global network of certified design experts trained to take full advantage of the features present in the Xilinx Platform FPGAs, software, and IP cores. When customers need design expertise, they can access a sophisticated resource database and quickly identify design consultants in their own regions.
• Embedded development tools. Xilinx AllianceEmbedded partners are experts in the field of embedded systems – inclusive of compiler, debugger, IDE, and trace/visibility tools – as well as RTOS requirements. They support the Xilinx commitment to deliver high-performance, cost-effective embedded processor-based solutions.
• Reference designs. Xilinx teams up with industry-leading semiconductor vendors to develop reference designs for accelerating its customers’ product and system time to market.

“Xilinx is in a much different position as a company now than when we first started 20 years ago,” Roelandts says. “Resource-wise we could consider doing more things ourselves. But we know that the key to our success has been our focus. That has enabled our innovation, which is why we are a leader. In that respect, partnerships make even more sense, especially as the world gets more complicated. Our challenge is to continue to develop the right set of relationships with companies that share our vision and make sure we all derive a benefit. We will not waver on the basic principles that guide our partnership strategy, but we will keep the process dynamic to address new market needs and conditions.”

So don’t expect to see Xilinx building its own fab in the next 20 years. But thanks to is unique Spirit of Partnership, it’s a safe bet that Xilinx and its partners will continue to set the standard for innovation and best business practices in the semiconductor industry.

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