III. Writing exercises:

Exercise 1. Complete the sentences with the suggested words:

by; listen to; connection; where; the power.

TI envisions a world _____ every phone call, every Internet _____, every photograph you take, every song you _____ are touched _____ _____ of TI's Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and Analog technologies.

Exercise 2. Fill in the table with words and expressions from the text:

	parts	systems	processes
Example: Texas Instruments Military Semiconductors also offers			the highest performance general-purpose image processor available to the military market today.
processors must have the capability
Texas Instruments offers
TI is a leader in the real-time technologies that help

Exercise 3. Compose a story on one of the topics (up to 100 words):

“Fixed-Point Digital Signal Processor (DSP)”

“Multimedia Video Processor (MVP)”

“Texas Instruments Incorporated”

Lesson 7

Read the text: A Compelling Competitive Advantage

"The semiconductor industry has divided into two tiers: those at the top who can reliably produce the most advanced processes on 300-mm wafers, and the rest of the industry. We are focusing our development activities to maintain our position as one of those top-tier companies." - Hans Stork, Senior Vice President and Director of Silicon Technology Development. Since the invention of the integrated circuit at Texas Instruments by Jack Kilby more than four decades ago, change has always been a constant in the semiconductor industry. Never has that maxim been more true than today. New deep-submicron process technologies are pushing the physical limits of what we can do with transistors, driving us toward new materials and techniques.

In the global market for integrated circuits, only a few firms have the resources and commitment required to meet these challenges in the years ahead and TI stands among the technology leaders.

To stay ahead in this fast-paced industry, we invest heavily in the Research and Development of advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology. We believe that in-house semiconductor R&D provides our customers with a competitive advantage. To that end, some of the top minds in the industry are at work at TI everyday developing silicon process technologies that improve performance, increase battery life and reduce cost. These efforts are driven by our in-depth circuit design expertise and extensive systems knowledge, gained from working hand-in-hand with our customers to understand their requirements.

We then put our leading-edge process technologies to work in our manufacturing facilities throughout the world, and we work to improve each technology throughout its life cycle. We realize that uncovering new process advancements is only half the job—any new technique or material must meet the stringent requirements of the market. Our own state-of-the-art fabrication plants are where our best R&D ideas become high-volume, cost-efficient manufacturing. Every day, around the clock, from TI facilities worldwide, millions of the best IC products available emerge ready for shipment to our customers.

No matter how fast the semiconductor industry changes, customers will always require products with higher performance, lower cost, lower power and increased integration. Building on a tradition that began even before Jack Kilby's achievements, we continue to address these requirements with tightly coupled silicon R&D and manufacturing technologies that rank among the very best in the industry.