Semiconductor Earnings Q2 2025: Lattice vs ON Semiconductor Product & Market Strategy Comparison

Semiconductor Earnings Transcript Comparison: Lattice Semiconductor vs. ON Semiconductor (Q2 2025)

1. Product Offerings and Innovation

Lattice Semiconductor

• Core Focus: Specializes in small and midrange FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), positioning itself as a "companion chip" to AI accelerators, GPUs, switches, NIC cards, and other networking components.
• Product Categories Highlighted:
  • FPGAs (Nexus, Avant, MachXO families)
  • Edge AI solutions (optimized for <1 TOPS, <1 watt)
  • Companion chips for AI infrastructure, sensor fusion, board management, and security (including post-quantum cryptography)
• Product Roadmap & Innovation:
  • Emphasizes low power, small size, and cost-effective FPGAs for far-edge and near-sensor AI applications.
  • Avant platform to become a larger revenue contributor in 2026-2027.
  • Strong design win momentum, especially in AI servers, robotics, industrial automation, and emerging areas like humanoids.
  • New products expected to drive high teens percent of revenue in 2025, growing to mid-20% in 2026.
• Positioning: Lattice avoids direct competition with large, high-end FPGAs, instead complementing AI accelerators and networking chips. Their FPGAs are processor-agnostic and serve as enablers for more complex chips, not as primary compute engines.

ON Semiconductor (onsemi)

• Core Focus: Positions itself as a leader in intelligent power, sensing, and analog/mixed-signal technologies, with a strong emphasis on power semiconductors for automotive, industrial, and AI data center applications.
• Product Categories Highlighted:
  • Power semiconductors (Silicon Carbide [SiC], IGBTs, Trench/Planar devices)
  • Intelligent power stages (SPS), JFETs, and wide band gap semiconductors
  • Sensing (image sensors, with a shift toward machine vision and ADAS)
  • Treo platform (modular SoC-like design for integrating high/low voltage domains)
• Product Roadmap & Innovation:
  • Aggressively investing in next-generation power and sensing technologies (e.g., SiC, Trench, Treo platform)
  • Collaborations with NVIDIA and other XPU providers for AI data center power architectures (e.g., 800V DC)
  • Repositioning image sensing portfolio toward higher-value segments (ADAS, machine vision)
  • Exiting legacy and non-core businesses to focus on high-margin, differentiated products
• Positioning: onsemi is a broad-based supplier, targeting high-growth, high-value segments in automotive electrification, industrial automation, and AI data centers. Their competitive edge is in power efficiency, energy density, and system-level integration.

2. Customer Segments and Demand Trends

Lattice Semiconductor

• Key Customer Segments:
  • Hyperscalers (cloud data centers, AI server OEMs)
  • Industrial automation and robotics
  • Automotive (ADAS, infotainment, far-edge AI)
  • Consumer electronics (smaller share)
  • Aerospace, medical, smart city, logistics
• Demand Trends:
  • Strongest growth in Communications and Compute (especially AI servers, with attach rates and ASPs rising)
  • Industrial and Automotive segment recovering, with normalization of channel inventory expected by year-end
  • Record design wins across all segments, especially in new product areas
  • Geographic strength in Asia (notably China), with no major order pattern changes despite tariffs
• End-User Industries: Focus on enabling AI infrastructure, robotics, and industrial automation, with automotive as a smaller but growing segment.

ON Semiconductor (onsemi)

• Key Customer Segments:
  • Automotive OEMs and Tier 1s (EVs, PHEVs, ADAS)
  • Industrial (automation, medical, aerospace/defense)
  • AI data centers (collaborations with hyperscalers, XPU providers)
  • Machine vision and high-value sensing applications
• Demand Trends:
  • Automotive: China is a growth driver (notably in BEV/PHEV), while North America and Europe are weaker
  • Industrial: Modest growth, with traditional industrial flat/declining but medical and aerospace/defense growing
  • AI Data Center: Revenue nearly doubled YoY, driven by power delivery solutions for next-gen architectures
  • Ongoing portfolio rationalization, with legacy and non-core business exits (5% of 2025 revenue not repeating in 2026)
• End-User Industries: Focused on electrification, intelligent automation, and AI infrastructure, with a strong push into high-growth, high-margin applications.

3. Side-by-Side Comparison: Product Strategy & Customer Base

4. Competitive Dynamics and Positioning

• Direct Competition:
  • Both serve AI data center infrastructure, but Lattice focuses on FPGAs as companion chips, while onsemi provides power delivery and sensing solutions.
  • Both target automotive and industrial, but Lattice is a minor player in auto, while onsemi is a major supplier for EVs and ADAS.
• Complementarity:
  • Lattice FPGAs can be used alongside onsemi's power and sensing chips in the same systems (e.g., AI servers, automotive platforms).
• Divergence:
  • Lattice is highly specialized in programmable logic and edge AI, with a "Switzerland" approach to processor ecosystems.
  • onsemi is broad-based, focusing on power, sensing, and system-level integration, with a strong push into electrification and high-value sensing.

Conclusion

Lattice Semiconductor and ON Semiconductor both address high-growth segments in AI, automotive, and industrial, but with distinct strategies. Lattice is a focused, pure-play FPGA provider, excelling as a companion chip for AI and edge applications, while onsemi is a diversified power and sensing leader, driving innovation in electrification and AI data center power delivery. Their portfolios are more complementary than directly competitive, with Lattice enabling flexible logic and onsemi powering and sensing the systems of tomorrow.