Intel’s Crescent Island is a discrete data-center GPU designed for agentic AI inference, where performance is constrained by more than matrix arithmetic. Multi-step agents impose latency through repeated model calls and tool interactions, consume large memory capacity for weights and long-context key-value caches, and… Read More
Optimizing for Thermoelastic in Package and PCB Design from the OutsetSignoff-quality design tools are mandatory for signoff, though…Read More
Avestra: Agentic AI for SystemVerilog Assertion GenerationModern ASIC, SoC, CPU, and GPU development depends…Read More
RISC-V at Sixteen: From Modular ISA to Standardized Platforms at Hot Chips 2026RISC-V has evolved from a Berkeley research architecture…Read More
Hot Chips: Evolving Memory Architectures for Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence performance is increasingly constrained by memory…Read MoreAI-designed Chip Points Toward a Faster Future for Custom Silicon
Architect Labs says it has created Redwood, an AI accelerator designed and verified almost entirely by artificial intelligence in less than two weeks. If independently validated and successfully translated from a programmable prototype into manufactured silicon, the project could represent a major change in how computer… Read More
Huawei Can’t Shrink Its Chips, So It’s Folding Them
On May 25, Huawei semiconductor chief He Tingbo unveiled LogicFolding, an architecture intended to advance chip performance without relying on ever-smaller transistors. Presented alongside Huawei’s “Tau Scaling Law,” the approach prioritizes signal speed over transistor dimensions. It is a genuine engineering response… Read More
The End of “Good Enough” Timing Analysis
Why Advanced-Node Clock Networks Need More Than Timing Closure
Timing closure has been one of the semiconductor industry’s most reliable measures of design readiness for decades. Static timing analysis (STA) is a critical enabler for this process. It allows analysis of enormous designs across millions of paths, multiple… Read More
Explosive Semiconductor Growth in 2026
The global semiconductor market in the second quarter of 2026 was $368 billion, according to WSTS. 2Q 2026 set records for growth: up 35% from 1Q 2026 and up a phenomenal 104% from 2Q 2025. The previous record growth was set in 1Q 2026: up 25% from the prior quarter and up 79% from a year earlier.
Growth continues to be driven by AI. Memory… Read More
Intel Diamond Rapids: Building Xeon Up, Out, and Through Silicon
Akhilesh Kumar & Krishnakanth Sistla, Intel
Diamond Rapids is Intel’s next-generation Xeon processor, designed around the proposition that hyperscale performance increasingly depends on moving, processing, and protecting data as efficiently as executing instructions. The architecture replaces the conventional… Read More
A comeback journey: Rebuilding confidence through formal verification
When Lindu Krishna joined Axiomise after a career break, she wasn’t just relearning technical concepts – she was rebuilding her confidence, redefining what it means to be a woman engineer and quietly becoming the person who can take ownership of complex formal verification blocks. Backed by a culture where nobody sits … Read More
Bronco AI at DAC 2026, What a Difference a Year Makes
During my time at DAC 2026 I felt like I was attending two events. One was the traditional DAC where approaches to designing complex chips using the best tools and methodologies were the focus. There was another focus for the conference. This one was like the traditional DAC with an important difference. Here, the discussion centered… Read More
Synopsys Wins the AI Silicon Brain Drain
The reported move of Amit Gupta, Jeff Dyck, and Ryan Silk from Siemens EDA to Synopsys matters because this is more than a routine transfer of experienced executives and engineers. Together, the three represent a concentrated body of expertise in applying artificial intelligence to semiconductor design—one of the most strategically… Read More
Intel Wildcat Lake: Right-Sizing Silicon Without Sinking Performance
Lance Hacking, Intel
Intel Core Series 3, code-named Wildcat Lake, is a mainstream client system-on-chip derived from the Panther Lake-based Core Ultra Series 3 architecture. Its design objective is not maximum feature density, but broad deployment of current-generation CPU, graphics, AI, memory, security, and connectivity… Read More



Synopsys Wins the AI Silicon Brain Drain