As most of you know SemiWiki published a book which is a really nice history of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem. Thousands of people have copies, we have received many compliments on it, and we are very proud. As a thank you to all SemiWiki members I would like to offer a free electronic version of the book (PDF). You can access it… Read More
Author: Daniel Nenni
CEO Interview: Xerxes Wania of Sidense
This is the first in a series of CEO interviews and I thought semiconductor IP would be a great place to start. Xerxes Wania is the President and CEO of Sidense, a leading developer of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) One-Time Programmable (OTP) IP cores. Sidense has been a part of SemiWiki since 2013 so we know them quite well. I hope the rest… Read More
GlobalFoundries Roadmap Update 2016!
I attended a lunch yesterday with GlobalFoundries CEO Sanjay Jha (formerly of Qualcomm), SVP Gregg Barltlett (Motorola/GF), and CTO Gary Patton (IBM). Having followed GF from the very beginning I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that GF has transformed from a collection of companies (AMD, Chartered, IBM) to a fully integrated… Read More
TSMC 16nm, 10nm, 7nm, and 5nm Update!
Word on the street is that TSMC is on schedule with 16FFC, 10nm and 7nm, which is a very big deal for the fabless semiconductor ecosystem. As Scotten Jones has illustrated in the graphic below, for the first time in the history of the semiconductor industry a pure-play foundry (TSMC) will have the process lead over Intel. And this is… Read More
Is AMD for Sale?
AMD has been artificially pumping up their stock of late so the question I have is; why? What is with the short term strategy? The only answer that I deem noteworthy is that AMD is trying to get acquired and there is a strong case emerging to support that. Also note that AMD CEO Lisa Su is currently the largest single AMD stock holder which… Read More
TSMC Fab 12 is a Pokemon Go Stop!
It only seems fitting that Fab 12 is a PokeStop since TSMC stands to make a lot of money from the augmented reality gaming craze that is sweeping the world. Unfortunately, most of the press I have read about Pokemon Go has been negative but that is the new “negative media” world we live in. As a player myself (level 25) and a semiconductor… Read More
The Role of IP Selection and Integration in First-Time Silicon Success
As IP expert Eric Esteve has written, Semiconductor IP has consistently outgrown the other design enablement segments and will continue to do so. This has been my personal experience as well during my EDA and IP career so we should all know how important Semiconductor IP is. We certainly know how valuable it is with ARM valued at $32B!… Read More
Next SemiWiki Book Signing Event: MIPI DEVCON!
This is the first MIPI DEVCOM event and the location is my favorite, the Computer Museum in Silicon Valley. For those of you who haven’t been, the Computer Museum preserves and presents for posterity the artifacts and stories of the information age, an age we all grew up in. For those of you who have been to the Computer Museum there … Read More
Apple will NEVER use Intel Custom Foundry!
The media already has Apple and Intel in talks to make the A11 SoC in 2018 as a result of the recent Intel/ARM IP licensing deal. This is probably one of the funnier media bumbles I have read in a while so let’s talk about it in a little more detail.
“According to Nikkei Asian Review, Intel is now perfectly poised to give TSMC a good run for… Read More
MediaTek is on the Move with TSMC!
MediaTek (MTK) recently made the news for announcing their first leading edge SoC (Helio X30), a 32% increase in quarter over quarter sales, and an expected 30% increase for the year. Both of which deserve a closer look as we move into the second half of 2016 which should be very strong for MTK TSMC, and the fabless semiconductor ecosystem.… Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet