Next week is SEMICON West where more than 26,000 of my compatriots will meet to discuss the future of the all-important semiconductor industry. How important is the semiconductor industry you ask? Well, your life literally depends on it, absolutely. Scott Jones and I will be covering the event live for SemiWiki so stay tuned. If… Read More
Author: Daniel Nenni
Brexit and Semiconductors
Interesting news last week with 51.9% of British voters saying yes to Brexit (exiting the European Union). What does it have to do with semiconductors? Plenty! After reading the media’s take on the subject and talking to friends (experts) in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, I must say that there is not a consensus to be found and there… Read More
Xilinx is Killing Altera!
At a recent outing with FPGA friends from days gone by, the long running Xilinx vs Altera debate has come to an end. The bottom line is that Xilinx has used the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) of the Intel acquisition quite effectively against Altera and is racking up 20nm and 16nm design wins at an alarming rate. It will be a while … Read More
eSilicon Offers Free Semiconductor IP For Universities!
It is easy to forget the importance of academia’s role in the semiconductor ecosystem but it is important not to. If you look at the DNA of the semiconductor industry you will see how dependent we are on academic research for innovation and the necessary disruption that keeps us all gainfully employed. FinFETs are the first things… Read More
ARM and Mentor Enabling the Ecosystem for the Backbone of IoT
Charlene Marini (VP of ARM Segment Marketing) did a nice presentation at the ARM/Mentor Summit last month at the Mentor HQ in Fremont. I just got the slides so let me give you a quick summary from my notes. It was a very good presentation on IoT and emulation which in my mind is the new simulation. I also attended an IoT panel at #53DAC that… Read More
The iPhone 7 Intel Modem Controversy Explained!
The media is really having a field day on this one so I think it deserves further discussion. The rumor is that Intel has won the modem socket in the iPhone 7. The same rumor was circulating about Intel winning the modem socket for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5e so it really has reached urban legend status. The question I have is why does … Read More
Is the Intel Cash Cow in Danger?
There was an interesting panel at the Silicon Summit sponsored by the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) on “Designing for the Cloud.” It was led by Linley Gwennap (The Linley Group) with Ivo Bolsons (Xilinx), Ian Ferguson (ARM), and Steve Pawloski (Micron). Missing of course was Intel which derives close to 30% of its revenue… Read More
Free Webinar: Designing Low-Power IoT Systems
As I have written before, IoT looks to be a key driver for design starts and future semiconductor revenue growth which is why we wrote “PROTOTYPICAL” and included a field guide to FPGA Prototyping. If you want to get funding for your new IoT chip project, having a working prototype is a good thing, absolutely. If you want to take a look… Read More
My #53DAC Must See List!
It may be hard to believe but this happens to be my thirty third Design Automation Conference. Where does the time go? Three of my kids are out of college and the last one is getting close. That is where my time has gone. The conference itself started in 1964 but my first one was in 1984 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In fact, that was the year… Read More
iDRM – A Complete Design Rule Development System
Design rules are at the heart of the interface between the foundry and semiconductor designers, which makes them so critical. Traditionally, design rules and DRC decks have been developed manually with no or little automation. Design rule definitions are written using WORD or other general purpose office tools, and DRC decks… Read More
Intel to Compete with Broadcom and Marvell in the Lucrative ASIC Business