Fortunately Paul McLellan and I missed IDF. Paul was atop Mt. Kilimanjaro and I was in Taiwan signing books. After reviewing the materials and watching the videos we really didn’t miss much in regards to mobile so no regrets. The Apple event would have been fun even though I won’t be buying an iPhone6 or an iWatch and I will tell you why.… Read More
Author: Daniel Nenni
Is Number of Signoff Corners an Issue?
Semiconductor companies continue to use the traditional corner-based signoff approach that has been developed more than 40+ years ago and has since remained mainly unchanged as an industry paradigm. Initially it had 2 corners, namely Worst Case (WC) and Best Case (BC) with the maximum and minimum cell delay respectively. Note… Read More
Intel’s 35% Density Advantage Claim Explored
The previous blog I did on the density difference between Intel 14nm and TSMC 20nm caused quite a stir and many interesting comments which I would like to address. After writing thousands of blogs on a wide variety of topics I have found that playing the devil’s advocate stimulates the most productive conversations and in this case… Read More
The SUN will NOT set on Oracle!
Larry Ellison resigning as CEO of Oracle caught me by surprise. I definitely did not see that one coming. Talk about the end of an era, as a 30+ year Silicon Valley veteran there have been quite a few industry icons that stand out amongst the others: Dave Packard, Bill Hewlett, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry… Read More
Ultra low light CMOS biosensor helps tackle infectious diseases
The recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa underscores the urgent need for globally affordable tools to help fight infectious diseases. Among these, a method to rapidly and accurately identify the infectious pathogen is of particular importance.
In recent years, researchers have tried many ways to achieve easily portable … Read More
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Acquires IBM Semiconductor Unit!
I have it on pretty good authority that IBM has in fact come to terms with GLOBALFOUNDRIES on the sale of their semiconductor business. For those of you who have been following the story, especially the IBM semiconductor people, it has been a real roller coaster ride. If in fact this handshake deal goes through (expect a public announcement… Read More
Taiwan Trip Report: The Coming Simulation Crisis!
Even though the flight to Taiwan is somewhat difficult, I really do enjoy my trips to Hsinchu. In addition to the top two pure-play foundries being there, one of the top SoC companies (MediaTek) and many of the leading semiconductor design companies are there as well. All are a quick taxi ride from my home away from home, the Hotel Royal.… Read More
Intel Core M vs Apple A8!
There were two big announcements last week right in my backyard and I missed them both! Instead, I was in Taiwan investigating yet another big development and all three of these events will intersect next year, absolutely.
At IDF in San Francisco Intel outlined the new 14nm Core M. This is an impressive CPU, one that will fill the now… Read More
Humans Need Not Apply!
With four children entering the job market I have a very simple piece of advice: DO NOT RUN FROM TECHNOLOGY, EMBRACE IT! Smartphones are now a “natural” part of modern life. We work on them, we play on them, we shop with them, we socialize with them, even risk our lives using them. Come on, every single person with a smartphone has used… Read More
What’s eSilicon Up To Now?
eSilicon, in conjunction with King Research, is conducting an unusual survey. A lot of vendor-driven surveys focus on specific pain points that are addressed by that particular vendor’s product/service. The idea is typically to either promote visibility for the product/service or establish its undeniable need in the market.… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot