SemiWiki Big Data Exposed!

SemiWiki Big Data Exposed!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-17-2014 at 7:00 pm

You will be hard pressed to attend a conference and NOT hear the term Big Data these days. What is Big Data? One example is the data SemiWiki has collected over the past 3.5 years while more than one million users have passed through our site. My summer project, with my daughter the math major, is to harness this massive pile of data and… Read More


The iPhone6 will have TSMC 20nm, Absolutely!

The iPhone6 will have TSMC 20nm, Absolutely!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-13-2014 at 11:00 am

TSMC 20nm is one of the most talked about nodes on SemiWiki with lots of speculation and debate surrounding it. It’s interesting to look back at what we thought would happen to see if it actually did happen so let’s do that now. According to Google there are 411 articles referencing 20nm on SemiWiki, let’s visit a couple of the… Read More


Intel 14nm Delayed Yet Again?

Intel 14nm Delayed Yet Again?
by Daniel Nenni on 07-10-2014 at 12:00 pm


This week I’m at SEMICON West with 27,000 of my closest friends. Good information, good networking, and some great rumors this year. Yesterday I heard a juicy rumor in the halls that Intel is still having 14nm yield problems. Remember, we heard a similar rumor last year and it turned out to be true. I Googled around this morning and … Read More


Are iPhones to Die For?

Are iPhones to Die For?
by Daniel Nenni on 07-10-2014 at 3:00 am

First there were car phones and admittedly I waited in line to get one when they went mainstream. It was a Motorola something or other and it came with a curly antenna for the back window. From there I got a Nokia, a flip phone, a BlackBerry, and now iPhones. These life changing devices would not have happened without the fabless semiconductor… Read More


The Internet of Things @ SEMICON West 2014!

The Internet of Things @ SEMICON West 2014!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-09-2014 at 9:00 am

Clearly I’m a fan of IoT in regards to the future of the fabless semiconductor industry. The fabless semiconductor transformation unleashed all sorts of innovation giving us the SoC and the life changing mobile devices SoCs enable. Unfortunately modern SoC design is expensive and raising capital for semiconductor start-ups… Read More


Intel Custom Foundry Explained!

Intel Custom Foundry Explained!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-07-2014 at 7:00 pm

The exciting news is that Intel landed their first big SoC customer with Panasonic’s System LSI Business Division. These 14nm SoCs will be targeted to audio visual equipment markets. The significance here to me is that Intel not only has a big SoC customer, Intel now has a non-Silicon Valley based foundry customer. It is critical… Read More


The Great 28nm Debacle!

The Great 28nm Debacle!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-06-2014 at 9:00 am

40nm was a big node while I was Director of Foundries at the IP company Virage Logic which was later acquired by Synopsys. 40nm was big because the top fabless companies multi-sourced designs from one foundry to another with relative ease to get the best wafer prices. It was also the node where some of the big IDMs went fab-lite moving… Read More


Mentor Graphics @ SEMICON West 2014

Mentor Graphics @ SEMICON West 2014
by Daniel Nenni on 07-04-2014 at 10:00 pm

Mentor is again the most represented EDA company at SEMICON West this year. I strongly advise Cadence and Synopsys to get more involved because EDA may be where electronics begins but semiconductor manufacturing makes all of our hard work come true, absolutely. Paul McLellan, Beth Martin, and I will be blogging live, I hope to see… Read More


Intel is Speaking @ SEMICON West 2014!

Intel is Speaking @ SEMICON West 2014!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-03-2014 at 8:00 am

The SEMICON West website has a nice “speakers” option where you can search by company and see who is talking about what. I’m always interested in what Intel has to say (they are still the leading semiconductor company) so here is the line-up for next week:

Intel Sanchali Bhattacharjee Subcomponent Supply Chain for 10nm and BeyondRead More


In Case You Missed #51DAC

In Case You Missed #51DAC
by Daniel Nenni on 07-02-2014 at 9:50 am

This will probably end up being the most memorable DAC for us since Paul and I signed hundreds of copies of our book “Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry”. I’m not sure how we are going to top that next year but I’m confident we will think of something. If you want to catch up on the live blogs from the last three conferences… Read More