A Brief History of the Fabless Industry

A Brief History of the Fabless Industry
by Daniel Nenni on 07-31-2012 at 7:30 pm

Even though most of us have witnessed the emergence of the fabless semiconductor industry it is still good to go back and remember how we got to where we are today, to realize that the semiconductors that you now hold in your hand were enabled by the rise of the fabless semiconductor business model. This is the first in a series of blogs… Read More


SemiWiki.com Analytics Exposed 2012

SemiWiki.com Analytics Exposed 2012
by Daniel Nenni on 07-29-2012 at 7:30 pm


About 4 years ago some of my semiconductor cohorts urged me to blog. “Hey Dan, you’re a funny guy, write about EDA and IP, make us laugh!” Of course what I think is funny most people think is snarky, which is a nice word for being a smart ass. The traditional semiconductor press was crumbling, the non traditional EDA websites were outdated,… Read More


Addressing the Nanometer Digital Design Challenges! (Webinars)

Addressing the Nanometer Digital Design Challenges! (Webinars)
by Daniel Nenni on 07-27-2012 at 7:30 pm

Optimizing logical, physical, electrical, and manufacturing effects, Cadence digital implementation technology eliminates iteration without sacrificing design quality by addressing timing sensitivity, yield variation, and leakage power from the start. … Read More


Addressing the Nanometer Custom IC Design Challenges! (Webinars)

Addressing the Nanometer Custom IC Design Challenges! (Webinars)
by Daniel Nenni on 07-26-2012 at 7:30 am

Selectively automating non-critical aspects of custom IC design allows engineers to focus on precision-crafting their designs. Cadence circuit design solutions enable fast and accurate entry of design concepts, which includes managing design intent in a way that flows naturally in the schematic. Using this advanced, parasitic-aware… Read More


ARM and TSMC Beat Revenue Expectations Signaling Strength in a Weakening Economy?

ARM and TSMC Beat Revenue Expectations Signaling Strength in a Weakening Economy?
by Daniel Nenni on 07-25-2012 at 11:00 am

Fabless semiconductor ecosystem bellwethers, TSMC and ARM, buck the trend reporting solid second quarters. Following “TSMC Reports Second Highest Quarterly Profit“, the British ARM Holdings “Outperforms Industry to Beat Forecasts“. Clearly the tabloid press death of the fabless ecosystem claims… Read More


The Total ARM Platform!

The Total ARM Platform!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-24-2012 at 7:30 pm

In the embedded world that drives much of today’s ASIC innovation, there is no bigger name than ARM. Not to enter the ARM vs. Intel fray, but it’s no exaggeration to say that ARM’s impact on SoCs is as great as Intel’s on the PC. Few cutting edge SoCs are coming to market that do not include some sort of embedded… Read More


Re-defining Semiconductor Collaboration!

Re-defining Semiconductor Collaboration!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-22-2012 at 7:00 pm

GlobalFoundries did a nice response to my “How has 20nm Changed the Semiconductor Ecosystem?” and redefined the word collaboration. Our industry is plagued with sound bites and acronyms so let us agree on a semiconductor ecosystem definition of collaboration.

Mojy Chianis senior vice president, design enablement at… Read More


Morris Chang Comments on Q2 2012: 28nm, 20nm, 16nm, FinFets, CAPEX, etc…

Morris Chang Comments on Q2 2012: 28nm, 20nm, 16nm, FinFets, CAPEX, etc…
by Daniel Nenni on 07-19-2012 at 5:42 pm

Twenty eight nanometer is progressing very well. Our output and our yields are both above the plans that we set for ourselves and the plans that we communicated to our customers early in the year. Early in the year means January-February of the year, we set our plans in output and in yields and we, of course, ever since then we tried toRead More


TSMC Reports Second Highest Quarterly Profit!

TSMC Reports Second Highest Quarterly Profit!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-19-2012 at 5:23 am

We all knew this quarter would be big but maybe not this big. Not all good news though so keep on reading. The news coverage is all over the map, mostly because they have no idea what a pure-play foundry really is. They also underestimate the power of mobile computing which should be a “Revenue by Application” market segment itself. … Read More


Design-to-Silicon Platform Workshops!

Design-to-Silicon Platform Workshops!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-17-2012 at 7:30 pm

Have you seen the latest design rule manuals? At 28nm and 20nm design sign-off is no longer just DRC and LVS. These basic components of physical verification are being augmented by an expansive set of yield analysis and critical feature identification capabilities, as well as layout enhancements, printability, and performance… Read More