TSMC Financial Update Q4 2012!

TSMC Financial Update Q4 2012!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-11-2012 at 4:00 pm

The weather in Taiwan last week was very nice, not too hot but certainly not cold. The same could be said for the TSM stock which broke $16 after the October financial report where TSMC reported a sales increase of 15% over September. Revenues for this year thus far increased 19% over last year so why isn’t TSM stock at $20 like I predicted… Read More


Solido and TSMC for 6-Sigma Memory Design

Solido and TSMC for 6-Sigma Memory Design
by Daniel Nenni on 11-06-2012 at 8:30 pm

Solido Design Automation and TSMC recently published an article in EE Times describing how Solido’s High-Sigma Monte Carlo tool is used with TSMC PDK’s to achieve high-yield, high-performance memory design. This project has been a big part of my life for the past three years and it is time for a victory lap!

In TSMC 28nm, 20nm and … Read More


16nm FinFET versus 20nm Planar!

16nm FinFET versus 20nm Planar!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-04-2012 at 8:10 pm

The common theme amongst semiconductor ecosystem conferences this year is FinFETS, probably the most exciting technology we will see this decade. A lot has been written on SemiWiki about FinFETS, it is one of the top trending search terms, but there is some confusion about the process naming so let me attempt to explain.

In planar… Read More


ARM TechCon 2012 Trip Report

ARM TechCon 2012 Trip Report
by Daniel Nenni on 11-02-2012 at 12:00 pm

I must say the ARM conference gets better every year, as do the attendance numbers. More than 4,000 people showed up including 5 SemiWiki bloggers, two of which I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.

First I have to mention my favorite vendor booth. I don’t remember what company it was but the girls in fishnet stockings giving out… Read More


Apple v. Samsung: Mixed Phone Marriages End in Divorce?

Apple v. Samsung: Mixed Phone Marriages End in Divorce?
by Daniel Nenni on 10-28-2012 at 8:10 pm

A funny thing happened at dinner the other night. The SemiWiki blog “8 Things I Hate about My iPhone5” caused quite a discussion. Half the table had Samsung phones and the other half iPhones. It really was more of a religious or political debate versus a rational consumer electronic discussion. An interesting side note, it seems … Read More


A Brief History of Today’s Flexible ASIC Model

A Brief History of Today’s Flexible ASIC Model
by Daniel Nenni on 10-25-2012 at 8:10 pm

There’s been an interesting trend emerging the past couple of years; a gentrification, if you will, of the ASIC business. What was thought to be a dying supply chain model has re-emerged as a health and growing segment of the semiconductor industry. Recent figures from Gartner place 2012 ASIC revenue at around $24.4 billion… Read More


Why Blog on SemiWiki.com?

Why Blog on SemiWiki.com?
by Daniel Nenni on 10-21-2012 at 7:00 pm

The Semiconductor Wiki Project, the premier semiconductor collaboration site, is a growing online community of professionals involved with the semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem. Since going online January 1st, 2011 more than 400,000 unique visitors have landed at www.SemiWiki.com viewing more than 3M pages… Read More


TSMC OIP Forum 2012 Trip Report!

TSMC OIP Forum 2012 Trip Report!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-21-2012 at 6:00 pm

The second annual TSMC Open Integration Platform Ecosystem Forum was last week and let me tell you it was excellent. Great update on the TSMC process technology road maps, great for networking within the fabless semiconductor ecosystem, great for seeing what’s new in EDA and IP, and great for SemiWiki. It was time well spent for … Read More


Current Timing Closure Techniques Can’t Scale – Requires New Solution

Current Timing Closure Techniques Can’t Scale – Requires New Solution
by Daniel Nenni on 10-16-2012 at 8:30 pm


There’s a nice article on timing closure by Dr. Jason Xing, Vice President of Engineering at ICScape Inc. on the Chip Design website. Not familiar with ICScape? Paul McLellan called ICScape the The Biggest EDA Company You’ve Never Heard Ofand Daniel Payne did Schematic, IC Layout, Clock and Timing Closure from ICScape atRead More


Oct. 18 Non-Volatile Memory Webinar, IBM validates OTP for Foundry program, & New Low-Risk Evaluation License

Oct. 18 Non-Volatile Memory Webinar, IBM validates OTP for Foundry program, & New Low-Risk Evaluation License
by Daniel Nenni on 10-16-2012 at 9:37 am

As the temperature drops and the bright red maple leaves have begun to pile up, so has the stack of projects at Novocell. If you are expecting to utilize their high reliability, easy-to-integrate OTP in a project taping out in late Q4 or early Q1, NOW is the time to contact them.

OTP Overview Webinar Thurs, Oct 18

Novocell and global … Read More