DAC 2012 Cheerleader Controversy!

DAC 2012 Cheerleader Controversy!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-08-2012 at 9:00 pm

First, I must say that I’m biased. I like Cheerleaders, they are lots of fun, I even married one. Second, I’m not a fan of Peggy Aycinena. She has been on her EDA feminist rant for years now and I have been targeted multiple times. My solution has been to ignore her and any publication that supports her but this time she has gone too far.… Read More


TSMC: Production Proven Design Services Driving SoC Innovation!

TSMC: Production Proven Design Services Driving SoC Innovation!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-06-2012 at 8:30 pm

One of the truisms of today’s disaggregated semiconductor design and manufacturing model is counter-intuitive to the do-it-yourself focus that is at the heart of every engineer. And yet, time and time again, success rewards those who understand that with today’s ever increasing complexity, it is difficult, if… Read More


Synopsys IP Strategy 2012

Synopsys IP Strategy 2012
by Daniel Nenni on 07-01-2012 at 7:30 pm

Synopsys is the dominant player in the commercial EDA and semiconductor IP markets so it is always interesting to hear what John Koeter, Vice President of Marketing for IP, Services and System Level Solutions, has to say. John presented “The Role of IP in a Changing Landscape” at the SemiCO IMPACT Conference and I talked to him again… Read More


Dragon Boats and TSMC 20nm Update!

Dragon Boats and TSMC 20nm Update!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-01-2012 at 6:30 pm


My luck continues as I missed last week’s typhoon. Fortunately it did not disrupt the annual Dragon Boat Festival. More than just a Chinese tradition, dragon boat racing is an international sports event with teams from around the world coming to Taiwan every year. It is very exciting with the colorful dragon boats and the wild beating… Read More


TSMC Threater Presentation: Lorentz Solution!

TSMC Threater Presentation: Lorentz Solution!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-26-2012 at 8:30 pm

Lorentz Solution presented at TSMC’s DAC 2012 Open Innovation Platform Theater. The presenter was Lorentz Sales Director, Tom Simon. He presented what Lorentz calls its Electromagnetic Design and Analysis Platform. One of the main points of the talk was the cooperative work that Lorentz does with TSMC.

TSMC and Lorentz work … Read More


TSMC Threater Presentation: Solido Design Automation!

TSMC Threater Presentation: Solido Design Automation!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-17-2012 at 9:00 pm

For a small company, Solido has some very large customers and partners, TSMC being on of them. Why? Because of the high yield and memory performance demand on leading edge technologies, that’s why.

Much has been made of and will continue to be said on the march of Moore’s Law. While economics of scale and performance vs. power… Read More


Cadence IP Strategy 2012

Cadence IP Strategy 2012
by Daniel Nenni on 06-17-2012 at 7:00 pm

As I mentioned in a previous blog Cadence Update 2012, Martin Lund is now in charge of the Cadence IP strategy. Martin read my first blog and wanted to exchange IP strategies so we met at DAC 2012 for a chat. Not only did Martin connect with me on LinkedIn, he also joined the SemiWiki LinkedIn group, which now has 4,000+ members. So yes,… Read More


TSMC Theater Presentation: Ciranova!

TSMC Theater Presentation: Ciranova!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-14-2012 at 9:00 pm

Ciranova presented a hierarchical custom layout flow used on several large advanced-node designs to reduce total layout time by about 50%. Ciranova itself does automated floorplanning and placement software with only limited routing; but since the first two constitute the majority of custom layout time, and strongly influence… Read More


TSMC Theater Presentation: Atrenta SpyGlass!

TSMC Theater Presentation: Atrenta SpyGlass!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-13-2012 at 9:10 am

Atrenta presented an update on the TSMC Soft IP Alliance Program at TSMC’s theater each day at DAC. Mike Gianfagna, Atrenta VP of Marketing, presented an introduction to SpyGlass, an overview of the program and a progress report. Dan Kochpatcharin, TSMC Deputy Director of IP Portfolio, was also there. Between Mike, Dan, and I there… Read More


BDA TSMC Theater Presentation

BDA TSMC Theater Presentation
by Daniel Nenni on 06-12-2012 at 5:00 pm

I caught the Berkeley Design Automation presentation in the TSMC Theater, where Simon Young (BDA’s director of product marketing) described the Analog FastSPICE (AFS) nanometer circuit verification platform, built on their foundation of very fast, very accurate, high capacity circuit simulation.

BDA claims the AFS platform… Read More