Some call it co-opetition (collaborative competition), some call it keeping your enemies close. Others call it for what it is, unfair competition and/or other types of legally actionable behavior. GlobalFoundries calls it“Fab Syncing”, which in reality will SINK their FABS!
“With this new collaboration, we are making one … Read More
Author: Daniel Nenni
What happens in Las Vegas Gets Blogged on SemiWiki!
Interesting story, for my wife’s 50th birthday we went to Las Vegas to see Sir Elton John in concert. My wife is an Elton fan and this may be her last chance to see him live so off we went. I saw Elton and Billy Joel in a dueling piano concert a while back and it was simply amazing! The underlying purpose of the trip however was to earn “Perfect… Read More
GlobalFoundries’ Expansion on Hold! Trouble in Abu Dhabi?
When AMD sought to shed its costly manufacturing operations, Ibrahim Ajami saw an interesting opportunity, one that promised to bring semiconductor manufacturing to Abu Dhabi. Let’s start with the January 2010 interview with Ajami, the 35 year old Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), … Read More
The Power of the Platform!
The Nintendo Wii is one of the most successful gaming platforms with the most diverse set of games — from fun games that can be enjoyed by the whole family to fitness programs that can be used by adults. They beat the dominant Sony Playstation and the Microsoft Xbox by thinking outside the box and creating a platform that was really… Read More
Semiconductor Power Consumption and Fingertop Computing!
Can semiconductor devices change the temperature of the earth? The heat from my Dell XPS changes the temperature of my lap! A 63” flat screen TV changes the temperature of my living room. I just purchased six of the latest iPhones for my family (under duress) and signed up for another two years with Verizon, so our carbon footprint … Read More
3D Transistors @ TSMC 20nm!
Ever since the TSMC OIP Forum where Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang openly asked customers, “When do you want 3D Transistors (FinFETS)?” I have heard quite a few debates on the topic inside the top fabless semiconductor companies. The bottom line, in my expert opinion, is that TSMC will add FinFETS to the N20 (20nm) process node in parallel with… Read More
High-efficiency PVT and Monte Carlo analysis in the TSMC AMS Reference Flow for optimal yield in memory, analog and digital design!
Hello Daniel,
I am very interested on the articles on the PVT simulation, I have worked in that area in the past when I worked in process technology development and spice modeling and I also started a company called Device modeling technology (DMT) which built a Spice model library of discrete components, such as Bipolar/MOS /POWER… Read More
EDA Company Selected as One of the Fastest Growing Companies in North America by Deloitte’s 2011 Technology Fast 500™!?!?!?!
Wow! We always hear semiconductor companies complain about the lack of innovation amongst the EDA leaders. Placing high on the Deloitte 500 list shows that innovation is alive and well in EDA and it IS possible to have a meaningful impact regardless of your overall size. It is worth noting that there are very few EDA companies that… Read More
TSMC ASIC versus IBM ASIC!
Lunch with Jim Lai, President of Global Unichip(GUC), was the highlight of my week, I had a very nice crab cake salad. As you may have read, GUC announced itself as the “Flexible ASIC Leader” taking direct aim at the traditional ASIC market led by the likes of IBM, ST Micro, TI, Renesas, and Samsung. This will be like “shooting fish in… Read More
ARM TechCon 2011 Trip Report and Sailing Semiconductors!
This was my first ARM TechCon, they cordially invited me as media, but it certainly was not what I expected. Making matters worse, I had literally just flown in from a very long weekend sailing in Mexico which was much more interesting and certainly made me much less tolerant of sales and marketing nonsense. My Uncle Jim lives on a sailboat… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot