Interestingly, in some circles I’m known as an “Intel basher” but nothing could be further from the truth. I grew up with Intel and give them full credit for bringing serious compute power to our desktops. My first Intel powered computer was an IBM XT and I have had dozens of Intel based desktops and laptops since then. As a result, I … Read More
Author: Daniel Nenni
IDT Invests in IoT Security
As we are preparing for the “IoT Devices Can Kill and What Chip Makers Need to Do Now” webinar next week, Intrinsic-ID did a nice press release with Integrated Device Technology. IDT is one of the companies I grew up with here in Silicon Valley that pivoted its way to a $6.7B acquisition by Renesas.
IDT is focused on automotive,… Read More
IoT Devices Can Kill and What Chip Makers Need to Do Now
After the onslaught of IoT devices Christmas brought to the masses we really need to talk about security or lack thereof. Do me a favor and count how many IoT devices you have now? Our house IoT count is probably a bit higher than average due to my technology addiction but we are firmly in the double digits and the security breach stories… Read More
Rapid Prototyping ARM Based Designs Webinar
While writing the definitive book on ARM history we could not have imagined a more different exit than the SoftBank acquisition, not even close. It is now very clear why SoftBank acquired ARM for $31B. It is also very clear why alternatives like RISC-V are trending on SemiWiki and will continue to do so, absolutely. No matter what … Read More
Samsung vs TSMC 7nm Update
The semiconductor foundry business has gone through a dynamic transformation over the last 30 years. In the beginning the foundries were several process nodes behind the IDMs with little hope of catching up. Today the foundries are leading the process development race at 10nm – 7nm, and will continue to do so, absolutely.… Read More
Emulation Evaluation for the Ages!
One of the more entertaining things I get to observe in the semiconductor ecosystem is competitive customer evaluations of tools and IP. Seriously, this is where the rubber meets the road no matter what the press releases say.
This time it was emulators which is one of the most interesting EDA market segments since there is no dominant… Read More
DAC versus SEMICON ES Design West!
As I mentioned in a previous post, the big drama at last year’s Design Automation Conference was the acquisition of the Electronic Systems Design Alliance (formerly EDAC) by SEMI, the owner of the SEMICON West Conference franchise. The plan is to add an ES Design West wing to the SEMICON West conference in San Francisco next year.… Read More
Intel Discontinues the Custom Foundry Business!
After mentioning what I heard at IEDM 2018, that Intel was officially closing the merchant foundry business as an aside in a SemiWiki forum discussion, I got a lot of email responses so let me clarify. Honestly I did not think it was a big surprise. Intel Custom Foundry was an ill conceived idea (my opinion) from the very start and was… Read More
Next-Generation Formal Verification
As SoC and IP designs continue to increase in complexity while schedules accelerate, verification teams are looking for methodologies to improve design confidence more quickly. Formal verification techniques provide one route to improved design confidence, and the increase in papers and interest at industry conferences… Read More
IEDM 2018 Trip Report!
Hello, my name is Daniel Nenni and I am a semiconductor conference addict. I just can’t seem to get enough. The semiconductor ecosystem is very wide now and moves so quickly it is nearly impossible to keep up without constant conference attendance. As a SemiWiki contributor not only do I get free conference passes, I get access to … Read More







Intel to Compete with Broadcom and Marvell in the Lucrative ASIC Business