How do you plan the best Bitcoin miner in the world?

How do you plan the best Bitcoin miner in the world?
by Raul Perez on 02-21-2021 at 6:00 am

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As many of you know Bitcoin prices have surged recently up to $40,000 USD per bitcoin as of February 2021. We are in the middle of a bit rush! People are noticing Bitcoin’s surge and wondering how they can profit from it. In this article we will explore how custom silicon is a vital part of a winning bitcoin mining strategy.

Some… Read More


Trust, but verify. How to catch peanut butter engineering before it spreads into your system — Part 2: Verification.

Trust, but verify. How to catch peanut butter engineering before it spreads into your system — Part 2: Verification.
by Raul Perez on 02-09-2021 at 10:00 am

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This article about verification is part 2 of a two article series. Please see part 1 on validation HERE.

Verification is a field that has emerged as its own discipline. It’s no longer being relegated to an activity led by the design team to which time is allocated as long as it doesn’t get in the way of designing. Chip companiesRead More


Trust, but verify. How to catch peanut butter engineering before it spreads into your system — Part 1: Validation.

Trust, but verify. How to catch peanut butter engineering before it spreads into your system — Part 1: Validation.
by Raul Perez on 02-01-2021 at 10:00 am

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I will address this topic with two blog posts: validation (i.e. post silicon) — Part 1, and verification (pre-silicon) — Part 2 (coming soon!). In this blog post, I will focus on validation.

One of the upsides of using catalog chips that have been in the market for a long time and have ramped in substantial volumes is thatRead More


The Spartan flow for custom silicon: when losing is NOT an option.

The Spartan flow for custom silicon: when losing is NOT an option.
by Raul Perez on 01-19-2021 at 10:00 am

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Every so often a custom silicon socket comes up at a system company that you simply cannot afford to lose if you’re a silicon supplier. These are the types of custom silicon sockets that last for generations of a product, in huge and predictable volumes, and for whatever reason they may become available. It’s not easy to predictRead More


Managing custom silicon projects with trans national, multi company, and cross functional teams

Managing custom silicon projects with trans national, multi company, and cross functional teams
by Raul Perez on 12-30-2020 at 10:00 am

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Probably the least appreciated and most critical thing I spend my time on when driving custom silicon projects is setting up the entire framework to get everyone talking and in rhythm with each other. Only supplier selection is more critical to the project’s success than this.

All system custom silicon projects where theRead More


5 Things You Need to Plan for System Custom Silicon

5 Things You Need to Plan for System Custom Silicon
by Raul Perez on 12-13-2020 at 10:00 am

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I used to be part of the custom silicon management team at Apple.  I’ve seen how great a challenge it is to pull off a custom silicon strategy within a one year product cycle. Apple is the perfect example of this custom silicon model since they develop the best mobile processors in the world for their products. Which also includes otherRead More