Fit-for-purpose IoT ASICs are about more than cost

Fit-for-purpose IoT ASICs are about more than cost
by Don Dingee on 04-06-2016 at 4:00 pm

We’ve been saying for a while that it looks like there is a resurgence in design starts for ASICs targeting the IoT. A recent webinar featuring speakers from ARM and Open Silicon (and moderated by Daniel Nenni) affirms this trend, and provides some insight on how these designs may differ from typical microcontrollers.

One of my first… Read More


Optimizing memory scheduling at integration-level

Optimizing memory scheduling at integration-level
by Don Dingee on 04-04-2016 at 4:00 pm

In our previous post on SoC memory resource planning, we shared 4 goals for a solution: optimize utilization and QoS, balance traffic across consumers and channels, eliminate performance loss from ordering dependencies, and analyze and understand tradeoffs. Let’s look at details on how Sonics is achieving this.… Read More


Managing and Reusing IP in a Build-Borrow-Buy Era

Managing and Reusing IP in a Build-Borrow-Buy Era
by Don Dingee on 04-01-2016 at 4:00 pm

Make-versus-buy inadequately describes what we do now in electronic systems design. We are on a continuum of design IP acquisition and use decisions, often with a portfolio of active projects and future projects depending on the outcome. Properly managing IP means adopting a build-borrow-buy mindset and tools capable of handling… Read More


Yelling fire in a crowded chip factory

Yelling fire in a crowded chip factory
by Don Dingee on 03-28-2016 at 4:00 pm

Semiconductor market forecasts for 2016 are all over the place. Jim Handy and Tom Starnes floated a report in January looking for 10% growth. Jim Feldhan at Semico turned outright negative at -0.3% just a couple weeks ago. Tossing out the high and low scores, analysts tracked by GSA range from 0.3% to 7.0% in March updates. What’s … Read More


What if this is as good as the iPhone gets?

What if this is as good as the iPhone gets?
by Don Dingee on 03-23-2016 at 4:00 pm

How do I write about Apple so well? “I think of Steve Jobs, and I take away vision and creativity.” Please recognize that is a bit tongue in cheek, but I do think we are at a turning point where Apple is having a very hard time moving its loyal customers toward continued upgrades, and it is forcing them into unusual compromises.… Read More


4 goals of memory resource planning in SoCs

4 goals of memory resource planning in SoCs
by Don Dingee on 03-21-2016 at 4:00 pm

The classical problem every MBA student studies is manufacturing resource planning (MRP II). It quickly illustrates that at the system level, good throughput is not necessarily the result of combining fast individual tasks when shared bottlenecks and order dependency are involved. Modern SoC architecture, particularly … Read More


Can Qualcomm avoid repeating Motorola’s fate?

Can Qualcomm avoid repeating Motorola’s fate?
by Don Dingee on 03-18-2016 at 4:00 pm

NPR had an interesting guest this morning: Edward Luce, author of “Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent”. I’m not about to turn SemiWiki into a politics blog, but there is some precedent in the technology business. I’ve caught myself saying more than once recently that “Motorola is no longer the company I worked 14… Read More


You can see it if you look SXSW

You can see it if you look SXSW
by Don Dingee on 03-16-2016 at 4:00 pm

Watching worlds of mobility, entertainment, and social media collide and helping customers navigate through this new technological landscape has been my passion for the last few years since I founded Left2MyOwnDevices. As a new arrival in Texas, I had my first chance to see just how big the convergence is at the premier event in… Read More


Speaking about the Internet of Trust on April 21

Speaking about the Internet of Trust on April 21
by Don Dingee on 03-14-2016 at 4:00 pm

Five minutes to ruin a reputation built over 20 years, as Warren Buffett put it, holds true in personal relationships. On the Internet of Things, reputations can disappear in five seconds. How do we move from merely intelligent Things to a level where devices have to be Trusted?… Read More


Design units come to faster Riviera-PRO release

Design units come to faster Riviera-PRO release
by Don Dingee on 03-11-2016 at 4:00 pm

For the latest incremental improvements to its Riviera-PRO functional verification platform, Aldec has turned to streamlining random constraint performance. The new Riviera-PRO 2016.02 release also is now fully supported on Windows 10 and adds a new debugger tool.… Read More