GPP, GPU or Embedded Vision Dedicated Processor?

GPP, GPU or Embedded Vision Dedicated Processor?
by Eric Esteve on 04-14-2015 at 9:04 am

Before answering the question we should try to define what is behind “Vision”, which type of applications and evaluate this heterogeneous market weight. Embedded Vision (EV) is the use of computer vision in embedded systems to interpret meaning from image or video. In fact vision processing requires a lot of maths functions that… Read More


Qualcomm LTE Modem Competitors? Samsung, Intel, Mediatek, Spreadtrum, Leadcore… or simply CEVA!

Qualcomm LTE Modem Competitors? Samsung, Intel, Mediatek, Spreadtrum, Leadcore… or simply CEVA!
by Eric Esteve on 04-03-2015 at 9:35 am

What is common between the 4G LTE modems from Samsung, Intel, Mediatek, Spreadtrum or Leadcore? All these chips are architecture with CEVA XC4000 family supporting 4G LTE-Advanced, LTE, HSPA/+, W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, and legacy GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Samsung organization is vertical, the company design and manufacture DRAM, NAND and… Read More


embARC for a Free Ride

embARC for a Free Ride
by Eric Esteve on 03-30-2015 at 3:27 am

It’s probably the first time that Synopsys is offering such a direct access to free and open source software. The goal is to support customers developing application code for IoT and embedded devices based on ARC IP core family. The designer can select the Real Time Operating System (RTOS) which best meet the system requirements,… Read More


This Market worth $1,465.62M by 2020!!

This Market worth $1,465.62M by 2020!!
by Eric Esteve on 03-24-2015 at 10:52 am

This is exactly what you will never see in IPnest surveys (and written in Semiwiki):“Advanced Process Control Market worth $1,465.62 Million by 2020” …sorry for you if you like very precise figure (like $ 1, 465.62 million) but you will NEVER see such insane forecast in any of our surveys or blogs. Building a forecast is a difficult… Read More


ARM & Cadence IP Partnership for Faster SoC Design

ARM & Cadence IP Partnership for Faster SoC Design
by Eric Esteve on 03-18-2015 at 9:50 am

IP vendors always try to create differentiation, especially when designing protocol based IP. You can differentiate by building the most performing controller but you will probably miss the expectation of these customers who don’t search for performance but just compliance to a specific standard. Or the vendor may want to design… Read More


MIPI Ecosystem talk at Seattle this week

MIPI Ecosystem talk at Seattle this week
by Eric Esteve on 03-09-2015 at 7:02 pm

Sunday 8, March 2015. D-day minus one before the MIPI Alliance Face to Face meeting, starting in Seattle on Monday 9[SUP]th[/SUP] for five days. MIPI members are joining from all around the world to attend this one week meeting. If you take a look at www.mipi.org you will see the names of the 263 members from MIPI. A strong ecosystem… Read More


Simply the Highest Performing Cortex-M MCU

Simply the Highest Performing Cortex-M MCU
by Eric Esteve on 02-22-2015 at 11:30 am

If you target high growth markets like wearable (Sport Watches, Fitness Bands, Wearable medical) industrial (mPOS, Telematics, etc.) or Smart Appliances, you expect using a power efficient MCU delivering high DMIPs count. We are talking about systems requiring a low Bill of Material (BoM) both in term of cost and devices count.… Read More


Sony Endorse FD-SOI to Attack Wearable & IoT

Sony Endorse FD-SOI to Attack Wearable & IoT
by Eric Esteve on 02-10-2015 at 12:04 pm

We are writing about FD-SOI technology since the beginning of 2013 in Semiwiki. So far, most of the design experience was related to ST-Microelectronics (even if IBM and GlobalFoundries have been actively working on the technology, probably more on a research mode than pure production). Sony being actively working to develop… Read More


NVM IP now Available for On-Chip MCU Code

NVM IP now Available for On-Chip MCU Code
by Eric Esteve on 01-29-2015 at 11:14 am

As of today NVM IP has been mostly used in SoC or IC to support very specific needs like analog trimming and calibration or encryption key integration for Digital Right Management (DRM) purpose. In other words small size (less than 1K-bit) few times programmable (FTP) NVM IP was enough to support these needs, thus most of the NVM IP… Read More


FPGA vendor to buy IC vendor Silicon Image

FPGA vendor to buy IC vendor Silicon Image
by Eric Esteve on 01-27-2015 at 9:35 am

Interesting news today : Lattice Semiconductor, FPGA vendor is buying Silicon Image. In fact, Silicon Image is a chip vendor, but also an innovator, licensing well known IP like HDMI, MHL and more. If we consider the amount paid for Silicon Image ($600 million), compared with the last full year revenue, $276M in 2014, that’s a 2.2X… Read More