Michael Sanie Plays the Synopsys Verification Variations

Michael Sanie Plays the Synopsys Verification Variations
by Paul McLellan on 08-31-2015 at 7:00 am

I met Michael Sanie last week. He is in charge of verification marketing at Synopsys. I know him well since he worked for me at both VLSI Technology and Cadence. In fact his first job out of college was to take over support of VLSIextract (our circuit extractor), which I had written. But we are getting ahead.

Michael was born in Iran and… Read More


Strategic Materials

Strategic Materials
by Paul McLellan on 08-28-2015 at 7:00 am

Here on SemiWiki we spend a certain amount of time discussing semiconductor equipment, especially the big sea-change items like EUV and 450mm, where everyone wants to know when (and if) they will happen. But there is another aspect to next generation processes other than equipment and that is materials. When the received wisdom… Read More


Synopsys Did 90% of Business From Backlog with A Deal Length of 2.5 Years. Err…What Does That Mean?

Synopsys Did 90% of Business From Backlog with A Deal Length of 2.5 Years. Err…What Does That Mean?
by Paul McLellan on 08-27-2015 at 7:00 am

Here is Trac Pham, Synopsys CFO, from last weeks earnings call:Greater than 90% of Q3 revenue came from beginning of quarter backlog…the weighted average duration of our renewable customer license commitments was about 2.5 years, and we expect duration for the full year to be about 2.7 years.

What does that mean? Why does… Read More


FD-SOI: GlobalFoundries 22nm Update

FD-SOI: GlobalFoundries 22nm Update
by Paul McLellan on 08-26-2015 at 7:00 am

As I said yesterday, last week was the GSA Analog/Mixed-Signal working group completely dedicated to FD-SOI. ST went first and had a presentation that was a mixture of an introduction to FD-SOI that I have covered times that are too numerous to mention. Then they did a dive into analog and RF capabilities for FD-SOI that went very … Read More


FD-SOI: Samsung Opens the Kimono a Little

FD-SOI: Samsung Opens the Kimono a Little
by Paul McLellan on 08-25-2015 at 7:00 am

Last week there was a meeting of the GSA Analog/Mixed-Signal (AMS) working group. It was completely focused on FD-SOI (I hate that name, especially since FinFET is also fully-depleted. I vote for BoxFETs.) It was a bases loaded meeting with presentations from ST Microelectronics (calling in from France close to midnight), Samsung… Read More


NIWeek: Xilinx Inside

NIWeek: Xilinx Inside
by Paul McLellan on 08-24-2015 at 7:00 am

Being from Britain, NI always means Northern Ireland when I see it. After all the official name of my country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, giving us the same problem as the United States of America, the full name is a mouthful. So we abbreviate the country to UK and call ourselves British or even Brits.… Read More


Mentor 2Q Results

Mentor 2Q Results
by Paul McLellan on 08-21-2015 at 7:00 am

So it was Mentor’s turn yesterday after Synopsys on Wednesday. And yes, it really is the end of their second quarter. They produced some very good results. As Wally opened:The second quarter of fiscal 2016 was one of record for Q2. We substantially exceed our own expectations was revenue of $281.1 million and non-GAAP earningsRead More


Synopsys Q3 Results

Synopsys Q3 Results
by Paul McLellan on 08-20-2015 at 7:00 am

Synopsys announced their quarterly results this afternoon. It is the end of their Q3 (yes, they are not on the regular calendar year. Neither, for that matter, is Mentor who announce tomorrow). On the earnings call Aart started off:Good afternoon. I’m happy to report that our third quarter results were very strong, as we achievedRead More


Only One Type of OEM Seems to Work in EDA

Only One Type of OEM Seems to Work in EDA
by Paul McLellan on 08-19-2015 at 7:00 am

OEM agreements don’t seem to work in EDA. Sometimes they are signed but usually they turn out to be closer to joint marketing agreements. The reason seems to be that EDA software is complex and requires high-touch support especially when getting the product first installed and introduced into a production flow. The effect… Read More


Jen-Tai Hsu Joins Kilopass and Looks to the Future of Memories

Jen-Tai Hsu Joins Kilopass and Looks to the Future of Memories
by Paul McLellan on 08-18-2015 at 7:00 am

Kilopass has a new VP of engineering, Jen-Tai Hsu. I sat down with him last week to find out where he came from and where he and Kilopass are going.

He grew up in Taiwan and went to National Taiwan University where he studied electrical engineering. Then he came to the US and went to Case Western Reserve University to get a masters degree,… Read More