The Scariest Graph I’ve Seen Recently

The Scariest Graph I’ve Seen Recently
by Paul McLellan on 07-01-2012 at 4:00 pm

Everyone knows Moore’s Law: the number of transistors on a chip doubles every couple of years. We can take the process roadmap for Intel, TSMC or GF and pretty much see what the densities we will get will be when 20/22nm, 14nm and 10nm arrive. Yes the numbers are on track.

But I have always pointed out that this is not what drives… Read More


Chip Synthesis at DAC

Chip Synthesis at DAC
by Paul McLellan on 06-27-2012 at 8:30 pm

I visited Oasys Design Systems and talked to Craig Robbins, their VP sales. For the first time this year, Oasys has a theater presentations and demos of RealTime Designer which are open to anyone attending the show. In previous years, they have had suite demos for appropriately qualified potential customers but outside they have… Read More


Microsoft Messes Up Mobile Even More…and Already Went Thermonuclear

Microsoft Messes Up Mobile Even More…and Already Went Thermonuclear
by Paul McLellan on 06-25-2012 at 11:01 pm

Ed wrote recently about Microsoft going thermonuclear. I think that they already did. Ed wrote about Microsoft’s tablet announcement. The second announcement is a sort of follow up to my blog on what will happen to Nokia.

Two big announcements, the first one is that Microsoft is going to produce its own tablet computers (MiPads … Read More


TSMC Theater Presentation: Apache

TSMC Theater Presentation: Apache
by Paul McLellan on 06-25-2012 at 12:13 am

At the TSMC Theater Apache (don’t forget, now a subsidary of Ansys) talked about Emerging Challenges for Power, Signal and Reliability Verification on 3D-IC and Silicon Interposer Designs. The more I see about the costs and challenges of 20/22nm and below, the more I think that these 3D and 2.5D approaches are going to be … Read More


Mike Muller’s ARM Keynote at DAC 2012

Mike Muller’s ARM Keynote at DAC 2012
by Paul McLellan on 06-21-2012 at 7:30 pm

Mike Muller’s keynote focused on a lot of changes since the ARM1 was designed in 1983 when ARM the company did not exist and ARM was the next generation processor for Acorn Computer, which was really in the hobby market and had its first boost when they had a contract to design the BBC Microcomputer to go along with a computer literacy… Read More


Off topic: Matt

Off topic: Matt
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2012 at 8:12 pm

This has pretty much nothing to do with EDA or semiconductor. OK, absolutely nothing. Years ago a friend pointed me at a video of a guy who used to be a video game designer (wait, a semiconductor connection) who decided to take his savings and travel the world. As he put it, “I wasn’t a very good video game designer. But I … Read More


Tensilica: We are #2 so we try harder

Tensilica: We are #2 so we try harder
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2012 at 1:00 pm

The Linley group is the go-to source for information about the microprocessor market. If you go back to their roots in Michael Slater’s Microprocessor Report then they have been in the business for 25 years. We haven’t had microprocessors for that much longer. They just tagged Tensilica as being second in shipments… Read More


Atrenta Aquires NextOp

Atrenta Aquires NextOp
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2012 at 10:00 am

Atrenta announced today that it is acquiring NextOp Software. NextOp sells a tool BugScope that provides assertion synthesis technology. This complements Atrenta’s SpyGlass products for improving the process for design of complex semiconductor IP and SoCs.

I went to Atrenta’s office to talk to Ajoy Bose (CEO)… Read More


What Will Happen to Nokia?

What Will Happen to Nokia?
by Paul McLellan on 06-15-2012 at 3:06 pm

News today is that Moody’s has downgraded Nokia to junk status. They also announced that they will lay off 10,000 people (including about 1 in 4 of the people they employ in Finland, where Nokia is headquartered).

For those of you who don’t know all the inside-baseball stuff about Nokia, here is a recent little history.… Read More


Genevi, isn’t that a city in Switzerland?

Genevi, isn’t that a city in Switzerland?
by Paul McLellan on 06-14-2012 at 8:05 pm

I got an email from Mentor Embedded this morning about a webinar on Implementing a GENIVI-compliant System. I have to admit I had no idea what GENIVI is, which surprised me. I spent several years working in the embedded space and so I usually have at least a 50,000 foot view of most things going on there. One reason for my ignorance is … Read More