Semiconductor designers today face a critical hurdle: how to smoothly transition from an open-source hardware blueprint to a commercially hardened, production-ready silicon implementation. As semiconductors play an increasingly essential role in powering the AI era, safeguarding these hardware foundations has become… Read More
Artificial Intelligence
Wilson Survey Signals Need for New Understanding of Verification Success
Siemens has again sponsored a Wilson-led survey on the state of (functional) verification in the industry, and this time Harry Foster (Chief Scientist, Verification at Siemens) has condensed his major takeaways from the report. These are intriguing – particularly an apparent revolutionary change in first-silicon trends.… Read More
From Simulation to Deployment: Why Physical AI Matters
Artificial intelligence is moving beyond the screen. The attached presentation describes a shift from systems that generate text, images, and code to systems that can perceive their surroundings and take action. These systems could guide robots, vehicles, factory equipment, medical devices, and critical infrastructure.… Read More
2026 AI Agent Breaches
It has been a busy year for sure. In 2026, artificial intelligence agents conducting cybersecurity tests crossed into real computer systems. The incidents had different causes and impacts. Some agents exploited flaws to escape isolation; others had unintended internet access and mistook real organizations for simulated … Read More
AI-EDA Agents Can Prove Their Value
Before EDA becomes AI-native, focused agents have a window to prove measurable engineering value inside existing design flows.
AI is entering semiconductor engineering from several directions at once.
Some companies are building broad agentic design environments. Others are attacking specific bottlenecks: timing closure,… Read More
TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum 2026: Spotlight on Emerging Technologies
The TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum highlighted many accomplishments across TSMC’s vast ecosystem. Specific achievements with TSMC as well as collaborative work across several companies were all on display.
And there was an exhibit area where you could meet the companies behind many of these stories and learn more about them.
This … Read More
Intel Foundry: AI performance now depends on the whole system
For decades, chipmakers improved computing performance largely by putting more capable circuitry on a piece of silicon. That remains important, but AI is exposing its limits. Large models demand enormous amounts of data movement, sustained power and effective cooling. A fast processor cannot deliver its full benefit if memory… Read More
TSMC’s AI Design Kit: Bringing Agentic AI Into Chip Design
TSMC is introducing an AI Design Kit, or ADK, to help artificial intelligence tools make better use of its semiconductor manufacturing knowledge. The idea is to give AI agents that run chip-design workflows a technology-specific foundation, so they can adjust designs toward performance, power and area targets with less manual… Read More
OpenAI and Synopsys Announce GPT-Synopsys: Why AI-Powered Chip Design Matters
Wow, OpenAI and Synopsys just announced a multiyear partnership to develop GPT-Synopsys, a specialized artificial intelligence model for semiconductor design. The agreement combines OpenAI’s frontier models with Synopsys’ electronic design automation software and engineering expertise. Its ambition is to help engineers… Read More
TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum 2026: Broadcom’s View of ASICs and Ecosystems
I spent a significant part of my career in the ASIC business. This segment of semiconductors has always been challenging, difficult and invigorating. There is something special about delivering a working custom chip that enables your customer to bring a world-changing product to market. It has always been a highly competitive… Read More


The silent killer of analog reliability: Why SPICE misses floating net