At the 2024 TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum, one of the technical talks by TSMC focused on maximizing 3DIC design productivity and rightfully so. With rapid advancements in semiconductor technology, 3DICs have become the next frontier in improving chip performance, energy efficiency, and density. TSMC’s focus on streamlining the… Read More
Artificial Intelligence
Synopsys and TSMC Pave the Path for Trillion-Transistor AI and Multi-Die Chip Design
Synopsys made significant announcements during the recent TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum, showcasing a range of cutting-edge solutions designed to address the growing complexities in semiconductor design. With a strong emphasis on enabling next-generation chip architectures, Synopsys introduced both new technologies and … Read More
Is AI-Based RTL Generation Ready for Prime Time?
In semiconductor design there has been much fascination around the idea of using large language models (LLMs) for RTL generation; CoPilot provides one example. Based on a Google Scholar scan, a little over 100 papers were published in 2023, jumping to 310 papers in 2024. This is not surprising. If it works, automating design creation… Read More
Sondrel Redefines the AI Chip Design Process
Designing custom silicon for AI applications is a particularly vexing problem. These chips process enormous amounts of data with a complex architecture that typically contains a diverse complement of heterogeneous processors, memory systems and various IO strategies. Each of the many subsystems in this class of chip will … Read More
Elevating AI with Cutting-Edge HBM4 Technology
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are evolving at an extraordinary pace, powering advancements across industries. As models grow larger and more sophisticated, they require vast amounts of data to be processed in real-time. This demand puts pressure on the underlying hardware infrastructure, particularly… Read More
Safety Grading in DNNs. Innovation in Verification
How do you measure safety for a DNN? There is no obvious way to screen for a subset of safety-critical nodes in the systolic array at the heart of DNNs. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano (Silicon Catalyst, entrepreneur, former Synopsys CTO and now Silvaco CTO) and I continue our series on research ideas.… Read More
Synopsys Powers World’s Fastest UCIe-Based Multi-Die Designs with New IP Operating at 40 Gbps
As the demand for higher performance computing solutions grows, so does the need for faster, more efficient data communication between components in complex multi-die system-on-chip (SoC) designs. In response to these needs, Synopsys has introduced the world’s fastest UCIe-based IP solution, capable of operating at a groundbreaking… Read More
Bird’s Eye View Magic: Cadence Tensilica Product Group Pulls Back the Curtain
Even for experienced technologists some technologies can seem almost indistinguishable from magic. One example is the bird’s eye camera view available on your car’s infotainment screen. This view appears to be taken from a camera hovering tens of feet above your car. As an aid to parallel parking, it’s a brilliant invention; … Read More
Serving their AI Masters
The Impact of the AI Revolution on the Server Manufacturers
While some will designate my research as market research, I view it differently. Having done and bought plenty of market sizing research, I have not seen it lead to any change in behaviour or strategy. It has been used to confirm a strategy already decided and the “great” … Read More
TetraMem Integrates Energy-Efficient In-Memory Computing with Andes RISC-V Vector Processor
The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) across a growing number of hardware applications has driven an unprecedented demand for specialized compute acceleration not met by conventional von Neumann architectures. Among the competing alternatives, one showing the greatest promise is analog in-memory computing… Read More
Semiconductors Slowing in 2025