When Synopsys bought Virage Logic in 2010, ARC processor IP was in the basket, but at that time ARC processor core was not the most powerful on the market, and by far. The launch of EV6x vision processor sounds like Synopsys has moved ARC processor core by several orders of magnitude in term of processing power. EV6x deliver up to 4X … Read More
LETI Days 2017: FD-SOI, Sensors and Power to Sustain Auto and IoT
I have attended last week to the LETI Days in Grenoble, lasting two days to mark the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the CEA subsidiary. Attending to the LETI Days is always a rich experience: LETI is a research center counting about 3000 research engineers, but LETI is also a start-up nursery. The presentations are ranging from … Read More
Nvidia Handles Data, Senate with Care
When speaking before the U.S. Senate or Congress one has to choose one’s words carefully. The temptation, when one is speaking before legislators and microphones and cameras, is to tell it like it is and speak truth to power. The reality is that the power of the legislators and the microphones and the cameras must be respected and,… Read More
Bosch to Build $1.1 Billion Fab for Automotive and IoT!
There has been quite a bit of coverage on this already but Bosch building a fab in Dresden is a big deal so let me share my experience, observation, and opinion as us bloggers do. The $1.1B question of course is: Why didn’t Bosch invest in GlobalFoundries FD-SOI fabs in Dresden instead? Automotive and IoT is perfect for FD-SOI,… Read More
DSRC: The Road to Ridiculous
Stupid has a home and that home is in Macomb County, Michigan. It is here, we learn from The Detroit News, that General Motors Co. has decided to test the use of wireless technology in conjunction with roadside QR code signs to transmit vital traffic information to passing cars. Those messages will only be communicated to cars equipped… Read More
Safety EDA
It takes courage and perhaps even a little insanity to start a new EDA venture these days – unless you have a decently differentiated value proposition in a hot market. One company that caught my eye, Austemper, seems to measure up to these standards (though I can’t speak to the insanity part). They offer EDA tooling specifically… Read More
FD-SOI in Japan?
If you want to get your finger on the Japan FD-SOI pulse, registration is still open for a free, two-day workshop in Tokyo this week organized by the SOI Consortium. This is the 3rd Annual SOI Tokyo Workshop, and there’s a really interesting line-up of speakers.
In case you’re wondering, Japan is doing FD-SOI. In fact… Read More
CPU, GPU, H/W Accelerator or DSP to Best Address CNN Algorithms?
If you read an article dealing with Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), you will probably hear about the battle between CPU and GPU, both off-the-shelf standard product. Addressing CNN processing needs with standard CPU or GPU is like having to sink a screw when you only have a hammer or a monkey wrench available. You can dissert… Read More
$100M China Investment for FD-SOI Ecosystem!
When GlobalFoundries first briefed me on 22FDX during a trip to Dresden in 2015, China was one of the first things that came to mind. The China semiconductor market was still on 28nm and FinFETs seemed far away for the majority of the Chinese fabless companies. A low cost, low power, low complexity 22nm process with a path to 12nm (12FDX)… Read More
Understanding ISO 26262 Compliance for Automotive Suppliers
The semiconductor, IP, Software and EDA industries are all focusing on the growing automotive market because of its electronic content, size and growth. There are long-time suppliers to the automotive industry, and also first-time vendors that are launching something new every week for electronics in automotive. So where … Read More


Website Developers May Have Most to Fear From AI