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UMC and SMIC 14nm, Too Little Too Late?

UMC and SMIC 14nm, Too Little Too Late?
by Daniel Nenni on 06-24-2015 at 1:00 am

Pretty much out of nowhere UMC let fly a press release about taping out a 14nm test chip with ARM and Synopsys IP which was quickly followed by an SMIC 14nm press release about a joint venture with Huawei, Qualcomm, and imec. It caught me a bit by surprise since I spent time with both UMC and SMIC at #52DAC and nothing was mentioned. Of course… Read More


eSilicon@Samsung: ASIC Design, IP Enablement, and Cloud Platform

eSilicon@Samsung: ASIC Design, IP Enablement, and Cloud Platform
by Paul McLellan on 06-12-2015 at 7:00 am

Earlier this week at DAC, Javier DeLaCruz of eSilicon presented at the Samsung booth. They presented an introduction to what eSilicon does. However, since what they do has changed over the years it is useful to recap. If you know about eSilicon then you probably think of them as a fabless ASIC company. The old ASIC model back in the … Read More


Semiconductor Acquisitions will Fuel Innovation!

Semiconductor Acquisitions will Fuel Innovation!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-30-2015 at 7:00 am

Has the semiconductor world gone acquisition crazy? It certainly seems that way with the more than $60B in M&A activity which may now include Altera. We are probably getting close to the 80/20 rule where 80% of the semiconductor revenue is being generated by 20% of the companies. Not far off from where we were at 25 years ago when… Read More


eSilicon Lyfts Its Game

eSilicon Lyfts Its Game
by Paul McLellan on 05-24-2015 at 3:00 am

We have got used to services like Uber and Lyft (at least in cities that are not so anti-consumer as to ban them, I’m looking at you New York. Et vous Paris). But in most of the semiconductor world we are still stuck standing at the side of the road waving our hand helplessly in the hope that the light on that taxi is actually on. Leading… Read More


The Future of Chip Design in the Internet Age

The Future of Chip Design in the Internet Age
by Mike Gianfagna on 05-20-2015 at 1:00 am

Huge designs, spectacular design costs, astronomical capital expenditure. Welcome to the present day semiconductor industry. As discussed in my prior post, the days of democratized silicon access have been replaced by an elite market. Custom chips are once again a rich person’s game. Does it have to stay this way? I personally… Read More


Chip Design – Coming of Age in the Computer Age

Chip Design – Coming of Age in the Computer Age
by Mike Gianfagna on 05-13-2015 at 2:30 am

Previously, I examined chip design in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was a nostalgic ride – thanks to all those who shared their stories. I enjoyed reading all of them. I drew two basic conclusions in the prior post:

[LIST=1]

  • Chip design problems are the same, more or less, over time. The numbers just get bigger
  • Raising abstraction
  • Read More

    Design Virtualization Technology: VMWare for SoCs

    Design Virtualization Technology: VMWare for SoCs
    by Paul McLellan on 05-10-2015 at 1:00 am

    It was way back in 2001 that Pat Gelsinger, then CTO of Intel, pointed out that if we kept increasing clock rates that chips would have the power density of rocket nozzles and nuclear reactor cores. Ever since then power has been public enemy #1 in chip design. In 2007 Apple announced the iPhone and the application processor inside … Read More


    Chip Design Problems Remain the Same, More or Less

    Chip Design Problems Remain the Same, More or Less
    by Mike Gianfagna on 05-09-2015 at 2:00 pm

    For those who may not know me, here is a brief introduction. I started in the semiconductor business when RCA was still making vacuum tubes and I wrote EDA software before there was an EDA industry. I’ve designed and sold chips and developed, sold and used EDA tools at companies as big as General Electric and as small as seven people.… Read More


    From Medical and Wearables to Big Data, in 日本語/한국어/中文

    From Medical and Wearables to Big Data, in 日本語/한국어/中文
    by Paul McLellan on 04-10-2015 at 7:00 am

    Whether it’s a tiny always-on medical device or a secure cloud network processing Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT) is bringing new challenges to IC design. Almost by definition an IoT device contains a microcontroller of some sort along with some way of communicating. Unlike our smartphones where we are reasonably happy … Read More


    Webinar: Choosing IP for your next IoT Design

    Webinar: Choosing IP for your next IoT Design
    by Daniel Payne on 03-17-2015 at 8:00 pm

    My favorite IoT device is a cycle-computer from CatEyeand it has GPS for tracking my bike routes, and an LCD display that shows me speed, cadence, heart rate and time. After each ride I connect my CatEye device to a USB connector, upload my data to Strava.com, and then see how I’m doing versus other cyclists and my own personal… Read More