In recent years, a number of technologies as well as the constant desire for faster and more pervasive mobile communication systems have set in motion a well sustained growth trend for the “next big thing” such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearables, automobile electronics, advances in medical devices etc. In all these areas… Read More
Semiconductor Intellectual Property
Xilinx in an ARM-fueled post-Altera world
When the news broke about the on, off, and on-again Intel-Altera merger a few weeks ago, I checked off another box on my Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon scorecard. That plus a $5 bill gets me a Happy Meal at McDonalds, but in a post-Altera world, it might be worth more.
On January 16, 2008, I’m sitting in a meeting with some Intel strategic marketing… Read More
More about “MIPI beyond Mobile” Paper at DAC
The “MIPI Beyond Mobile” paper has been presented during the 52th DAC in San Francisco and I can share the key findings with Semiwiki readers. This paper has been written to synthesize certain results of the “MIPI Ecosystem Survey-2015” and evaluate the impact on the MIPI IP sales in the future. At first the MIPI Ecosystem has really… Read More
Synopsy Eats Their Own Dogfood
One of the most interesting presentations that I went to was the last presentation at the Synopsys Custom Lunch (no, the lunch wasn’t custom, we all got the same, but the presentations were about custom design). Since the last presentation was by Synopsys themselves and not by a customer, it wouldn’t seem promising that it could … Read More
Is Interconnect Ready for the Post-mobile SoCs?
The interconnect technology is one of the unsung heroes of the system-on-chip (SoC) revolution. It’s the on-chip networking fabric that is used to link various IP cores on an SoC floorplan. The technology facilitates links between multiple processors, on-chip memories, hardware accelerators and more. In other words,… Read More
Sonics’ New NoC
Today Sonics announced the latest version of their network-on-chip (NoC) technology, SonicsGN-3.0. As with any new release there are lots of improvements that are of interest mainly to existing users, but the big area with increased capability is the expanded interleaved memory technology (IMT). This was first introduced … Read More
Apple Watch Design Revisit with a Wi-Fi Twist
Apple Watch is the world’s most celebrated gadget in 2015. At the same time, however, early product reviews highlight some issues about slow apps, less than impressive user experience, and short battery life.
Apple, the master of artful integration, has done well for its reputation of elite hardware and has been able to … Read More
New Tool Suite to Accelerate SoC Integration
Today, an SoC is seen in the context of an optimized assembly of IPs; it’s no more a single monolithic chip design. It’s very common to see an ARM processor IP along with an interconnect IP, a memory IP, and couple of buses and interfaces IP in an SoC. Although the SoC seems to be an integrated collection of IPs, it can be very complex and… Read More
Design Data Management: An Analog IP Porting Case Study
IQ-Analog Corp. offers “off-the-shelf” data converter intellectual property (IP) for multiple foundries. The San Diego, California–based semiconductor design firm also provides analog front-end (AFE) technology that it tailors according to customer needs. And that’s where the dilemma begins.
IQ-Analog’s… Read More
ARM and frog Team up with UNICEF to Foster Creation of Wearables for the Developing World
When the term wearables is mentioned most people’s first thoughts go to devices like the Apple Watch, Fitbit Flex, or Nike Fuel Band. Wearables such as these solve first-world problems like how much exercise am I getting, or what is my heart rate. The developed world drives the development of new technology in most cases, and wearables… Read More


AI-designed Chip Points Toward a Faster Future for Custom Silicon