Semiwiki 400x100 1 final
WP_Term Object
(
    [term_id] => 178
    [name] => IP
    [slug] => ip
    [term_group] => 0
    [term_taxonomy_id] => 178
    [taxonomy] => category
    [description] => Semiconductor Intellectual Property
    [parent] => 0
    [count] => 1766
    [filter] => raw
    [cat_ID] => 178
    [category_count] => 1766
    [category_description] => Semiconductor Intellectual Property
    [cat_name] => IP
    [category_nicename] => ip
    [category_parent] => 0
    [is_post] => 
)

The Innovator’s Dilemma Dagger Aimed at AMD and nVidia’s Heart

The Innovator’s Dilemma Dagger Aimed at AMD and nVidia’s Heart
by Ed McKernan on 01-13-2012 at 1:42 pm

There is one semiconductor company that for the last 3 years has outperformed ARM and more than doubled in stock price relative to Apple. They are everywhere but barely known to most. The success of this company in the coming year though could result in the leveling of AMD and nVidia as they try to adjust to the economics of the mobile… Read More


Memory Controller IP, battle field where Cadence and Synopsys are really fighting face to face. Today let’s have a look at Cadence’s strategy.

Memory Controller IP, battle field where Cadence and Synopsys are really fighting face to face. Today let’s have a look at Cadence’s strategy.
by Eric Esteve on 01-12-2012 at 9:45 am

I have shared with you last year some strategic information released by Cadence in April about their IP strategy, more specifically about the launch of the DDR4 Controller IP. And try to understand Cadence strategy about Interface IP in general (USB, PCIe, SATA, DDRn, HDMI, MIPI…) and how Cadence is positioned in respect with their… Read More


Medfield: ARM twisting

Medfield: ARM twisting
by Paul McLellan on 01-11-2012 at 2:53 pm

One of the most significant announcements at the consumer electronics show (CES) this week was Intel’s Medfield, an Atom-based smartphone SoC. The SoC itself is unremarkable, perhaps a little better than ARM Cortex-based SoCs in some areas, worse in others. The reason it is significant is that Motorola (soon to be Google,… Read More


Kindle Touch – My Experience

Kindle Touch – My Experience
by Daniel Payne on 01-09-2012 at 11:08 am

Mostly I blog about EDA software however the end objective of IC design is to produce an electronic system like the Kindle Touch, a popular e-book reader from Amazon introduced in late 2011.

Tear Down
This particular model has the following components (Source: Tech Republic):

Read More

Economist on ARM vs Intel

Economist on ARM vs Intel
by Paul McLellan on 01-06-2012 at 7:16 pm

The Economist has a big article (may need a subscription, can’t tell because I have one, it’s in the print edition too) about ARM versus Intel. It is an interesting read since I think it misses so much of what really drives semiconductor. It tells the story about Intel trying to get into mobile (because it’s main… Read More


Altera’s New Dual ARM® Cortex™-A9 SoC Arria® and Cyclone® V FPGA Families

Altera’s New Dual ARM® Cortex™-A9 SoC Arria® and Cyclone® V FPGA Families
by Daniel Nenni on 01-03-2012 at 7:29 pm

Altera recently introduced versions of their new Arria® and Cyclone® V FPGA families that incorporates a dual ARM®Cortex™-A9 MPCore hard core. These parts are particularly interesting to NARD as it’s consistent with the NARD concept of offering platforms unified by a common ARM® host core and a variety of controller/coprocessor… Read More


Will Rising Smartphone Tide Lift Semiconductor Boats in 2012?

Will Rising Smartphone Tide Lift Semiconductor Boats in 2012?
by Ed McKernan on 12-16-2011 at 5:12 pm

Memo to Self: When all else fails, return to the Smartphone Market!

The announcement by Intel earlier this week that they would come up short this quarter is a reminder that it is not growth, but very high growth that covers a Multitude of Economic Sins (many which are unforeseen). The semiconductor industry has had to endure three… Read More


IP-SoC 2011 Trip Report: IP again, new ASSP model, security, cache coherence and more

IP-SoC 2011 Trip Report: IP again, new ASSP model, security, cache coherence and more
by Eric Esteve on 12-13-2011 at 9:05 am

For the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of IP-SoC, we had about ten presentations, most being really interesting; the conference has provided globally a very good level of information, speakers coming from various places like China, Belarus, The University of Aizu (Japan), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Silesian and Warsaw… Read More


Intel Proves Last Year’s Conventional Wisdom Wrong

Intel Proves Last Year’s Conventional Wisdom Wrong
by Ed McKernan on 12-11-2011 at 7:00 pm

Back in the 1990’s, Richard Branson, the legendary Entrepreneur and investor was asked how to become a millionaire, and he allegedly responded, “There’s really nothing to it. Start as a billionaire and then buy an airline.” I think the same principle can be applied to a large part of the Semiconductor… Read More


Microsoft’s New Tablet Strategy: Here, There and Everywhere

Microsoft’s New Tablet Strategy: Here, There and Everywhere
by Ed McKernan on 12-03-2011 at 10:33 am

As mentioned in a previous post, Microsoft has started to come clean on its software strategy as it relates to Windows 8 for PCs and Tablets. The strategy has been changing quite rapidly since their first admission in September. Essentially the Windows 8 O/S will be forked based on whether the mobile device is operating on an x86 or… Read More