ARM and Synopsys are well-known physical IP companies however at DAC today I met with a lesser-known company named DXCORR that has some unique offerings for cache, multi-port memory and standard cell kicker libraries. I met with:… Read More
Semiconductor Intellectual Property
Jasper at DAC: ARM, Broadcom, Nvidia, ST
At DAC (next week, in case you have been under a rock for the last few months) Jasper has four of their customers presenting. Of course they are also presenting themselves making a total of 5 seminars.
nVidia is presenting on Sequential Equivalency Checking for Power Optimization with JasperGold Apps. It is on Monday at 11am, Tuesday… Read More
Network on Chip in Automotive: Arteris
The recent announcement from Arteris that iC-Logic chose FlexNoC and C2C to create a flexible and high speed communication chip to respond to the increasing demand of high speed connectivity in car infotainment systems is very interesting, as it shows that SoC designed for the Automotive market segment also require advanced … Read More
Software-based Wi-Fi: DSP IP core
The recent announcement from CEVA that it has joined the Wi-Fi Alliance® to further advocate for a software-based Wi-Fi® strategy shows that the new CEVA-XC4000 DSP can be used in various communication protocols, not limited to the traditional baseband processing for the wireless handset phone, where DSP IP core usage is massive.… Read More
Semiconductor Ecosystem Keynotes: ARM 2012
Yesterday’s SEMICO IP Ecosystem Conference was well worth the time. Everybody was there: ARM, Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, GlobalFoundries, TSMC, MIPS, Tensilica, AMD, Atrenta, Sonics, and Tabula, everybody except Intel of course. What do Intel and I have in common? We don’t play well with others…
First up was… Read More
Smart mobile SoCs: Intel
Talk about an unusual position. Intel finds themselves very much currently outside when it comes to mobile SoCs for phones and tablets. After several attempts at soul-searching and a true understanding of the term “low-power” (not meaning 3W, but instead < 1W), they finally have a part – in the form of “Medfield”, aka the Atom… Read More
CEVA is the undisputed DSP worldwide leader
Anybody working in the wireless handset segment probably knows that CEVA is the provider of DSP IP cores, and if you are simply a wireless handset user, you should know that the baseband digital signal processing is the function allowing your phone to process the RF (analog) signal coming from the outside world. If you have been involved… Read More
Analyzing Cortex Performance
CPAK sounds like something politicians create to collect money, but in fact it is a Carbon Performance Analysis Kit. It consists of models, reference platform, initialization software (for bare metal CPAKs) or OS binary (for Linux and Android based CPAKs). They are (or will soon be) available for ARM Cortex A9, ARM Cortex A15 and… Read More
MIPS, ARM, ARC, Imagination, Ceva
The Linley Group, whose conference on mobile I recently attended, has some interesting data about the processor core market. Firstly, the numbers are big: CPU cores shipped in over 10 billion chips last year which is up 25% on last. ARM has a share of 78% of that entire market. The big surprise to me was the #2 was not MIPS but Synopsys… Read More
Intel Foundry All Hat No Cattle?
If you look real close at the #49 DAC floor plan you will see the tiny Intel booth dwarfed by those of TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Samsung, and ARM. The number one semiconductor company in the world does not have the budget for the cornerstone conference of the semiconductor ecosystem? Oh my…… Intel has a big foundry hat and no cattle… Read More


Silicon Insurance: Why eFPGA is Cheaper Than a Respin — and Why It Matters in the Intel 18A Era