Synopsys just announced the availability of their IP solution supporting CXL (Compute Express Link). This new protocol is going to be an important component for several applications expected to be shipping starting in 2021. CXL is an alternate protocol that runs on the same physical layer as PCI Express (PCIe). Among other usages,… Read More
Semiconductor Intellectual Property
AI, Safety and the Network
If you follow my blogs you know that Arteris IP is very active in these areas, leveraging their central value in network-on-chip (NoC) architectures. Kurt Shuler has put together a front-to-back white-paper to walk you through the essentials of AI, particularly machine learning (ML) and its application for example in cars.
He… Read More
SiFive to Host its Tech Symposium on RISC-V in Israel on September 5
There’s no question that the RISC-V ISA is revolutionizing the semiconductor ecosystem around the world. We see Israel as the epicenter of RISC-V based development and innovation in the Middle East. For the second year in a row, SiFive will be hosting its Tech Symposium on RISC-V in Israel to help foster the growth and momentum that’s… Read More
Tensilica DNA 100 Brings the AI Inference Solution for Level 2 ADAS ECUs and Level 4 Autonomous Driving
I recently wrote about Tensilica’s HiFi DSPs which played a significant role at Cadence’s Automotive Design Summit which was held on the Cadence San Jose campus at the end of July. That article focused on infotainment while briefly touching on Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS). ADAS is NOT synonymous with autopilot.… Read More
Low Power Design – Art vs. Science
I have heard many times before that low power and mixed-signal design is more Art than Science. I believe this is a misconception. Science is a field that builds upon previous experiences and discoveries. Art primarily seeks out creative differences, things we have not seen before that evoke emotion. The most successful designers… Read More
Digging Deeper in Hardware/Software Security
When it comes to security we’re all outraged at the manifest incompetence of whoever was most recently hacked, leaking personal account details for tens of millions of clients and everyone firmly believes that “they” ought to do better. Yet as a society there’s little evidence beyond our clickbait Pavlovian responses that we’re… Read More
Tensilica HiFi DSPs for What I Want to Hear, and What I Don’t Want to Hear
It seems every day we see a new article (or ten) on autonomous driving. It is an especially hot topic, and it will happen someday. For now, we can dream about it, and many people are working on it. But for the present, the technology in a car that commands my attention is audio. I’ve been a musician since 4th grade. I still perform occasionally… Read More
WEBINAR: The Brave New World of Customized Memory
The need to design low power devices is not new. However, the criticality of lowering the power consumption of chip designs has never been as important as it is now. In 1989, I purchased one of the first consumer cell phones produced by Panasonic. The battery was the size of a brick, but only about a third of the thickness. If the battery… Read More
Tortuga Webinar: Ensuring System Level Security Through HW/SW Verification
We all know (I hope) that security is important so we’re willing to invest time and money in this area but there are a couple of problems. First there’s no point in making your design secure if it’s not competitive and making it competitive is hard enough, so the great majority of resource and investment is going to go into that objective.… Read More
eFPGA – What a great idea! But I have no idea how I’d use it!
eFPGA stands for embedded Field Programmable Grid Arrays. An eFPGA is a programmable device like an FPGA but rather than being sold as a completed chip it is licensed as a semiconductor IP block. ASIC designers can license this IP and embed it into their own chips adding the flexibility of programmability at an incremental cost.… Read More


Intel: Pushing EMIB Forward: Design Methodology Insights with Synopsys Tools