Alchip Technologies reported improved financial results for the first quarter, reflecting continued momentum in advanced artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and custom ASIC demand. The company cited stronger customer engagement in leading-edge semiconductor designs and accelerating tape-out… Read More
John Barr: The EDA Veteran and Award-Winning Needham Funds Portfolio Manager
John Barr, Portfolio Manager of the top-ranked Needham Aggressive Growth Fund, has built a career with skills honed not just on Wall Street, but in the trenches of the early EDA industry.
Before becoming a respected sell-side analyst and later a buy-side portfolio manager, Barr spent 15 years in the EDA industry, working through… Read More
What Winemakers and Chip Designers Have in Common
Consider this a standout presentation at the Silicon Catalyst Spring Portfolio Update Meeting held yesterday at the Computer History Museum. Mahesh Tirupattur, CEO of Analog Bits, is a modern-day, multidimensional semiconductor hero and one of my trusted few. Analog Bits is a premier member of the semiconductor ecosystem,… Read More
Semiconductors Historic Start to 2026
The global semiconductor market grew 25% in the 1st quarter of 2026 from the 4th quarter of 2025 to reach $299 billion, according to WSTS. The 1st quarter of 2026 was up 79% from a year earlier. The 25% quarter-to-quarter growth was the highest in the over 40-year history of WSTS data, surpassing the 20% growth in the 2nd quarter of 2009.… Read More
AI Chip Design Moves Beyond Monolithic Silicon with Alchip 3DIC
Artificial intelligence processors are entering a new era. For more than two decades, semiconductor innovation was driven primarily by transistor scaling and process node shrinks. Today, however, AI infrastructure demands are growing faster than traditional Moore’s Law improvements can sustain. The industry is now shifting… Read More
Podcast EP346: How EMD Electronics Bridges the “Lab to Fab” Gap With Ganesh Panaman
Daniel is joined by Ganesh Panaman, the President of Intermolecular Services at EMD Electronics. In his current role, Ganesh is dedicated to accelerating product time-to-market, securing first-mover advantages on disruptive technologies, and actively engaging with the dynamic startup ecosystem in the Silicon Valley. … Read More
The Semiconductor Growth Numbers are Insane but the Real World Doesn’t Tally!
May’s WSTS Report saw March’s total monthly semiconductor sales up 88.1 percent vs. March 2025, albeit down 8.5 percent from February 2026. This month-on-month decline needs to put in the context of February’s record-breaking 25.7 percent monthly growth.
This growth, however, was solely attributable to ICs, up 99.5 percent… Read More
Sensing. A Quantum Tech Ready for Market?
While the quantum world revolves around quantum computing, (QC) there are a couple of other quantum technologies of note. I covered one of these, quantum communication, in a recent blog. Here I’ll introduce the other, quantum sensing. The goal is to use the high sensitivity of an individual quantum state to external factors such… Read More
Panel Discission: Beyond Moore’s Law and the Future of Semiconductor Manufacturing
The semiconductor industry is entering a post-Moore’s Law era in which scaling transistor density alone is no longer sufficient to sustain historical performance growth. As discussed in the panel Beyond Moore’s Law: The Future of Semiconductor Manufacturing, the industry is increasingly dependent on advanced manufacturing… Read More
RISC-V: From Niche Architecture to Strategic Foundation
At the recent RISC-V Now by Andes conference, Aion Silicon’s presentation made one thing clear: RISC-V is no longer an emerging alternative but rather rapidly becoming foundational to modern silicon design. This conviction is not theoretical says Oliver Jones, CEO of Aion Silicon, who gave the talk. It is grounded in Aion Silicon’s… Read More


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