In 1969 the Internet was born at UCLA when a computer there sent a message to a computer at Stanford. By 1975, there were 57 computers on the ‘internet’. Interestingly in the early seventies I actually used the original Xerox Sigma 7 connected to the internet in Boelter Hall at UCLA. A similar vintage computer is now in this room commemorating… Read More
Open-Silicon SerDes TCoE Enables Successful Delivery of ASICs for Next-generation, High-Speed Systems
With 5G cellular networks just around the corner, there is an ever-increasing number of companies working to bring faster communications chips to the market. Data centers are now deploying 100G to handle the increased bandwidth requirements, typically in the form of four 28Gbps channels and that means ASIC designers are looking… Read More
Electronics upturn boosting semiconductors
Production of electronics has been accelerating in the last several months, contributing to strong growth in the semiconductor market. China, the largest producer of electronics, has seen three-month-average change versus a year ago (3/12 change) accelerate from below 10% for most of 2016 to 14.5% in April 2017. China’s April… Read More
Worldwide Design IP Revenue Grew 13.1% in 2016, According to Final Results by IPnest
Despite the strong consolidation in the semiconductor industry, the Design IP market is going well, very well with YoY growth of 13.1% in 2016, according with the Design IP Report from IPnest. ARM Group of Softbank (previously known as ARM Holding) is again the strong #1 with IP revenues (licenses plus royalties) of $1,647 million… Read More
Webinar: Achieving Very High Bandwidth Chip-to-Chip Communication with the Interlaken Interface Protocol
Open Silicon will hold this webinar on June 13th at 8 am PDT (or 5 pm CE) to describe their Interlaken IP core, and how to achieve very high bandwidth C2C communication in various networking applications. To be more specific, the Interlaken protocol can be used to support Packet Processing/NPU, Traffic Management, Switch Fabric,… Read More
Memory drives semiconductor boom in 2017
The semiconductor market was down 0.4% in first quarter 2017 from 4Q 2016 and up 18.1% from a year ago, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The 0.4% decline in 1Q 2017 versus 4Q 2016 is strong compared to an average 4% decline from 4Q to 1Q over the previous five years. The relative strength in 1Q 2017 was driven… Read More
It’s Time to Stop Thinking in Two Dimensions
The first transistor was made of two electrodes, held in place by plastic, making contact with a piece of doped germanium. Ever since then, devices and their packaging have been performing a complicated and oftentimes intricate dance. Single transistor devices became integrated circuits, and along the way separate IC’s were… Read More
SEMICON Southeast Asia reflects strong equipment market
SEMICON Southeast Asia was held this week in Penang, Malaysia. Over 6500 people attended the conference to learn about the latest trends and equipment in semiconductor manufacturing.
Dr. Dan Tracy, Senior Director Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI, presented an optimistic outlook for the semiconductor equipment market… Read More
SPIE 2017 – imec papers and interview
At the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference imec published a number of papers on EUV, multi-patterning and other lithography issues. In addition to seeing several of the papers presented I had a chance to sit down with imec’s director of advanced patterning, Greg McIntyre. In this article I will summarize my discussions… Read More
1.2 Terabit/s C2C Interface? Only with Interlaken!
If you are familiar with high bandwidth networking applications, you probably know this chip-to-chip (C2C) interface protocol. Interlaken architecture, fully flexible, configurable and scalable, is also an elegant answer to the need for very high bandwidth C2C communication. Interlaken is elegant because the protocol … Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot