According to semiconductor trade statistics, 2017 will be the strongest market since 2010 easily recording double digit gains causing the SOX Semiconductor Index to outpace NASDAQ and the other indexes. The question Wall Street people have now is: How much longer will semiconductors be an attractive investment? That question… Read More
Presto Engineering – Outsourced Secure Provisioning – Even Their Secrets Have Secrets
When I first heard about Presto Engineering I was enamored by a statement on their web site that claimed that one of their secured solutions included, “The ability to incorporate your secrets without knowing them”. If Mr. Spock would have been in the room his eyebrow would have certainly raised. Indeed, what does that statement … Read More
Adoption, Architecture and Origami
Last week I sat in on Oski’s latest in a series of “Decoding Formal” sessions. Judging by my first experience, they plan and manage these events very well. Not too long (~3 hours of talks), good food (DishDash), good customer content, a good forward-looking topic and a very entertaining wrap-up talk.… Read More
eFabless and Silego $15,000 Go Configure Design Challenge Series!
The eFabless and Silego “Go Configure Design Challenge Series” is the first of its kind to allow a global community of designers to implement widely used functions using GreenPAK™ Configurable Mixed-signal ICs (“CMICs”) and its intuitive drag-and-drop software GUI. The efabless platform will serve as the crowd source design… Read More
Deal Struck for Sale of Toshiba NAND to Bain Apple and Others
What does it mean for the skyrocketing memory sector? In a last minute plot twist, Bain capital appears to be the winner in the auction of the Toshiba memory unit. The Bain consortium includes a strange cast of characters including Apple, Dell, Seagate, Kingston Technology, Innovation Network Corp of Japan and Development Bank… Read More
2017 Semiconductor Growth Approaching 20 Percent!
The 2017 semiconductor market is shaping up as the strongest since 2010 – when the market grew 32% as it bounced back from the 2008-2009 downturn. According to World Semiconductor Trades Statistics (WSTS), the second quarter 2017 semiconductor market was up 5.8% from 1Q 2017 and up 23.7% from a year ago. Much of the market vitality… Read More
Intrinsix Fields Ultra-Low Power Security IP for the IoT Market
As the Internet-of-Things (IoT) market continues to grow, the industry is coming to grips with the need to secure their IoT systems across the entire spectrum of IoT devices (edge, gateway, and cloud). One need only look back to the 2016 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that caused internet outages for major portions… Read More
Open Silicon Delivers Silicon-Verified HBM2 IP-Subsystem on TSMC 16nm FF+
Open Silicon hosted a webinar today focusing on their High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) IP-subsystem product offering. Their IP-subsystem is based on the HBM2 standard and includes blocks for the memory controller, PHY and high-speed I/Os, all targeted to TSMC 16nm FF+ process. The IP-subsystem supports the full HBM2 standard with… Read More
Yield Analysis is a Critical Driver for Profitability
One of the most important aspects of any manufacturing effort is the yield of the process. Today, the investment in facilities, equipment and materials is so high that consistently high yields are vital to the profitability of the semiconductor manufacturer. Furthermore, the engineers must get to that consistent high yield … Read More
What does the Lattice rejection mean for chip M&A?
Although the rejection of the Lattice deal was expected, it none the less has an impact on a number of dynamics in the chip industry and further M&A and consolidation. Freezing out China removes a “catalyst” in the market which help bid up values and add fear to both potential targets or those left out. Cross border… Read More
TSMC Formally Sues Ex-SVP Over Alleged Transfer of Trade Secrets to Intel