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AMAT last to confirm foundry led recovery

AMAT last to confirm foundry led recovery
by Robert Maire on 11-18-2019 at 6:00 am

Good end to a weak fiscal year- and end to down cycle
As expected and well telegraphed by TSMC, LRCX, ASML & KLAC, AMAT put up a good quarter and guide as the last to report that the industry has turned the corner on the down cycle. While not a rip roaring recovery, its better to return to growth than continue a downward trend.

Results… Read More


Synopsys Fusion Compiler Delivers ARM Hercules-Samsung 5LPE Design

Synopsys Fusion Compiler Delivers ARM Hercules-Samsung 5LPE Design
by Daniel Nenni on 11-15-2019 at 10:00 am

There were many interesting presentations at ARM TechCon this year besides the keynote addresses by Arm, which were truly stunning for content and production value. One very interesting presentation was the talk given in the afternoon of Wednesday, October 9, 2019, titled, Synopsys Fusion Compiler for Next Generation Arm HerculesRead More


2020 Semiconductor Foundry Landscape Update!

2020 Semiconductor Foundry Landscape Update!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-15-2019 at 6:00 am

When I first started working with the foundries 25 years ago I would have never imagined that I would make a career out of it, which I most certainly have. Fortunately, I recognized early on that not only are the foundries the cornerstone of the semiconductor ecosystem, they are also a very important economic bellwether, absolutely.… Read More


SiFive is Teaming with Many of the Most Prestigious Universities in South America to Engage Academia in the RISC-V Ecosystem!

SiFive is Teaming with Many of the Most Prestigious Universities in South America to Engage Academia in the RISC-V Ecosystem!
by Swamy Irrinki on 11-14-2019 at 2:00 pm

We’re confirming seats in São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Bucaramanga for the South American leg of our worldwide 2019 SiFive Tech Symposiums and Workshops. These five events will be focused heavily on academia, which is a key focus for SiFive. In fact, we are co-hosting these events with many of the most prestigious… Read More


Evolving Landscape of Self-Driving Safety Standards

Evolving Landscape of Self-Driving Safety Standards
by Bernard Murphy on 11-14-2019 at 5:00 am

Autonomous Vehicle

I sat in a couple of panels at Arm TechCon this year, the first on how safety is evolving for platform-based architectures with a mix of safety-aware IP and the second on lessons learned in safety and particularly how the industry and standards are adapting to the larger challenges in self-driving, which obviously extend beyond … Read More


Functional Safety Comes to EDA and IP

Functional Safety Comes to EDA and IP
by Daniel Payne on 11-13-2019 at 10:00 am

Every week I read headlines about the progress of autonomous vehicles, and the inevitable questions began to arise, like, “Just how safe is this AV?”, or “Is this new ADAS feature trustworthy?” The automotive industry has already setup the ISO 26262 functional safety standard, and we’ve bloggedRead More


Package Reliability Issues Cost Money

Package Reliability Issues Cost Money
by Tom Dillinger on 11-13-2019 at 6:00 am

Advanced packaging technology is enabling “More Than Moore” scaling of heterogeneous technology die.  At the recent EDPS Symposium in Milpitas, Craig Hillman, Director of Product Development, DfR Solutions, at ANSYS gave a compelling presentation, “Reliability Challenges in Advanced Packaging”.  The key takeaway messages… Read More


A No-Fudge ML Architecture for Arm

A No-Fudge ML Architecture for Arm
by Bernard Murphy on 11-12-2019 at 5:00 am

Ethos applications

At TechCon I had a 1×1 with Steve Roddy, VP of product marketing in the Machine Learning (ML) Group at Arm. I wanted to learn more about their ML direction since I previously felt that, amid a sea of special ML architectures from everyone else, they were somewhat fudging their position in this space. What I heard earlier was that… Read More


Is the ASIC Business Dead?

Is the ASIC Business Dead?
by Daniel Nenni on 11-11-2019 at 10:00 am

We covered the ASIC business in Chapter 2 of our book “Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry” using VLSI Technology and eSilicon as shining examples. Neither of which now exist. The ASIC business model was a critical steppingstone in the transformation of the semiconductor industry. Many systems companies… Read More


WEBINAR: Which ASIC Manufacturing Method is Right for You?

WEBINAR: Which ASIC Manufacturing Method is Right for You?
by Daniel Nenni on 11-11-2019 at 6:00 am

Minimizing ASIC production costs is the goal of every company. The problem is that this requires extensive knowledge. You must understand the technical intricacies and the financial implications of multiple activities like wafer production, packaging and QA activities such as electrical tests.

Generally, the more your company… Read More