You’re excited about the business potential for your cool new baby monitor, geo-fenced kid’s watch, home security system or whatever breakthrough app you want to build. You want to focus on the capabilities of the system, connecting it to the cloud and your marketing rollout plan. Then someone asks whether your system is architected… Read More





Mentor Calibre Panel
Getting your tape-out done on time is hard, but can it be made easier? That was the main topic of Mentor’s Calibre Panel held at DAC 2018, attended by a few key players in IC design ecosystem: Bob Stear, VP of Marketing at Samsung represented the foundry side; from the IP side, Prasad Subramaniam, VP of eSilicon for R&D and Technology;… Read More
China Trade war is accelerating with First Blood in Chips
China didn’t wait around for the US to announce more tariffs or export restrictions, instead it went on the offensive and put an injunction in place to prevent Micron from shipping product into China. Although our view is that Micron will see little impact from this action, the headlines caused the semiconductor sector stocks… Read More
55DAC Trip Report IP Quality
This year I signed books in the Fractal booth (compliments of Fractal) and let me tell you it was quite an experience. IP quality is a very touchy subject and the source of many more tape-out delays than I had imagined. As it turns out, commercial IP is the biggest offender which makes no sense to me whatsoever. Even more shocking, one… Read More
SiFive Unveils E2 Core IP Series for Smallest, Lowest Power RISC-V Designs
Fully configurable with advanced feature sets allows for broad applications, including microcontrollers, IoT, wearables, and smart cards
The E20 and E21 add to the growing list of SiFive RISC-V cores addressing the embedded controller, IoT, wearables, smart toys. On June 25, DAC opening day, SiFive announced the availability… Read More
TI: Semiconductor Industry History of Innovation
This is the fifth in the series of “20 Questions with Wally Rhines”
Texas Instruments is a remarkable company founded by remarkable people. And Eric Jonsson was one of the most remarkable visionaries of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century. He was a renaissance man who created an industry and a fortune by following the needs… Read More
Liberate Trio Embraces ML and Cloud
A chain is as strong as its weakest link. This phrase resonates well in Static Timing Analysis (STA) domain, though it is about accuracy rather than durability. As timing signoff step provides the final performance readings of a design, an STA outcome is as good as its underlying components. Aside from the parasitic extraction … Read More
CEO Interview: Cristian Amitroaie of AMIQ EDA
AMIQ EDA has caught my attention over the last few months. My first impression was that this was just another small IDE company trying to compete with established and bundled IDEs from the big 3, a seemingly insurmountable barrier. This view was challenged by an impressive list of testimonials, not just from the little guys but also… Read More
Morris Chang and Me
Legend has it that in 1984, Morris Chang was approached by a friend who was looking for money to buy equipment for manufacturing his electronic chip designs. Morris told him to do more homework. When his friend did not return, Morris reached out to him. His friend, it turned out, did not need the money after all. He had found another … Read More
55DAC Trip Report Needham Opening Presentation
Driving into DAC on Sunday afternoon was a chore since Gay Pride week was finishing with the Gay Pride Parade. Streets were closed, traffic was crazy, and people were roller skating naked which seems wrong on so many levels. This year the opening ceremonies were in the convention center hallway which also seemed wrong. Long lines… Read More
Making Intel Great Again!