This was my 40th Design Automation Conference and based on my follow-up conversations inside the semiconductor ecosystem it did not disappoint. The gauge I use for exhibitors is “qualified customer engagements” that may result in the sale of their products. This DAC was the best for that metric since the pandemic, absolutely.… Read More
Application-Specific Lithography: Patterning 5nm 5.5-Track Metal by DUV
At IEDM 2019, TSMC revealed two versions of 5nm standard cell layouts: a 5.5-track DUV-patterned version and a 6-track EUV-patterned version [1]. Although the metal pitches were not explicitly stated, later analyses of a 5nm product, namely, Apple’s A15 Bionic chip, revealed a cell height of 210 nm [2]. For the 6-track … Read More
Podcast EP239: The Future of Verification for Advanced Systems with Dave Kelf
Dan is joined by Dave Kelf, CEO of Breker Verification Systems, whose product portfolio solves challenges across the functional verification process for large, complex semiconductors. Dave has deep experience with semiconductor design and verification with management and executive level positions at Cadence, Synopsys,… Read More
The Future of Logic Equivalence Checking
Logic equivalence checking (LEC) is an automated process to verify that modified versions of a design evolving through implementation remain logically equivalent to the functionally signed-off RTL. This becomes important when accounting for retiming optimizations and for necessary implementation-stage ECOs which must… Read More
Aniah and Electrical Rule Checking (ERC) #61DAC
Visiting a new EDA vendor at #61DAC is always a treat, because much innovation comes from the start-up companies, instead of the established big four EDA companies. I met with Vincent Bligny, Founder and CEO of Aniah on Wednesday in their booth, to hear about what they are doing differently in EDA. Mr. Bligny has a background working… Read More
Writing Better Code More Quickly with an IDE and Linting
As a technical marketing consultant, I always enjoy the chance to talk to hands-on users of my clients’ electronic design automation (EDA) tools to “see how the sausage is made” on actual projects. Cristian Amitroaie, CEO of AMIQ EDA, recently connected me with Verification and Infrastructure Manager Dan Cohen and Verification… Read More
3D IC Design Ecosystem Panel at #61DAC
At #61DAC our very own Daniel Nenni from SemiWiki moderated an informative panel discussion on the topic of 3D IC Design Ecosystem. Panelists included: Deepak Kulkarni – AMD, Lalitha Immaneni – Intel Foundry, Trupti Deshpande – Qualcomm, Rob Aitken – CHIPS, Puneet Gupta – UCLA, Dragomir Milojevic – imec. Each panelist had a brief… Read More
Mitigating AI Data Bottlenecks with PCIe 7.0
During a recent LinkedIn webcast, Dr. Ian Cutress, Chief Analyst at More than Moore and Host at TechTechPotato, and Priyank Shukla, Principal Product Manager at Synopsys, shared their thoughts regarding the industry drivers, design considerations, and critical advancements in compute interconnects enabling data center… Read More
Intel’s Death Spiral Took Another Turn
Does this justify the widespread Intel bashing?
The latest Intel earnings release was another sharp and deeper turn into the company’s death spiral. On the surface, it is just a whole load of bad news, and the web has been vibrating with Intel bashing since the release.
So what are the facts?
From a revenue perspective, Intel was inside… Read More
LRCX Good but not good enough results, AMAT Epic failure and Slow Steady Recovery
- Lam reported good numbers with slightly soft guide
- Investors are figuring out the up cycle will be slower than thought
- Looks like AMAT won’t get CHIPS act money for Epic facility
- Steady improvement but stocks still ahead of themselves-Correction?
Lam reports good numbers (as usual) but guide not good enough
Lam reported… Read More
AI Semiconductor Market