One of the harshest lessons we learned during the recent pandemic is the power of exponentials. As human beings, we are linear thinkers and can’t fathom how doublings of viruses — or technologies — can be destructive and disrupt everything. In my university classes and talks to business executives, I have always had to explain… Read More





Podcast EP126: Unifying RF and Optics with POET’s Optical Interposer Platform
Dan is joined by Dr. Suresh Venkatesan, chairman and CEO, POET Technologies. Suresh joined POET Technologies from GLOBALFOUNDRIES where he served as senior vice president, Technology Development. He is an industry veteran with over 22 years of experience in semiconductor technology development. Prior to joining GLOBALFOUNDRIES,… Read More
TSMC OIP – Enabling System Innovation
On November 10th I watched the presentation by L.C. Lu, TSMC Fellow & VP, as he talked about enabling system innovation with dozens of slides in just 26 minutes. TSMC is the number one semiconductor foundry in the world, and their Open Innovation Platform (OIP) events are popular and well attended as the process technology and… Read More
Mobility is Dead; Long Live Mobility
What the hell is going on in the automotive industry. Every automotive executive is talking mobility, mobility, mobility while simultaneously divesting every mobility asset that has been amassed over the past 10 years of surging mobility mania.
The latest spinoff of a mobility asset was Volkswagen’s sale of its WeShare car … Read More
AMAT and Semitool Deja Vu all over again
-Lam/Semisysco is a repeat of AMAT/Semitool
-Adds wet processing that larger companies lack
-Semisysco tools amazingly similar to those made by Semitool
-Lightning strikes twice for Ray Thompson
Deja Vu all over again
In a clear example of history repeating itself, Lam Research bought Semisysco, a company founded by Ray Thompson,… Read More
Podcast EP125: How NXP is Helping to Build Software-Defined Vehicles
Dan is joined by Brian Carlson, Brian is responsible for global marketing of automotive processors and solutions at NXP Semiconductors. He focuses on enabling new innovations that can create new automotive industry business opportunities. He has over 30 years’ experience driving leading-edge, computing and communications… Read More
Micron- “The first cut isn’t the deepest”- Chops production & forecast further
-Micron announces more production cuts & lower forecast
-DRAM will be negative- NAND sounds barely flat (for now)
-Capital spending to be cut to near zero- essential only
-Will the rest of the industry follow suit?
“The first cut isn’t the deepest”
(Apologies to Rod Stewart)
When Micron first announced… Read More
A Hardware IDE for VS Code Fans
A few times a year, I check in with AMIQ EDA co-founder Cristian Amitroaie to see what’s new with their company and the integrated development environment (IDE) market for hardware design and verification. Usually he suggests a topic for us to discuss, but this time I specifically wanted to learn more about the version of their Design… Read More
Calibre: Early Design LVS and ERC Checking gets Interesting
The last thing you want when taping out a design is to hit large numbers of violations in signoff checks that could have been flushed out and resolved in earlier flow iterations. For implementation flows (floorplanning, synthesis, place and route), it’s usual to do a lot of flow flushing work early in the design cycle and iteratively… Read More
Podcast EP124: A Look at the Design and Simulation Side of Keysight with Niels Faché
Dan is joined by Niels Faché, vice president and general manager, Design and Simulation at Keysight Technologies. Niels is responsible for Keysight’s design and simulation portfolio.
Dan explores the high-speed, high-frequency design and simulation capabilities of Keysight Technologies with Niels. A history of the products,… Read More
Making Intel Great Again!