Why are NoCs important in modern SoCs and what are best design practices for using NoC? As always, a great place to start is the perspective of an SoC design organization which depends on pumping out high performance designs. Sondrel is a turnkey ASIC service provider, covering the spectrum from system design to silicon supply. … Read More




Chiplets at the Design Automation Conference with OpenFive
SemiWiki has been tracking the popularity of chiplets for two years now so it was not surprising to see that they played a key role at DAC. The other trend we foresaw was that the ASIC companies would be early chiplet adopters and that has proven true. One of the more vocal proponents of chiplets at DAC#59 was OpenFive, a 17+ year spec-to-silicon… Read More
A Solid Methodology is the Margin of Victory
Designing complex systems is difficult. It seems to me that the difficulty has increased at a rate that is more exponential than linear with design complexity. Some version of Moore’s law for design is at work. The challenges for advanced designs just seem to keep mounting. A new item that is top of mind for many executives is the talent… Read More
EDA in the Cloud with Siemens EDA at #59DAC
Tuesday at DAC I had the pleasure of attending the Design on Cloud Theatre where experts from Siemens EDA gave an update on what they’ve been offering to IC and systems designers. I remember attending a cloud presentation from Craig Johnson in 2021, so I was keen to note what had changed in the past 12 months.
Industry Trends,
… Read MorePost-quantum cryptography steps on the field
In cybersecurity circles, the elephant in the room is a quantum computer in the hands of nefarious actors. A day is coming, soon, when well-funded organizations will be able to rent time on, or maybe even build or buy a quantum machine. Then, if data is valuable enough, people will hunt for it. Two or three months of compute time on a … Read More
Intel & Chips Act Passage Juxtaposition
-Need more/less spend & more/fewer chips
-The irony of chips act passage & Intel stumble on same day
-Due to excess supply of chips, Intel cuts spending
-Due to shortage of chips, the government increases spending
-How did this happen on the same day? Cosmic Coincidence?
Timing is everything
The irony of intel cutting spending… Read More
Podcast EP96: The History, Reach and Impact of Accellera with Lynn Garibaldi
Dan is joined by Lynn Garibaldi, Executive Director, Accellera Systems Initiative. Lynn is the recipient of the Accellera 2022 Leadership Award. Dan and Lynn explore the history of Accellera, its beginnings and growth to a multi-standard organization and the impact of DVCon events around the world.
The views, thoughts, and … Read More
The Turn of Moore’s Law from Space to Time
“It’s time for the big ship of Moore’s Law to make a turn from space to time” is a nonconformist message that surprised me when I read the book “The Turn of Moore’s Law from Space to Time” by Mr. Liming Xiu.
As a forty-year veteran and as an author of several books on the semiconductor industry myself, I am quite familiar with all contemporary… Read More
Wireless Carrier Moment of Truth
When Cruise Automation’s cars recently began coming to a stop jamming up San Francisco streets senior wireless and automotive executives worldwide began shifting uneasily in their suites. In spite of demanding that General Motors build them an expensive telematics control unit (TCU) with four-carrier (at the time) connectivity,… Read More
Scalability – A Looming Problem in Safety Analysis
Scalability – A Looming Problem in Safety Analysis
The boundless possibilities of automation in cars and other vehicles have captivated designers to the point that electronic content is now a stronger driver of differentiation than any other factor. It accounts for a substantial fraction of material cost in any of these vehicles.… Read More
Intel’s Pearl Harbor Moment