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Using IP Interfaces to Reduce HPC Latency and Accelerate the Cloud

Using IP Interfaces to Reduce HPC Latency and Accelerate the Cloud
by Scott Durrant Gary Ruggles on 03-11-2021 at 6:00 am

dwtb q121 in memory comp fig1.jpg.imgw .850.x

IDC has forecasted that over the next five years, the Global Datasphere — the amount of data that’s created, transferred over the network and stored each year — will increase by over 3X to 175 zettabytes (Figure 1). Much of this is driven by the Internet of Things (IoT), video applications (including video streaming,… Read More


Register File Design at the 5nm Node

Register File Design at the 5nm Node
by Tom Dillinger on 03-10-2021 at 2:00 pm

lowVt bitcell

“What are the tradeoffs when designing a register file?”  Engineering graduates pursuing a career in microelectronics might expect to be asked this question during a job interview.  (I was.)

On the surface, one might reply, “Well, a register file is just like any other memory array – address inputs, data inputs and outputs, read/writeRead More


TSMC Plans Six Wafer Fabs in Arizona

TSMC Plans Six Wafer Fabs in Arizona
by Scotten Jones on 03-10-2021 at 10:00 am

TSMC Fab 18 Remdering

There are reports in the media that TSMC is now planning six Fabs in Arizona (the image above is Fab 18 in Taiwan). The original post I saw referred to a Megafab and claimed six fabs with 100,000 wafers per month of capacity (wpm) for $35 billion dollars. The report further claimed it would be larger than TSMC fabs in Taiwan.

This report… Read More


Cadence Underlines Verification Throughput at DVCon

Cadence Underlines Verification Throughput at DVCon
by Bernard Murphy on 03-10-2021 at 6:00 am

Verification Throughput min

Paul Cunningham, CVP and GM of the System Verification Group at Cadence gave the afternoon Keynote on Tuesday at DVCon and doubled down on his verification-throughput message. At the end of the day, what matters most to us in verification is the number of bugs found and fixed per dollar per day. You can’t really argue with that message.… Read More


Hearables: From Earbuds to Life Augmentation and Beyond

Hearables: From Earbuds to Life Augmentation and Beyond
by Kalar Rajendiran on 03-09-2021 at 10:00 am

Hearables Market Players Source IDTechEx Research

As the months of 2020 passed by, I started noticing more and more people sporting what looked like fashionable ear accessories. I’m of course referring to True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds. With the rapid increase in online meetings due to social distancing requirements, it appeared that adoption of TWS earbuds was even faster… Read More


A Review of Clock Generation and Distribution for Off-Chip Interfacing

A Review of Clock Generation and Distribution for Off-Chip Interfacing
by Tom Dillinger on 03-09-2021 at 6:00 am

clocking

At the recent ISSCC conference, Mozhgan Mansuri from Intel gave an enlightening (extended) short course presentation on all thing related to clocking, for both wireline and wireless interface design. [1]  The presentation was extremely thorough, ranging from a review of basic clocking principles to unique circuit design … Read More


USB 3.2 Helps Deliver on Type-C Connector Performance Potential

USB 3.2 Helps Deliver on Type-C Connector Performance Potential
by Tom Simon on 03-08-2021 at 10:00 am

USB 3.2 Lane Usage

Despite sounding like a minor enhancement version for USB, USB 3.2 introduces many important changes for the USB specification. To see where USB has come from and where it is going, it is essential to look at what is found in USB 3.2. The other salient point is that now the Type-C connector has split out from the underlying USB specification… Read More


Features of Short-Reach Interface IP Design

Features of Short-Reach Interface IP Design
by Tom Dillinger on 03-08-2021 at 6:00 am

eye diagram

The emergence of advanced packaging technologies has led to the introduction of new types of data communication interfaces.  There are a number of topologies that are defined by the IEEE 802.3 standard, as well as the Optical Internetworking Common Electrical I/O CEI standard. [1,2]  (Many of the configurations of interest … Read More


Chip Channel Check- Semi Shortage Spreading- Beyond autos-Will impact earnings

Chip Channel Check- Semi Shortage Spreading- Beyond autos-Will impact earnings
by Robert Maire on 03-07-2021 at 10:00 am

Robert Maire 2

– Semiconductor shortage is like toilet paper shortage in early Covid
– Panic buying, hoarding, double ordering will cause spike
– Could cause a year+ of dislocation in chip makers before ending
– Investors, Govt & Mgmt will get a wake up call from earnings hit

Auto industry is just a prominent tip Read More


What’s Wrong with Car Connectivity

What’s Wrong with Car Connectivity
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-07-2021 at 8:00 am

What is Wrong with Car Connectivity

I have run into far too many clever automotive executives lately who seem to believe that “we” as an industry have solved the car connectivity challenge. Consumers love built-in car connections and that’s the end of the story – or so they believe.

Sadly, this is not true. Consumers surveyed by Strategy Analytics in China,… Read More