Welcome to the second half of a very exciting year in semiconductors. While Intel and Samsung Foundry have made quite a few headlines, TSMC continues to execute flawlessly at 3nm and 2nm. With the TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forums starting later this month let’s take a look at how we got to where we are today.





Alchip’s 3DIC Test Chip: A Leap Forward for AI and HPC Innovation
Today Alchip Technologies, a Taipei-based leader in high-performance and AI computing ASICs, announced a significant milestone with the successful tape-out of its 3D IC test chip. This achievement not only validates Alchip’s advanced 3D IC ecosystem but also positions the company as a frontrunner in the rapidly evolving field… Read More
WEBINAR: Functional ECO Solution for Mixed-Signal ASIC Design
This webinar, in partnership with Easy-Logic Technology, is to address the complexities and challenges associated with functional ECO (Engineering Change Order) in ASIC design, with a particular focus on mixed-signal designs.
The webinar begins by highlighting the critical role of mixed-signal chips in modern applications,… Read More
Beyond Von Neumann: Toward a Unified Deterministic Architecture
By Thang Tran
For more than half a century, the foundations of computing have stood on a single architecture: the Von Neumann or Harvard model. Nearly all modern chips—CPUs, GPUs, and even many specialized accelerators—rely on some variant of this design. Over time, the industry has layered on complexity and specialization to… Read More
Intel Unveils Clearwater Forest: Power-Efficient Xeon for the Next Generation of Data Centers
At the recent Hot Chips conference, Intel® unveiled Clearwater Forest, its next-generation Xeon® 6 processor with efficiency cores (E-cores). The unveiling was made by Don Soltis, Xeon Processor Architect and Intel Fellow with over four decades of processor design experience and a long-standing contributor to the Xeon roadmap.… Read More
EUV Resist Degradation with Outgassing at Higher Doses
Dosing for EUV lithography walks a fine line between productivity and defectivity. Fabs can choose higher-dose exposures to suppress photon shot noise [1]. However, higher doses require EUV machines to scan the wafer at slower speeds, degrading throughput [2].
On the other hand, there is the threat of resist thickness loss that… Read More
Two Perspectives on Automated Code Generation
In engineering development, automated code generation as a pair programming assistant is high on the list of targets for GenAI applications. For hardware design obvious targets would be to autogenerate custom RTL functions or variants on standard functions, or to complete RTL snippets as an aid to human-driven code generation.… Read More
Intel’s IPU E2200: Redefining Data Center Infrastructure
We are in the midst of one of the most transformative periods for data center infrastructure. The explosion of AI, cloud-scale workloads, and hyperscale networking is forcing rapid innovation not only in compute and storage, but in the very fabric that connects them. At the recent Hot Chips conference, Pat Fleming gave a talk on… Read More
Static Timing Analysis Signoff – A comprehensive and Robust Approach
By Zameer Mohammed
Once a chip is taped out, changes in design are not possible – Silicon is unforgiving, does not allow postproduction modifications. In contrast, software can be updated after release, but chips remain fixed. Static Timing Analysis (STA) signoff serves as a crucial safeguard against silicon failures.
In modern… Read More
Beyond Traditional OOO: A Time-Based, Slice-Based Approach to High-Performance RISC-V CPUs
For decades, high-performance CPU design has been dominated by traditional out-of-order (OOO) execution architectures. Giants like Intel, Arm, and AMD have refined this approach into an industry standard—balancing performance and complexity through increasingly sophisticated schedulers, speculation, and runtime … Read More
MediaTek Develops Chip Utilizing TSMC’s 2nm Process, Achieving Milestones in Performance and Power Efficiency