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SMIC Cut off by US Government is Doomsday Scenario for US Chip Equipment Companies

SMIC Cut off by US Government is Doomsday Scenario for US Chip Equipment Companies
by Robert Maire on 09-27-2020 at 2:00 pm

US versus China Semiconductor

SMIC Cut Off = Worst case scenario
SMIC is on US gov “no fly” list for US Equipment Companies
Will likely lead to loss of all of China- 25% to 50% of revenues
Retaliation by China will worsen situation
SMIC cut off from US technology (Chip Equip)

It has been reported in the Wall St Journal and many news outlets that the US government… Read More


How to multiply currents: Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier

How to multiply currents: Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier
by Ken Shirriff on 09-27-2020 at 10:00 am

Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier

A recent Twitter thread about a counterfeit analog multiplier chip attracted my attention since I’m interested in both counterfeit integrated circuits and how analog computers multiply. In the thread, John McMaster decapped a suspicious AD633 analog multiplier chip and found an entirely different Rockwell RC4200… Read More


Innovating to Survive

Innovating to Survive
by Vivek Wadhwa on 09-27-2020 at 8:00 am

Innovating to Survive

The global COVID-19 pandemic has almost shut down entire industries, forcing companies of all sizes to adapt and evolve. It has also done incredible things for a pivot to innovation.

Safety has had to come first. And for many, that meant changing how they worked, using technology to power a shift to remote work and servicing of customers.… Read More


Autonomous Vehicles: Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility

Autonomous Vehicles: Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-27-2020 at 6:00 am

Autonomous Vehicles Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility

The headline screams off of the page and challenges all that we know about the fatal crash in Tempe, Ariz., that took the life of Elaine Herzberg two and a half years ago. “Backup Driver of Autonomous Uber SUV Charged with Negligent Homicide in Arizona.”

How could the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) associate itself… Read More


Don’t You Forget About “e”

Don’t You Forget About “e”
by Daniel Nenni on 09-25-2020 at 10:00 am

e Flow Vert

I imagine that the title of this post will remind many of 80s synth-pop, or perhaps the movie The Breakfast Club. But my topic is the venerable hardware verification language (HVL) known simply as e. It has quite an interesting history and it played a key role in the development of the modern testbench methodology that most chip verification… Read More


Synopsys talks about their DesignWare USB4 PHY at TSMC’s OIP

Synopsys talks about their DesignWare USB4 PHY at TSMC’s OIP
by Tom Simon on 09-25-2020 at 6:00 am

USB4 operating modes

When USB initially came out it revolutionized how peripherals connect to host systems. We all remember when Apple did away with many separate connections for mouse, keyboard, audio and more with their first computers supporting USB. USB has continued to develop more flexibility and more throughput. In 2015 Apple again introduced… Read More


112G/56G SerDes – Select the Right PAM4 SerDes for Your Application

112G/56G SerDes – Select the Right PAM4 SerDes for Your Application
by Mike Gianfagna on 09-24-2020 at 10:00 am

112G56G SerDes Select the right PAM4 SerDes for your application

This is another installment covering TSMC’s very popular Open Innovation Platform event (OIP), held on August 25. This event presents a diverse and high-impact series of presentations describing how TSMC’s vast ecosystem collaborates with each other and with TSMC. Not all SerDes are the same. The presentation covered here,… Read More


Verifying Warm Memory. Virtualizing to manage complexity

Verifying Warm Memory. Virtualizing to manage complexity
by Bernard Murphy on 09-24-2020 at 6:00 am

Verifying warm memory

SSD memory is enjoying a new resurgence in datacenters through NVMe. Not as a replacement for more traditional HDD disk drives, which though slower are still much cheaper. NVMe storage has instead become a storage cache between hot DRAM memory close to processors and the “cold” HDD storage. I commented last year on why this has become… Read More


Update on Mentor’s Acquisition of Avatar Integrated Systems

Update on Mentor’s Acquisition of Avatar Integrated Systems
by Daniel Nenni on 09-23-2020 at 10:00 am

route centric architecture

Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business, has completed their acquisition of EDA company Avatar Integrated Systems.  I recently spoke with Joe Sawicki, Executive VP of the Mentor IC EDA segment, about the acquisition strategy and IC Design platform goals for integration of the Avatar products.

Avatar (formerly ATopTech) focused… Read More


Executive Interview: Vic Kulkarni of ANSYS

Executive Interview: Vic Kulkarni of ANSYS
by Daniel Nenni on 09-23-2020 at 6:00 am

Ansys Ideas 1

On the eve of the Innovative Designs Enabled by Ansys Semiconductor (IDEAS) Forum I spoke with Vic on a range of topics including his opening keynote: Accelerating Moore and Beyond Moore with Multiphysics. You can register here

Vic Kulkarni is Vice President and Chief Strategist, Semiconductor Business Unit, Ansys, San Jose.… Read More