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Inside the HP Nanoprocessor: A High-speed Processor That Can’t Even Add

Inside the HP Nanoprocessor: A High-speed Processor That Can’t Even Add
by Ken Shirriff on 09-06-2020 at 10:00 am

Inside the HP Nanoprocessor

The Nanoprocessor is a mostly-forgotten processor developed by Hewlett-Packard in 19741 as a microcontroller2 for their products. Strangely, this processor couldn’t even add or subtract,3 probably why it was called a nanoprocessor and not a microprocessor. Despite this limitation, the Nanoprocessor powered numerous… Read More


PCI Express in Depth – Transaction Layer

PCI Express in Depth – Transaction Layer
by Luigi Filho on 09-06-2020 at 7:00 am

PCI Express in Depth Transaction Layer

In the last article i write about the Data Link Layer, in this article i’ll write about the Transaction Layer.

This layer’s primary responsibility is to create PCI Express request and completion transactions. It has both transmit functions for outgoing transactions, and receive functions for incoming transactions.… Read More


PCI Express in Depth – Data Link Layer

PCI Express in Depth – Data Link Layer
by Luigi Filho on 09-06-2020 at 6:00 am

PCI Express in Depth Data Link Layer

In the last article, i wrote about the physical layer, now let’s take a look in the next layer the data link layer.

The Data Link Layer serves as the “gatekeeper” for each individual link within a PCI Express system. It ensures that the data being sent back and forth across the link is correct and received in the same order it

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Alchip at TSMC OIP – Reticle Size Design and Chiplet Capabilities

Alchip at TSMC OIP – Reticle Size Design and Chiplet Capabilities
by Mike Gianfagna on 09-04-2020 at 10:00 am

Alchip machine learning design

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.  This presentation is from Alchip, presented by James Huang,… Read More


Highlights of the TSMC Technology Symposium – Part 1

Highlights of the TSMC Technology Symposium – Part 1
by Tom Dillinger on 09-04-2020 at 8:00 am

A72 core high density

Recently, TSMC held their 26th annual Technology Symposium, which was conducted virtually for the first time.  This article is the first of three that attempts to summarize the highlights of the presentations.

This article focuses on the TSMC process technology roadmap, as described by the following executives:

  • Y.J. Mii, SVP,
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How an Nvidia/ARM deal could create the dominant ecosystem for the next computer era

How an Nvidia/ARM deal could create the dominant ecosystem for the next computer era
by Michael Bruck on 09-04-2020 at 6:00 am

PC operating profits

Over the past few weeks, there have been numerous reports about Nvidia’s overtures to acquire Arm. The news has mostly been obsessed about the $31 billion that Arm’s current owner, Softbank, paid for Arm and whether Nvidia could pay such an eye-watering price to buy this asset. There is also pushback from Herman Hauser who was one… Read More


World’s Leading Chip Designers at IDEAS Digital Forum Show How to Streamline Design Flows and Reduce Design Cost

World’s Leading Chip Designers at IDEAS Digital Forum Show How to Streamline Design Flows and Reduce Design Cost
by Daniel Nenni on 09-03-2020 at 10:00 am

ANSYS IDEAS Airplane

Innovative Designs Enabled by Ansys Semiconductor

I’m excited to announce that general registration is now open for the new Ansys IDEAS Digital Forum!  IDEAS, hosted by Ansys Semiconductor, is a virtual gathering of top industry executives, thought leaders, and designers from some of the biggest IP, chip design, semiconductor… Read More


Cerebras and Analog Bits at TSMC OIP – Collaboration on the Largest and Most Powerful AI Chip in the World

Cerebras and Analog Bits at TSMC OIP – Collaboration on the Largest and Most Powerful AI Chip in the World
by Mike Gianfagna on 09-03-2020 at 6:00 am

Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine

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. The topic at hand was full of superlatives, which isn’t surprising… Read More


Lip-Bu Hyperscaler Cast Kicks off CadenceLIVE

Lip-Bu Hyperscaler Cast Kicks off CadenceLIVE
by Bernard Murphy on 09-02-2020 at 6:00 am

Lip Bu min

Lip-Bu (Cadence CEO) sure knows how to draw a crowd. For the opening keynote in CadenceLIVE (Americas) this year, he reprised his data-centric revolution pitch, followed by a talk from a VP at AWS on bending the curve in chip development. And that was followed by a talk by a Facebook director of strategy and technology on aspects of… Read More


WEBINAR: Addressing Verification Challenges in the Development of Optimized SRAM Solutions with surecore and Mentor Solido

WEBINAR: Addressing Verification Challenges in the Development of Optimized SRAM Solutions with surecore and Mentor Solido
by Daniel Nenni on 09-01-2020 at 2:00 pm

surecore solido webinar graphic

After spending a significant amount of my career in the IP library business it was an easy transition to Solido Design. I spent 10+ years traveling the world with CEO Amit Gupta working with the foundries and their top customers. In fact, the top 40 semiconductor companies use Solido. IP companies are also big Solido users including… Read More