The Intel 8086 microprocessor was introduced 42 years ago last month,1 so I made some high-res die photos of the chip to celebrate. The 8086 is one of the most influential chips ever created; it started the x86 architecture that still dominates desktop and server computing today. By looking at the chip’s silicon, we can see… Read More
Agentic EDA Panel Review Suggests Promise and Near-Term GuidanceNetApp recently hosted a webinar on Agentic AI…Read More
Hardware is the Center of the Universe (Again)The 40-Year Evolution of Hardware-Assisted Verification — From…Read More
Smarter ECOs: Inside Easy-Logic’s ASIC Optimization EngineEasy-Logic Technology Ltd. is a specialized Electronic Design…Read More
The Name Changes but the Vision Remains the Same – ESD Alliance Through the YearsThe Electronic System Design Alliance (ESDA) has been…Read More
TSMC Process Simplification for Advanced NodesIn the modern world, the semiconductor industry stands…Read MoreAnsys Multiphysics Platform Tackles Power Management ICs
Ansys addresses complex Multiphysics simulation and analysis tasks, from device to chip to package and system. When I was at eSilicon we did a lot of work on 2.5D packaging and I can tell you tools from Ansys were a critical enabler to get the chip, package and system to all work correctly.
Ansys recently published an Application Brief… Read More
Hierarchical CDC analysis is possible, with the right tools
Back in my Atrenta days (before mid-2015), we were already running into a lot of very large SoC-level designs – a billion gates or more. At those sizes, full-chip verification of any kind becomes extremely challenging. Memory demand and run-times explode, and verification costs explode also since these runs require access to … Read More
SystemC Methodology for Virtual Prototype at DVCon USA
DVCon was the first EDA conference in our industry impacted by the pandemic and travel restrictions in March of this year, and the organizers did a superb job of adjusting the schedule. I was able to review a DVCon tutorial called “Defining a SystemC Methodology for your Company“, given by Swaminathan Ramachandran… Read More
Menta CEO Update 2020
What products are Menta offering today?
Menta is a semiconductor IP provider. We are the only proven European provider of programmable logic to be embedded inside customers’ SoCs and ASICs. This programmable logic is in the form of embedded FPGA IP. So, we offer our customers the possibility to have a small portion of their SoC as… Read More
Will AI Rescue the World from the Impending Doom of Cyber-Attacks or be the Cause
There has been a good deal of publicized chatter about impending cyber attacks at an unprecedented scale and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could help stop them. Not surprisingly much of the discussion is led by AI vendors in the cybersecurity space. Although they have a vested interest in raising an alarm, they do have a … Read More
A Tour of This Year’s DAC IP Track with Randy Fish
DAC is a complex event with many “moving parts”. While the conference has gone virtual this year (as all events have), the depth of the event remains the same. The technical program has always been of top quality, with peer-reviewed papers presented across many topics and across the world. This is also the oldest part of DAC, dating… Read More
Sensors, AI, Tiny Power in a Turnkey Board.
Got a great idea for a device with AI at the extreme edge? Self-contained and can run on a coin cell battery, maybe even harvested energy? Needs to fit in a space not much larger than a quarter? Eta Compute has a board for you. This comes with 2 MEMS microphones, a pressure/temperature sensor, a 6-axis MEMS accelerometer/gyroscope,… Read More
Achronix Blog Roundup!
Blogging is not an easy thing to do. It takes time, patience, commitment, and creativity. SemiWiki brought blogging to the semiconductor industry and many companies have followed. Very few have been successful with personal or corporate blogs but as a premier semiconductor blogger I have developed a proven recipe over the last… Read More
Interface IP Category to Overtake CPU IP by 2025?
The Interface Design IP market explodes, growing by 18% in 2019, with $870 million, when CPU IP category grew by 5% at $1,460 million. In fact, Interface IP market is forecasted to sustain high growth rate for the next five years, as calculated by IPnest in the “Interface IP Survey 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2024”, to reach $1,800… Read More


The Name Changes but the Vision Remains the Same – ESD Alliance Through the Years