Four experts in the discipline of functional safety were gathered together at #56DAC in Vegas earlier in June, hosted at the Mentor booth, so I rested my legs and typed notes as fast as I could. The product areas that I first think about when functional safety (FuSa) comes up are automotive, medical and aerospace, because keeping… Read More




Meet the Experts @ ES Design West!
SEMICON West and ES Design West are right around the corner here in San Francisco and I wanted to point out the Meet the Experts segment in the appropriately named Meet the Experts Theater. Great idea really and a super great line-up. The best part of course is actually meeting the experts. Over my 35 year semiconductor career I have… Read More
Synopsys Low Power Workshop Offers Breadth and Depth
Synopsys seems to particularly excel at these events, whether in half-day tutorials at conferences or, as in this case, in a full-day on-site workshop. You might think there’s not much that can be added in this domain, other than to bring low-power newbies up to speed, but you’d be wrong. This event set the stage with surveys on needs… Read More
An Update from Joe Sawicki @ Mentor, a Siemens Business 56thDAC
Executives from the major EDA companies attend the Design Automation Conference to introduce new product features, describe new initiatives and collaborations, meet with customers, and participate in lively conference panel discussions. Daniel Nenni and I were fortunate to be able to meet with Joe Sawicki, Executive Vice… Read More
Considering SiFive: What Should I Get to Implement a RISC-V Core?
I have an old weathered leather-clad black notebook with a National Semiconductor logo on its face that I have used since 2001. It has sentimental value to me. First, it reminds me of where I was on 9/11, having breakfast with a group of attendees to National Semiconductor’s executive event in Laguna Niguel, CA. We were going to play… Read More
Intel let there be RAM
The “20 Questions with John East” series continues
Intel was founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore who had left Fairchild earlier that year. They immediately hired Andy Grove. Noyce, Moore and Grove were a study in contrasts. I had various dealings over the years with Noyce and Grove, but have met Moore only twice. They… Read More
Google Trustworthy Response to Product Vulnerabilities Demonstrates Leadership
I applaud Google for taking extraordinary steps to protect and service their customers by offering free replacements for the Titan Bluetooth Security Keys. Such product recalls can be expensive, time consuming, and prolong negative stories in the news cycles, yet it is the right thing to do.
Many companies would choose instead
Ecomotion 2019 We are All Jews
While listening to Krista Tippet’s National Public Radio program “On Being” recently I learned of the Hebrew expression familiar to Jews: “tikkun olam.” The expression captures what is described in Wikipedia as an obligation observed by all Jews “to repair the world.”
To be sure, this is an over-simplification of the meaning… Read More
Custom SRAM IP @56thDAC
The electronics industry strives to continuously introduce new product innovation and differentiation. The ASIC market arose from the motivation to offer unique (cost-reduced) integration that was not realizable with commodity MSI/LSI parts. The SoC market evolved to provide even greater differentiation, integrating… Read More
The Implications of the Rise of AI/ML in the Cloud
Recently, Daniel Nenni blogged on the presentation Wally Rhines gave at #56th DAC. Daniel provided a great summary, but I want to dive into a portion of the presentation in more detail. I love Wally’s presentations, but sometimes you cannot absorb the wealth of information he provides when you initially see it. It’s… Read More
Intel Foundry is a Low Risk Aternative to TSMC