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The Complexity of Block-Level Placement @ 56thDAC

The Complexity of Block-Level Placement @ 56thDAC
by Tom Dillinger on 06-11-2019 at 10:00 am

The recent Design Automation Conference in Las Vegas was an indication of how the electronics industry is evolving.  In its formative years, DAC was focused on the fundamental algorithms emerging from academic research and industrial R&D, that enabled the continuation of the Moore’s Law complexity curve.  (Indeed, the… Read More


Wally Rhines Keynote @ #56thDAC!

Wally Rhines Keynote @ #56thDAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-11-2019 at 5:00 am

One of the perks of blogging on SemiWiki is the events you get to attend for FREE and the amazing people you get to meet and Wally Rhines is certainly one of those people. You will not find a more intelligent, innovative, and genuinely nice group of people in my experience. Having traveled the world meeting thousands of people I can tell… Read More


The RISC-V Revolution is Sweeping Across the APAC Region and Australia

The RISC-V Revolution is Sweeping Across the APAC Region and Australia
by Daniel Nenni on 06-10-2019 at 9:14 pm

Join SiFive Tech Symposiums in Tokyo, Daejeon, Pangyo, Hsinchu, Singapore and Sydney

As we make our way around the world meeting and engaging with others in the semiconductor and hardware design community, we are seeing an increased interest in RISC-V based hardware innovation. This is due in large part to the emergence of  market-ready… Read More


Cadence on 5G Intelligent System Design #56thDAC

Cadence on 5G Intelligent System Design #56thDAC
by Daniel Nenni on 06-10-2019 at 10:00 am

As much as I love all EDA vendors I must say Cadence did the best DAC this year. Great booth, great location, excellent content, and of course a great party. The 5G presentation in the Cadence booth by Ian Dennison was of great interest to me as I am still trying to wrap my head around this whole 5G thing. I was able to meet with Ian privately… Read More


The Integrated Circuit

The Integrated Circuit
by John East on 06-10-2019 at 5:00 am

The “20 Questions with John East” series continues

Noyce and the rest of the traitorous eight left Shockley without a clue as to what they would do next.  They believed in semiconductors and knew that they were the very best semiconductor guys in the world.  Their hope was to find a company who would hire them en masse.  After some false… Read More


Getting Real about Vehicle Data

Getting Real about Vehicle Data
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-09-2019 at 9:56 pm

There is a lot of talk about data being the new oil fueling the automotive industry. Industry interest began in earnest in 2016 when McKinsey published a report – “Monetizing Car Data” – that noted in the executive summary that the car data market could be as large as $450B-$750B by 2030.

McKinsey: Monetizing Car Data – https://tinyurl.com/y85pk8nuRead More


Samsung Foundry Update 2019

Samsung Foundry Update 2019
by Tom Dillinger on 06-08-2019 at 5:00 am

Samsung Foundry recently held their 4th annual technology forum in Santa Clara.  This article reviews the highlights of the presentations.  There were two prevalent themes throughout – focused execution on the current process roadmap, and the introduction of the 3nm process node features and schedule.

Before getting into … Read More


56th DAC Las Vegas Trip Report

56th DAC Las Vegas Trip Report
by Daniel Nenni on 06-07-2019 at 5:00 am

Having just returned from my 35th DAC I would like to share a few thoughts with the organizers, exhibitors, and attendees. In my experience it was a really well planned DAC. Personally, I like the Las Vegas venue even though it is not near a semiconductor populated city. Those who chose to attend this year were there for a reason which… Read More


Visual SLAM at the Edge

Visual SLAM at the Edge
by Bernard Murphy on 06-06-2019 at 5:00 am

SLAM – simultaneous localization and mapping – is critical for mobile robotics and VR/AR headsets among other applications, all of which typically operate indoors where GPS or inertial measurement units are either ineffective or insufficiently accurate. SLAM is a chicken and egg problem in which the system needs to map its environment… Read More


#56DAC – Machine Learning and its impact on the Digital Design Engineer

#56DAC – Machine Learning and its impact on the Digital Design Engineer
by Daniel Payne on 06-05-2019 at 12:05 am

Tuesday Panelists

Tuesday for lunch at #56DAC I caught up to the AI/ML experts at the panel discussion hosted by Cadence. Our moderator was the affable and knowledgable Prof.  Andrew Kahng from UC San Diego. Attendance was good, and interest was quite high as measured by the number of audience questions. I learned that EDA tools that use heuristics… Read More