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An AI Accelerator Ecosystem For High-Level Synthesis

An AI Accelerator Ecosystem For High-Level Synthesis
by Bernard Murphy on 07-01-2019 at 10:00 am

AI accelerators as engines for object or speech recognition (among many possibilities), are becoming increasingly popular for inference in mobile and power-constrained applications. Today much of this inferencing runs largely in software on CPUs or GPUs thanks to the sheer size of the smartphone market, but that will shift… Read More


Two Fun Things To Do at SEMICON West on July 9, 2019

Two Fun Things To Do at SEMICON West on July 9, 2019
by Randy Smith on 07-01-2019 at 10:00 am

 

I will be at SEMICON / EE Design West on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, and so should you!

Quantum computing will be a hot topic at SEMICON West and on Tuesday, July 9, the IBM Quantum Computer will be on display at the Smart Design Pavilion in the South Hall (Moscone Center) from 10:00am to 5:00pm. It looks like no other computer I have ever… Read More


Layoffs à la Fairchild

Layoffs à la Fairchild
by John East on 07-01-2019 at 5:00 am

The “20 Questions with John East” series continues

You wouldn’t think that layoffs would be a subject that I’d want to talk about in my stories of  “Silicon Valley the Way I saw it.”  The subject is just plain distasteful!!  — Still  — layoffs were a major part of the valley’s culture back in the day.  To give a true picture… Read More


2019 GSA Silicon Summit and SiFive

2019 GSA Silicon Summit and SiFive
by Daniel Nenni on 06-28-2019 at 8:00 am

Naveed Sherwani, President and CEO of SiFive, did the keynote for this year’s Silicon Summit. This is one of the premier events for the C level executives in Silicon Valley, absolutely. Naveed is one of the top visionaries for the semiconductor industry and he certainly did not disappoint this time or any other time in my experience.… Read More


Double-digit semiconductor decline in 2019

Double-digit semiconductor decline in 2019
by Bill Jewell on 06-27-2019 at 4:00 pm

The global semiconductor market is headed for a double-digit decline for the year 2019 after a decline of 15.6% in first quarter 2019 from fourth quarter 2018. According to WSTS (World Semiconductor Trade Statistics) data, this was the largest quarter-to-quarter decline since a 16.3% decline in first quarter 2009, ten years … Read More


SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference – Imec design papers

SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference – Imec design papers
by Scotten Jones on 06-27-2019 at 10:00 am

At the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference Imec presented several design papers and I have had the opportunity to review the papers and speak with the authors. In this summary I am going to address three emerging areas in order of when I think they may be implemented from soonest to latest.

Specifically, I will discuss:

  1. Buried Power
Read More

Integrated SIMs Will Unlock IoT Growth

Integrated SIMs Will Unlock IoT Growth
by Bernard Murphy on 06-27-2019 at 5:00 am

I’m a believer that connectivity for the IoT at scale (the trillions of devices that the industry predicts) has to be cellular. This is partly based on reach, particularly outside urban areas, but is mostly based on the financial implications of that scale. Yes, you can build infrastructure for say local Wi-Fi support with backhaul… Read More


Dynamic Spectrum Allocation to Help Crowded IoT Airwaves

Dynamic Spectrum Allocation to Help Crowded IoT Airwaves
by Tom Simon on 06-26-2019 at 10:00 am

Radio frequency bandwidth has become a precious commodity, with communications companies paying top dollar for prized pieces of the spectrum. However, many radio bands are not often used efficiently. Many existing radio protocols exchange data on a fixed pair of frequencies, tying up those frequencies for other users. When… Read More


Micron beats subdued guidance on output cuts

Micron beats subdued guidance on output cuts
by Robert Maire on 06-26-2019 at 5:00 am

2020 capex likely down at least 20% vs 2019 DRAM & NAND price drops versus slowing capacity. Investors happy cause it could have been worse.

Micron reported $1.05 in Non-GAAP EPS beating street consensus of $0.79 by $0.26. While this looks like a big beat, we would remind investors that estimates for the quarter were about… Read More


Upcoming HBM and CDM ESD Verification Seminar in Taiwan

Upcoming HBM and CDM ESD Verification Seminar in Taiwan
by Tom Simon on 06-25-2019 at 10:00 am

The electrostatic discharge that occurs in lightening, as seen in the picture below, can cause serious damage to the objects on the ground. Over centuries mankind has devised ways, such as lighting rods and arresters, to deflect the energy so it is dissipated harmlessly. The same drama plays out on modern semiconductors due to … Read More