Synopsys IP Designs Edge AI 800x100

Renaming and Refactoring in HDL Code

Renaming and Refactoring in HDL Code
by Daniel Nenni on 02-12-2019 at 12:00 pm

I’ve enjoyed my past discussions with Cristian Amitroaie, the CEO of AMIQ EDA, in which we covered their Design and Verification Tools (DVT) Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and their Verissimo SystemVerilog Testbench Linter. Cristian’s descriptions of AMIQ’s products and customers have intrigued me. They… Read More


GLOBALFOUNDRIES Talks About Enabling Development of 5G ICs

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Talks About Enabling Development of 5G ICs
by Tom Simon on 02-12-2019 at 7:00 am

5G is in the news again. Sprint has mounted a legal challenge against ATT, claiming that ATT is misleading people into believing that they already are offering 5G. While ATT is about to start testing of 5G, they have also sent out updates that causes customer phones to display 5GE when they are still on 4G LTE systems. The truth is that… Read More


Semiconductor Security and Sleep Loss

Semiconductor Security and Sleep Loss
by Daniel Nenni on 02-11-2019 at 12:00 pm

One of the semiconductor topics that keeps me up at night is security. We track security related topics on SemiWiki and while the results are encouraging, we still have a very long way to go. Over the last three years we have published 148 security related blogs that have garnered a little more than 400,000 views. Security touches … Read More


A Detailed History of Samsung Semiconductor

A Detailed History of Samsung Semiconductor
by Daniel Nenni on 02-11-2019 at 7:00 am

From our book “Mobile Unleashed”, this is a detailed history of Samsung semiconductor:

Conglomerates are the antithesis of focus, and Samsung is the quintessential chaebol. From humble beginnings in 1938 as a food exporter, Samsung endured the turmoil and aftermath of two major wars while diversifying and expanding.… Read More


McKinsey Mangles Micromobility

McKinsey Mangles Micromobility
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-08-2019 at 12:00 pm

Micromobility – characterized by shared bicycles, scooters and other wheeled devices – was all the rage in 2018 and that enthusiasm has carried over into 2019 – if McKinsey is to be believed. McKinsey published a white paper last week touting the glories of micromobility and a potential market of $300B-$500B by 2030.… Read More


Data Management Challenges in Physical Design

Data Management Challenges in Physical Design
by Alex Tan on 02-08-2019 at 7:00 am

IC physical design (PD) teams face several challenges while dealing with tapeout schedules. With shrinking process nodes and stringent PPA targets, the complexity of physical design flows and EDA design tools has increased multifold. In addition the amount of design data that needs to be managed has also increased exponentially.… Read More


Building Better ADAS SOCs

Building Better ADAS SOCs
by Tom Simon on 02-07-2019 at 12:00 pm

Ever since we replaced horses in our personal transportation system, folks have been pining for cars that offer some relief from the constant need for supervision, control and management. Indeed, despite their obvious downsides, horses could be counted on to help with steering and obstacle avoidance. There are even cases when… Read More


Where Circuit Simulation Model Files Come From

Where Circuit Simulation Model Files Come From
by Daniel Payne on 02-07-2019 at 7:00 am

I started out my engineering career by doing transistor-level circuit design and we used a proprietary SPICE circuit simulator. One thing that I quickly realized was that the accuracy of my circuit simulations depended entirely on the model files and parasitics. Here we are 40 years later and the accuracy of SPICE circuit simulations… Read More


Machine Learning and Gödel

Machine Learning and Gödel
by Bernard Murphy on 02-06-2019 at 7:00 am

Scanning ACM tech news recently, I came across a piece that spoke to my inner nerd; I hope it will appeal to some of you also. The discovery will have no impact on markets or investments or probably anyone outside theories of machine learning. Its appeal is simply in the beauty of connecting a profound but obscure corner of mathematical… Read More


Open Letter to the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection

Open Letter to the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection
by Matthew Rosenquist on 02-05-2019 at 12:00 pm

In December 2018 the FTC held hearings on Competition and consumer Protection in the 21st Century. A number of people spoke at the event and the FTC has graciously opened the discussion to public comments. The Federal Trade Commission has interest, certain responsibilities, and can affect changes to how data security evolves.… Read More