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IEDM 2018 Trip Report!

IEDM 2018 Trip Report!
by Daniel Nenni on 12-10-2018 at 7:00 am

Hello, my name is Daniel Nenni and I am a semiconductor conference addict. I just can’t seem to get enough. The semiconductor ecosystem is very wide now and moves so quickly it is nearly impossible to keep up without constant conference attendance. As a SemiWiki contributor not only do I get free conference passes, I get access to … Read More


GM: Stop the Downsizing!

GM: Stop the Downsizing!
by Roger C. Lanctot on 12-10-2018 at 7:00 am

General Motors CEO Mary Barra is known for a number of quotes one of which is: “My father was a die maker for 39 years, so I had a basic understanding of the automobile industry and what the manufacturing world was like, just from the opportunity to spend time with him, just talking, because he was a car buff.” One has to wonder what Mary’s… Read More


Volvo: Car-less is Better Than Clueless

Volvo: Car-less is Better Than Clueless
by Roger C. Lanctot on 12-09-2018 at 7:00 am

Sweden has embraced the movement toward a cashless society with banks no longer taking cash deposits and retailers, like Ikea, experimenting with cashlessness. Perhaps taking a cue from the Swedish financial sector, Volvo Cars last week revealed its plans for a car-less stand at this week’s L.A. Auto Show – and the co-located … Read More


Could China Conflict Curtail Chip Comeback? Part 2

Could China Conflict Curtail Chip Comeback? Part 2
by Robert Maire on 12-07-2018 at 12:00 pm

In our recent note sent several days ago we suggested that the China conflict would come back to haunt the US chip industry. From a stock perspective we suggested taking short term gains from a recent bounce back off the table. Both ideas turned out true, but way faster than we had thought! Not only have investors figured out that the… Read More


ARM Answers Server Doubts

ARM Answers Server Doubts
by Bernard Murphy on 12-07-2018 at 7:00 am

At ARM TechCon this year, the company announced the Neoverse brand targeted to infrastructure, contrasting with the Cortex brand we are familiar with for edge devices such as smartphones and IoT devices. Cortex was already used in infrastructure, in networking, base stations and the like but Neoverse splits the infrastructure… Read More


Samsung IEDM 2018 Keynote and the Foundry Business

Samsung IEDM 2018 Keynote and the Foundry Business
by Daniel Nenni on 12-06-2018 at 12:00 pm

IEDM is a premier semiconductor conference so it was certainly appropriate for Samsung to do the keynote since they are the largest and one of the most innovative semiconductor companies in the world, absolutely.

Samsung is also one of the more interesting semiconductor companies since they do it all: chip design, semiconductor… Read More


Imperas and RISC-V

Imperas and RISC-V
by Bernard Murphy on 12-06-2018 at 7:00 am

I met Imperas at TechCon this year because I wanted to become a bit more knowledgeable about virtual modeling. That led me to become more interested in RISC-V and a talk given by Krste Asanovic of UCB and SiFive. My takeaway surprised me. I had thought this was an open-source David versus proprietary Goliaths (Intel and ARM) battle… Read More


Could China Conflict Curtail Chip Comeback?

Could China Conflict Curtail Chip Comeback?
by Robert Maire on 12-05-2018 at 7:00 am

At the recent trade talks in South America, the US and China both kicked the can down the road as neither one were obviously willing to do a deal nor had done any background work to get a deal done. Instead we have a bunch of empty promises and vague and conflicting descriptions of what was not really even agreed to.

Essentially worthlessRead More


Cadence Summit Highlights Automotive Market Dynamics and System Enablement

Cadence Summit Highlights Automotive Market Dynamics and System Enablement
by Camille Kokozaki on 12-04-2018 at 12:00 pm

Cadence held a well-attended Automotive Summit where Cadence presented an overview of their solution and system enablement along with industry experts and established or startup companies sharing their perspective and product features from autonomous driving, LiDAR, Radar, thermal imaging, sensor imaging, and AI.… Read More


Improving Library Characterization with Machine Learning!

Improving Library Characterization with Machine Learning!
by Daniel Nenni on 12-04-2018 at 7:00 am

For SOC designers that are waiting for library models the saying “give me liberty or give me death” is especially apropos. Without libraries to support the timing flow, SOC design progress can grind to a halt. As is often the case, more than just a few PVT corners are needed. Years ago, corners were what the term sounded like – the 4 corners… Read More