AI is revolutionizing and transforming virtually every industry in the digital world. Advances in computing power and deep learning have enabled AI to reach a tipping point toward major disruption and rapid advancement. However, these applications require much higher performance and bandwidth requiring new kinds of IP and… Read More





Samsung Memory is easy come easy go but for how low?
Lam Research (LRCX) reported a great June quarter coming in at $3.126B in revenues and $5.31 in EPS easily beating the street’s $3.06B and EPS of $4.94. However no one will care as guidance for the September quarter is for $2.3B in revs and EPS of $3.20, way, well below the already downward revised estimates of $2.77B and $3.88.… Read More
Daniel’s #55DAC Trip Report
Another year, another DAC, and last month it was #55DAC in SFO and the first thing that I noticed was that the event was no longer located in the traditional North or South Halls, rather we were in the smaller, Moscone West on two floors, almost like a 3D FinFET. Checkin to get my badge was highly automated and oh so fast, well done.… Read More
1-on-1 with Anirudh Devgan, President, Cadence
At the Design Automation Conference, no one is busier than an EDA company executive — conference panels, product launch briefings, customer meetings, and corporate dinners all place considerable demands on their time. I was fortunate enough to be able to meet with Anirudh Devgan, President of Cadence, at the recent DAC55 in San… Read More
Stubbornness Captures an Entire Disruptive Technology and Leads to an Academy Award
This is the eighth in the series of “20 Questions with Wally Rhines”
In 1972, I joined TI and was assigned to work on a new contract that had just been awarded and badly needed staffing. The U.S. Department of Defense had decided that solid-state charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors were going to be a strategic technology… Read More
Low Cost Power NB-IoT Solution? Fusion F1 DSP based Modem!
Supporting NB-IoT requires low cost (optimized silicon footprint) and ultra-low power solution to cope with IoT device requirement. Cadence Fusion F1 DSP IP has been integrated in modem IC by two new customers, Xinyi and Rafael, gaining traction in NB-IoT market. These design-win builds on previous momentum: software GPS solution… Read More
Cadence Selected to Support Major DARPA Program
When DARPA plans programs, they’re known for going big – really big. Which is what they are doing again with their Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI). Abstracting from their intro, this is a program “to ensure far-reaching improvements in electronics performance well beyond the limits of traditional scaling”. This isn’t… Read More
Autonomous Driving and Functional Safety
The timelines proposed by automobile manufacturers for enabling fully autonomous driving are extremely aggressive. At the recent DAC55 conference in San Francisco, I attended a panel discussion on Functional Safety issues for assisted and autonomous driving, sponsored by Mentor Graphics. I also had the opportunity to chat… Read More
Optimization and Reliability for FinFET designs at #55DAC
TSMC is the leading foundry worldwide and they make a big splash each year at the DAC exhibit and conference, so I stopped by their theatre area during the presentation from IP vendor Moortec to see what’s new this year. Stephen Crosher was the presenter from Moortec and we had exchanged emails before, so this was the first time… Read More
Automotive is setting the goalposts for next generation designs
Automotive applications are having a tremendous influence on semiconductor design. This influence is coming from innovations in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, communications, sensors that all serve the requirements of the automotive market. It should come as no surprise that ADAS and autonomous driving are … Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet