We will precisely explain the meaning of deadlock in a modern, complex multi-core SoC. First, let’s take a look at the crash of the Air France 296, when a brand new Airbus A320 crashed during a demo flight on June 26, 1988. This Airbus 320, the first plane being completely automated, thanks to the FADEC flight system, was running a demo… Read More



Decisive Floorplanning for Faster Design Closure
Semiconductor design automation at system level is gaining its due importance today. It needs an effective, efficient, and seamless flow from system up to silicon. There is lot of effort going on for automating SoC design exploration at system level but that eventually stops at RTL; another level of flow automation takes over … Read More
Internet of Things 2015 Year End Review (3): IoT Opportunities and Risks Insights from Patents
New IoT Product/Service Development
Even though the IoT is getting a huge attention recently the concept of interconnected billions of devices is not new and has been under development for over 10 years. Thus, there are a large number of related patented technologies that can be exploited for developing new products/services,… Read More
Synopsys on the Future of Custom Layout!
Analog and mixed signal design has received more than their fair share of attention since the mobile revolution and now that FinFETs are in production at the foundries I see that trend continuing. As a result this year there are some interesting things brewing in EDA, especially in the area of Custom Layout.
Innovation in Custom … Read More
IBM’s OpenPOWER Presence Was Felt Heavily At SuperComputing ’15
IBM is in the process of reinventing themselves as a company, changing how they see themselves, what they do as a company and how they want their partners and customers to view them. This is exemplified best in their mobile alliance with Apple, their Watson cognitive efforts, the sale of their chip fab to GlobalFoundries, the sale… Read More
Maybe not the world, but schedules got eaten
It has been almost five years since Marc Andreessen wrote the words, “Software is eating the world.” The premise of his essay in the Wall Street Journal in 2011 was pretty simple: the technology world has seen its intrinsic value shift from hardware to software. New all-software names have appeared on the list of high flying companies,… Read More
Intel to Focus on IoT and NOT Mobile?
The Intel Q4 investor call was last week and as Brian Krzanich approaches his 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] year as Intel CEO a new synergistic corporate strategy is emerging:
That strategy is also resulting in the evolution of our business model to focus on three key areas of growth: The Data Center, the Internet of Things, and Memory.
DCG, IoTG… Read More
Pure-play Foundries to Prevail in Future
In a consolidating semiconductor business environment and innovation in semiconductor fabrication already scaling new heights with existing strong players, where do you think the wafer capacity should concentrate? It’s pure-play foundries or pure-play-like foundries, and those who supply high-volume common components… Read More
ARM on Moore’s Law at 50: Are we planning for retirement?
On Monday morning on December 7, 2016 Greg Yeric of Arm gave an excellent and wide ranging plenary talk at IEDM entitled “Moore’s Law at 50: Are we planning for retirement?”. You can download Greg’s slide deck here.… Read More
How Artificial Intelligence Will Kickstart the Internet of Things
The possibilities that IoT brings to the table are endless. IoT continues its run as one of the most popular technology buzzwords of the year, and now the new phase of IoT is pushing everyone to ask hard questions about the data collected by all devices and sensors of IoT.… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot