If expanding industries typically indicate vibrancy, a race to acquire and consolidate is generally reflective of the opposite – a period of slowed growth in mature, once high-flying categories. And while many industries experience a period of stardom, followed by a sharp and steady decline, we should be extremely worried when… Read More
WEBINAR Unpacking System Performance: Supercharge Your Systems with Lossless Compression IPsIn today's data-driven systems—from cloud storage and AI…Read More
ChipAgents Tackles Debug. This is ImportantInnovation is never ending in verification, for performance,…Read More
Siemens EDA Unveils Groundbreaking Tools to Simplify 3D IC Design and AnalysisIn a major announcement at the 2025 Design…Read More
CEO Interview with Faraj Aalaei of CognichipFaraj Aalaei is a successful visionary entrepreneur with…Read More
Rethink Scoreboards to Supercharge AI-Era CPUsBy Dr. Thang Minh Tran, CEO/CTO Simplex Micro…Read More
Semiconductor Usage Revolves Around Asia
I just read Daniel Nenni’s blog titled “Is Silicon Valley Gridlock a Good Sign for Semiconductors?” Dan, there is no definitive answer to this, I mean in terms of semiconductors. Let me call it Semiconductor Gridlock in Silicon Valley. Yes it’s good because Silicon Valley promotes research, brings up innovative technology and… Read More
Improve SoC Front-end Design Productivity
I have been involved in SoC developments for a long time. During this period I tried to learn what impacts the productivity and subsequently the market opportunity. Over the last year or so at SoCScape I have been involved designing solutions that can improve them. I have decided to post some of my thoughts here in a series of blogs … Read More
Resolution Enhancement Technology – the key to Moore’s Law
The ability to extend photolithography utilizing 193i light sources to current process nodes is truly the key technical achievement that has enabled Moore’s Law to continue. The interplay between the exposure equipment, the materials – especially, resists and related coatings – and the fundamental principles… Read More
Computer Vision in Mobile SoCs and the Making of Third Processor after CPU and GPU
Qualcomm’s teaser of its upcoming Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip (SoC) was supposed to make up for the issues like overheating and bad press that haunted its predecessor Snapdragon 810. Instead, the San Diego, California–based semiconductor giant chose to show off the GPU and image processing muscle. Especially, its… Read More
Smartwatch – A Tough Puzzle to Crack
Discounting the initial electronic or digital watch wave in 1970s which saw its sudden death sooner than expected, the recent Apple Watch event was the third attempt to invade the big watch market; the first being in 1999 and the second in 2012-13 led by Pebble. Although it’s stated that Apple sold about 3.6 million Smartwatches … Read More
Is Silicon Valley Gridlock a Good Sign for Semiconductors?
Let’s face it, the semiconductor world has always revolved around Silicon Valley and it always will. After commuting to Silicon Valley from the East Bay (45 miles each way) for the past 30+ years I’m acutely aware of the traffic patterns and how they relate to the economy. With the advent of smartphones I can work or be entertained … Read More
Smartphone Penetration in Bali & Gili Islands
Whether you travel for business purpose or to stay for holidays in one of the paradise island part of the “Lesser Sunda Islands” like Bali or the Gili Meno, you always learn about mobile phone penetration. If you stay in one of the luxury resorts, populated by rich western or Chinese people, you probably don’t learn more than when walking… Read More
SEMATECH, Silvaco and SRAM
SEMATECH has been around for over 20 years, starting in Austin. Today it is in upstate New York which increasingly seems to be the area for semiconductor research with IBM (still doing research although they sold their semiconductor business to GlobalFoundries), GlobalFoundries’ own Fab 8, the College of Nanoscale Science… Read More
For high-volume manufacturing at 10 nm and below: technology and friendship
The technology for 10 nm is settled, but what about 7 nm and 5 nm? Those nodes will happen with silicon-based CMOS and 193nm immersion lithography, but exactly how is still being worked out. Right now, though, the focus is on getting 10 nm chips into high-volume production. TSMC and Intel both claim to be on track for high-volume manufacturing… Read More
Facing the Quantum Nature of EUV Lithography