Qualcomm buckles up for 4G machine communications and the technologies it has picked hint on the most likely winners in the crowded space of the Internet of Things (IoT) standards for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.… Read More
Synopsys Unifies Electrical, Thermal, Mechanical, and Optical Analysis with Multiphysics Fusion Solutions Market Leaders Including Cisco,…Read More
RISC-V and AI: The Architecture Shift Is NowThe semiconductor industry has experienced several defining transitions…Read More
PowerArtist RTL Power Estimation Folds into KeysightBack in the late 1990s, Sente launched a…Read More
Intel Foundry Expands the 18A Platform with 18A-P and Demonstrates Long-Term Technology Leadership at VLSI 2026At the 2026 VLSI Symposium, Intel Foundry provided…Read More
GPU-native mask rule checking eliminates the curvilinear mask rule check bottleneckAs semiconductor manufacturing pushes toward advanced nodes with…Read MoreWill the Snapdragon 820 Overheat?
So, I happened to read an article today about overheating issues on the snapdragon 820 from rather flaky sources. To guess the answer to this question, one has to understand the snapdragon 810 “heat-gate” and the sequence of events that led to it.… Read More
How to Live with Rapid Changes During Early Development of IP
Best practices call for using a version control system with systematic releases when developing IP. However, in the early stages of IP development using a rigid version control system with a cumbersome release process can hinder productivity. To fully understand how this works we should start by defining what is meant when we … Read More
How Can Big Data and EDA Tools Help?
Big data is a headline phrase that I see appear almost weekly now in my newsfeed, so it’s probably time that I start paying more attention to the growing trend because it does impact how technology-driven, EDA tool flows are being used. From my last trip to DAC I recall only two companies that were really focused on system-level… Read More
Semiconductor market going negative?
The outlook for the semiconductor market for the remainder of 2015 is mixed. Intel’s 3Q 2015 revenues were up 10% from 2Q 2015 and guidance is for 2.3% growth in 4Q 2015. Most other companies which have announced 3Q 2015 results expect revenue declines in 4Q 2015. The most severe drops (based on the midpoint of company guidance) are… Read More
Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me?
Macbeth may have been uncertain of what he saw but, until recently, image recognition systems would have fared even less well. The energy and innovation put into increasingly complex algorithms always seemed to fall short of what any animal (including us humans) is able to do without effort. Machine vision algorithms have especially… Read More
Diversity of chip segments had tempered downturns but no more?
* The Current Downturn is more Broadly Based…
* Back to the “bad old days” of Lemmings off a cliff???
* Its not just a Foundry thing…
* All corners of the chip industry are impacted!!!… Read More
New CoreLink IP ties in mobile GPU coherently
A mobile GPU is an expensive piece of SoC real estate in terms of footprint and power consumption, but critical to meeting user experience demands. GPU IP tuned for OpenGL ES is now a staple in high performance mobile devices, rendering polygons with shading and texture compression at impressive speeds.
Creative minds in the desktop… Read More
My View of Contextual Leadership
Go off and do something wonderful,” said Robert (Bob) Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild semiconductors and Intel Corporation. He was heard, and the quality of our lives has been elevated by the wonderful pursuits of skilled pioneers. Notice that Bob did not say, “Go off and become great leaders.” This is because great leaders of the… Read More
Delivering Zero Defect Products – EVS Testing
Competition in the semiconductor product marketplace has grown increasingly difficult as suppliers constantly search for ways to differentiate their products. Customers expect low cost, problem-free product performance. Automotive manufacturers in particular expect zero defects as field failures can prove very costly.… Read More


Available Is Not In Control: Balancing Output, Quality, and Risk in High-Volume Fabs