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The US Executive Forum 2013

The US Executive Forum 2013
by Daniel Nenni on 09-26-2013 at 10:00 am

The US Executive Forum hosted by the Global Semiconductor Alliance was held last night at the beautiful Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Menlo Park. We all have memorable events in our professional lives and this is one of mine, absolutely. The audience was filled with semiconductor executives from around the world who chatted freely… Read More


Dan Niles: Tapering and the Global Economy

Dan Niles: Tapering and the Global Economy
by Paul McLellan on 09-25-2013 at 5:21 pm

Yesterday was Dan Niles quarterly review that he does for GSA. As always he starts from the big picture of the world economy and works his way to a semiconductor forecast. The focus of this quarter was whether the world economy is strong enough for the US to “taper” and reduce the amount of quantitative easing (aka flooding… Read More


Hybrid Memory Cube Shipping

Hybrid Memory Cube Shipping
by Paul McLellan on 09-25-2013 at 4:37 pm

Today Micron announced that it is shipping 2GB Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) samples. The HMC is actually 5 stacked die connected with through-silicon-vias (TSVs). The bottom die is a logic chip and is actually manufactured for Micron in an IBM 32nm process (and doesn’t have any TSVs). The other 4 die are 4Gb DRAM die manufactured… Read More


Intel 14nm versus Samsung 14nm

Intel 14nm versus Samsung 14nm
by Daniel Nenni on 09-25-2013 at 4:15 am

The legend of Intel being two process nodes ahead of the rest of the industry is quickly coming to an end. To come to terms with this you need to do an apple to apple comparison which is what I will do right here, right now.

First and foremost let’s compare SoC silicon delivery since SoCs are driving the semiconductor industry and will … Read More


Another Major Consolidation in Semiconductor Space!

Another Major Consolidation in Semiconductor Space!
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-25-2013 at 4:00 am


This time it is between the suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipments. And they are among the top ranked global peers. Applied Materials Inc., holding the numero uno position in sales of chip manufacturing equipments in 2012, agreed to acquire Tokyo Electron Ltd, the third in that ranking. Gary Dickerson of Applied… Read More


SystemVerilog Assertions and Functional Coverage

SystemVerilog Assertions and Functional Coverage
by Daniel Payne on 09-24-2013 at 8:26 pm

Ashok Mehtahas designed processors at DEC and Intel, managed ASIC vendor relationships, verified networks SoCs, directed engineers at AMCC, and used SystemVerilog since it’s inception. He recently authored a book: SystemVerilog Assertions and Functional Coverage. The book is available in both hardcover and Kindle… Read More


But I Never Have Seen a Synchronizer Failure

But I Never Have Seen a Synchronizer Failure
by Jerry Cox on 09-24-2013 at 8:00 am

You may say, “Why should I worry about synchronizer failures when I have never seen one fail in a product?” Perhaps you feel that the dual-rank synchronizer used by many designers makes your design safe. Furthermore, those chips that have occasional unexpected failures never show any forensic evidence of synchronizer failures.… Read More


Xilinx’s Vivado HLS Will Float Your FPGA

Xilinx’s Vivado HLS Will Float Your FPGA
by Luke Miller on 09-23-2013 at 8:30 pm

Very rarely does the FPGA designer, especially with respect to RADAR, think of the FPGA as a floating point processor. Just to be sure I asked my 6 year old and she agreed. But you know what, the Xilinx FPGAs float. Go try it, order some up and fill up the tub.

Anyways I purpose a duel to the avid VHDL coder. I want you to design me a Sine(x) … Read More


A Brief History of Silvaco

A Brief History of Silvaco
by Daniel Nenni on 09-23-2013 at 5:00 pm

Silvaco is the leading supplier of TCAD software, and a major supplier of EDA software for circuit simulation and design of analog, mixed-signal and RF integrated circuits.

The company was founded in 1984 by Dr. Ivan Pesic. The initial product, Utmost, quickly became the industry standard for parameter extraction, device characterization… Read More


Apple: "It’s The Sales Channel, Stupid!"

Apple: "It’s The Sales Channel, Stupid!"
by Ed McKernan on 09-23-2013 at 1:00 pm

Apple’s decision to launch the iphone 5C as a “high priced” device as opposed to a $300 entry level mass market consumer play appears to be intertwined in a much more overriding strategic plan that is beginning to play out in the market. Many analysts who pushed for the low cost device saw the need as necessary to save the ecosystem but… Read More