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Cadence Acquires Jasper

Cadence Acquires Jasper
by Paul McLellan on 04-21-2014 at 4:06 pm

Cadence announced today that it is acquiring Jasper Design Automation for $170M in an all-cash offer. Jasper has $24M in cash so it is really an acquisition for around $145M. i think that is around 4X revenue but I only know rumors about Jasper’s revenue numbers.

All the big 3 already have their own formal technology but the … Read More


NVM central to multi-layer trust in cloud

NVM central to multi-layer trust in cloud
by Don Dingee on 04-21-2014 at 4:00 pm

Pop quiz: Name one of the hottest applications for non-volatile memory – A) processor and code configuration; B) RFID tags; C) secure encryption keys; D) all the above. The answer is D, but not in the way you may be thinking; a new approach is using all these ideas at once, combined in SoC designs targeting advanced security … Read More


GlobalFoundries Gets a 14nm Process

GlobalFoundries Gets a 14nm Process
by Paul McLellan on 04-21-2014 at 10:00 am

I went to a briefing last Tuesday where Samsung and GlobalFoundries announced that they have the same process at 14nm. Dan already wrote about itso it is old news in one sense. But I really think people underestimate its importance. In essence, reading between the lines, Samsung is licensing GF their 14nm process. This is driven … Read More


Can the NSA Get Into Your Chip?

Can the NSA Get Into Your Chip?
by Paul McLellan on 04-21-2014 at 2:49 am

At DVCon Lawrence Loh and Viktor Markus Purri gave a tutorial on Formally Verifying Security Aspects of SoC Designs. Lawrence is the direector of WW application engineering and Markus is an FAE who specializes in security verification.

I’m not going to attempt to summarize an entire half-day tutorial in under 1000 words,… Read More


Maker Faire San Mateo

Maker Faire San Mateo
by Paul McLellan on 04-20-2014 at 9:30 pm

A few years ago my then-girlfriend was an artist and she had some friends who were in the maker movement, one who ran a tool “lending library” and so on. So she wanted to go to the Maker Faire, which is a huge event held in San Mateo exhibit center. In those days it was more like an outgrowth of burning man but there were already… Read More


Another Intel Slide Debunked!

Another Intel Slide Debunked!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-20-2014 at 4:00 am

This was one of the most memorable keynotes I have seen, absolutely. Probably because it supports my belief that the infamous Intel slide that “projected” Intel will continue a linear manufacturing cost per transistor improvement at 14nm and 10nm is pure marketing fluff. Even more interesting, according to Intel, other semiconductor… Read More


International Workshop on Logic and Synthesis

International Workshop on Logic and Synthesis
by Paul McLellan on 04-20-2014 at 12:54 am

There are always a number of other events that are colocated with DAC. One this year is the 23rd International Workshop on Logic and Synthesis (IWLS) that is held the weekend before DAC on May 30th and June 1st. Strictly speaking it is not colocated since it is in the Galleria Park Hotel on Sutter Street a few blocks away whereas DAC itself… Read More


EUV Slips a Year Per Year…Or More

EUV Slips a Year Per Year…Or More
by Paul McLellan on 04-19-2014 at 1:54 am

I was at EDPS in Monterey the last couple of days. It is one of the most interesting conferences to attend. Go next year since you already missed it this year. It is not big but the quality of the content is high. Historically the dinner in the middle is in the Monterey Yacht Club and there is a keynote speech. A few years ago it was me but this… Read More


Samsung ♥ GLOBALFOUNDRIES

Samsung ♥ GLOBALFOUNDRIES
by Daniel Nenni on 04-18-2014 at 11:00 pm

Had I not been briefed personally I may not have believed it. Samsung and GLOBALFOUNDRIES will work closely together on satisfying 14nm wafer demand while sharing Samsung’s FinFET secret sauce. This tells me two things: Samsung has more 14nm design wins than I had originally reported and the new GF CEO is serious about the… Read More


Power and Thermal Simulation in ESL Verification Flows

Power and Thermal Simulation in ESL Verification Flows
by Daniel Payne on 04-18-2014 at 8:11 pm

At the recent DVcon there was a keen focus on design verification and validation. Much of the attention is on Logic/circuit design verification, UVM, and IP verification. At the system level functional verification has improved to comprehend complex hardware and software interaction using Virtual Platforms/SystemC and Transaction… Read More