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Intel’s Haswell and the Tablet PC Dilemma

Intel’s Haswell and the Tablet PC Dilemma
by Ed McKernan on 09-07-2012 at 12:26 pm

Paul Otellini’s greatest fear in his chase to have Intel win the Smartphone and Tablet space is that he opens the door to significant ASP declines in his current PC business. This is the Innovator’s Dilemma writ large. In 2011, Intel’s PC business (excluding servers) was $36B at an average ASP of $100. Within that model is an Ultra … Read More


A brief history of Interface IP, the 4th version of IPNEST Survey

A brief history of Interface IP, the 4th version of IPNEST Survey
by Eric Esteve on 09-07-2012 at 5:17 am

The industry is moving extremely fast to change the “old” way to interconnect devices using parallel bus, to the most efficient approach based on High Speed Serial Interconnect (HSSI) protocols. The use of HSSI has become the preferred solution compared with the use of parallel busses for new products developed … Read More


Have You Ever Heard of the Carrington Event? Will Your Chips Survive Another?

Have You Ever Heard of the Carrington Event? Will Your Chips Survive Another?
by Paul McLellan on 09-06-2012 at 9:07 pm

In one of those odd coincidences, I was having dinner with a friend last week and somehow the Carrington Event came up. Then I read a a piece in EETimesabout whether electrical storms could cause problems in the near future. Even that piece didn’t mention the Carrington Event so I guess George Leopold, the author, hasn’t… Read More


Built to last: LTSI, Yocto, and embedded Linux

Built to last: LTSI, Yocto, and embedded Linux
by Don Dingee on 09-06-2012 at 8:30 pm

The open source types say it all the time: open is better when it comes to operating systems. If you’re building something like a server or a phone, with either a flexible configuration or a limited lifetime, an open source operating system like Linux can put a project way ahead.

Linux has always started with a kernel distribution,… Read More


The GLOBALFOUNDRIES Files

The GLOBALFOUNDRIES Files
by Daniel Nenni on 09-06-2012 at 9:58 am

There’s a new blogger in town, Kelvin Low from GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Kelvin was a process engineer for Chartered Semiconductor before moving on to product marketing for GF. His latest post talks about the GF 28nm SLP which is worth a read. There was quite the controversy over this Gate-First HKMG implementation of 28nm that IBM/GF/Samsung… Read More


Wireless Application: DSP IP core is dominant

Wireless Application: DSP IP core is dominant
by Eric Esteve on 09-06-2012 at 5:32 am

If we look back in the early 90’s, when the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) standard was just an emerging technology, the main innovation was the move from Analog to the Digital Processing of the Signal (DSP), allowing to make unlimited manipulation to an Analog signal, once digitized by the means of a converter (ADC).… Read More


Hardware Intelligence for Low Power

Hardware Intelligence for Low Power
by guruvadhiraj on 09-05-2012 at 9:42 am

Low power is the hottest topic these days. The designers of hardware and software are trying to find instances where they can save power . This article tries to identify the role that can be played by the hardware which traditionally it is always software who drives it.… Read More


Wiring Harness Design

Wiring Harness Design
by Paul McLellan on 09-04-2012 at 5:18 pm

In 2003 Mentor acquired a company doing wiring harness design. Being a semiconductor guy this wasn’t an area I’d had much to do with. But more than most semiconductor people I expect.

But back when I was an undergraduate, I had worked as a programmer for a subsidiary of Philips called Unicam that made a huge range of spectrometers… Read More


A Brief History of Semiconductors: the Foundry Transition

A Brief History of Semiconductors: the Foundry Transition
by Paul McLellan on 09-04-2012 at 11:30 am

A modern fab can cost as much as $10B dollars. That’s billion with a B. Since it has a lifetime of perhaps 5 years, owning a fab costs around $50 per second and that’s before you buy any silicon or chemicals or design any chips. Obviously anyone owning a fab had better be planning on making and selling a lot of chips if they are going to make… Read More