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IP vendors enable SuperSpeed USB IP take off in 2012

IP vendors enable SuperSpeed USB IP take off in 2012
by Eric Esteve on 01-15-2013 at 5:09 am

SuperSpeed USB has been clearly ranked in the Interface protocols winner list, see this previous post. It could be interesting to dig into this IP market segment, determine in which applications USB 3.0 has been successfully deployed and who are the IP vendors serving this market, enabling SuperSpeed USB to take off.

SuperSpeed… Read More


Battling SoCs: QCOM vs NVDA vs Samsung

Battling SoCs: QCOM vs NVDA vs Samsung
by Daniel Nenni on 01-13-2013 at 7:00 pm

If I had to describe CES in one word it would be exhausting. There were 3,000+ vendors, 150,000+ people, lines for everything, but 100% pure excitement. Even my beautiful wife was intrigued by the technology that shapes our lives. The smart toaster was of great interest to her since she says I time my toast with the smoke alarm. The … Read More


ESD Check Methodology

ESD Check Methodology
by Paul McLellan on 01-11-2013 at 5:12 pm

In Pune at the start of the month, Norman Chang, Ting-Sheng Ku, Jai Pollayil of Apache/Ansys and NVIDIA presented and ESD check methodologywith Fast Full-chip Static and Macro-level Dynamic Solutions . ESD stands for Elecro-Static Discharge and is basically injecting very high static voltages (think how your hand gets charged… Read More


The First 14nm FinFET Wafer Sighting!

The First 14nm FinFET Wafer Sighting!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-11-2013 at 12:10 pm

Incredibly exciting! Even my beautiful wife was impressed by the rainbow of colors it reflected. From left to right: 28nm, 20nm, and 14nm wafers. The 20nm and 14nm wafers are from the GLOBALFOUNDRIES NY fab, made in the USA! GF also announced another $3-4B CAPEX for 2013 to increase capacity of all three of their 300mm fabs (Singapore,… Read More


Predictions are hard, especially about the future

Predictions are hard, especially about the future
by Paul McLellan on 01-11-2013 at 11:26 am

I was asked to make some predictions about the EDA, semiconductor and electronic systems markets for 2013. I decided that it would be more fun to make some plausible predictions, some of which will be right, rather than go for anodyne predictions (“Cadence will acquire a couple of startups”) which are uninformative,… Read More


A Brief History of Synopsys DesignWare ® IP

A Brief History of Synopsys DesignWare ® IP
by Daniel Nenni on 01-11-2013 at 9:00 am

Let’s play word association. I say “EDA”, you immediately think “Synopsys”. I say “IP” and although 15 years ago you may not, today, you think “Synopsys”. For nearly two decades, Synopsys has grown its IP business through both organic development and acquisition, with a clear focus on enabling designers to meet their time-to-market… Read More


TSMC Apple Rumors Debunked!

TSMC Apple Rumors Debunked!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-11-2013 at 8:00 am

Disclaimer: I’m a blogger and by definition I share my observations, opinions, and experiences. Journalists and Analysts on the other hand are held to a much higher legal standard which is why they cite undisclosed sources and use double speak to shield themselves legally. Why trust a SemiWiki blogger over a Journalist or an Analyst?… Read More


Reducing Dynamic and Static Power in Memories

Reducing Dynamic and Static Power in Memories
by Paul McLellan on 01-10-2013 at 3:46 pm

Sequential approaches to power reduction work well on logic implemented using standard cells. But part of every SoC, sometimes a very large part, is taken up with embedded memories for which alternative approaches are required. Not only do these memories occupy up to half of the area they also account for as much as 75% of the power… Read More


Global Design Closure

Global Design Closure
by Paul McLellan on 01-09-2013 at 8:34 pm

Satish Soman, chief solutions architect at Atrenta, was invited to give a presentation on Global Design Closure at the VLSI India conference in Pune at the start of this month. He talked about the need to close the gap between the typical SoC development methodology and what happens in reality.


SoCs are really put together in two … Read More