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Will Amazon’s Kindle Fire Force x86 Processors To Revisit the 1980s?

Will Amazon’s Kindle Fire Force x86 Processors To Revisit the 1980s?
by Ed McKernan on 11-29-2011 at 12:07 am

What if Amazon’s new Kindle Fire, priced at $199 and using a sub $10 TI processor, has effectively started the ball rolling towards forcing Intel and AMD to building a Very Low Cost (perhaps even <$10) x86 mobile processor? A recent article entitled “Amazon’s Risky Strategy” explores the ramifications of Amazon selling Kindle… Read More


A Review of an Analog Layout Tool called HiPer DevGen

A Review of an Analog Layout Tool called HiPer DevGen
by Daniel Payne on 11-28-2011 at 1:11 pm

My last IC design at Intel was a Graphics Chip and I developed a layout generator for Programmable Logic Arrays (PLA) that automated the task, so I’ve always been interested in how to make IC layout more push-button and less polygon pushing. Today I watched a video about HiPer DevGen from Tanner EDA and wanted to share what I … Read More


GlobalFoundries Versus Samsung!

GlobalFoundries Versus Samsung!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-27-2011 at 7:00 pm

Some call it co-opetition (collaborative competition), some call it keeping your enemies close. Others call it for what it is, unfair competition and/or other types of legally actionable behavior. GlobalFoundries calls it“Fab Syncing”, which in reality will SINK their FABS!

“With this new collaboration, we are making one Read More


Did Apple Influence AMD’s TSMC Foundry Switch?

Did Apple Influence AMD’s TSMC Foundry Switch?
by Ed McKernan on 11-27-2011 at 7:00 pm

During the weekend, I read two articles that highlighted Apple’s LCD supply chain build out and started to think of how this would look if Apple were to do the same on the x86 side of the ledger. The two articles, one related to Hitachi and Sony building a new 4” LCD for iphones and a more extensive one on Sharp building a new LCD for the iPAD3… Read More


December 1st – Hands-on Workshop with Calibre: DRC, LVS, DFM, xRC, ERC (Fremont, California)

December 1st – Hands-on Workshop with Calibre: DRC, LVS, DFM, xRC, ERC (Fremont, California)
by Daniel Payne on 11-24-2011 at 9:57 am

I’ve blogged about the Calibre family of IC design tools before:

Smart Fill replaced Dummy Fill Approach in a DFM Flow
DRC Wiki
Graphical DRC vs Text-based DRC
Getting Real time Calibre DRC Results with Custom IC Editing
Transistor-level Electrical Rule Checking
Who Needs a 3D Field Solver for IC Design?
Prevention is BetterRead More


AMD’s Crossing of the Chasm

AMD’s Crossing of the Chasm
by Ed McKernan on 11-24-2011 at 6:00 am

When AMD announced its cutbacks recently many people were left wondering why they were so deep given the strong financial performance in Q3 and the guidance for an up Q4. It couldn’t have been related to the Thailand floods that could have been at most a one-quarter squeeze expected in Q1. Now it is apparent from reports that AMD’s … Read More


What happens in Las Vegas Gets Blogged on SemiWiki!

What happens in Las Vegas Gets Blogged on SemiWiki!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-23-2011 at 7:00 pm

Interesting story, for my wife’s 50th birthday we went to Las Vegas to see Sir Elton John in concert. My wife is an Elton fan and this may be her last chance to see him live so off we went. I saw Elton and Billy Joel in a dueling piano concert a while back and it was simply amazing! The underlying purpose of the trip however was to earn “Perfect… Read More


How to use NoC to avoid routing congestion

How to use NoC to avoid routing congestion
by Eric Esteve on 11-23-2011 at 5:21 am

Network-on-Chip (NoC) is an emerging paradigm for communications within large VLSI systems implemented on a single silicon chip. Sgroi et al. call “the layered-stack approach to the design of the on-chip intercore communications the Network-on-Chip (NOC) methodology.” In a NoC system, modules such as processorRead More


Reducing the Need for Guardbanding Flash ADC Designs

Reducing the Need for Guardbanding Flash ADC Designs
by SStalnaker on 11-22-2011 at 7:59 pm

Flash analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are commonly used in high-frequency applications such as satellite communications, sampling oscilloscopes, and radar detection. Flash ADC is preferred over other ADC architectures because it is extremely fast and quite simple. However, flash ADC typically requires twice as many… Read More


David Liu, Kauffmann Award winner

David Liu, Kauffmann Award winner
by Paul McLellan on 11-22-2011 at 6:16 pm

David Liu receeived the Kaufman award for 2001 at the Kaufman award dinner a few weeks ago.

Or to be more formal about it:Dr. C. L. David Liu, the William Mong honorary chair professor of Computer Science and former president of the National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, will be presented with this year’s Phil Kaufman Award… Read More