HSPICE is over 30 years old, which is a testimony of how solid the circuit simulator has been and how widely used it is. To stay competitive the HSPICE developers have to innovate or the product will slowly loose ground to the many other simulator choices. I listened to the webinar last week to find out what was new with HSPICE.
Taiwan Trip Report: Semiconductors, EDA, and the ASIC Business!
Just returning from my monthly trip to Taiwan and I find myself energized! Semiconductors, EDA, and the ASIC business have never been more exciting! The travel itself is not so exciting but since I make frequent trips the airline and hotel treat me like a king. And let me tell you, it is good to be a king!
Interoperability Forum
Earlier this week I went to the Synopsys Interoperability Forum. The big news of the day turned out to be Synopsys wanting to be more than interoperable with Magma, but that only got announced after we’d all gone away.
Philippe Margashack of ST opened, reviewing his slides from a presentation at the same forum from 10 years … Read More
Microsoft’s New Tablet Strategy: Here, There and Everywhere
As mentioned in a previous post, Microsoft has started to come clean on its software strategy as it relates to Windows 8 for PCs and Tablets. The strategy has been changing quite rapidly since their first admission in September. Essentially the Windows 8 O/S will be forked based on whether the mobile device is operating on an x86 or… Read More
IP-SoC 2011: prepare the future, what’s coming next after IP based design?
IP-SoC 2011is the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary for the first Conference completely dedicated to IP. IP market is a small world, as EDA a small market if you look at the generated revenue… but both are essential building blocks for the semiconductor industry. It was not clear back in 1995 that IP will become essential: at that time,… Read More
It’s not just handsets
I usually write about the handset business (terminals in wireless-speak) because it is a consumer business and drives, directly and indirectly, a large part of the semiconductor business. But there is another part to the business, base-stations.
The largest supplier of wireless networking equipment is Ericsson. Ericsson … Read More
Synopsys acquires Magma
So Synopsys announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Magma. There will be a regulatory delay etc before it finally closes.
So why did they do it? Despite Magma being thought of as a place and route company, they have two other product that are perhaps more significant for Synopsys: FineSim and Tekton.
FineSim, Magma’s… Read More
100 USB 3.0 IP Design-In…Is PLDA rocketing SuperSpeed USB technology?
Did we (the analyst) completely underestimate SuperSpeed USB take-off, or is the company tweaking the meaning of “USB 3.0 IP Design-In”? This PRfrom PLDA could be understood as a claiming from the IP vendor that they have achieved the 100[SUP]th[/SUP] design win for their USB 3.0 IP… Let’s try to understand how PLDA can make more… Read More
Blitz, blazing fast layout
One of the challenges with today’s SoCs is that chip-finishing, putting the final touches to the SoC working at the chip level, stresses layout editors to the limit. Either they run out of capacity to load the entire chip, or they can handle the entire chip but everything is like wading through molasses, it takes an awfully … Read More
Will Amazon’s Kindle Fire Force x86 Processors To Revisit the 1980s?
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
More Headwinds – CHIPS Act Chop? – Chip Equip Re-Shore? Orders Canceled & Fab Delay