800x100 Efficient and Robust Memory Verification (2)

Apple is Giving Samsung Semiconductor A Splitting Headache

Apple is Giving Samsung Semiconductor A Splitting Headache
by Ed McKernan on 10-18-2011 at 5:00 pm

Vertical integration, as I have noted in previous blogs, is the way to domination and maximum profitability. That is unless someone else has beaten you to the punch with an even bettermodel. Apple is now executing a product and manufacturing supplier strategy that will force Samsung to lose lots of money and then ultimately split… Read More


USB 3.0 PHY Verification: how to manage AMS IP verification?

USB 3.0 PHY Verification: how to manage AMS IP verification?
by Eric Esteve on 10-18-2011 at 6:38 am

Very interesting question from Zahrein in this thread: “how to manage an embedded USB 3.0 PHY Verification”? To clearly position the problem, Zahrein need to run the RTL verification of a complete SoC integrating an USB 3.0 function, that is the Controller (digital) and the PHY (Analog Mixed Signal) embedded in the SoC. The question,… Read More


Mentor at the TSMC Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum

Mentor at the TSMC Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum
by Daniel Payne on 10-17-2011 at 3:14 pm

EDA companies and foundries must closely collaborate in order to deliver IC tool flows that work without surprises at the 40nm and 28nm nodes.

Tomorrow in San Jose
you can attend this 4th annual event hosted by TSMC along with Mentor Graphics and other EDA and IP companies.

Here are some of the topics that will interest IC designers… Read More


EDA and ITC

EDA and ITC
by Daniel Payne on 10-17-2011 at 10:44 am

Every SOC that is designed must be tested and the premier conference for test is ITC, held last month in Anaheim, California.

I spoke with Robert Ruiz of Synopsys by phone on September 21st to get an update on what is new with EDA for test engineers this year. Robert and I first met back at Viewlogic when Sunrise was acquired in the 90’s.… Read More


TSMC Gets Fooled Again!

TSMC Gets Fooled Again!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-16-2011 at 2:51 pm

If you follow the SemiWiki Twitter feed you may have noticed that The Motley Fool (Seth Jayson) did three more articles on TSMC financials. The first Foolish article was blogged on SemiWiki as “TSMC Financial Status and OIP Update”.

The next three Fool Hardy articles look at cash flow (the cash moving in and out of a business), accounts… Read More


Austin and San Jose SCC

Austin and San Jose SCC
by Paul McLellan on 10-14-2011 at 3:35 pm

Don’t forget the SpringSoft Community Conferences next week in Austin on Tuesday and in San Jose on Thursday. There is no charge and you even get a free lunch (see “no such thing as…”).

The morning in Austin is focused on functional closure and how to leverage SpringSoft’s verification technology… Read More


Soft IP Qualification

Soft IP Qualification
by Paul McLellan on 10-14-2011 at 3:10 pm

At the TSMC Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum (try saying that three times in a row) next week (on Tuesday 18th), Atrenta will present a paper on the TSMC soft IP qualification flow. It will be presented by Anuj Kumar, senior manager of the customer consulting group.

More and more, chips are not put together what we think of … Read More


Conclusion of the USB 3.0 IP forecast from IPNEST… complimentary for SemiWiki readers

Conclusion of the USB 3.0 IP forecast from IPNEST… complimentary for SemiWiki readers
by Eric Esteve on 10-14-2011 at 10:40 am

Using the “Diffusion of Innovation” theory, we have built a forecast for the market of USB 3.0 IP in 2011-2015. In this new version of the report, we have inserted the actual revenues generated by USB 3.0 IP from different vendors, for 2009 and 2010, and reworked the 2011-2015 forecast. Initially, we had expected this IP market to … Read More


FPGA Prototyping – What I learned at a Seminar

FPGA Prototyping – What I learned at a Seminar
by Daniel Payne on 10-14-2011 at 10:11 am

Intro
My first exposure to hardware prototyping was at Intel back in 1980 when the iAPX 432 chip-set group decided to build a TTL-based wire-wrap prototype of a 32 bit processor to execute the Ada language. The effort to create the prototype took much longer than expected and was only functional a few months before silicon came back.… Read More


From IBM Mainframes to Wintel PCs to Apple iPhones: 70% is the Magic Number

From IBM Mainframes to Wintel PCs to Apple iPhones: 70% is the Magic Number
by Ed McKernan on 10-12-2011 at 10:51 am

Time to ring the Bell. With the iPhone 4S, Apple has just surpassed the 70% gross margin metric that usually equates to a compute platform becoming an industry standard. IBM’s mainframe achieved it in the 1960s with the 360 series and still is able to crank it out with their Z-series. The combined Intel and Microsoft tandem (Wintel)… Read More