This year is the 25th anniversary for DesignCon. The show has changed a lot over the years. Today, it’s a vibrant showcase of all aspects of advanced product design – from ICs to boards to systems. The show floor reflects the diverse ecosystem. If you missed it this year, definitely plan to go next year.
The DesignCon technical program… Read More
In early May of this year, eSilicon announced the tape-out of a test chip which included the latest additions to its neuASIC™ IP platform. At the upcoming Hot Chips Symposium to be held at Stanford on August 19 and 20, 2019, eSilicon will be demonstrating the software component of this AI-enabling IP platform. At the event, eSilicon… Read More
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) systems have been successfully used for some time now in the network switching and high-performance computing (HPC) spaces. Now, adding fuel to the HBM fire, there is another market that shares similar system requirements as HPC and that is Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially AI systems doing… Read More
I remember the days of the IDM (integrated device manufacturer). For me, it was RCA, where I worked for 15 years as the company changed from RCA to GE and then ultimately to Harris Semiconductor. It’s a bit of a cliché, but life was simpler then, from a customer point of view at least. RCA did it all. We designed all the IP, did the physical… Read More
Being an old ASIC physical design guy, I tend to think of ASICs from a “bond-pads-in” perspective. This week however, I had a very eye-opening discussion with Dan Leung, Director of Packaging and Assembly for Open-Silicon, that totally changed my perspective. While I had been exposed many times to the concept of systems-in-a-package… Read More
In 1969 the Internet was born at UCLA when a computer there sent a message to a computer at Stanford. By 1975, there were 57 computers on the ‘internet’. Interestingly in the early seventies I actually used the original Xerox Sigma 7 connected to the internet in Boelter Hall at UCLA. A similar vintage computer is now in this room commemorating… Read More
As you all know I’m a big fan of the ASIC business dating back to the start of the fabless semiconductor transformation where anybody could send a design spec to an ASIC company and get a chip back. The ASIC business model also started the smart phone revolution when Samsung built the first Apple SoCs for the iPhones and iPads.
Today … Read More
Last week Samsung hosted the GSA Silicon Valley “State of the Industry” Meet-up which was well attended by the semiconductor elite, myself included. The agenda started with an update on the semiconductor industry outlook followed by deep dives into Automotive, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity all of which are… Read More
While pushing Moore’s Law’s boundaries in the world of 2D packaging, companies are starting to explore nontraditional approaches towards designing integrated circuit chips. 2D packaging is currently the most used method in designing chips in the industry, and while it leads in efficiency of power and performance, it lacks … Read More
A new term has entered the vernacular of electronic design engineering — pathfinding. The complexity of the functionality to be integrated and the myriad of chip, package, and board technologies available make the implementation decision a daunting task. Pathfinding refers to the method by which the design space of technology… Read More
