Top Ten #53DAC Highlights

Top Ten #53DAC Highlights
by Tom Dillinger on 06-13-2016 at 12:00 pm

Here is a very subjective list of the Top 10 logistical and technical highlights from DAC’53.

(10) With DAC attendance down from its peak days, the Austin Convention Center served as an excellent venue. There was good participation from companies with design centers in the “Silicon Hills”. And, I saw colleagues from Silicon Valley,… Read More


My #53DAC Must See List!

My #53DAC Must See List!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-04-2016 at 7:00 am

It may be hard to believe but this happens to be my thirty third Design Automation Conference. Where does the time go? Three of my kids are out of college and the last one is getting close. That is where my time has gone. The conference itself started in 1964 but my first one was in 1984 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In fact, that was the year… Read More


iDRM – A Complete Design Rule Development System

iDRM – A Complete Design Rule Development System
by Daniel Nenni on 06-02-2016 at 12:00 pm

Design rules are at the heart of the interface between the foundry and semiconductor designers, which makes them so critical. Traditionally, design rules and DRC decks have been developed manually with no or little automation. Design rule definitions are written using WORD or other general purpose office tools, and DRC decks… Read More


TSMC Update at #53DAC!

TSMC Update at #53DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-31-2016 at 4:00 pm

TSMC is having an interesting year for sure. I was at the TSMC Symposium in Hsinchu last week and everyone was talking about the new 16FFC process. Silicon is out and it is exceeding expectations leading some people (me included) to believe that TSMC 16FFC will be the next TSMC 28nm in regards to popularity. To be clear, 16FFC is currently… Read More


Bringing Human-Like Intelligent Vision Processing to Low-Power Embedded Systems

Bringing Human-Like Intelligent Vision Processing to Low-Power Embedded Systems
by Daniel Nenni on 05-31-2016 at 12:00 pm

Semiconductor IP has always been one of the most interesting topics on SemiWiki. Since going online in January of 2011 there have been a total of 592 IP related blogs that have been viewed 2,581,118 times. 79 of those blogs have been about CEVA, the number one licensor of digital signal processing (DSP) IP for a wide range of power-efficient,… Read More


Aart de Geus, Technomics and #53DAC

Aart de Geus, Technomics and #53DAC
by Daniel Payne on 05-29-2016 at 8:00 pm

The number one EDA+IP vendor in our industry today is Synopsys, and their eloquent leader is Aart de Geus, so I expect that the Monday interview at #53DAC on June 6th will be well attended and worthwhile to witness in the DAC Pavilion, start time is 11:30AM, so arrive early to get a seat. One of Aart’s coined words is Technomics,… Read More


Six Reasons to Visit Cadence at #53DAC this Year in Austin

Six Reasons to Visit Cadence at #53DAC this Year in Austin
by Daniel Payne on 05-29-2016 at 4:00 pm

For bloggers like myself spending four days at #53DAC is almost a non-stop blur of activity, visiting EDA vendors, IP providers and foundries to learn about what’s happening in our semiconductor industry. Cadence is both an EDA vendor and IP provider, so DAC is a great showcase for them to tell us what’s new in 2016 and… Read More


What the #3 EDA company is showing at #53DAC this year

What the #3 EDA company is showing at #53DAC this year
by Daniel Payne on 05-29-2016 at 12:00 pm

I live in Tualatin, Oregon just a few miles away from the corporate headquarters of the #3 EDA company in the world, Mentor Graphics. Since DAC is fast approaching, I thought it would be useful to give you a quick overview of what Mentor is going to be talking about in Austin, Texas during June 5-9. … Read More


Power Noise Sign-off at #53DAC

Power Noise Sign-off at #53DAC
by Daniel Payne on 05-29-2016 at 7:00 am

When I hear the company name of ANSYS the first EDA tool category that comes to mind is power noise sign-off. Going to DAC is a great way to find out what’s new with EDA, IP and foundries. There are three places that you can find ANSYS at DAC this year:… Read More


Aldec extends FPGA and ASIC flows at DAC

Aldec extends FPGA and ASIC flows at DAC
by Don Dingee on 05-20-2016 at 4:00 pm

Aldec tools and services have long been associated with FPGA designs. As FPGAs have evolved toward more RTL-based designs, the similarities between a modern FPGA verification flow and an ASIC verification flow often leave them looking virtually the same. … Read More