Will 14nm Yield?

Will 14nm Yield?
by Daniel Nenni on 03-26-2013 at 9:00 pm

If I had a nickel for every time I heard the term “FinFET” at the 2013 SNUG (Synopsys User Group) Conference I could buy a dozen Venti Carmel Frappuccinos at Starbucks (my daughter’s favorite treat). In the keynote, Aart de Geus said FinFET 14 times and posed the question: Will FinFETs Yield at 14nm? So that was my mission, ask everybody… Read More


Moore Push Versus Market Pull

Moore Push Versus Market Pull
by Paul McLellan on 03-25-2013 at 5:55 pm

I was at SNUG earlier today at both Aart’s keynote that opened the conference and at his “meet the press” Q&A just before lunch. The keynote was entitled Bridges to the Gigascale Decade. And the presentation certainly contained lots of photos of bridges! Anyway, I’m going to focus on just one thing,… Read More


Synopsys ♥ TSMC!

Synopsys ♥ TSMC!
by Daniel Nenni on 03-14-2013 at 8:00 am

Dr. Paul McLellan and I will be covering the Silicon Valley SNUG live again this year. Unfortunately we are only allowed to see the keynotes (same thing with CDNLive) but they look very good:

Keynote Address: Massive Innovation and Collaboration into the “GigaScale” Age!
Aart de Geus, Chairman and co-CEO, Synopsys,
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Synopsys Users Group Silicon Valley 2012 Keynote: Aart de Geus

Synopsys Users Group Silicon Valley 2012 Keynote: Aart de Geus
by Daniel Nenni on 03-27-2012 at 1:26 pm

SNUG Chairman John Busco opened the session with a few words about Aart de Geus, the silver anniversary of Synopsys, and some SNUG statistics. A whopping 2,500 people registered this year! Probably due to the Magma acquisition which is prominently displayed on “Welcome Magma Users” signs and on the flat screens which are everywhere.… Read More


Synopsys Validates EDA360?

Synopsys Validates EDA360?
by Daniel Nenni on 03-26-2012 at 4:26 pm

Before I get too snarky here, I would like to thank Synopsys for the invitation to SNUG 2012 and including me with the professional editors at a 75 minute roundtable discussion with Synopsys CEO Aart de Geus. While Aart is not my favorite big EDA CEO (Wally Rhines of Mentor bought me lunch and returns my email), he is definitely the most… Read More


I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family…

I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family…
by Paul McLellan on 08-31-2011 at 8:00 pm

The CEO panel at the 2nd GTC wasn’t especially enlightening. The theme was that going forward will require cooperation for success and everyone was really ready to cooperate.

The most interesting concept was Aart talking about moving from what he called “scale complexity” aka Moore’s law to what he … Read More


2011 Semiconductor Design Forecast: Partly Cloudy!

2011 Semiconductor Design Forecast: Partly Cloudy!
by Daniel Nenni on 03-29-2011 at 11:39 am

This was my first SNUG (Synopsys User Group) meeting as media so it was a ground breaking event. Media was still barred from some of the sessions but hey, it’s a start. The most blog worthy announcement on day 1 was that Synopsys signed a deal with Amazon to bring the cloud to mainstream EDA!

Even more blog worthy was a media roundtable… Read More


Synopsys at Goldman Sachs Technology Conference

Synopsys at Goldman Sachs Technology Conference
by Paul McLellan on 02-21-2011 at 7:00 pm

Aart de Geus was interviewed at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference last week. Here is some of what he said. Strong Q1, good Q2 outlook, on-track for 2011 guidance. Strong rebound in Far East, Europe mixed, North America good. 80% revenue for year booked by start of year, 90% revenue for a quarter already booked at start of quarter.… Read More


Aart de Geus ( Synopsys ) for Governor!

Aart de Geus ( Synopsys ) for Governor!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-17-2011 at 7:22 pm

Seriously, I would vote for Aart, he would make a great California Governor. You will probably not meet a more fiscally responsible CEO. Synopsys is one of the best run companies in Silicon Valley and was recently rated in the top 25 on social media site glassdoor.com. Aart ( SNPS ) has a 92% approval rate, Wally ( MENT ) 80%, Lip-Bu ( … Read More


EDA / IP Business Model Debate

EDA / IP Business Model Debate
by Daniel Nenni on 01-09-2011 at 11:39 am

First, lets review the business model transitions EDA has seen. We started with perpetual licensing which is a software license for the life of the product. EDA companies did their best to change product names to get incremental revenue above and beyond the yearly 15% maintenance fee but that is a dead end business model for a confined… Read More