Synopsys Delivers a Brief History of AI chips and Specialty AI IP

Synopsys Delivers a Brief History of AI chips and Specialty AI IP
by Mike Gianfagna on 02-16-2021 at 10:00 am

Cloud AI Accelerator SoC

Let’s face it, AI is everywhere. From the cloud to the edge to your pocket, there is more and more embedded intelligence fueling efficiency and features. It’s sometimes hard to discern where human interaction ends, and machine interaction begins. The technology that underlies all this is quite complex and daunting to understand.… Read More


Filling out the rest of the mobile device

Filling out the rest of the mobile device
by Don Dingee on 08-01-2016 at 4:00 pm

We spend an inordinate amount of energy tracking the big chip – the application processor – in a mobile device. As we’ve seen this space is coming down to a handful of players. A more interesting competition is heating up around the APU for the rest of chips needed to make a phone.… Read More


Top Mobile OEM Uses NetSpeed to Boost Its Next Gen Application Processor

Top Mobile OEM Uses NetSpeed to Boost Its Next Gen Application Processor
by Eric Esteve on 04-20-2016 at 12:00 pm

The smartphone segment is certainly the most competitive market for chip makers today and the yearly product launch cadence puts a lot of pressure on the application processor design cycle. End-users expect to benefit from higher image definition, better sound quality, ever faster and more complex applications which push the… Read More


64-bit for the masses with Cortex-A35

64-bit for the masses with Cortex-A35
by Don Dingee on 11-10-2015 at 12:00 pm

It has been four years since the announcement of the ARMv8 instruction set, three years since the launch of the ARM Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 cores, and two years since the Apple A7 with its “Cyclone” core blew away any misunderstanding of 64-bit as being just for servers.

There is, however, still this idea that 64-bit is only for … Read More


Linley: Mobile Peaked in 2013?

Linley: Mobile Peaked in 2013?
by Paul McLellan on 04-28-2015 at 7:00 am

Last week was the Linley Mobile Conference. Mobile is a huge semiconductor market and, outside of Intel, is the main driver for next generation process technologies. A new generation of mobile phones comes along, fills the leading edge fabs for a year or two and then moves on to the next generation. Nothing comes close to requiring… Read More


Network-on-Chip is the backbone of Application Processor and LTE Modem

Network-on-Chip is the backbone of Application Processor and LTE Modem
by Eric Esteve on 05-23-2013 at 9:38 am

I have mentioned NoC adoption explosion during the last two years, illustrated by the huge revenue growth of Arteris. This trend is now confirmed in the fastest moving segments, the Application Processors (AP) and LTE Modem for mobile applications. In fact, Arteris FlexNoC has been integrated in the majority of AP and LTE Modem… Read More


Smartphone shipments in Q4’11, the Milky Way the new limit!

Smartphone shipments in Q4’11, the Milky Way the new limit!
by Eric Esteve on 02-13-2012 at 3:51 am

In a previous blog, I was forecasting smartphone shipment to reach 430 million units in 2011. I was wrong! Apparently, I am not better than other analysts, as the actual figures for the smartphone shipment in 2011 are more than slightly different, as these have topped 491.4 million units! After 304 million in 2010, that’s a 61.3 percent… Read More


Media Tablet & Smartphones to generate $6 Billion market in… power management IC segment by 2012, says IPnest

Media Tablet & Smartphones to generate $6 Billion market in… power management IC segment by 2012, says IPnest
by Eric Esteve on 11-15-2011 at 10:59 am

With worldwide annual media tablet shipments forecast changing –growing- almost every quarter, the latest from ABI research calling for shipment to approach 100 million units in 2012 and passing 150 million in 2014, with the same kind of forecast for smartphone passing 400 million units this year (438 million) and approaching… Read More


Arteris vs Sonics battle…Let’s talk NoC architecture

Arteris vs Sonics battle…Let’s talk NoC architecture
by Eric Esteve on 11-04-2011 at 6:23 am

The text of this very first article about Arteris had disapeared from Semiwiki, for an absolutely unknowed reason…If you have missed it, this is a pretty useful introduction to NoC concept, as well as to the legal battle between Arteris and Sonics:

The Network on Chip is a pretty recent concept. Let’s try to understand how … Read More


Magic Media Tablet: illusion about a niche market?

Magic Media Tablet: illusion about a niche market?
by Eric Esteve on 08-24-2011 at 9:31 am

According with ABI research, worldwide annual media tablet shipments are expected to top 120 million units in 2015, which is more than decent for a niche market. But if you compare it with the smartphone market (you can find the smartphone shipments forecast here), media tablet will weight 15% in unit shipment of the smartphone … Read More