AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning and neural networks are all hot industry topics in 2019, but you probably want to know if these concepts are changing how we actually design or verify an SoC. To answer that question what better place to get an answer than from a panel of industry experts who recently gathered at DVcon with moderator… Read More
Two central concepts have led to the growth of our ability to manage and implement larger and larger designs: hierarchy and higher levels of abstraction. Without these two approaches the enormous designs we are seeing in SOCs would not be possible. Hierarchy in particular allows the reuse of component blocks, such as CPU cores.… Read More
What does Qualcomm, Intel, and Facebook have in common? Well, for one thing they all bought network onchip communications (NoC) IP companies. As I have mentioned before, semiconductor IP is the foundation of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and I believe this trend of acquisitions will continue. So, if you are going to start… Read More
While writing the definitive book on ARM history we could not have imagined a more different exit than the SoftBank acquisition, not even close. It is now very clear why SoftBank acquired ARM for $31B. It is also very clear why alternatives like RISC-V are trending on SemiWiki and will continue to do so, absolutely. No matter what … Read More
Many startups set out with the goal of accomplishing a technical feat that was previously considered impossible. Quite frankly most do not succeed. Yet, occasionally a company comes along that succeeds with a game changing breakthrough. ETA Compute has done just this. Yet, even more impressively, this 3-year-old company has… Read More
The recent (since 2016) news about Apple, China, FTC and other organizations positioning in respect with IP are concerning, as it seems indicating that Intellectual Property in general (Design IP and Technology IP) is at risk. Let’s consider several facts through different cases, involving ARM, Qualcomm, Imagination Technologies… Read More
When it comes to building edge devices for the internet-of-things (IoT), you don’t want to have to break the bank to prototype an idea before diving into the deep water. At the same time, if your idea is to shrink an edge device down to it’s smallest dimensions, lowest power and lowest cost, you really want to be able to prototype your… Read More
I was at the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] RISC-V Workshop for two days this week. It was hosted by Western Digital at their headquarters in Milpitas. If you have not been following RISC-V, it is an open source Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) for processor design. The initiative started at Berkeley, and has been catching on like wildfire. … Read More
The 20[SUP]th[/SUP] IP-SoC conference will be held in Grenoble, France, on December 6-7, 2017. IP-SoC is not just a marketing fest, it’s the unique IP centric conference, with presentations reflecting the complete IP ecosystem: IP suppliers, foundries, industry trends and applications, with a focus on automotive. It will … Read More
Being the number one EDA and the number one IP company does have its advantages and the resulting foundry relationships are a clear example. One of the DAC traditions that I truly enjoy is the Synopsys foundry breakfasts. Not only does Synopsys welcome scribes, they reserve a table up front for us and Synopsys CEO Aart de Geus has been… Read More
