Open Silicon Year in Review 2017

Open Silicon Year in Review 2017
by Daniel Nenni on 01-31-2018 at 7:00 am

If you are interested in what types of chips we will see in the coming years always ask an ASIC provider because they know. Companies of all sizes (small-medium-large) use ASIC companies to get their chips out in the least amount of time and at a minimum cost because that is what ASIC companies do.

IP is an important ingredient to the … Read More


ASIC and TSMC are the AI Chip Unsung Heroes

ASIC and TSMC are the AI Chip Unsung Heroes
by Daniel Nenni on 11-20-2017 at 7:00 am

One of the more exciting design start market segments that we track is Artificial Intelligence related ASICs. With NVIDIA making billions upon billions of dollars repurposing GPUs as AI engines in the cloud, the Application Specific Integrated Circuit business was sure to follow. Google now has its Tensor Processing Unit, Intel… Read More


TSMC OIP and the Insatiable Computing Trend!

TSMC OIP and the Insatiable Computing Trend!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-14-2017 at 12:00 am

This year’s OIP was much more lighthearted than I remember which is understandable. TSMC is executing flawlessly, delivering new process technology every year. Last year’s opening speaker, David Keller, used the phrase “Celebrate the way we collaborate” which served as the theme for the conference. This year David’s… Read More


Tools for Advanced Packaging Design Follow Moore’s Law, Too!

Tools for Advanced Packaging Design Follow Moore’s Law, Too!
by Tom Dillinger on 06-05-2017 at 9:00 am

There is an emerging set of advanced packaging technologies that enables unique product designs, with the capability to integrate multiple die, from potentially heterogeneous technologies. These “system-in-package” (SiP) offerings provide architects with the opportunity to optimize product performance, power, cost,… Read More


16nm HBM Implementation Presentation Highlights CoWoS During TSMC’s OIP

16nm HBM Implementation Presentation Highlights CoWoS During TSMC’s OIP
by Tom Simon on 09-29-2016 at 12:00 pm

Once a year, during the TSMC’s Open Innovation Platform (OIP) Forum you can expect to see cutting edge technical achievements by TSMC and their partners. This year was no exception, with Open-Silicon presenting its accomplishments in implementing an HBM reference design in 16nm. It’s well understood that HBM offers huge benefits… Read More


TSMC 10nm Readiness and 3DIC

TSMC 10nm Readiness and 3DIC
by Paul McLellan on 05-03-2015 at 1:00 am

At the TSMC Technology Symposium last month Suk Lee presented a lot of information on design enablement. Suk is an interesting guy with a unique background in ASIC, Semiconductor, EDA, and now Foundry. In baseball terms that would be like playing infield, outfield, home plate, and umpire!

Around the turn of the millennium Suk actually… Read More


TSMC Delivers First FinFET ARM Based SoC!

TSMC Delivers First FinFET ARM Based SoC!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-25-2014 at 9:00 am

Right on cue, TSMC announces 16nm FinFET production silicon. I believe this is the original version of FinFET versus 16FF+ which is due out in 1H 2015. I will confirm this next week at the TSMC OIP event in San Jose, absolutely. Either way this is excellent news for the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and I look forward to the first … Read More


Temperature – The Fourth Aspect to Look at in SoC Design

Temperature – The Fourth Aspect to Look at in SoC Design
by Pawan Fangaria on 07-25-2014 at 2:00 pm

In my career in semiconductor industry, I can recall, in the beginning there was emphasis on design completion with automation as fast as possible. The primary considerations were area and speed of completion of a semiconductor design. Today, with unprecedented increase in multiple functions on the same chip and density of the… Read More