The semiconductor industry is experiencing a significant transformation with the advent of chiplet design, a modular approach that breaks down complex chips into smaller, functional blocks called chiplets. A chiplet-based design approach offers numerous advantages, such as improved performance, reduced development … Read More
Wandering around DAC this week, I found much of the discussion focused on the EDA community being at an inflection point. How do we get more design starts from new places with new ideas without jeopardizing existing business? It’s not as simple a transition as it sounds.… Read More
Licensing IP can be a pain, especially when the vendor’s business model has front-loaded costs to get started. Without an easy way to evaluate IP, justifying a purchase may be tough. With more mid-volume starts coming for the IoT, wearables, automotive, and other application segments, it’s a growing concern. Flex… Read More
Hardware emulators and FPGA-based prototyping systems are descendants of the same ancestor. The Quickturn Systems Rapid Prototype Machine (RPM) introduced in May 1988 brought an array of Xilinx XC3090 FPGAs to emulate designs with hundreds of thousands of gates. From there, hardware emulators and FPGA-based prototyping … Read More
Engineers are trained to think linearly, along the lines of we started here, then we did this, and that, and this other stuff, and here is where we ended up. If you’ve ever presented in an internal review meeting, sales conference, or a TED-like event, you know that is a dangerous strategy in winning friends and influencing people.… Read More
Huge designs, spectacular design costs, astronomical capital expenditure. Welcome to the present day semiconductor industry. As discussed in my prior post, the days of democratized silicon access have been replaced by an elite market. Custom chips are once again a rich person’s game. Does it have to stay this way? I personally… Read More
