55DAC Trip Report with Drama

55DAC Trip Report with Drama
by Daniel Nenni on 07-02-2018 at 7:00 am

This was my 35th DAC and it did not disappoint, especially when it came to the DAC Drama Department. This year DAC proved once again that it is THE place for semiconductor professionals and academics to learn and network. The big news is that Synopsys did not reserve a booth for 56DAC in Las Vegas next year which resulted in quite a bit… Read More


Mentor at the 55th Design Automation Conference

Mentor at the 55th Design Automation Conference
by Daniel Nenni on 06-22-2018 at 9:00 am

It’s hard to believe that this is the 55th DAC and even harder to believe that this will be my 35th. So much has changed in 35 years, with DAC back in San Francisco I expect a VERY big crowd and even bigger announcements, absolutely.

Not only is this an epic time for semiconductors, I would say that EDA is exciting again and the Mentor… Read More


Semiconductor, EDA Industries Maturing? Wally Disagrees

Semiconductor, EDA Industries Maturing? Wally Disagrees
by Bernard Murphy on 05-22-2018 at 7:00 am

Wally Rhines (President and CEO of Mentor, A Siemens Business) has been pushing a contrarian view versus the conventional wisdom that the semiconductor business, and by extension EDA, is slowing down. He pitched this at DVCon and more recently at U2U where I got to hear the pitch and talk to him afterwards.


What causes maturing is… Read More


Retooling Implementation for Hot Applications

Retooling Implementation for Hot Applications
by Bernard Murphy on 05-17-2018 at 7:00 am

It might seem I am straying from my normal beat in talking about implementation; after all, I normally write on systems, applications and front-end design. But while I’m not an expert in implementation, I was curious to understand how the trending applications of today (automotive, AI, 5G, IoT, etc.) create new demands on implementation,… Read More


CEO Interview: Ramy Iskander of Intento Design

CEO Interview: Ramy Iskander of Intento Design
by Daniel Nenni on 03-14-2018 at 7:00 am

One of the more interesting parts of blogging for SemiWiki is getting to know emerging EDA and IP companies from around the world. As I have mentioned before, there are some incredibly intelligent people in the fabless semiconductor ecosystem solving very complex problems. It is a two way exchange of course since we know the market… Read More


EDA and Semiconductor — Is There Growth In The Ecosystem?

EDA and Semiconductor — Is There Growth In The Ecosystem?
by Alex Tan on 03-07-2018 at 12:00 pm


The semiconductor industry has gone through several major transitions driven by different dynamics such as shift in business models (fab-centric to fab-less), product segmentation (system design house, IP developers) and end market applications (PC to cloud; and recently, to both automotive and Internet of Things — IOT’s,Read More


Scoreboard and Issues Management Tools for PCB Projects

Scoreboard and Issues Management Tools for PCB Projects
by Tom Dillinger on 01-16-2018 at 12:00 pm

The complexity of an SoC design necessitates that the project managers have accurate visibility into the overall design status, spanning the entire range of tasks – from functional simulation error triage, to physical layout verification errors, to electrical analysis results. Flow scripts used by SoC teams parse the log file… Read More


2017 in Review and 2018 Forecast

2017 in Review and 2018 Forecast
by Daniel Nenni on 12-30-2017 at 7:00 am

This has been an amazing year for me both personally and professionally. Personally we are now empty nest and have our first grandchild. SemiWiki is prospering, a company that I have been involved with for ten years (Solido Design) had a very nice exit, and my time promoting semiconductor stocks to Wall Street paid off with the PHLXRead More


Mentor FINALLY Acquires Solido Design

Mentor FINALLY Acquires Solido Design
by Daniel Nenni on 11-20-2017 at 5:00 pm

I say finally because it was a long time coming… almost ten years to be exact. I started doing business development work for both Solido and Berkeley Design Automation about ten years ago and have been trying to put them together ever since. The synergy was obvious, like peanut butter and jelly. In fact, this is my third time … Read More


Is there anything in VLSI layout other than pushing polygons? (2)

Is there anything in VLSI layout other than pushing polygons? (2)
by Dan Clein on 10-04-2017 at 12:00 pm

One of the important changes that happen between 1984 and 1988 is the hardware platforms development. Calma evolved, mainframe S140 with 2 combined monitors per terminal in S280 with 2 individual monitors per terminal. This meant that from noisy and darker rooms we move to more quiet and lighted rooms. We doubled the speed and theRead More