CEO Interview: Jim Gobes of Intrinsix

CEO Interview: Jim Gobes of Intrinsix
by Daniel Nenni on 08-14-2017 at 7:00 am

Experience gives us the ability to make better decisions and in a fast moving industry like semiconductors, experience is critical. As chips get more integrated and complex the number of design decisions that must be made increases at a dramatic rate. Process technologies for example, never in the history of semiconductors have… Read More


Intel Manufacturing Day: Nodes must die, but Moore’s Law lives!

Intel Manufacturing Day: Nodes must die, but Moore’s Law lives!
by Scotten Jones on 03-29-2017 at 4:00 pm

Yesterday I attended Intel’s manufacturing day. This was the first manufacturing day Intel has held in three years and according to Intel their most in depth ever.

Nodes must die
I have written several articles comparing process technologies across the leading-edge logic producers – GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Intel, Samsung… Read More


Analog Bits and TSMC!

Analog Bits and TSMC!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-10-2017 at 12:00 pm

TSMC Wafer

As a long time semiconductor IP professional I can tell you for a fact that it is one of the most challenging segments of semiconductor design. Given the growing criticality of semiconductor IP, the challenges of being a leading edge IP provider are increasing and may be at a breaking point. The question now is: What does it take to … Read More


IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – Moving the Electronics Industry Forward

IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – Moving the Electronics Industry Forward
by Scotten Jones on 06-02-2016 at 4:00 pm

IMEC is a technology research center located in Belgium that is one of the premier semiconductor research centers in the world today. The IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) is a two-day event attended by approximately 1,000 people to showcase the work done by IMEC and their partners.

Gary Patton is the Chief Technical Officer and Senior… Read More


TSMC Update at #53DAC!

TSMC Update at #53DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-31-2016 at 4:00 pm

TSMC is having an interesting year for sure. I was at the TSMC Symposium in Hsinchu last week and everyone was talking about the new 16FFC process. Silicon is out and it is exceeding expectations leading some people (me included) to believe that TSMC 16FFC will be the next TSMC 28nm in regards to popularity. To be clear, 16FFC is currently… Read More


ARM on Moore’s Law at 50: Are we planning for retirement?

ARM on Moore’s Law at 50: Are we planning for retirement?
by Scotten Jones on 01-16-2016 at 7:00 am

On Monday morning on December 7, 2016 Greg Yeric of Arm gave an excellent and wide ranging plenary talk at IEDM entitled “Moore’s Law at 50: Are we planning for retirement?”. You can download Greg’s slide deck here.… Read More


Variation Aware FinFETs are Critical!

Variation Aware FinFETs are Critical!
by Daniel Nenni on 12-18-2015 at 4:00 pm

As I mentioned in “EDA Dead Pool” acquisitions in our industry will continue at a rapid pace. The latest victim is 10 year old French company Infiniscale who was recently purchased by Silvaco. This was more of a “let’s put your product through our massive sales and support channel” kind of deal so it will be 1 + 1 = 3 accretive for sure.… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 3 – Global Foundries 22FDX Briefing

IEDM Blogs – Part 3 – Global Foundries 22FDX Briefing
by Scotten Jones on 12-18-2015 at 12:00 pm

While I was at IEDM I had an opportunity to sit down with Subramani (Subi) Kengeri, the Vice President, General Management, CMOS Platforms Business Unit and Jason Gorss from corporate marketing at Global Foundries (GF) for a briefing on GF’s new 22FDX process technology.

Subi told me his background was in design but that he is now… Read More


Are FinFETs too Expensive for Mainstream Chips?

Are FinFETs too Expensive for Mainstream Chips?
by Daniel Nenni on 10-27-2015 at 7:00 am

One of the most common things I hear now is that the majority of the fabless semiconductor business will stay at 28nm due to the high cost of FinFETs. I wholeheartedly disagree, mainly because I have been hearing that for many years and it has yet to be proven true. The same was said about 40nm since 28nm HKMG was more expensive, which … Read More


Motley Fooled by FinFETs!

Motley Fooled by FinFETs!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-28-2015 at 10:00 pm

There was an article on Motley Fool recently detailing Intel’s 14nm FinFETs and comparing them to TSMC. Unfortunately the author has zero semiconductor education or experience even though he writes with authority on all things semiconductor. He also has no shame in using outdated papers from conferences he did not even… Read More