Machine Learning Optimizes FPGA Timing

Machine Learning Optimizes FPGA Timing
by Bernard Murphy on 08-04-2017 at 7:00 am

Machine learning (ML) is the hot new technology of our time so EDA development teams are eagerly searching for new ways to optimize various facets of design using ML to distill wisdom from the mountains of data generated in previous designs. Pre-ML, we had little interest in historical data and would mostly look only at localized… Read More


HW and SW Co-verification for Xilinx Zynq SoC FPGAs

HW and SW Co-verification for Xilinx Zynq SoC FPGAs
by Daniel Payne on 07-03-2017 at 12:00 pm

It constantly amazes me at how much FGPA companies like Xilinx have done to bring ARM-based CPUs into a programmable SoC along with FPGA glue logic. Xilinx offers the Zynq 7000 and Zynq UltraScale+ SoCs to systems designers as a way to quickly get their ideas into the marketplace. A side effect of all this programability and flexibility… Read More


The FPGA Business Just Got Interesting Again!

The FPGA Business Just Got Interesting Again!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-14-2017 at 8:00 am

FPGA’s have played an important role in the fabless semiconductor ecosystem which is why it has a full chapter in our book Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry. Along my career path I spent time at a start-up FPGA so I know how hard it is. I worked for GateField which was then acquired by FPGA pioneer Actel… Read More


Embedded FPGA IP update — 2nd generation architecture, TSMC 16FFC, and a growing customer base

Embedded FPGA IP update — 2nd generation architecture, TSMC 16FFC, and a growing customer base
by Tom Dillinger on 05-31-2017 at 12:00 pm

Regular Semiwiki readers are aware that embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP development is a rapidly growing (and evolving) technical area. The applications for customizable and upgradeable logic in the field are many and diverse — as a result, improved performance, greater configurable logic capacity/density, and comprehensive… Read More


CDC Verification for FPGA – Beyond the Basics

CDC Verification for FPGA – Beyond the Basics
by Bernard Murphy on 05-23-2017 at 12:00 pm

FPGAs have become a lot more capable and a lot more powerful, more closely resembling SoCs than the glue-logic we once considered them to be. Look at any big FPGA – a Xilinx Zynq, an Intel/Altera Arria or a Microsemi SmartFusion; these devices are full-blown SoCs, functionally different from an ASIC SoC only in that some of the device… Read More


High Frequency Trading and EDA

High Frequency Trading and EDA
by Bernard Murphy on 05-16-2017 at 7:00 am

Pop quiz – name an event at which an EDA vendor would be unlikely to exhibit. How about The Trading Show in Chicago, later this month? That’s trading as in markets, high-frequency trading, blockchain and all that other trading-centric financial technology. This is another market, like cloud, where performance is everything and… Read More


CEO Interview: Vincent Markus of Menta

CEO Interview: Vincent Markus of Menta
by Daniel Nenni on 05-15-2017 at 7:00 am

What is Menta all about?
Menta was founded to add hardware-programmability within SoCs. We deliver FPGAs in hard IP form that can be readily embedded within an SoC to make certain hardware functions reconfigurable at-will, post-production. This enables customers to dynamically adapt to evolving standards, perform security… Read More


CEO Interview: Sanjay Keswani of Consensia

CEO Interview: Sanjay Keswani of Consensia
by Daniel Nenni on 04-03-2017 at 7:00 am

Sanjay Keswani founded Consensia in 2013. He has deep experience in the high-tech industry, guiding some of the world’s high profile technology brands through complex innovation and business transformation projects including companies such as Atmel, KLA-Tencor, Hughes Aircraft, and Motorola Mobility. Consensia customers… Read More


Seven Reasons to Use FPGA Prototyping for ASIC Designs

Seven Reasons to Use FPGA Prototyping for ASIC Designs
by Daniel Payne on 03-28-2017 at 12:00 pm

Using an FPGA to prototype your next hardware design is a familiar concept, extending all the way back to the time that the first FPGAs were being produced by Xilinx and Altera. There are multiple competitors in the marketplace for FPGA prototyping, so I wanted to discern more about what the German-based company PRO DESIGN had to … Read More