The Semiconductor IDM Business Model is Dead!

The Semiconductor IDM Business Model is Dead!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-10-2013 at 7:00 pm


While this was not specifically stated, it was certainly implied during the sessions I attended at SEMICON West this week: The traditional semiconductor business model (IDM) is coming to an end. Starting with the keynote: Foundry-driven Innovation in the Mobility Era,cost was the common theme in any discussion involving mobile… Read More


Today’s Program is Brought To You by the Letter A

Today’s Program is Brought To You by the Letter A
by Paul McLellan on 06-28-2013 at 9:09 pm

What do nVidia, Freescale and GlobalFoundries have in common? They are semiconductor companies? They are ARM licensees? They are doing 28nm chips? They all have the letter ‘a’ in their names?

All true, but that’s not what I was thinking of. But the letter ‘a’ is a clue since Apache (and Ansys) begin with ‘a’. All three companies have… Read More


What is inside the iPhone5s? Samsung or TSMC?

What is inside the iPhone5s? Samsung or TSMC?
by Daniel Nenni on 06-26-2013 at 6:00 pm

As a semiconductor professional and an Apple customer I’m very interested to see what is inside the iPhone5s. Rumors are spreading, photos are leaking, creating a nice build up to the next release of the mobile device that changed the world.

Honestly, last year I was a bit disappointed with the iPhone5. Inside is the A6 SoC which uses… Read More


Deploying 14nm FinFETs in your Next Mobile SoC

Deploying 14nm FinFETs in your Next Mobile SoC
by Daniel Payne on 06-19-2013 at 11:05 am

At DAC in Austin a design company, foundry and EDA vendor teamed up to present their experiences with 14nm FinFETs during a breakfast on Tuesday.

Panelists included:

Read More

Reshoring Semiconductor Manufacturing

Reshoring Semiconductor Manufacturing
by Paul McLellan on 06-06-2013 at 5:29 pm

So where in the world do you think semiconductor manufacturing is increasing the fastest? OK, Taiwan, that was pretty easy. But in second place, with over 20% of the world’s semiconductor equipment capital investment is the US. Growing faster than Europe, China, Japan and equal with Korea.

This was not the case half a dozen… Read More


Global Foundries Does DAC

Global Foundries Does DAC
by Paul McLellan on 05-07-2013 at 8:05 pm

Global Foundries will be at DAC in booth 1314. There will be 6 pods there demonstrating:

  • Advanced Technology: 28nm ready and ramping, and next is 20LPM and 14XM.
  • PDKs: For 28nm, 20nm and 14nm. 14nm handles FinFET enablement complexity. Robust, easy to use and high quality, supports pretty much the full range of EDA tools.
  • Design
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Cell Level Reliability

Cell Level Reliability
by Paul McLellan on 04-03-2013 at 6:06 pm

I blogged last month about single event effects (SEE) where a semiconductor chip behaves incorrectly due to being hit by an ion or a neutron. Since we live on a radioactive planet and are bombarded by cosmic rays from space, this is a real problem, and it is getting worse at each process node. But just how big of a problem is it?


TFIT is … Read More


Common Platform Technology Forum February 5th 2013 Live or Online!

Common Platform Technology Forum February 5th 2013 Live or Online!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-03-2013 at 8:00 am

Can’t make it to Santa Clara? Join us online!

The detailed 2013 CPTF agenda is now up in preparation for the February 5th event at the Santa Clara Convention Center. This is one of the rare times that you can get a free lunch! Watch this quick video to see what is in store for us this year. Dr. Paul McLellan and I will be there so please… Read More


Advanced Technology-Design-Manufacturing Co-optimization

Advanced Technology-Design-Manufacturing Co-optimization
by Daniel Nenni on 01-31-2013 at 7:00 pm

I spent some quality time with Subi Kengeri, Vice President, Technology Architecture, Office of the CTO, GLOBALFOUNDRIES in Las Vegas during CES. Great guy, he worked at Silicon Access, Virage and TSMC before GF. One thing you should know about embedded memory guys, SRAM is the first thing that goes through a new process so they … Read More


How GLOBALFOUNDRIES is Differentiating in 2013

How GLOBALFOUNDRIES is Differentiating in 2013
by Daniel Nenni on 01-27-2013 at 7:00 pm

GLOBALFOUNDRIES changed the landscape of the foundry business in 2009 with a simple but ambitious plan to become the world’s first truly global foundry. At the Common Platform Technology Forum February 5th in the Santa Clara Convention Center GF Executive Vice President Michael Noonen will give an update on how that is … Read More