PLDA is at the Leading Edge with Advances in Both PCIe 5.0 and CXL

PLDA is at the Leading Edge with Advances in Both PCIe 5.0 and CXL
by Mike Gianfagna on 01-05-2021 at 6:00 am

PLDA is at the Leading Edge with Advances in Both PCIe 5.0 and CXL

There are significant advances in communication protocols happening all around us. The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Gen 5 standard is delivering the needed device-to-device performance to support artificial intelligence and machine learning applications as well as cloud-based workloads. The rapidly… Read More


Optimization for pFET Nanosheet Devices

Optimization for pFET Nanosheet Devices
by Tom Dillinger on 01-04-2021 at 6:00 am

Intel flow TEM

The next transition from current FinFET devices at advanced process nodes is the “nanosheet” device, as depicted in the figure below. [1]

The FinFET provides improved gate-to-channel electrostatic control compared to a planar device, where the gate traverses three sides of the fin.  The “gate-all-around” characteristics… Read More


IEDM 2020 Starts this Weekend

IEDM 2020 Starts this Weekend
by Scotten Jones on 12-10-2020 at 6:00 am

IEDM 2020 Logo

As I have discussed before, I believe that IEDM is the premier technical conference for understanding leading edge process technologies. Beginning this coming weekend, this year’s edition of IEDM will be held virtually, and I highly recommend attending.

The conference held a press briefing last Monday. The tutorial and short… Read More


How Intel Stumbled: A Perspective from the Trenches

How Intel Stumbled: A Perspective from the Trenches
by Daniel Nenni on 12-07-2020 at 6:00 am

Stacy and Bob Intel SemiWiki

Bloomberg did an interview with my favorite semiconductor analyst Stacy Rasgon on “How the Number One U.S. Semiconductor Company Stumbled” that I found interesting. Coupled with the Q&A Bob Swan did at the Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference I thought it would be good content for a viral blog.

Stacy RasgonRead More


CEO Interview: Tony Pialis of Alphawave IP

CEO Interview: Tony Pialis of Alphawave IP
by Daniel Nenni on 12-04-2020 at 10:00 am

Tony Pialis Alphawave on SemiWiki

Tony Pialis is a visionary entrepreneur focused on developing
technologies for next generation connectivity. In the last twenty 20 years, he has co-founded three semiconductor IP companies, all exclusively targeting connectivity IP. Tony is currently the CEO of Alphawave IP Inc, a leader in delivering multi-standard wireline… Read More


No Intel and Samsung are not passing TSMC

No Intel and Samsung are not passing TSMC
by Scotten Jones on 12-02-2020 at 6:00 am

Slide1

Seeking Alpha just published an article about Intel and Samsung passing TSMC for process leadership. The Intel part seems to be a theme with them, they have talked in the past about how Intel does bigger density improvements with each generation than the foundries but forget that the foundries are doing 5 nodes in the time it takes… Read More


Is Apple the Most Valuable Semiconductor Company in the World?

Is Apple the Most Valuable Semiconductor Company in the World?
by Robert Maire on 11-25-2020 at 6:00 am

Apple M1

– The new M1 chip unveils previously hidden asset
– Could/should Apple sell semiconductors?
– Are servers next?
– The M1 chip appears to be a rousing success and the beginning of a new era

Essentially 100% of all early reports on the performance of the M1 chip have come back with stellar reviews. Great performance… Read More


Semiconductor Boom in 2021

Semiconductor Boom in 2021
by Bill Jewell on 11-23-2020 at 6:00 pm

Top Semiconductor Revenue 2020

The third quarter 2020 semiconductor market totaled $114 billion, up 11.0% from second quarter 2020, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The 3Q20 growth was the highest since 11.6% in 3Q16. The strong 3Q20 growth follows a 2.1% decline in 2Q20 versus 1Q20. The second quarter is normally a healthy growth … Read More


The Future of FPGAs

The Future of FPGAs
by Kris Kachris on 11-08-2020 at 10:00 am

The Future of FPGAs

On June 1, 2015 Intel and Altera announced , that they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Intel would acquire Altera for $16.7 billions. That was a major milestone for the FPGA community as Xilinx and Altera were the main FPGA vendors.

After the official announcement of AMD to acquire Xilinx, there is a huge… Read More


Intel’s Secret Key to Decrypt Microcode Patches is Exposed

Intel’s Secret Key to Decrypt Microcode Patches is Exposed
by Matthew Rosenquist on 11-07-2020 at 8:00 am

Intels Secret Key to Decrypt Microcode Patches is Exposed

A group of security vulnerability researchers, after many months of work, were able to figure out the update process and secret key used to decrypt Intel microcode updates for the Goldmont architecture product lines.

This is an important finding as it peels back yet another layer of the onion that protects the core CPU from malicious

Read More