IEDM 2017 Preview

IEDM 2017 Preview
by Scotten Jones on 10-20-2017 at 7:00 am

The 63rd annual IEDM (International Electron Devices Meeting) will be held December 2nd through 6th in San Francisco. In my opinion IEDM is one of, if not the premier conference on leading edge semiconductor technology. I will be attending the conference again this year and providing coverage for SemiWiki. As a member of the press… Read More


Apple iPhone Super Cycle Update!

Apple iPhone Super Cycle Update!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-01-2017 at 7:00 am

In 2014 Apple released the iPhone 6 which included the first SoC built on a TSMC (20nm) process. This phone started what many call a “Super Cycle” of people upgrading. According to Apple, they now have more than 1 billion activated devices so this super cycle could be seriously super, absolutely.… Read More


SiFive RISC-V and the Future of Computing!

SiFive RISC-V and the Future of Computing!
by Daniel Nenni on 08-17-2017 at 12:00 pm

Having started my career during the mini computer revolution it has been an incredible journey from using computers that consumed entire rooms – to the desktop – and now we have supercomputers in our pockets. It makes me chuckle when I hear people complaining about their smartphones when they should be jumping up and… Read More


AI ASICs Exposed!

AI ASICs Exposed!
by Daniel Nenni on 08-01-2017 at 12:00 pm

Artificial intelligence, or AI is really heating up these days. The technology has been around for decades, but of late it is becoming quite a focus for applications such as data center analytics, autonomous vehicles and augmented reality. Why the rebirth? The trend appears to be driven by two forces – availability of data to train… Read More


Synopsys Opens up on Emulation

Synopsys Opens up on Emulation
by Bernard Murphy on 07-31-2017 at 7:00 am

Synopsys hosted a lunch panel on Tuesday of DAC this year, in which verification leaders from Intel, Qualcomm, Wave Computing, NXP and AMD talked about how they are using Synopsys verification technologies. Panelists covered multiple domains but the big takeaway for me was their full-throated endorsement of the ZeBu emulation… Read More


Semicap Thoughts: ASML AMAT INTEL SAMSUNG TSMC MICRON

Semicap Thoughts: ASML AMAT INTEL SAMSUNG TSMC MICRON
by Robert Maire on 07-27-2017 at 12:00 pm

ASML reported results in line and slightly ahead of expectations which helped push ASML and the other semicap stocks back to their original valuations prior to the two step pull back that lasted about a month. We are now back to relatively high, record valuations not seen or ever seen previously (at least for a long time) by many companies.… Read More


Standard Node Trend

Standard Node Trend
by Scotten Jones on 07-15-2017 at 4:00 pm

I have previously published analysis’ converting leading edge logic processes to “standard nodes” and comparing standard nodes by company and time. Recently updated details on the 7nm process node have become available and in this article, I will revisit the standard node calculations and trends.… Read More


Exclusive – GLOBALFOUNDRIES discloses 7nm process detail

Exclusive – GLOBALFOUNDRIES discloses 7nm process detail
by Scotten Jones on 07-08-2017 at 7:00 am

In a SemiWiki EXCLUSIVE – GLOBALFOUNDRIES has now disclosed the key metrics for their 7nm process. As I previously discussed in my 14nm, 16nm, 10nm and 7nm – What we know now blog GLOBALFOUNDRIES licensed their 14nm process from Samsung and decided to skip 10nm because they thought it would be a short-lived node. At … Read More


First Thoughts from #54DAC!

First Thoughts from #54DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-24-2017 at 7:00 am

This was my 34[SUP]th[/SUP] DAC, yes 34. It is a shame blogging did not exist back then because I would have liked to have read thoughts from my eager young mind, or maybe not. The first thing that struck me this year is the great content. Before DAC I review the sessions I want to see and this year there were many more than I had time for. … Read More


Smart & Connected Devices to Artificial Intelligence and Beyond

Smart & Connected Devices to Artificial Intelligence and Beyond
by Daniel Payne on 05-02-2017 at 12:00 pm

Last Friday I attended a breakfast seminar organized by SEMI in Hillsboro, Oregon with fascinating speakers from several high-tech companies: Qorvo, Intel, Oregon Angel Fund, Kimera, Moonshadow Mobile and Yole Development. I recalled that Qorvo was created from the merger of TriQuint Semiconductor and RF Micro Devices back… Read More