When the term IP first came into popular usage for IC design, it was primarily conceived as blocks of design content that were bought occasionally from external sources. A customer might use one or two in a design, and expect one delivery with perhaps some minor updates before tapeout. Over the last 18 years, this notion has changed… Read More
The motivations for having a data and process management system in place for semiconductor design have existed for a long time. I am reluctant to admit it, but I remember early efforts to do this back in the 80’s at Valid Logic. Cadence was also developing this capability in house through the early 90’s. Back then designs were much … Read More
For SoC designers attending DAC in June you probably want to check out the EDA vendors that enable design collaboration among your engineers and designers that are spread out across a building, campus or the globe. Dassault Systemes does offer tools and methodologies for: Design collaboration, requirements and IP management.… Read More
SemiWiki blogger Eric Esteve does an excellent job writing about all of the semiconductor IP available, and the popularity of IP is only growing more each year. Here’s a projection from IBS about semiconductor IP showing revenues of $4.7B by 2020:
Analyst Gary Smith divides IP into three broad categories: Functional, Foundation… Read More
IP and Data Management (DM) for SoC teams has gradually moved from ad-hoc approaches using simple Excel spreadsheets, to home-grown software that is specific to a project or company, and finally to commercially supported tools. One such commercial toolset for IP lifecycle management is from Methodics, named ProjectIC –… Read More
The world of IPs in the semiconductor landscape has completely changed the semiconductor design scenario, specifically the fabless design space. Today IPs are key components of any large semiconductor design, in the same way as auto ancillaries in auto design. It’s just the beginning, in the days to come we will see SoCs just as… Read More
To keep track of my business and personal finances I use software from Quicken, but for an SoC with hundreds of IP blocks how do you keep track of everything? The answer is found in the growing field of EDA tools for IP management, and at DACearlier this month I sat down with Neil Handof Methodics to get an update on what the industry trends… Read More
In the fabless world of semiconductor design, IP components have become indispensable partners and have enabled the development of complex billion gate SoCs. IP business in general is exhibiting a very high growth rate since couple of years and it is going to increase; the same is being reflected by a growing number of IP vendors… Read More
The semiconductor industry seems to be the most challenged in terms of cost of error; a delay of 3 months in product development cycle can reduce revenue by about 27% and that of 6 months can reduce it by almost half; competition is rife, pushing the products to next generation (with more functionality, low power, high performance,… Read More
