My #53DAC Must See List!

My #53DAC Must See List!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-04-2016 at 7:00 am

It may be hard to believe but this happens to be my thirty third Design Automation Conference. Where does the time go? Three of my kids are out of college and the last one is getting close. That is where my time has gone. The conference itself started in 1964 but my first one was in 1984 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In fact, that was the year… Read More


Stop FinFET Design Variation @ #53DAC and get a free book!

Stop FinFET Design Variation @ #53DAC and get a free book!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-20-2016 at 7:00 am

If you plan on visiting Solido (the world leader in EDA software for variation-aware design of integrated circuits) at the Design Automation Conference next month for a demonstration of Variation Designer, register online now and get an autographed copy of “Mobile Unleashed”. Such a deal!

Solido Variation Designer is used by… Read More


Is Tesla Making Their Own CPUs?

Is Tesla Making Their Own CPUs?
by Daniel Nenni on 05-03-2016 at 4:00 pm

One of the benefits of administering a leading semiconductor design enablement portal is that I get to see the traffic patterns then try and figure out what’s behind them. For example, a Cupertino domain has been reading all of our automotive content very thoroughly. We also get hits by Google.com, Amazon.com, and dozens of other… Read More


Mobile Unleashed…Reviewed

Mobile Unleashed…Reviewed
by Paul McLellan on 04-07-2016 at 10:00 am

I finished reading Don Dingee and Dan Nenni’s book, Mobile Unleashed, the Origin and Evolution of ARM Processors in Our Devices. I guess by way of disclosure I should say that Don and Dan both blogged with me here on SemiWiki for several years before I joined Cadence, and Dan’s last book Fabless was co-authored with me… Read More


Can Qualcomm avoid repeating Motorola’s fate?

Can Qualcomm avoid repeating Motorola’s fate?
by Don Dingee on 03-18-2016 at 4:00 pm

NPR had an interesting guest this morning: Edward Luce, author of “Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent”. I’m not about to turn SemiWiki into a politics blog, but there is some precedent in the technology business. I’ve caught myself saying more than once recently that “Motorola is no longer the company I worked 14… Read More


You can see it if you look SXSW

You can see it if you look SXSW
by Don Dingee on 03-16-2016 at 4:00 pm

Watching worlds of mobility, entertainment, and social media collide and helping customers navigate through this new technological landscape has been my passion for the last few years since I founded Left2MyOwnDevices. As a new arrival in Texas, I had my first chance to see just how big the convergence is at the premier event in… Read More


ARM POPs Another One!

ARM POPs Another One!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-11-2016 at 4:00 pm

ARM announced a new POP deal with UMC 28nm last week. POP stands for Processor Optimized Package meaning physical IP libraries (logic and memory) are customized for ARM processor cores and mainstream EDA tools creating a platform for optimized chip design. POP is a much bigger deal than most people realize so let’s get into a little… Read More


Steve Furber has found his million ARM cores

Steve Furber has found his million ARM cores
by Don Dingee on 01-25-2016 at 12:00 pm

Some people say that everything in our lives happens for a reason. As we wrote Part I of “Mobile Unleashed”, the origin story of ARM architecture and its main progenitors Steve Furber and Sophie Wilson, we found what seemed like an obvious technological breakthrough was far from an overnight success – and it led to fascinating twists… Read More


Mobile Unleashed Review

Mobile Unleashed Review
by Brianhayes on 01-08-2016 at 4:00 pm

The story starts for me back in the 1980s when one of my partners told us we had to buy a machine called a BBC micro and learn how to program it. When someone asked him what can it do, apart from play space invaders, I was told as a “for example”, I could store my wife’s recipes. To view results we would have to plug the machine… Read More


New Book: Mobile Unleashed!

New Book: Mobile Unleashed!
by Daniel Nenni on 12-08-2015 at 6:00 pm

This is the origin story of technology super heroes: the creators and founders of ARM, the company that is responsible for the processors found inside 95% of the world’s mobile devices today. This is also the evolution story of how three companies – Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm – put ARM technology in the hands of billions of people… Read More