A Brief History of Mobile: Generations 3 and 4

A Brief History of Mobile: Generations 3 and 4
by Paul McLellan on 10-18-2012 at 8:30 pm

The early first generation analog standards all used a technique known as Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). All this means is that each call was assigned its own frequency band in the radio spectrum. Since each band was only allocated to one phone, there was no interference between different calls. When a call finished… Read More


Challenges in Managing Power Consumption of Mobile SoC Chipsets: And What Lies Ahead When Your Hand-Held Is Your Compute Device!

Challenges in Managing Power Consumption of Mobile SoC Chipsets: And What Lies Ahead When Your Hand-Held Is Your Compute Device!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-10-2012 at 6:00 pm

Qualcomm VP of Engineering, Charlie Matar, will be keynoting the Apache/ANSYS seminar in Santa Clara next Thursday. Charlie is a great guy and a great speaker so you won’t want to miss this and it’s FREE! I spoke to Charlie, he will be speaking on:

Today’s complex SOC design is driven by the constant demand for high performanceRead More


Samsung going vertical Qualcomm cry CEVA laugh

Samsung going vertical Qualcomm cry CEVA laugh
by Eric Esteve on 09-27-2012 at 11:09 am

These last days have been full of Apple related stories; maybe it’s time to discuss a new topic? Like for example Samsung, direct competitor for Apple in the smartphone market, and take a look at the company move toward more vertical integration. Everybody working in the SC industry knows that Samsung is ranked #2 behind Intel, even… Read More


Damn! Cramer Figured It Out

Damn! Cramer Figured It Out
by Ed McKernan on 09-20-2012 at 8:04 pm

As an investor, one has to always be aware when Jim Cramer informs the world of the investment scenario you have been playing comes out of the shadows and sees the light of day. Soon the herd will follow which is positive, but now one has to figure how long to ride the roller coaster. In an article posted on thestreet.com entitled “TechRead More


Toshiba Corp. has cancelled plans to sell (ARM-based processor) computers …bad news for Toshiba, TI and the end user

Toshiba Corp. has cancelled plans to sell (ARM-based processor) computers …bad news for Toshiba, TI and the end user
by Eric Esteve on 08-31-2012 at 11:55 am

This news announced two weeks ago is not really good news for those expecting to see this new generation of computers, running Windows RT OS and no more based on x86 processor but on ARM CPU core, coming on the market. The reason invoked by Toshiba was “delays in getting adequate supplies of components” and, even if Toshiba did not specifically… Read More


Arteris joins Inc. 500 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies… thanks to Arteris customers!

Arteris joins Inc. 500 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies… thanks to Arteris customers!
by Eric Esteve on 08-31-2012 at 4:35 am

Arteris, founded in 2003, is the inventor and leading supplier of network-on-chip (NoC) interconnect IP solutions. Can we say that the company is still a start-up? I would say yes, as their flagship product, FlexNoc (Network on Chip IP function) was a completely new concept when it was introduced. As for every disruptive technology,… Read More


Did Qualcomm and Apple Attempt to Bribe TSMC?

Did Qualcomm and Apple Attempt to Bribe TSMC?
by Daniel Nenni on 08-30-2012 at 7:45 pm

It’s amazing how these rumors start and go viral. People are literally laughing here in Taiwan. I remember I wrote something that I thought was obviously satire and less than a week later someone repeated it back to me as fact since they “read it on the internet somewhere.”

According to Bloomberg: Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Qualcomm Inc.Read More


Mixed-Signal Methodology Guide

Mixed-Signal Methodology Guide
by Daniel Payne on 08-29-2012 at 11:14 am

Last week I reviewed Chapter 1 in the new book: Mixed-Signal Methodology Guide, and today I finish up my review of Chapters 2 through 11. You can read the entire book chapter by chapter, or just jump directly to the chapters most related to your design role or project needs. With multiple authors I was impressed with the wide range of… Read More


Apple’s Victory Will Re-Shuffle the Semi Industry

Apple’s Victory Will Re-Shuffle the Semi Industry
by Ed McKernan on 08-27-2012 at 2:00 pm

Apple’s legal victory over Samsung has been analyzed in thousands of articles and TWEETs since last Friday’s announcement and surely more will follow. Most of the commentary has focused on the first order impact to handset manufacturers. It is not entirely clear how it will all settle but there are sure to be secondary ramifications… Read More


2012 semiconductor market decline likely

2012 semiconductor market decline likely
by Bill Jewell on 08-16-2012 at 9:00 pm

The worldwide semiconductor market in 2Q 2012 was $73.1 billion, according to WSTS data released by the SIA. 2Q 2012 was up 4.7% from 1Q 2012 but down 2.0% from 2Q 2011. Major semiconductor companies are generally expecting slower revenue growth in 3Q 2012 versus 2Q 2012. The table below shows revenue estimates for calendar 3Q 2012… Read More