DARPA Flex Logix and TSMC!

DARPA Flex Logix and TSMC!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-23-2017 at 10:00 am

When I first saw emerging semiconductor IP company Flex Logix actively involved with TSMC I knew something big was coming and boy was I right. DARPA announced today that an agreement is in place with Flex Logix to develop EFLX eFPGA technology on TSMC 16FFC for use by companies or Government agencies designing chips for the US Government.… Read More


Analog Bits and TSMC!

Analog Bits and TSMC!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-10-2017 at 12:00 pm

TSMC Wafer

As a long time semiconductor IP professional I can tell you for a fact that it is one of the most challenging segments of semiconductor design. Given the growing criticality of semiconductor IP, the challenges of being a leading edge IP provider are increasing and may be at a breaking point. The question now is: What does it take to … Read More


CEO Interview: Rene Donkers of Fractal Technologies

CEO Interview: Rene Donkers of Fractal Technologies
by Daniel Nenni on 11-28-2016 at 7:00 am

Fractal is another one of those very successful emerging EDA companies that you don’t read a lot about, except on SemiWiki. Rene Donkers is co-founder and CEO of Fractal Technologies, a company addressing IP quality assurance. This is a niche in the SoC tooling market that deserves some justification. Why not use an IP as-is… Read More


Final SemiWiki Book Signing at REUSE 2016!

Final SemiWiki Book Signing at REUSE 2016!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-08-2016 at 4:00 pm

It has been a hectic year for the semiconductor industry so now is a good time to reflect on how we got to where we are today in hopes of better understanding where we are going tomorrow.

Given the importance of semiconductor IP (the $32B ARM acquisition by SoftBank for example) I would strongly suggest attending the REUSE 2016 event… Read More


CEO Interview: Xerxes Wania of Sidense

CEO Interview: Xerxes Wania of Sidense
by Daniel Nenni on 09-19-2016 at 7:00 am

This is the first in a series of CEO interviews and I thought semiconductor IP would be a great place to start. Xerxes Wania is the President and CEO of Sidense, a leading developer of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) One-Time Programmable (OTP) IP cores. Sidense has been a part of SemiWiki since 2013 so we know them quite well. I hope the rest… Read More


The Role of IP Selection and Integration in First-Time Silicon Success

The Role of IP Selection and Integration in First-Time Silicon Success
by Daniel Nenni on 08-31-2016 at 12:00 pm

As IP expert Eric Esteve has written, Semiconductor IP has consistently outgrown the other design enablement segments and will continue to do so. This has been my personal experience as well during my EDA and IP career so we should all know how important Semiconductor IP is. We certainly know how valuable it is with ARM valued at $32B!… Read More


4 Reasons for Bluetooth 5 Adoption in IoT

4 Reasons for Bluetooth 5 Adoption in IoT
by Eric Esteve on 08-21-2016 at 4:25 am

IoT devices have to be connected but power consumption is usually a real concern. If you think about wearables, like for example fitness wristbands, the time between charges could make or break the product. Even if Wi-Fi looks attractive to connect an IoT device, the system developers have quickly realize that the power consumption… Read More


efabless: Think GitHub for ICs and IP

efabless: Think GitHub for ICs and IP
by Daniel Nenni on 08-02-2016 at 4:00 pm

For those of you who don’t know, GitHub is the crowdsourcing version of the defacto industry standard GIT source code management software. Currently, more than 14 million people have deposited more than 35 million software projects (mostly open-source) on GitHub making it the largest host of source code in the world.

Now think… Read More


Why did Softbank pay so much for ARM? Because it’s worth it

Why did Softbank pay so much for ARM? Because it’s worth it
by Gus Richard on 07-24-2016 at 7:00 am

Softbank’s acquisition of ARM Holdings was not only unexpected, but also the valuation was astonishingly high. Softbank is acquiring ARM for $32.2B or 23x CY15 revenue and 46x CY16 earnings. This was a 46% premium to the prior day’s closing price before the announcement of the acquisition. The questions to ask are: Why is Softbank… Read More


Artificial Intelligence is Everything!

Artificial Intelligence is Everything!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-08-2016 at 7:00 am

My first brush with AI was a LISP class for my undergraduate degree. LISP, originated from MIT in 1958, was the language of choice for AI research and spawned a new class of computer hardware called LISP Machines in the 1980s. My first personal experience with AI was the HAL 9000 system from the 2001 Stanley Kubrik movie Space Odyssey.… Read More