CEO Interview: Randy Caplan of Silicon Creations

CEO Interview: Randy Caplan of Silicon Creations
by Daniel Nenni on 12-05-2016 at 7:00 am

For the next installment in our series of semiconductor CEO interviews we meet with Randy Caplan from Silicon Creations. Randy has helped build the company from a small startup to one of the world’s leading providers of interface and clocking IP. Almost every new chip developed these days has a requirement for PLLs and SerDes. Since… Read More


The post election Semicap bubble just burst in one day

The post election Semicap bubble just burst in one day
by Robert Maire on 12-04-2016 at 12:00 pm

Back to a more normal reality… Market gets”De-Fanged”… Where to from here? The “Icarus” Effect… Much of the market, and especially Tech & “FANG” (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix & Google) stocks gave back most all of their post election day gains in one session.Read More


IC Design Management: Build or Buy?

IC Design Management: Build or Buy?
by Daniel Payne on 11-17-2016 at 12:00 pm

When I first started doing circuit design with Intel at the transistor level back in the late 1970’s we had exactly two EDA tools at our disposal: an internally developed SPICE circuit simulator, and a commercial IC layout system. Over the years at Intel the internal CAD group added many more automation tools: gate level simulator,… 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: Taher Madraswala of Open-Silicon

CEO Interview: Taher Madraswala of Open-Silicon
by Daniel Nenni on 10-31-2016 at 7:00 am

Taher Madraswala started his career at Intel designing microprocessors and later overseeing ASIC development before joining Open-Silicon at its inception. During his 25 year semiconductor career Taher has experienced more than 300 tapeouts across a wide variety of applications.

Today Open-Silicon applies an open business… Read More


Between Waze and a Thin Hard Place

Between Waze and a Thin Hard Place
by Roger C. Lanctot on 10-27-2016 at 4:00 pm

Car makers, semiconductor companies and wireless carriers are all excited these days about creating cars that can drive themselves. Billions of dollars are being spent on acquisitions and investments in companies and technologies that can make this happen. But there is a fly in the ointment by the name of Waze.

To create cars capable… Read More


DOJ takes victory Lap in KLAC / LRCX deal post mortem (3 of 3)

DOJ takes victory Lap in KLAC / LRCX deal post mortem (3 of 3)
by Robert Maire on 10-09-2016 at 4:00 pm

The KLA deal died due to fox guarding the hen house.

Fox can’t guard Hen House…
In an industry where there are relatively few widget makers and only one, very dominant, widget inspector, the thought of one of the widget makers buying the most crucial widget inspector obviously would be anti-competitive. Not only would… Read More


The KLAM deal has died now how will KLAC and LRCX recover? (2 of 3)

The KLAM deal has died now how will KLAC and LRCX recover? (2 of 3)
by Robert Maire on 10-09-2016 at 12:00 pm

As we had been suggesting the merger deal between KLAC and LRCX has failed. It obviously ran into too many complications, costs or other issues to continue. Unlike the Applied TEL deal which went on for a staggering 18 months before calling it quits in this case 12 months was enough to figure out it wasn’t getting done.

In our … Read More