The rate of product development is facing very real challenges as the pace of silicon technology evolution begins to slow. Today, we are squeezing the most out of transistor physics, which is essentially derived from 60-year-old CMOS technology. To maintain the pace of Moore’s law, it is predicted that in 2030 we will need transistors… Read More
Tag: semiconductors
Mentor Helps Mythic Implement Analog Approach to AI
The entire field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has resulted from what is called “first principles thinking”, where problems are re-examined using a complete reassessment of the underlying issues and potential solutions. It is a testament to how effective this can be that AI is being used for a rapidly expanding number of applications… Read More
China Chip Equip Embargo just got real
Worst Case Scenario now possible!
- Embargo could extend beyond China to Taiwan (TSMC)
- Likely backs up ASML pressure & Huawei indictment
- “Maximum Pressure” campaign similar to Iran
- Not likely to go away through trade negotiations
US to restrict chip equipment sales to Huawei producers
The Wall Street Journal… Read More
Semiconductor Recovery in 2020?
Semiconductors down 12% in 2019
World Semiconductor Trades Statistics (WSTS) reported the world semiconductor market in 2019 was $412 billion, a 12.1% decline from $469 billion in 2018. Most of the decline was in the memory market (primarily DRAM and Flash) which was down a third from a year ago. However overall semiconductor … Read More
Good December but March variable due to Coronavirus
- Trend remains positive for 2020 overall
- New tools & EUV suggest better growth in 2020
- Calendar 2019 ends on strong foundry note
KLAC reported revenues of $1.509B and EPS of $2.66 NonGAAP versus street of $1.48B and $2.58. Foundry (TSMC) was obviously the big driver of the quarter and into 2020 as well. Memory remains subdued… Read More
The Tech Week that was January 20-24 2020
Happy Chinese New Year. Let’s hope the Year of the Rat brings a recovery for the semiconductor industry. The initial signs are all good with many positive indications in the news this week, but let’s hope the Wuhan coronavirus doesn’t derail the recovery by becoming a global emergency. To all those based in China stay safe … Read More
Physical design team tackles challenging SoC
When describing the complexity of deep sub-micron systems on chip (SoCs), most engineers and their managers tend to refer to a combination of gate count, amount of embedded memory, and frequency of operation. If one’s task is to assess the complexity of the physical design effort for a given SoC, then there are numerous additional… Read More
Where has the ASIC Business Gone?
As the traditional ASIC business disappears before our eyes with the recent divestitures and acquisitions, I have been asking questions amongst the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and am getting few answers.
Who or what is going to step in to enable start-ups and new to silicon systems companies with application specific chips?… Read More
U.S.-China trade war continues
The trade dispute between the U.S. and China continues to drag on. According to Reuters, U.S. President Donald Trump recently threatened to raise tariffs further on Chinese imports if no deal is reached. Tariffs affecting most consumer electronics imports from China are scheduled to go into effect on December 15, according to… Read More
AMD Intel TSMC menage a trois and the trouble with trouples
- Its “Complicated”- A 3 way Chip Relationship
- Competing for Wafers, Moore’s Law & Love
- Who’s Competing with Whom?
- All’s Fair
The 3 way relationship is more complex than it seems
On the surface it seems simple. AMD and TSMC compete with Intel making its own chips and TSMC making them for AMD. But… Read More