This is an ongoing conversation inside the semiconductor ecosystem, especially when I am traveling. Everyone wants to know what is going on here or there and since I just returned from Taiwan I will post my thoughts. Last week was also my birthday which was cut short due to the time change but I did get preferential treatment on the … Read More
Could this be more bad news for semicap spend? Negative for US chip independence & AMD costs ? Rumors of Global Foundries dropping out of the 7NM race have been increasing rapidly. What could be a fatal blow to the GloFo 7NM program was AMD deciding to go with TSMC for 7NM first for one product and finally for its next generation CPUs.… Read More
One of my favorite traditions at the Design Automation Conference is the Synopsys foundry events (the videos are now available). I learned a long time ago that the foundries are the foundation of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and your relationships with the foundries can make or break you, absolutely. I also appreciate … Read More
Applied reported a more or less in line quarter, slightly beating weaker expectations. As we had projected, the October quarter is expected to have revenues down 10% which is at the low end of our expected 10-15% drop in business. Applied services helped partially make up for some of the equipment sales weakness. Revenue came in … Read More
Applied Materials (AMAT) is batting clean up in a quarter that has not been pretty. Lately semi stocks seem to have been hit by not only stock specific issues but continued and increasing memory concerns coupled with more macro issues. On top of all this, China trade issues which have in the meantime taken a back burner to other issues… Read More
TSMC is the leading foundry worldwide and they make a big splash each year at the DAC exhibit and conference, so I stopped by their theatre area during the presentation from IP vendor Moortec to see what’s new this year. Stephen Crosher was the presenter from Moortec and we had exchanged emails before, so this was the first time… Read More
Automotive applications are having a tremendous influence on semiconductor design. This influence is coming from innovations in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, communications, sensors that all serve the requirements of the automotive market. It should come as no surprise that ADAS and autonomous driving are … Read More
A Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) gives design a heartbeat. Despite its minute footprint, it has many purposes such as being part of the clock generation circuits, on-chip digital temperature sensor, process control monitoring in the scribe-line or as baseline circuitry to facilitate an effective measurement of the design’s power… Read More
There has been a lot of new information available about the leading-edge logic processes lately. Papers from IEDM in December 2017, VLSIT this month, the TSMC and Samsung Foundry forums, etc. have all filled in a lot of information. In this article I will summarize what is currently known.… Read More
The TSMC OIP DAC Theater schedule is finalized and ready to go. It kicks off Monday at 10:15 am in booth #1629 and ends with a raffle at 5:45 pm each day (Mon-Tue-Wed) TSMC gives out some very nice prizes so check in with the TSMC booth staff when you arrive. There are 66 coveted presentation spots representing the top ecosystem partners… Read More
