RTL Sign-off – At an Edge to become a Standard

RTL Sign-off – At an Edge to become a Standard
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-01-2014 at 10:00 am


Ever since I have seen Atrenta’s SpyGlass platform providing a comprehensive set of tools across the semiconductor design paradigm, I felt the need for a common set of standards to evolve for sign-off at RTL level. Last December, when I read an EE Times articleof Piyush Sancheti, VP, Product Marketing at Atrenta, where he talks … Read More


Wanna Build a Bitcoin Miner: GlobalFoundries Will Manufacture it For You

Wanna Build a Bitcoin Miner: GlobalFoundries Will Manufacture it For You
by Paul McLellan on 01-30-2014 at 11:00 am

You may know a bit about Bitcoin, the digital currency. One part of the system is “mining” new bitcoins, analogous to mining new gold when we were on the gold standard, creating “money” out of thin air but at a cost of doing the actual mining.

Here is an interesting aside. When I lived in France the father of… Read More


A Brief History of Qualcomm

A Brief History of Qualcomm
by Paul McLellan on 01-29-2014 at 12:48 pm

Qualcomm is the largest fabless semiconductor company in the world. If you have a smarphone there is a good chance you have a Qualcomm chip in your pocket. It is headquartered in San Diego with offices pretty much everywhere.

Qualcomm’s roots are in Linkabit, which was founded by Irwin Jacobs and Andrew Viterbi. They, along with … Read More


The Changing Semiconductor Foundry Landscape!

The Changing Semiconductor Foundry Landscape!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-29-2014 at 8:00 am

The foundry landscape is changing again and it is definitely something that should be discussed. There are some people, mostly influenced by Intel, that feel the foundry business has hit the wall at 20nm which couldn’t be further from the truth. After spending 30 years working in Silicon Valley, I have experienced a lot of change… Read More


TSMC OIP presentations available!

TSMC OIP presentations available!
by Beth Martin on 01-27-2014 at 6:27 pm

Are you a TSMC customer or partner? If so, you’ll want to take a look at these presentations from the 2013 TSMC Open Innovation Platform conference:

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TSMC projects $800 Million of 2.5/3D-IC Revenues for 2016

TSMC projects $800 Million of 2.5/3D-IC Revenues for 2016
by Herb Reiter on 01-27-2014 at 11:00 am

At TSMC’s latest earnings call held mid January 2014, an analyst asked TSMC for a revenue forecast for their emerging 2.5/3D product line. C.C. Wei, President and Co-CEO answered: “800 Million Dollars in 2016 ”. TSMC has demonstrated great vision many times before. For me, an enthusiastic supporter of this technology, this statement… Read More


Is Altera Leaving Intel for TSMC?

Is Altera Leaving Intel for TSMC?
by Daniel Nenni on 01-24-2014 at 9:00 am

There is a rumor making the rounds that Altera will leave Intel and return to TSMC. Rumors are just rumors but this one certainly has legs and I will tell you why and what I would have done if I were Altera CEO John Daane. Altera is a great company, one that I have enjoyed working with over the years, but I really think they made a serious mistake… Read More


ESD at TSMC: IP Providers Will Need to Use Mentor to Check

ESD at TSMC: IP Providers Will Need to Use Mentor to Check
by Paul McLellan on 01-22-2014 at 1:24 pm

I met with Tom Quan of TSMC and Michael Beuler-Garcia of Mentor last week. Weirdly, Mentor’s newish buildings are the old Avant! buildings where I worked for a few weeks after selling Compass Design Automation to them. Odd sort of déja vu. Historically, TSMC has operated with EDA companies in a fairly structured way: TSMC … Read More


Intel is NOT Transparent Again!

Intel is NOT Transparent Again!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-19-2014 at 9:00 am

Recent headlines suggest that Intel was not transparent about some of the products they showed at the CES keynote. Intel confirmed on Friday that they used ARM-based chips for some of the products but would not say which ones. When your company’s tag line is “Intel Inside” and you hold up a product during your keynote wouldn’t… Read More


Intel Wafer Pricing Exposed!

Intel Wafer Pricing Exposed!
by Daniel Nenni on 12-28-2013 at 12:00 pm

One of the big questions on Intel’s foundry strategy is: Can they compete on wafer pricing? Fortunately there are now detailed reports that support what most of us fabless folks already know. The simple answer is no, Intel cannot compete with TSMC or Samsung on wafer pricing at 28nm, 20nm, and 14nm.

In fact, recent reports have shown… Read More