Differentiation And Architecture Licenses In RISC‑V


I was discussing with a colleague about the concept of architecture license in RISC-V. I realized that, in the open-source world, it can be a little tricky to grasp. In a traditional processor IP model, there is a clear distinction between an off-the-shelf IP license that gives some level of configuration but no customization and a fairly expensive architecture license enabling ... » read more

Cataloging IP In The Enterprise


Many companies have no way of documenting where IP they license is actually used, which version of that IP is being utilized, and whether that license extends to other projects or even to their customers. Pedro Pires, applications engineer at ClioSoft, looks at how IP currently is cataloged, why it’s been so difficult to do this in the past, and how AI can be used to speed up and simplify thi... » read more

When It Makes Sense To Perform An Open Source Audit


Today's software is not created so much as assembled. The parts that serve as ingredients come from a variety of sources, but mostly from the millions of open source components freely available on the internet. This has enabled a digital transformation in several industries, helping market leaders speed their time to market, lower costs, and improve innovation. But what are the licensing and... » read more

Open Source Vs. Commercial RISC-V Licensing Models


Everybody is familiar with commercial licensing from traditional processor IP vendors such as Arm, Cadence, and Synopsys. But in discussing the RISC-V Open Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), there is widespread confusion of terminology with RISC-V often being described as “open source.” Some have even accused vendors of commercial RISC-V IP such as Codasip or Andes as not being in the spir... » read more

A New Era In Flexible, Affordable Design


Socionext has always prided itself on flexibility. The company was formed in 2015 as part of the merger of the LSI businesses of Fujitsu and Panasonic. So not only did the company successfully merge engineering teams, it’s grown and expanded its offerings of advanced systems-on-chips (SoCs) over the years. As such, Socionext’s philosophy is rooted in doing more than just listening carefu... » read more

Time To Pay The Piper


The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a German fable about a rat catcher who used his magic pipe to lure away rats. When he was not paid by the town, he used his pipe to lure away all of the town's children. I am not suggesting that exactly the same is true for the semiconductor industry and having not paid [getkc id="7" kc_name="EDA"], but I do not think they have paid enough and they will now have to ... » read more

Alternative To x86, ARM Architectures?


Software developed by professors and graduate students from the University of California at Berkeley? That will never fly in the semiconductor industry, right? Maybe they said that about SPICE, four decades ago. The jury is still out on RISC-V (pronounced risk-five) the modular, open-source instruction set architecture created in this decade by Cal professors and students, yet the ISA is gai... » read more

Patents Under Scrutiny


After years of complaints by high-tech companies that the U.S. patent system is misused, too slow or completely outdated, patent attorneys are about to get their day in court. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review an appeal between Alice Corp., an electronic marketplace for trading IP, and CLS Bank International, involving what kinds of inventions can be patented, according to the Supr... » read more