Research Bits: Feb. 6


Laser printer for photonic circuits Researchers from the University of Washington and University of Maryland propose a faster, cheaper way to fabricate and reconfigure photonic integrated circuits. The method uses a laser writer to write, erase, and modify circuits into a thin film of phase-change material similar to what is used for recordable CDs and DVDs. The researcher say the method co... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Cadence will acquire Rambus' SerDes and memory interface PHY IP business. Rambus will retain its digital IP business, including memory and interface controllers and security IP. “With this transaction, we will increase our focus on market-leading digital IP and chips and expand our roadmap of novel memory solutions to support the continued evolution of the data center and AI,” said Sean Fan... » read more

Startup Funding: May 2020


It was a good month for semiconductor startups, with investment spanning a larger company in later funding rounds to brand new seed funding for two chip manufacturing startups. Two AI hardware startups bridge data center and edge, plus EV companies around the world get funding. In total, the eighteen startups profiled this month raised $446.3 million. Semiconductor & design Shanghai-based ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers and OEMs TrendForce has released its projected foundry rankings for the fourth quarter of 2019. TSMC remains in first place, followed by Samsung, GlobalFoundries and UMC, according to the firm. “TrendForce projects the foundry industry’s 4Q19 revenue performance to exceed previous expectations,” according to the firm. “Nonetheless, the ongoing U.S-China trade war and uncerta... » read more

System Bits: April 1


“Lock-free” vs. “wait-free” parallel algorithms Since computer chips have stopped getting faster, regular performance improvements are now the result of chipmakers’ adding more cores to their chips, rather than increasing their clock speed. And in theory, doubling the number of cores doubles the chip’s efficiency, but splitting up computations so that they run efficiently in parall... » read more