Blog Review: Dec. 24

Cadence’s Jakob Engblom shares highlights from the recent SDV Europe conference, including why software-defined vehicles will require much closer, faster collaboration between suppliers and customers, with virtualization for software development and testing taking on a key role, as well as API questions and tire sensors.

Synopsys’ Tom De Schutter and Marc Serughetti predict that new cars will contain 600 million lines of code or more by 2027 as SDVs with centralized compute enable new business models based around subscriptions and over-the-air updates.

Siemens’ Robin Bornoff checks out how Lava Lamps act as a high-quality source of entropy that helps protect internet communications and makes an attempt to simulate their behavior.

Keysight’s Nancy Friedrich explores how an AI-driven PHY will bring new capabilities to 6G, including channel state information (CSI) prediction, CSI compression, beam prediction, and AI-based positioning accuracy improvements.

Ansys’ Laura Carter examines the trends and challenges influencing the current automotive climate, why legacy automakers face significant disruption, and how simulation will enable carmakers to navigate a changing market to create new opportunities.

Arm’s Fidel Makatia introduces an open source fall detection system for older adults that uses on-device AI to work in real-time, preserve privacy, and run fully offline

In a blog for SEMI, Marvell’s Alua Suleimenova warns that water risk is the next major business challenge for the semiconductor industry, with a financially material impact on business continuity by triggering idle time, recovery costs, and cascading delivery delays across global supply chains.

Plus, check out the blogs featured in the latest Manufacturing, Packaging & Materials and Systems & Design newsletters:

Technology editor Brian Bailey checks out some of the most-read design and power topics of 2025 and finds a few surprises.

Amkor’s JinSeon Min examines the impact of heat on long-term reliability and a potential solution.

Synopsys’ Travis Brist looks at accelerating computational lithography to enable more advanced optimizations at leading-edge nodes.

Lam Research’s QingPeng Wang examines the impact of edge placement error and over-etch variations in backside power delivery networks.

Microtronic’s Errol Akomer posits that relying solely on end-of-line testing isn’t enough when security, traceability, and mission reliability are vital.

SEMI’s Cassandra Melvin shows why strategic partnerships and global collaboration are required to push advanced packaging beyond the research stage.

Synopsys’ Frank Schirrmeister highlights hardware-assisted verification platforms that can scale with industry demands to support emerging use cases.

Cadence’s Reela Samuel breaks down how advanced packaging technologies are reshaping how compute platforms are conceived, optimized, and manufactured.

ChipAgents’ Mehir Arora and Zackary Glazewski discuss an agentic AI-based approach for end-to-end bug resolution using both error logs and waveforms.

Movellus’ Hans Yeager and Aakash Jani explain why the voltage set at the regulator is rarely what the transistors actually see and how to set Vmin accurately.

Siemens EDA’s John Ferguson shows why it’s essential to combine sign-off accuracy, iterative feedback, and intelligent automation in DRC for modern IC design.

Keysight’s María Castillo explains how to ensure data moves smoothly across multiple disciplines, tools, and globally distributed teams.