The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers The wearables market has taken another hit. Intel has issued a safety recall for a smartwatch line from its Basis Science subsidiary. "We are issuing this safety recall of the Basis Peak watch because the watch can overheat, which could result in burns or blisters on the skin surface. It is important that you stop using your watch immediately and return it. Although we are stopping ... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Tools ProPlus Design Solutions unveiled its 9812DX wafer-level 1/f noise characterization system, an enhanced version of its de facto standard 9812D. It includes a more than 10X increase in system resolution, as well as a speedup boost three-to-five times faster than previous systems, higher voltage support up to 200V, and lower current support down to 0.1nA. It also adds a wider range of me... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 3


Mentor's Andrew Macleod presents three hours of highlights from this year's IESF automotive conference in Detroit with topics from making cars more affordable to reaching an efficiency of 54.5 MPG. Cadence's Paul McLellan checks out the state of the smartphone landscape now that consolidation in the market seems to be complete at the Linley Mobile Conference. Synopsys' Eric Huang consider... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Fab tools Lam Research’s proposed move to acquire KLA-Tencor has been pushed out for the second time. The deal was supposed to be completed by mid-2016. Then, it was pushed out to the third quarter amid regulatory issues. Now, the companies hope to close the deal by the fourth quarter of 2016. “The KLA-Tencor acquisition is expected to close in the December quarter. This reflects another p... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


IP Rambus debuted 3200 Mbps DDR4 PHY, targeted at the data center and networking markets, on the GlobalFoundries FX-14 ASIC platform using the company's 14nm Power Plus (LPP) process. The PHY is DFI 4.0 compatible, and supports 16 – 72-bit interfaces, along with single and multi-rank configurations. Synopsys introduced VIP and UVM source code test suite for Ethernet 200G, supporting 4x5... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Deals Analog Devices this week agreed to purchase Linear Technology for $60 a share in cash and stock, a proposed purchase worth about $14.8 billion. The transaction will wrap up next year, if antitrust regulators and Linear Tech’s shareholders give it the green light. Both chip companies are very active in Internet of Things technologies, with ADI acquiring Switzerland-based SNAP Sensor ear... » read more

Blog Review: July 27


Mentor's Tom Fitzpatrick investigates how to add new behavior to an existing testbench with the UVM factory class. Synopsys' Srinivas Vijayaragavan and Pooja Gupta dig into new features of SAS 24G, including how its effective speed was doubled to 24G though signaling rate remains at 22.5G. Cadence's Paul McLellan highlights a presentation from the SEMI/Gartner Market Symposium focused on ... » read more

Analog Devices To Buy Linear Technology


Analog Devices has agreed to acquire Linear Technology for about $14.8 billion in cash and stock, creating an analog chip supplier that will rival Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, and NXP Semiconductors in scope. The deal calls for Linear Technology shareholders to get $46 per share in cash and 0.2321 of a share in ADI common stock for their shares. The transa... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Deals The big news of the week, of course, is SoftBank Group’s proposed acquisition of ARM Holdings for a breathtaking $32.2 billion in cash. In announcing the deal, the companies made it abundantly clear that the proposed acquisition is chiefly about Internet of Things technology. “When I think about the investment and the commitment that’s going to be required to develop the future te... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Market research Worldwide semiconductor capital spending is projected to decline 0.7% in 2016, to $64.3 billion, according to Gartner. This is up from the estimated 2% decline in Gartner's previous quarterly forecast. "Economic instability, inventory excess, weak demand for PC’s, tablets, and mobile products in the past three years has caused slow growth for the semiconductor industry. This ... » read more

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