Tools Needed To Track, Catalog Hardware Vulnerabilities


Monitoring for cyberattacks is a key component of hardware-based security, but what happens afterward is equally important. Logging and cataloging identified hardware vulnerabilities to ensure they are not repeated is essential for security. In fact, thousands of weak points have been identified as part of the chip design process, and even posted publicly online. Nevertheless, many companies... » read more

Radar, AI, And Increasing Autonomy Are Redefining Auto IC Designs


Increasing levels of autonomy in vehicles are fundamentally changing which technologies are chosen, how they are used and interact with each other, and how they will evolve throughout a vehicle's lifetime. Entire vehicle architectures are being reshaped continuously to enable the application of AI across a broad swath of functions, prompting increasing investment into technologies that were ... » read more

Where Cryptography Is Headed


Reports began surfacing in October that Chinese researchers used a quantum computer to crack military-grade AES 256-bit encryption. Those reports turned out to be wrong, but that did little to dampen concerns about what would happen if it was true. The looming threat of quantum computers breaking today's encryption, and the stockpiling of encrypted data in preparation for a time when it can ... » read more

Automotive OEMs Focus On SDVs, Zonal Architectures


Giant automotive OEMs are re-evaluating how quickly to move to advanced technologies and software-driven designs amid crushing financial pressure from low-cost EVs developed in other markets such as China. U.S., European, and Japanese OEMs have been struggling for the past half-decade or so to figure out which is the best approach to developing EVs, undergoing multiple shifts in both hardwar... » read more

AI Drives IC Design Shifts At The Edge


The increasing adoption of AI in edge devices, coupled with a growing demand for new features, is forcing chipmakers to rethink when and where data gets processed, what kind of processors to use, and how to build enough flexibility into systems to span multiple markets. Unlike in the cloud, where the solution generally involves nearly unlimited resources, computing at the edge has sharp cons... » read more

Batteries Look Beyond Lithium


Lithium batteries dominate today’s rechargeable battery market, and while they have been wildly successful, challenges with lithium have spurred research into alternative chemistries that can improve on some of lithium’s downsides and still keep as many of the upsides as possible. So far, none of the alternative batteries has seen commercial success, but several variants have moved beyon... » read more

LLMs Show Promise In Secure IC Design


The introduction of large language models into the EDA flow could significantly reduce the time, effort, and cost of designing secure chips and systems, but they also could open the door to more sophisticated attacks. It's still early days for the use of LLMs in chip and system design. The technology is just beginning to be implemented, and there are numerous technical challenges that must b... » read more

Security Concerns Weigh Down Open-Source EDA


Open-source EDA tools are free, readily available, and growing in numbers, but many chipmakers are wary of using them due to security concerns. On the plus side, proponents say these tools can help attract fresh new talent to chip design. Yet despite their spread online — GitHub alone has more than 140 EDA-specific repositories — using visible source code can provide new avenues of attac... » read more

Challenges In Reducing Wireless Latency


A new and much faster version of Wi-Fi is beginning to infiltrate the IoT market, reducing latency that has begun to creep up as more data is generated, processed, and moved wirelessly from one device to another. An estimated 20 billion connected devices are currently in use. Over the next several years, devices will start to include faster wireless connectivity, enabling more rapid transfer... » read more

Managing Legacy In Automotive


Experts At The Table: The automotive ecosystem is in the midst of an intense evolution as OEMs and tiered providers grapple with how to deal with legacy technology while incorporating ever-increasing levels of autonomy, electrification, software defined vehicle concepts, just to name a few. Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss these and other related issues with Wayne Lyons, senior dir... » read more

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