Blog Review: Feb. 5


Cadence's Rajneesh Chauhan explores the extended metadata feature in CXL 3.1, which helps systems manage memory and devices more effectively by sending extra information along with memory transactions to provide more context about what's happening during these transactions. Siemens' Bianca Ward recommends semiconductor companies combat rising production costs by leaning into digitalization a... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 29


Cadence's Reela Samuel looks beyond silicon to new semiconductor materials under development and the particular applications for gallium nitride, silicon carbide, indium phosphide, glass, and diamond. Siemens' Kyle Fraunfelter and Melville Bryant find that lean approaches alone cannot address the increasingly complex sustainability challenges of semiconductor manufacturing and call for the e... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The new Trump administration was quick to put a different stamp on the tech world: President Trump rescinded a long list of Biden’s executive orders, including those aimed at AI safety and the mandate for 50% EVs by 2030. Roughly 1.3 million EVs were sold in the U.S. in 2024, up 7.3% from 2023. The new administration announced $500 billion ($100 billion initially) in private sector in... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 22


Cadence's David Shin provides an overview of the eUSB2V2 specification, which scales up to 4.8Gbps of data rate and provides the flexibility to configure either asymmetrical or symmetrical links depending on the intended application. Siemens EDA's Spencer Acain highlights the key role of AI in semiconductor testing, including the addition of analytical AI in DFT tools and how applying machin... » read more

The When, Why, And How Of Waiting And Backoff In Multi-Threaded Applications On Arm


With multithreaded applications, there are situations where it is unavoidable or desirable to wait for other threads. Implementing such wait instruction sequences correctly is important for both multithreaded scalability and power efficiency. Scalability is measured both in terms of aggregated throughput and fairness. Fairness is when all contending threads get an equal share of the contended ... » read more

What’s The Best Way To Sell An Inference Engine?


The burgeoning AI market has seen innumerable startups funded on the strength of their ideas about building faster, lower-power, and/or lower-cost AI inference engines. Part of the go-to-market dynamic has involved deciding whether to offer a chip or IP — with some newcomers pivoting between chip and IP implementations of their ideas. The fact that some companies choose to sell chips while... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 15


Siemens EDA's Stephen V. Chavez argues that the placement of decoupling capacitors on a PCB can make or break a design's power delivery system and provides some best practices and design considerations, such as ensuring even distribution on a board rather than crowding them around chips. Synopsys' Stelios Diamantidis predicts that in 2025, AI agents will begin collaborating with other AI age... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Global semiconductor sales hit $57.8 billion in November 2024, an increase of 20.7% compared to the same month last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. In U.S. government news: The U.S. Department of Commerce finalized up to $325 million in CHIPS Act funding for Hemlock Semiconductor, which will support construction of a new semiconductor-grade polysilicon manufac... » read more

Edge And IoT Security Turning A Corner


Security is beginning to improve for a wide range of IoT and edge devices due to better tools, the implementation of new standards and methodologies, and an increasing level of collaboration and communication across different market segments that in the past had little or no interaction. Until recently, many vendors in cost-sensitive markets offered the bare minimum of security. To make matt... » read more

Startup Funding: Q4 2024


The fourth quarter of 2024 saw five mega-rounds of over $100 million. One of the hottest areas continues to be AI hardware, with one company developing RISC-V AI processor IP bringing in nearly $700 million in the largest round for a chip design startup this year. It was far from the only AI startup, however, as several companies gathered support for neuromorphic designs focused on ultra-low po... » read more

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