Chip Industry Week In Review


Global spending on 300mm fab equipment is expected to reach a record US$400 billion from 2025 to 2027, according to SEMI. Key drivers are the regionalization of semiconductor fabs and the increasing demand for AI chips in data centers and edge devices, with China, South Korea, and Taiwan leading the way. The Biden-Harris Administration launched the National Semiconductor Technology Center’... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 25


Cadence’s Mamta Rana digs into how PCIe 6.1 ECN builds on the FLIT-based architecture introduced in PCIe 6.0, further optimizing flow control mechanisms to handle increased data rates and improved efficiency but making verification of shared credit updates essential. Siemens’ Nicolae Tusinschi provides a primer on formal verification, including what makes it different from simulation, pr... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Synopsys agreed to sell its Optical Solutions Group to Keysight for an undisclosed amount, in a deal deemed necessary for Synopsys to win regulatory approval for its planned acquisition of Ansys. The sale to Keysight is contingent on the Synopsys-Ansys deal going through. Meanwhile, Ansys has its own optical business. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) made the first awards for Microelectr... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 18


Siemens’ Kyle Fraunfelter explores the similarities between hurricane forecasting and semiconductor manufacturing to argue for the value of integrating real-time wafer fabrication measurements into the digital twin models used to simulate the semiconductor fabrication process. Cadence’s Rohini Kollipara introduces Display Stream Compression (DSC), which can enable higher resolutions and ... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Infineon rolled out the world's first 300mm gallium nitride (GaN) wafer, opening the door for high-volume manufacturing of GaN-based power semiconductors. A 300mm wafer contains 2.3 times as many chips per wafer as a 200mm wafer. Fig.1: Infineon's 300mm GaN wafer. Source: Infineon The Semiconductor Industry Association released its 2024 State of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry report th... » read more

Is PPA Relevant Today?


The optimization of power, performance, and area (PPA) has been at the core of chip design since the dawn of EDA, but these metrics are becoming less valuable without the context of how and where these chips will be used. Unlike in the past, however, that context now comes from factors outside of hardware development. And while PPA still serves as a useful proxy for many parts of the hardwar... » read more

Higher Density, More Data Create New Bottlenecks In AI Chips


Data movement is becoming a bigger problem at advanced nodes and in advanced packaging due to denser circuitry, more physical effects that can affect the integrity of signals or the devices themselves, and a significant increase in data from AI and machine learning. Just shrinking features in a design is no longer sufficient, given the scaling mismatch between SRAM-based L1 cache and digital... » read more

Evolving Edge Computing And Harnessing Heterogeneity


In the Evolving Edge Computing white paper, we highlighted 3 challenges to enable the Intelligent Edge, they are: Enabling hardware heterogeneity Removing development friction Ensuring security at scale This blog post examines the first in that list, heterogeneity. It will cover the ways in which heterogeneity appears, its effect on systems and some ideas for resolving its inher... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 11


Cadence's Neha Joshi introduces the IEEE 1801 standard, also known as UPF (Unified Power Format), which offers a uniform framework for defining power domains, power states, and power intent to ensure consistency across diverse tools and phases of the design process. Siemens' John McMillan warns that known good die may not behave the same in 3D-ICs as they do standalone and suggests that mult... » read more

Software-Defined Vehicles for Dummies


This latest Dummies Guide takes you through the captivating world of software-defined vehicles (SDVs), offering important insights into the technologies and systems that propel SDVs, and their impact on the future of transportation. This book covers the foundational understanding of SDVs and progressively delves into their various aspects, exploring the potential implications of this rapidly ev... » read more

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