When To Expect Domain-Specific AI Chips


The chip industry is moving toward domain-specific computation, while artificial intelligence (AI) is moving in the opposite direction, creating a gap that could force significant changes in how chips and systems are architected in the future. Behind this split is the amount of time it takes to design hardware and software. In the 18 months since ChatGPT was launched on the world, there has ... » read more

Big Shift: Creating Automotive SW Without HW


Experts at the Table: The automotive ecosystem is undergoing a transformation toward software-defined vehicles, spurring new architectures with more software. Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the impact of these changes with Suraj Gajendra, vice president of products and solutions in Arm's automotive line of business; Chuck Alpert, R&D automotive fellow at Cadence; Steve Spadon... » read more

Blog Review: June 12


Cadence's Deep Mehta finds that PCIe 6.0 switches need advanced verification strategies that delve deeper than basic functionality, such as generating backpressure traffic to identify potential performance bottlenecks and ensure the switch operates optimally in real-world scenarios. Siemens' Reetika explains why proper management and verification of reset domain crossing (RDC) paths are cruc... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Rapidus and IBM are jointly developing mass production capabilities for chiplet-based advanced packages. The collaboration builds on an existing agreement to develop 2nm process technology. Vanguard and NXP will jointly establish VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC) in Singapore to build a $7.8 billion, 12-inch wafer plant. This is part of a global supply chain shift “Out... » read more

Blog Review: June 5


Cadence's Neelabh Singh provides an overview of the low power entry and exit flows in USB4 Version 2.0 link speed and how they have been simplified by making low power entry uni-directional and removing the need for certain handshakes for low power exit of the re-timers. In a podcast, Siemens' Steph Chavez chats with Daniel Beeker of NXP about the foundational importance of power distributio... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


JEDEC and the Open Compute Project rolled out a new set of guidelines for standardizing chiplet characterization details, such as thermal properties, physical and mechanical requirements, and behavior specs. Those details have been a sticking point for commercial chiplets, because without them it's not possible to choose the best chiplet for a particular application or workload. The guidelines ... » read more

Blog Review: May 22


Cadence's Sree Parvathy introduces Verilog-A, a high-level language that uses modules to describe the structure and behavior of analog systems and enables the top-down system to be defined before the actual transistor circuits are assembled. Siemens' Keith Felton suggests the process of package substrate design is improved by leveraging the collective expertise of multiple design domain spec... » read more

Chip Aging Becoming Key Factor In Data Center Economics


Chip aging is becoming a much bigger concern inside of data centers, where it can impact server uptime, utilization rates, and the amount of energy needed to drive signals and cool entire server racks. Aging in chips is the result of both higher logic utilization and increasing transistor density. This is problematic for data centers, in general, but especially for AI chips where digital log... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


President Biden will raise the tariff rate on Chinese semiconductors from 25% to 50% by 2025, among other measures to protect U.S. businesses from China’s trade practices. Also, as part of President Biden’s AI Executive Order, the Administration released steps to protect workers from AI risks, including human oversight of systems and transparency about what systems are being used. Intel ... » read more

MPAM-Style Cache Partitioning With ATP-Engine And gem5


The Memory Partitioning and Monitoring (MPAM) Arm architecture supplement allows for memory resources (MPAM MSCs) to be partitioned using PARTID identifiers. This allows privileged software, like OSes and hypervisors to partition caches, memory controllers and interconnects on the hardware level. This allows for bandwidth and latency controls to be defined and enforced for memory requestors. ... » read more

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