Are In-Person Conferences Sustainable?


DAC/Semicon are now over, and while I missed a large part of it due to a stomach bug, I increasingly have a stale taste in my mouth about in-person conferences in general. Let's split things up – an event such as DAC is both an academic conference and a trade show. It has been that way almost since its inception 60 years ago. There are many other conferences that are pure conferences, and the... » read more

DAC 2023: Megatrends And The Road Ahead For Design Automation


As Silicon Valley is in the midst of the heat wave the world is experiencing, the recent Design Automation Conference and its exhibition discussed hot technologies. Three megatrends defined the current situation – artificial intelligence (AI), chiplets, and integration. To me, the more exciting aspect of DAC was the discussion of what is ahead for EDA in the decade to come, and for that, the ... » read more

Analog IP Reuse


Analog integrated circuit IP is essential to how microelectronic circuits and systems interact with the environment. It enables things like signal conversion, stable power supply, and communication in state-of-the-art devices. However, designing these critical components – even though they are often a small part of complex chips – is very costly and risk-prone. And in today’s analog field... » read more

DAC/Semicon West Wednesday


Trade restrictions against China were a regular topic of discussion at both DAC and Semicon West this week. Five Chinese startups exhibited prominently at this week's Design Automation Conference, in the wake of increasingly restrictive trade regulations that limit the sale of U.S. and European EDA tools used to develop advanced semiconductors. Most attendees interviewed said privately th... » read more

EDA, IP Fundamentals Shift As Market Soars


EDA tools and IP continued their double-digit growth trajectory this year, despite a downturn in consumer electronics and a continued shortage of key components that took a large bite out of the semiconductor market as a whole. A just-released report from the ESD Alliance showed a 12% increase in revenue for Q1, increasing to $3.95 billion compared with $3.53 billion in the same period in 20... » read more

Changes In Memory Design


An explosion of data in automotive, cloud, and AI are altering the fundamentals of memory design. One size no longer fits all, as memory is used for a broader set of applications, from automotive and cloud to consumer devices. Anand Theruvengadam, director of product management at Synopsys, talks about the impact of big data applications on density, memory stacking, and growing concerns about r... » read more

Challenges Grow For Data Management And Sharing In EDA


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about more openness in EDA data, how increased complexity is affecting time to working silicon, and the impact of geopolitics, with Joseph Sawicki, executive vice president for IC EDA at Siemens Digital Industries Software; John Kibarian, president and CEO of PDF Solutions; John Lee, general manager and vice president of Ansys' Semiconductor Business U... » read more

Not All There: Heterogeneous Multiprocessor Design Tools


The design, implementation, and programming of multicore heterogeneous systems is becoming more common, often driven by the software workloads, but the tooling to help optimize the processors, interconnect, and memory are disjointed. Over the past few years, many tools have emerged that help with the definition and implementation of a single processor, optimized for a given set of software. ... » read more

Revolutionizing Product Development And User Experience: The Transformative Power Of Generative AI


Generative AI has become a prominent and versatile solution across various domains, including chip and system development. Its progress and impact have outpaced many other technological advancements, significantly benefiting numerous areas. In the semiconductor industry, EDA tools with generative AI have already established their position by offering unparalleled optimization capabilities. Thes... » read more

L31 Embedded Core Extensions For Wireless And Connectivity


5G is the latest generation of cellular networks using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio air interface. Unlike previous generations of network (2G, 3G & 4G), which had a one-size-fits-all approach, 5G aims to address a wide range of very different applications. To flexibly support diverse quality of service requirements, network slicing is introduced to enable multip... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →