Chip Industry Week In Review


Analog Devices acquired Flex Logix's technology assets, along with its technical team. Semiconductor global sales increased 23% in Q3 2024 $166B, up almost 11% versus the same period in 2023, according to SIA. Notable regional year-to-year sales in September: Americas up 46%, China up 23%, Europe down 8%. Fig.1: Worldwide Semiconductor Revenues, year-to-year % change. Source: Semiconduc... » read more

The Growing Imperative Of Hardware Security Assurance In IP And SoC Design


In an era where technology permeates every aspect of our lives, the semiconductor industry serves as the backbone of innovation. From IoT devices to data centers, every piece of technology relies on integrated circuits (ICs) such as intellectual property (IP) cores and system on chips (SoCs). As these technologies become increasingly pervasive, the importance of hardware security assurance in t... » read more

Reactionary Or Anticipatory?


The EDA industry is located at an interesting place, where anticipation and reaction come together. Too much of either one is wasteful, but too little leaves the industry having to deal with unwanted problems. We see this happening in several areas today, and the balance is changing for several reasons. We normally expect universities to be 100% anticipatory. There is no point in them worki... » read more

Unbundling Analog From Digital Where It Makes Sense


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss what's changing in analog design with the shift toward heterogeneous integration and more safety- and mission-critical applications with Mo Faisal, president and CEO of Movellus; Hany Elhak, executive director of product management at Synopsys; Cedric Pujol, product manager at Keysight; and Pradeep Thiagarajan, principal product manager for custom I... » 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

The Cost Of EDA Data Storage And Processing Efficiency


Engineering teams are turning to the cloud to process and store increasing amounts of EDA data, but while the compute resources in hyperscale data centers are virtually unlimited, the move can add costs, slow access to data, and raise new concerns about sustainability. For complex chip designs, the elasticity of the cloud is a huge bonus. With advanced-node chips and packaging, the amount of... » read more

EDA And IP Revenue Grow, But Markets Are Shifting


EDA and IP revenue grew 18.2% worldwide to $4.69 billion in Q2, year-over-year, with all product categories and regions reporting increases, but a drill down into the numbers shows some new pockets of growth and weakness The Asia/Pacific region exhibited strong growth once again, but the dynamics in that market have changed significantly. China is no longer the primary revenue generator for ... » read more

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups


Using AI in EDA is reinvigorating the whole tools industry, prompting established players to upgrade their tool offerings with AI/ML features, while drawing in startups trying to carve out differentiated approaches to fill unaddressed gaps with new tools and methodologies. Today’s new generation of entrepreneurs is comprised of both young post-grads with innovative ideas and industry veter... » read more

As EDA Processes Becomes More Secure, So Do Chips


Security is becoming a much bigger concern within chips and electronic systems, but the actual implementation remains something of an afterthought, which limits its effectiveness. There are many pieces to the security puzzle on the chip design side that go well beyond just securing the hardware or the IP. The EDA tools themselves need to be secure, as well, and so does the user data within t... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The U.S. Department of Commerce and Texas Instruments (TI) signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to provide up to $1.6 billion in CHIPS Act funding towards TI’s investment of over $18 billion for three 300mm semiconductor wafer fabs under construction in Texas and Utah. TI also expects to get about $6 billion to $8 billion from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Investmen... » read more

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