Startup Funding: March 2021


Self-driving vehicles revved up investors in March, with two companies receiving over $200M apiece as they prepare for their systems to enter mass production. One focuses on software for passenger vehicles, while the other is looking to autonomous trucks. Both of the companies received investment from automakers, with China's largest carmaker SAIC joining each of the funding rounds. It was also... » read more

AI In Inspection, Metrology, And Test


AI/ML is creeping into multiple processes within the fab and packaging houses, although not necessarily for the purpose it was originally intended. The chip industry is just beginning to learn where AI makes sense and where it doesn't. In general, AI works best as a tool in the hands of someone with deep domain expertise. AI can do certain things well, particularly when it comes to pattern m... » read more

Maximizing Edge AI Performance


Inference of convolutional neural network models is algorithmically straightforward, but to get the fastest performance for your application there are a few pitfalls to keep in mind when deploying. A number of factors make efficient inference difficult, which we will first step through before diving into specific solutions to address and resolve each. By the end of this article, you will be arm... » read more

New Uses For AI


AI is being embedded into an increasing number of technologies that are commonly found inside most chips, and initial results show dramatic improvements in both power and performance. Unlike high-profile AI implementations, such as self-driving cars or natural language processing, much of this work flies well under the radar for most people. It generally takes the path of least disruption, b... » read more

How To Measure ML Model Accuracy


Machine learning (ML) is about making predictions about new data based on old data. The quality of any machine-learning algorithm is ultimately determined by the quality of those predictions. However, there is no one universal way to measure that quality across all ML applications, and that has broad implications for the value and usefulness of machine learning. “Every industry, every d... » read more

Xilinx AI Engines And Their Applications


This white paper explores the architecture, applications, and benefits of using Xilinx's new AI Engine for compute intensive applications like 5G cellular and machine learning DNN/CNN. 5G requires between five to 10 times higher compute density when compared with prior generations; AI Engines have been optimized for DSP, meeting both the throughput and compute requirements to deliver the hig... » read more

Tradeoffs To Improve Performance, Lower Power


Generic chips are no longer acceptable in competitive markets, and the trend is growing as designs become increasingly heterogeneous and targeted to specific workloads and applications. From the edge to the cloud, including everything from vehicles, smartphones, to commercial and industrial machinery, the trend increasingly is on maximizing performance using the least amount of energy. This ... » read more

HBM2E Raises The Bar For AI/ML Training


The largest AI/ML neural network training models now exceed an enormous 100 billion parameters. With the rate of growth over the last decade on a 10X annual pace, we’re headed to trillion parameter models in the not-too-distant future. Given the tremendous value that can be derived from AI/ML (it is mission critical to five of six of the top market cap companies in the world), there has been ... » read more

Changing The Rules For Chip Scaling


Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about the incessant drive for chip density, how to improve that density through other means than just scaling, and why this is so important for the chip industry. » read more

Using 5nm Chips And Advanced Packages In Cars


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the impact of advanced node chips and advanced packaging on automotive reliability with Jay Rathert, senior director of strategic collaborations at KLA; Dennis Ciplickas, vice president of advanced solutions at PDF Solutions; Uzi Baruch, vice president and general manager of the automotive business unit at OptimalPlus; Gal Carmel, general manager of... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →