ConvNext Runs 28X Faster Than Fallback


Two months ago in our blog we highlighted the fallacy of using a conventional NPU accelerator paired with a DSP or CPU for “fallback” operations. (Fallback Fails Spectacularly, May 2024). In that blog we calculated what the expected performance would be for a system with a DSP needing to perform the new operations found in one of today’s leading new ML networks – ConvNext. The result wa... » read more

PCIe 7.0: Speed, Flexibility & Efficiency For The AI Era


As the industry came together for PCI-SIG DevCon last month, one thing took center stage, and that was PCI Express 7.0. While still in the final stages of development, the world is certainly ready for this significant new milestone of the PCIe specification. Let’s look at how PCIe 7.0 is poised to address the escalating demands of AI, high-performance computing, and emerging data-intensive ap... » read more

On-Device Speaker Identification For Digital Television (DTV)


In recent years, the way we interact with our TVs has changed. Multiple button presses to navigate an on-screen keyboard have been replaced with direct interaction through our voices. While this has resulted in significant improvements to the Digital Television (DTV) user experience, more can be done to provide immersive and engaging experiences. Imagine you say, “recommend me a film” or... » read more

Managing kW Power Budgets


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss increasing power demands and how to address it with Hans Yeager, senior principal engineer, architecture, at Tenstorrent; Joe Davis, senior director for Calibre interfaces and EM/IR product management at Siemens EDA; Mo Faisal, CEO of Movellus; Trey Roessig, CTO and senior vice president of engineering at Empower Semiconductor.... » read more

6G And Beyond: Overall Vision And Survey of Research


A new 92 page technical paper titled "6G: The Intelligent Network of Everything -- A Comprehensive Vision, Survey, and Tutorial" was published by IEEE researchers at Finland's University of Oulu. Abstract "The global 6G vision has taken its shape after years of international research and development efforts. This work culminated in ITU-R's Recommendation on "IMT-2030 Framework". While the d... » read more

Intel Vs. Samsung Vs. TSMC


The three leading-edge foundries — Intel, Samsung, and TSMC — have started filling in some key pieces in their roadmaps, adding aggressive delivery dates for future generations of chip technology and setting the stage for significant improvements in performance with faster delivery time for custom designs. Unlike in the past, when a single industry roadmap dictated how to get to the next... » read more

Delivering On Power During HPC Test


The industry’s insatiable need for power in high-performance computing (HPC) is creating problems for test cells, which need to deliver very high currents at very consistent voltage levels through the power delivery network (PDN). In response, ATE, wafer probe, and contactor vendors are introducing some innovative approaches and test procedures that can ensure robust power delivery to ATE pro... » read more

Digital Twins Find Their Footing In IC Manufacturing


Momentum is building for digital twins in semiconductor manufacturing, tying together the various processes and steps to improve efficiency and quality, and to enable more flexibility in the fab and assembly house. The movement toward digital twins opens up a slew of opportunities, from building and equipping new fabs faster to speeding yield ramps by reducing the number of silicon-based tes... » read more

Securing AI Silicon


The importance of security in AI training/inference silicon is increasing in awareness. Over the past several months, I’ve noticed many questions in common from various parts of the microelectronic industry. In this blog post, I’ll share my thoughts on some of these most frequently asked questions. Firstly, people often ask if securing AI silicon is different from securing other types of... » read more

The Value Of Innovation


This week's Design Automation Conference is all about the new things that are going on in the industry, both challenges and opportunities. By this time this blog goes live, I will have moderated a panel about why EDA has not been open to disruption. While preparing for that, a number of thoughts emerged in my mind. First, we have to remember that EDA is a business whose role is to support th... » read more

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