Blog Review: Jan. 13


Siemens EDA's Harry Foster tracks trends in IC and ASIC design and finds that increased design size is only one dimension of the growing complexity challenge. Synopsys' Chris Clark and Dennis Kengo Oka predicts how the automotive industry will change in 2021, including new standards for security, increased use of AI and V2X technologies, and a growing focus on software. Cadence's Paul McL... » read more

The Power Of Virtual Prototyping: From SoC Design To Software Development


Virtual prototypes and hardware design: More powerful and complex integrated circuits and System-on-Chip (SoC) designers have a daunting task at both the hardware and software level. SoC architects need a method for early evaluation of hardware components, known as Intellectual Property (IP) blocks, that will have direct impact on the commercial success of the SoC. There are a range of complex ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


FPGA and eFPGA company Achronix is going public on Nasdaq via a merger with special-purpose acquisition company ACE Convergence Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ACEV). Upon closing of the transaction, the combined operating entity retain the name Achronix Semiconductor Corporation and will be listed under the ticker symbol ACHX. According to Achronix, the transaction reflects an implied equity value ... » read more

Car Industry Changing Under The Hood


After an initial burst of autonomous activity, the automotive ecosystem regrouped, re-evaluated its goals, and is now ready to begin deploying new technologies made possible by modern development approaches and forward-looking vehicle architectures. The pandemic hurt vehicle sales in 2020, but it also gave the OEMs a chance to catch their breath. Panic over announcements from other carmakers... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 6


In a video, Synopsys' Tim Mackey and Laurie Carr discuss the most substantial threats to today’s IoT devices and what considerations IoT manufacturers need to keep in mind as they release new products, plus the role governments should play in IoT regulation. Cadence's Paul McLellan explains the recent breach caused by a hacked update of SolarWinds' network management software and what expe... » read more

Blog Review: Dec. 30


Cadence's Paul McLellan considers what the next ten years will look like for the RISC-V ISA with an expanding software ecosystem and increasing number of commercial and open cores available. Siemens EDA's Harry Foster checks out the languages and libraries being used to design and verify FPGAs and how they've changed over the last several years. Synopsys' Jonathan Knudsen contends that IT... » read more

2020: A Turning Point In The Chip Industry


At the start of 2020, most of the industry was upbeat and sales forecasts for the year were good. Then the pandemic hit, and fear gripped most of the industry — but not for long. New markets emerged, demand increased, and the levels of innovation went far beyond what had been forecast. While hope is on the horizon that the virus will be contained during 2021, life will not return to the ol... » read more

Blog Review: Dec. 23


Cadence's Paul McLellan checks out how Arm is becoming a powerhouse in the server and high-end space with the addition of new R&D and a focus on getting the most out of its architecture. Siemens EDA's Harry Foster continues his look at verification trends in FPGAs by checking out adoption of different simulation and formal technologies. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding looks ahead to 2021 w... » read more

RISC-V Verification Challenges Spread


The RISC-V ecosystem is struggling to keep pace with rapid innovation and customization, which is increasing the amount of verification work required for each design and spreading that work out across more engineers at more companies. The historical assumption is that verification represents 60% to 80% or more of SoC project effort in terms of cost and time for a mature, mainstream processor... » read more

Industry Transformations In 2021 And Beyond


Last December, the name of my predictions blog summarized my view crisply, which is that "applications, ecosystems and system complexity will be key verification drivers for 2020." Slam dunk on these. Application domains significantly impacted verification aspects in 2020. Who would have thought that Facebook and AWS would be among the keynotes at our user conference, speaking about how thei... » read more

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