How IoE Will Alter Supply Chains


Globalization is a double-edged sword. Without a doubt, it nourishes competition, offers a plethora of independent sources, and bounty of supplies from a global pool of vendors. That is the good side. The downside is that control becomes a management nightmare. Well-oiled, traditional supply chains systems will have to be redesigned to function across a variety of variables that can interrupt t... » read more

The Next Big Things


Progress in electronics has always been about combining more functions into devices and making access to information more convenient. This is what drove the PC revolution in the 1980s, when centralized data was made available on desktops, and it's what drove the notebook PC revolution in the 1990s as computers became untethered from the desktop, as long as you could find an Ethernet connecti... » read more

Top 15 Integrating Points In The Continuum Of Verification Engines


The integration game between the different verification engines, dynamic and static, is in full swing. Jim Hogan talked about the dynamic engines that he dubbed “COVE”, and I recently pointed out a very specific adoption of COVE in my review of some customer examples at DAC 2015 in “Use Model Versatility Is Key for Emulation Returns on Investment”. Here are my top 15 integrating poin... » read more

Consolidation Creates Confusion


Consolidation in any industry is a sign of maturation. Diverse business models converge to the ones that really work. Supply and demand find equilibrium with a right-sized supply base. And generally, the fittest survive. The semiconductor industry is somewhere around a half-century old, so consolidation in this industry is to be expected, and we have certainly seen some consolidation of late. ... » read more

Divide And Conquer: A Power Verification Methodology Approach


It’s no secret that the power verification challenge has grown by leaps and bounds in the recent past, especially considering design complexity and the sharp rise in the number of power domains in an SoC. As a result, SoC teams want to apply a rigorous [getkc id="10" kc_name="Verification"] flow, observed Gabriel Chidolue, verification technologist at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor G... » read more

Executive Insight: Wally Rhines


Wally Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about what's changing across a wide swath of the industry, where the new opportunities will be, when security will become a real opportunity for EDA, and why Moore's Law will die but progress will continue forever. SE: Looking back over the past year, what's changed and where are the possible r... » read more

Consolidation And Innovation


Consolidation is happening across the semiconductor industry, in ways that are very apparent and others that aren't so obvious. On the chipmaker side, NXP's acquisition of Freescale, Avago's acquisition of Broadcom and LSI, and Intel's acquisition of Altera are so big that they require approval by multiple governments. Less obvious are moves such as Apple's build out of its processor team, a... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Christopher Rolland, an analyst at FBR, made a startling statement in a recent report. “At the pace of consolidation set thus far this year, 32% of all U.S. publicly traded semiconductor companies would be acquired in 2015! While this run-rate is not likely sustainable and should slow as the year progresses, we still expect ~15% consolidation rates for the remainder of this cycle (above low-t... » read more

Avago Buys Broadcom; NXP Spins Off RF Power Unit


Merger and acquisition activity continues to heat up across the semiconductor industry. On one front, Avago Technologies continues on its acquisition spree. And on another front, NXP Semiconductors is moving to spin off its RF power business. And there are other deals in the works as well, including Intel's proposed move to buy Altera. What’s driving the wave of M&A activity? The sem... » read more

M&A Season Now Officially Open


A year ago many people were making jokes quite openly about the IoT. It wasn't uncommon to hear quips about the Internet of Nothing, the Internet of Disconnected Things, the Internet of Cars, or some other variant that questioned just how connected everything would become. The tenor of the conversation has changed significantly in the past year. The jokes are fewer, the stakes are higher. An... » read more

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