The Hardest Part Of DO-254 Is…


The hardest part of DO-254 is not the requirements. It’s not the design. It’s not the verification. We just wrapped up this year’s 3-day DO-254 Practitioner’s Course, and each year I learn something new. In this year’s training we had attendees from major aerospace companies including Curtiss Wright, Rolls Royce, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Thales and Woodward. It’s always a pleas... » read more

Russian Market Overview


By Evgeny Suvorov The Russian market has turned towards the Internet of Things (IoT), with several projects underway, particularly in the areas of agriculture and mining. The largest of these projects have been initiated and backed by the state.  The most striking example is probably the introduction of the "Platon" system, an IoT-based road levy collection system comprised of on-board unit... » read more

ARM Buys Apical


[getentity id="22186" comment="ARM"] completed its acquisition of [getentity id="22917" comment="Apical Ltd."] for $350 million in cash. Apical provides embedded computer vision and imaging technology, which ARM said has been utilized in more than 1.5 billion smartphones and in about 300 million other consumer and industrial devices, such as digital still cameras, Internet protocol cameras, and... » read more

IP Business Models In Flux


EDA and IP suppliers are engaging with foundries earlier with each manufacturing process node, while those foundries are providing ever more optimized and tuned processes to their customers. As part of this, IP providers must port their IP offerings to the various foundries and processes, putting a squeeze on resources. That raises some difficult questions, such as how to prioritize their li... » read more

Cheap Money Effects


The mergers and acquisition activity that has reshaped the semiconductor industry over the past couple of years resembles a frenzy of acquisition activity that has occurred multiple times in previous boom years. But this round comes with a twist. It's being driven by historically low interest rates, which means it probably won't stop until interest rates rise and the cost of borrowing capital f... » read more

The Big Race


An estimated 74.39 million automobiles are forecast to be sold this year, according to Statista. That's up about 2.8% over 2015, which on the surface doesn't look like fabulous growth. What isn't apparent in the numbers, though, is the amount and type of semiconductor content. Electronic control units, which are primarily driven by MCUs, increasingly are being replaced by SoCs. Automotive co... » read more

2015: A Year In Review


Semiconductor Market Trends Semiconductor revenues were essentially flat in 2015 when compared to 2014 levels according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The materials market mirrored the device market, while the equipment market contracted 3%. The semiconductor equipment market typically receives more attention than the materials market, however, and the materials market has... » read more

EDAC Changes Name


The EDA Consortium today changed its name to the Electronic System Design Alliance, a move that expands the group's charter to reflect shifts that have been underway in the chip design world for some time. Those shifts include the growth in IP and an increased focus on software development. Classic EDA, from place and route to synthesis to back-end debug and verification, are still very much... » read more

It’s Transition Time


For the past couple of years we've been hearing about the coming onslaught of the IoT, difficulties in scaling device features and a shift left that will redefine verification, debug and software prototyping. It's all happening. Taken individually, these are noteworthy changes. Taken as a whole, they represent a massive repositioning of the semiconductor industry, from architectural explorat... » read more

EDA Sales Down Slightly


EDA sales dropped 1.9% in Q4 of 2015, following a spectacular run of 23 consecutive quarters of solid growth. For the year, the EDA and IP industry posted 5% growth. It's hard to read too much into a single quarter, especially when growth for the full year was up 5%, according to numbers released by the EDA Consortium's Market Statistics Service. Computer-aided engineering (CAE), the largest... » read more

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