How Is Your HBM Memory?


The seemingly countless applications used every day requiring web access (social media, streaming video, games, etc.) are not only driving the need to store a tremendous amount of data, but also driving the need to access this data with as little delay as possible. Add to this list the growing number of connected devices (IoT), and you can see why changes in the data center are needed, in parti... » read more

Architecturally Optimizing Memory Bandwidth


Making sure that an SoC’s [getkc id="22" kc_name="memory"] bandwidth is optimized is a crucial part of the design process today given its significance toward overall system performance. There are many ways to approach this issue, and all of them can have a direct bearing on the competitiveness of a chip in terms of both power and performance. So where should you start? “Number one, c... » read more

Rethinking The Cloud


Data center architectures have seen very few radical changes since the commercial introduction of the [getentity id="22306" comment="IBM"] System/360 mainframe in 1964. There have been incremental improvements in speed and throughput over the years, with a move to a client/server model in the 1990s, but from a high level this is still an environment where data is processed and stored centrally ... » read more

Darker Silicon


For the last several decades, integrated circuit manufacturers have focused their efforts on [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"], increasing transistor density at constant cost. For much of that time, Dennard’s Law also held: As the dimensions of a device go down, so does power consumption. Smaller transistors ran faster, used less power, and cost less. As most readers already know, howe... » read more

Manufacturing And Packaging Changes For 2015


This year more than 26 people provided predictions for 2015. Most of these came from the EDA industry, so the results may be rather biased. However, ecosystems are coming closer together in many parts of the semiconductor food chain, meaning that the EDA companies often can see what is happening in dependent industries and in the system design houses. Thus their predictions may have already res... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Historically, there has been a good correlation between oil prices and worldwide GDP growth, with lower prices correlating to stronger future growth. Given the current forecast for the price of oil in 2015, IC Insights expects oil prices to once again be a “tailwind” for worldwide GDP growth. Intel posted its sales and earnings for the fourth quarter. In 2015, Intel projects that its cap... » read more

Industry Scorecard For 2014


At the end of last year, Semiconductor Engineering asked the industry about the developments they expected to see in 2014. If you care to refresh your memory, they were categorized under markets, semiconductors and development tools. Now it is time to look back and see how accurate those predictions were and where they fell short. Markets The obvious trend, at the beginning of the year, wa... » read more

Fab Tool Biz Faces Challenges In 2015


After a slight downturn in 2013, the semiconductor equipment industry rebounded and experienced a solid upturn in 2014. The recovery was primarily driven by tool spending in the foundry and [getkc id="93" kc_name="DRAM"]sectors. Another big and ongoing story continued to unfold in 2014. In late 2013, [getentity id="22817" e_name="Applied Materials"] announced a definitive agreement to acquir... » read more

What You Don’t Know About Consumer Memory


I hear a lot of chatter about the memory markets and their fast growth. The question I like to pose to people is, "Which memory (DRAM) segment has grown faster over the last three years, servers or consumer?" The answer may surprise you. The correct answer, according to the latest IHS DRAM Market Tracker Database, is consumer. Since the beginning of 2012, the consumer DRAM market has grow... » read more

Memory Directions Uncertain


Semiconductor Engineering sat down with a panel of experts to find out what is happening in world of memories. Taking part in the discussion are [getperson id="11073" comment="Charlie Cheng"], chief executive officer at [getentity id="22135" e_name="Kilopass Technology"]; Navraj Nandra, senior director of marketing for Analog/Mixed signal IP, embedded memories and logic libraries at [getentity ... » read more

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