The Other IoT


What happens in the home, in the car, or in the tiny electronic devices people carry around with them or wear on their wrists or implant in their bodies is the focus of marketing by thousands of companies all over the globe. After all, the Internet of Things, in some shape or form, is widely expected to the "next big thing," or at least provide the foundation for many next big things. Far le... » read more

Market Outlook For 2015


It's always easier to look back at what happened in the past 12 months than to try to piece together a coherent picture for what could happen over the next year. A good prediction relies on lots of data points, and even then it can be wrong. In a global industry, where geopolitical strife or pandemics can send markets tumbling or open up new ones, it's not possible to account for all the unk... » read more

Why Social Media Matters To You


There is a growing consensus among VCs and top executives that some sort of shakeout is coming in the social media world. There are simply too many companies fighting for a fixed number of advertising dollars and too little money coming in the door in the short term. A report by IAB showed online advertising revenue in the United States was $42.78 billion in 2013, up from $36.56 billion in 2012... » read more

Another Inventory Glut?


For nearly a year, Semico’s IPI index has been indicating that the fundamental demand in the second half of 2014 would be seasonally weak. Back in early 2013, our initial view for 2014 was a 10% market growth. However, as the IPI declined in the second half of 2013 we revised our semiconductor revenue forecast down to 7.3% heeding the warning that was projected by the Semico IPI index. This w... » read more

More Problems Ahead


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss future scaling problems with Lars Liebmann, a fellow at IBM; Adam Brand, managing director of transistor technology at Applied Materials; Karim Arabi, vice president of engineering at Qualcomm; and Srinivas Banna, a fellow for advanced technology architecture at GlobalFoundries. SE: Where are the most severe issues these days? Is it on the design... » read more

Server Memory: Should We Be Concerned About The Power?


After my last blog post, Server Memory: What Drives its Growth, I had a couple of people ask me, “If server memory has increased by so much in the last four years, what effect has that had on the server memory subsystem power consumption?” It’s a good question. In last month’s blog, I calculated that the maximum memory per CPU has increased from 18GB (2010, highest-end Nehalem 45nm C... » read more

Without Moore’s Law: EDA


Semiconductor Engineering is examining the assertion about the end of Moore’s Law in a number of different ways. The special report, “Will 7nm and 5nm really happen?” looked at the technical aspects related to continuing into finer geometries. “Moore’s Law Tail No Longer Wagging the Dog” asked the question about the economics of people being able to afford to go to the latest node. ... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Cadence completed its acquisition of Jasper Design Automation, using cash and revolving credit to finance the deal. It will explain the impact on 2014 financial results in fiscal 2015. Jasper’s team, led by CEO Kathryn Kranen, will now report to Cadence senior VP Charlie Huang in Cadence’s System & Verification Group. The deal was first announced in April. Tools Coverity un... » read more

The Hidden Side Of Security


Inside of large chip companies, security is being taken very seriously these days. They just don’t talk about it very much—and sometimes not at all, even to their own employees. In fact, procedures have been instituted inside all of the major chipmakers to ensure that chips are secure on every level, including who gets to see what data within those companies, according to multiple Semico... » read more

Executive Insight: Charles Janac


SE: What’s your biggest concern? Janac: Staying current. One of the things that is really important is to understand shifts in the marketplace. In the past, we looked at whether to target our interconnect solution at digital TV or mobility. This was actually a very interesting question in 2005. The DTV market looked better, but we were not getting enough evaluations. We were doing better i... » read more

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