eFPGAs Vs. FPGA Chiplets


Embedded FPGAs are a totally different concept from discrete FPGA chiplets, and that is reflected in size, cost, power and performance. Geoff Tate, CEO of Flex Logix, talks about which applications are best for each, how each maximizes power and performance, and why choices will vary greatly by application. Related eFPGA Knowledge Center FPGA Knowledge Center Increasing EFPGA Densit... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Siemens will acquire Avatar Integrated Systems. The company's place-and-route tools, which will become part of Mentor's Xcelerator portfolio, include a netlist-to-GDS full-function block-level physical implementation tool and a complete top-level prototyping, floor-planning and chip assembly tool. Based in Santa Clara, CA, Avatar was formed in 2017 from the acquired assets of ATopTech. ATopTech... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Arm's parent company, Japanese tech conglomerate Softbank, reportedly is considering a sale or IPO of its Arm subsidiary, which it purchased in 2016 for $32 billion in cash. Considering that Arm chips are in most smart phones, as well as an increasing number of computers and IoT and edge devices, this development is being closely followed by most of the tech world. Last week, Softbank directed ... » read more

Integrating FPGA: Comparison Of Chiplets Vs. eFPGA


FPGA is widely popular in systems for its flexibility and adaptability. Increasingly, it is being used in high volume applications. As volumes grow, system designers can consider integration of the FPGA into an SoC to reduce cost, reduce power and/or improve performance. There are two options for integrating FPGA into an SoC: FPGA chiplets, which replace the power hungry SERDES/PHYs wit... » read more

Winners And Losers At The Edge


The edge is a vast collection of niches tied to narrow vertical markets, and it is likely to stay that way for years to come. This is both good and bad for semiconductor companies, depending upon where they sit in the ecosystem and their ability to adapt to a constantly shifting landscape. Some segments will see continued or new growth, including EDA, manufacturing equipment, IP, security an... » read more

Increasing eFPGA Density


How to boost embedded FPGA density to the point where it is competitive with traditional FPGAs, at a lower cost and faster turnaround time. Geoff Tate, CEO of Flex Logix, talks about the importance of interconnects and standard cells in adding flexibility into chips, and why eFPGAs are suddenly gaining attention. » read more

ML Opening New Doors For FPGAs


FPGAs have long been used in the early stages of any new digital technology, given their utility for prototyping and rapid evolution. But with machine learning, FPGAs are showing benefits beyond those of more conventional solutions. This opens up a hot new market for FPGAs, which traditionally have been hard to sustain in high-volume production due to pricing, and hard to use for battery-dri... » read more

Challenges In Building Smarter Systems


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to define what the edge will look like with Jeff DeAngelis, managing director of the Industrial and Healthcare Business Unit at Maxim Integrated; Norman Chang, chief technologist at Ansys; Andrew Grant, senior director of artificial intelligence at Imagination Technologies; Thomas Ensergueix, senior director of the automotive and IoT line of business at Arm; V... » read more

Interconnect Challenges Grow, Tools Lag


Interconnects are becoming much more problematic as devices shrink and the amount of data being moved around a system continues to rise. This limitation has shown up several times in the past, and it's happening again today. But when the interconnect becomes an issue, it cannot be solved in the same way issues are solved for other aspects of a chip. Typically it results in disruption in how ... » read more

Fundamental Changes In Economics Of Chip Security


Protecting chips from cyberattacks is becoming more difficult, more expensive and much more resource-intensive, but it also is becoming increasingly necessary as some of those chips end up in mission-critical servers and in safety-critical applications such as automotive. Security has been on the semiconductor industry's radar for at least the past several years, despite spotty progress and ... » read more

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