What Will That Chip Cost?


In the past, analysts, consultants, and many other experts attempted to estimate the cost of a new chip implemented in the latest process technology. They concluded that by the 3nm node, only a few companies would be able to afford them — and by the time they got into the angstrom range, probably nobody would. Much has changed over the past few process nodes. Increasing numbers of startups... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Arteris IP plans to become a public company. It filed a registration statement with the SEC for an IPO, and intends to list on Nasdaq. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Arteris IP provides network-on-chip interconnect IP, cache coherent interconnects, and packages to speed functional safety certification alongside IP d... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers Taiwan’s Foxconn continues to expand its efforts in the semiconductor business. Foxconn has acquired a 6-inch wafer fab and the equipment from Taiwan’s Macronix for NT$2.52 billion (US$90.76 million). With the fab, Foxconn plans to enter the wideband gap semiconductor market, namely silicon carbide (SiC). SiC devices are used in electric vehicles, a market that Foxconn is making... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Marvell will acquire Innovium, a provider of Ethernet data center switches, in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.1 billion. Innovium's switching architecture is optimized for ultra-low latency, optimized power, high performance, and telemetry in cloud applications and will join Marvell's portfolio of data center products to provide "architectural choice and flexibility to meet a diverse set... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive The New York Auto Show has been canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 Delta variant. The show, which usually occurs in April, was scheduled for August 20 through 29th. Semiconductor company Qualcomm has offered to acquire Veoneer, an ADAS company, for $37 per share in cash. Automotive Tier 1 Magna International already has a definitive merger agreement to acquire Veoneer, wh... » read more

Startup Funding: July 2020


A number of semiconductor and design companies took in funding this month, from a mega round for a data center switch maker to seed grants for two Canadian companies and new funding for an IP marketplace. China continues to be a hot area for electric vehicles, with one company raising half a billion for its two models currently in production. For July, we highlight fifteen startups that raised ... » read more

November 2019 Startup Funding


During November, 16 tech startups raised private funding rounds of $100 million or more, together receiving $3.42 billion. Investors were drawn to many of the same technology fields that were popular in 2019 — automotive and mobility tech, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity, platforms, semiconductors, and software. Analytics of multiple different types were big in ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools & IP Arm has a new access and licensing model for its IP. Flexible Access allows SoC design teams to initiate projects before they license IP by paying a yearly fee for immediate access to a broad portfolio of technology, then paying a license fee only when they commit to manufacturing, followed by royalties for each unit shipped. IP available through Arm Flexible Access includes the... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools & IP Cadence introduced the Tensilica Vision Q7 DSP, which provides up to 1.82 TOPS and is specifically optimized for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). The DSP has a very long instruction word (VLIW) SIMD architecture, an enhanced instruction set supporting 8/16/32-bit data types and optional VFPU support for single and half precision, and a number of iDMA enhancements in... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Automotive, health care, manufacturing, and the public sector could be transformed this year by Internet of Things technology, Bob Violino writes. Taqee Khaled, director of strategy at Nerdery, a digital business consultancy, predicts 2019 will see rapid evolution in enterprise IoT pilot initiatives and implementations. "This acceleration is due, in part, to advances in manu... » read more

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