Behind The Intel-GlobalFoundries Rumor


A Wall Street Journal report that Intel is looking to buy GlobalFoundries has sparked discussions across the industry. But what exactly this would mean, and why now versus a couple years ago, needs some context. There are layers upon layers of irony behind this would-be deal, and it dates back decades to some rather famous encounters. Consider former AMD CEO Jerry Sanders' 1991 comment that ... » read more

Geo-Spatial Outlier Detection


Comparing die test results with other die on a wafer helps identify outliers, but combining that data with the exact location of an outlier offers a much deeper understanding of what can go wrong and why. The main idea in outlier detection is to find something in or on a die that is different from all the other dies on a wafer. Doing this in the context of a die’s neighbor has become easie... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers The chip industry is buzzing over a Wall Street Journal report that Intel is in talks to buy GlobalFoundries (GF) for $30 billion. In March, Intel re-entered the foundry business, positioning itself against Samsung and TSMC at the leading edge, and against a multitude of foundries working at older nodes. Intel planned to jumpstart its foundry business within its own fabs. But it... » read more

REDUCT: Keep It Close, Keep It Cool – Scaling DNN Inference on Multi-Core CPUs with Near-Cache Compute


Abstract—"Deep Neural Networks (DNN) are used in a variety of applications and services. With the evolving nature of DNNs, the race to build optimal hardware (both in datacenter and edge) continues. General purpose multi-core CPUs offer unique attractive advantages for DNN inference at both datacenter [60] and edge [71]. Most of the CPU pipeline design complexity is targeted towards optimizin... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers and OEMs More delays and product woes at Intel. “INTC disclosed that it is delaying the launch of its next-generation Xeon server processor Sapphire Rapids (10nm) from the end of this year to 1Q22 due to additional validation needed for the chip,” said John Vinh, an analyst at KeyBanc, in a research note. “Production is expected to begin in 1Q22, with the ramp expected to begi... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools Imperas and Valtrix inked a multi-year distribution and support agreement that makes Imperas simulation technology and RISC-V reference models available pre-integrated within Valtrix STING for RISC-V processor verification. The combined solution covers the full RISC-V specification for user, privilege, and debug modes, including all ratified standard extensions, and the near ratified (st... » read more

Data Centers On Wheels


Automotive architectures are evolving quickly from domain-based to zonal, leveraging the same kind of high-performance computing now found in data centers to make split-second decisions on the road. This is the third major shift in automotive architectures in the past five years, and it's one that centralizes processing using 7nm and 5nm technology, specialized accelerators, high-speed memor... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Lots more fabs and capacity The chip industry sees opportunity in shortages, and is racing to meet demand. SEMI reports 19 new worldwide high-volume fabs already have started construction, or will start by end of this year, and another 10 are scheduled in 2022. “Equipment spending for these 29 fabs is expected to surpass $140 billion over the next few years as the industry pushes to addre... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys will acquire the semiconductor and flat panel display solutions of BISTel. The acquisition will add an integrated and comprehensive yield management and prediction solution for manufacturing quality and efficiency. BISTel provides engineering equipment systems and AI applications for smart manufacturing in a range of industries. "Combining Synopsys' and BISTel's expertise in fab soluti... » read more

Architectural Considerations For AI


Custom chips, labeled as artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML), are appearing on a weekly basis, each claiming to be 10X faster than existing devices or consume 1/10 the power. Whether that is enough to dethrone existing architectures, such as GPUs and FPGAs, or whether they will survive alongside those architectures isn't clear yet. The problem, or the opportunity, is that t... » read more

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