Hacking SoC IP Under Pressure


Hack@DAC certainly shows that some teams can find bugs faster than others. The hackfest, now in its third year, is a bug-finding contest for teams of university students joined by a smattering of industry members whose task is to find a bugs implanted in SoC IP.  The teams follow the practices of real-world security teams. “[The teams'] objective is to identify the security vulnerabilitie... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research IC Insights has released its forecast for chips in terms of applications. Communications is still the biggest IC market, but automotive is growing the fastest. In its first forecast of artificial intelligence (AI) edge processors, International Data Corp. (IDC) estimates that worldwide shipments of AI-optimized processors for edge systems will reach 340.1 million units in 20... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Products/Services Achronix Semiconductor selected the Rambus GDDR6 PHY for its next-generation Speedster7t line of field-programmable gate arrays. The Rambus GDDR6 PHY is used in advanced driver-assistance systems, artificial intelligence, graphics, machine learning, and networking applications. Arm and Marvell Technology Group will work together on design and development of Marvell’s nex... » read more

Accelerating Endpoint Inferencing


Chipmakers are getting ready to debut inference chips for endpoint devices, even though the rest of the machine-learning ecosystem has yet to be established. Whatever infrastructure does exist today is mostly in the cloud, on edge-computing gateways, or in company-specific data centers, which most companies continue to use. For example, Tesla has its own data center. So do most major carmake... » read more

Adding Order And Structure To Verification


You can't improve what you can't measure, and when it comes to methodologies the notion of measurement becomes more difficult. Add in notions of the skills, capabilities and experience levels of individuals within an organization, which may affect their ability to adopt certain technologies, and it requires considerable attention. This is where concepts such as capability maturity models (CM... » read more

Blog Review: May 29


Cadence's Meera Collier traces the evolution of computing through the series of bottlenecks the industry has needed to overcome and what's being done to address the latest one. Mentor's Rebecca Lord checks out the use of differential signals to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic interference, noise, and crosstalk in PCBs. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding considers whether Ireland's slow en... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A Marvell will acquire Avera Semiconductor, the ASIC business of GlobalFoundries, for $650 million in cash at closing plus an additional $90 million in cash if certain business conditions are satisfied within the next 15 months. The agreements include transfer of Avera's revenue base, strategic design wins with infrastructure OEMs, and a new long-term wafer supply agreement between Globa... » read more

3D NAND Race Faces Huge Tech And Cost Challenges


Amid the ongoing memory downturn, 3D NAND suppliers continue to race each other to the next technology generations with several challenges and a possible shakeout ahead. Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix and the Toshiba-Western Digital duo are developing 3D NAND products at the next nodes on the roadmap, but the status of two others, Intel and China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), is les... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research In terms of overall IC sales, Intel has replaced Samsung as the number one quarterly semiconductor supplier in 4Q18 after losing the lead spot to Samsung in 2Q17, according to IC Insights. “While Samsung held the full-year number one ranking in 2017 and 2018, Intel is forecast to easily recapture the number one ranking for the full-year of 2019, a position it previously held ... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Verizon Communications launched its nationwide narrowband Internet of Things network, saying it covers more than 92% of the U.S. population. “There is a whole universe of smart solutions needing scalable and affordable connections,” Jeffrey Dietel, senior vice president of business marketing and products, said in a statement. “By launching our NB-IoT network, Verizon i... » read more

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