Why It’s So Hard To Stop Cyber Attacks On ICs


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss security risks across multiple market segments with Helena Handschuh, security technologies fellow at Rambus; Mike Borza, principal security technologist for the Solutions Group at Synopsys; Steve Carlson, director of aerospace and defense solutions at Cadence; Alric Althoff, senior hardware security engineer at Tortuga Logic; and Joe Kiniry, princi... » read more

ARM Buys Carbon


ARM acquired Carbon Design Systems and its staff for an undisclosed amount of money, adding virtual prototyping capabilities for ARM cores. The deal is the latest in an onslaught of mergers and acquisitions that have racked the semiconductor industry over the past 18 months, propelled by low interest rates and relatively low valuations of target companies. For ARM, this deal solves a growing... » read more

Property Synthesis Throughout The Design Flow For Application In Formal Verification, Simulation, And Emulation


This white paper describes the JasperGold Property Synthesis Apps, members of a family of interoperable, application-specific formal verification solutions that addresses verification challenges throughout the design flow. The Apps synthesize both behavioral and structural properties — also known as assertions — for use in formal verification, simulation and emulation. They significantly in... » read more

Consolidation And Innovation


Consolidation is happening across the semiconductor industry, in ways that are very apparent and others that aren't so obvious. On the chipmaker side, NXP's acquisition of Freescale, Avago's acquisition of Broadcom and LSI, and Intel's acquisition of Altera are so big that they require approval by multiple governments. Less obvious are moves such as Apple's build out of its processor team, a... » read more

Synopsys To Buy Atrenta, Ansys To Acquire Gear


By Ann Mutschler & Ed Sperling As evidence of the continued consolidation in the EDA industry, Synopsys announced Sunday it would acquire privately held formal verification provider Atrenta, for an undisclosed sum. That was followed quickly by Ansys' announcement that it would buy data analytics firm Gear Design Solutions. From a strategic perspective, Synopsys co-CEO Aart de Geus said ... » read more

M&A Season Now Officially Open


A year ago many people were making jokes quite openly about the IoT. It wasn't uncommon to hear quips about the Internet of Nothing, the Internet of Disconnected Things, the Internet of Cars, or some other variant that questioned just how connected everything would become. The tenor of the conversation has changed significantly in the past year. The jokes are fewer, the stakes are higher. An... » read more

What’s Wrong With Power Signoff


Reducing power has emerged as the most pressing issue in the history of technology. On one hand, it’s the biggest opportunity the electronics industry has ever seen. On the other, the abuse of cheap power has been linked to global warming, human catastrophe, and geopolitical strife. In all cases, the semiconductor increasingly finds itself at the vortex of all of this, and making chips more e... » read more

Blog Review: March 19


ARM’s Diya Soubra has discovered an interesting term in relation to the Internet of Things: Compound Applications. Will that make the IoT more compelling? Mentor’s Colin Walls points to some less obvious reasons for choosing a processor. No. 4 on his list is particularly noteworthy. Synopsys’ Mick Posner has some thoughts about wearable computing prototypes. Check out the top pho... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 18


By Ed Sperling It’s amazing how irresistible an engineer suddenly becomes when he has an FPGA prototyping board in his hands. Check out the photo of Synopsys’ Mick Posner in Taiwan. Cadence’s Brian Fuller digs into semiconductor startups, why there’s been such a lull, and how new startups are changing. Mentor’s John Day picks out a new product category from TI—inductance to... » read more

Observation Post


By Pranav Ashar After attending the 2013 Design and Verification Conference (DVCon) in San Jose, Calif., I have compiled notes as both an observer and a panel participant. Here are my observations: Wally Rhines, CEO of Mentor Graphics, gave the keynote presentation: Accelerating EDA Innovation Through SoC Design Methodology Convergence. Logically and effectively he made the case that SoC in... » read more

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