2020: A Turning Point In The Chip Industry

By Brian Bailey - 28 Dec, 2020 - Comments: 3

At the start of 2020, most of the industry was upbeat and sales forecasts for the year were good. Then the pandemic hit, and fear gripped most of the industry — but not for long. New markets emerged, demand increased, and the levels of innovation went far beyond what had been forecast. While hope is on the horizon that the virus will be contained during 2021, life will not return to the ol... » read more

Machine Learning’s Growing Divide

By Brian Bailey - 11 Jan, 2018 - Comments: 7

[getkc id="305" kc_name="Machine learning"] is one of the hottest areas of development, but most of the attention so far has focused on the cloud, algorithms and GPUs. For the semiconductor industry, the real opportunity is in optimizing and packaging solutions into usable forms, such as within the automotive industry or for battery-operated consumer or [getkc id="76" kc_name="IoT"] products. ... » read more

Predictions: Markets And Drivers

By Brian Bailey - 11 Jan, 2018 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering received a record number of predictions this year. Some of them are just wishful thinking, but many are a lot more thoughtful and project what needs to happen for various markets or products to become successful. Those far reaching predictions may not fully happen within 2018, but we give everyone the chance to note the progress made towards their predictions at the en... » read more

EDA Challenges Machine Learning

By Brian Bailey - 14 Dec, 2017 - Comments: 1

Over the past few years, [getkc id="305" kc_name="machine learning"] (ML) has evolved from an interesting new approach that allows computers to beat champions at chess and Go, into one that is touted as a panacea for almost everything. While there is clearly a lot of hype surrounding this, it appears that machine learning can produce a better outcome for many tasks in the EDA flow than even the... » read more

An Innovator’s Vision

By Brian Bailey - 28 Aug, 2017 - Comments: 1

I had the pleasure of talking with [getperson id="11764" comment="Lucio Lanza"], managing director of Lanza techVentures, when I was researching my article on design innovation earlier this month. One thing that sets successful business people apart is their ability to see patterns, to correctly identify how those patterns fit together and progress and, based on those, to know which way to evol... » read more

Is Design Innovation Slowing?

By Brian Bailey - 10 Aug, 2017 - Comments: 0

Paul Teich, principal analyst for Tirias Research, gave a provocative talk at the recent DAC conference entitled, "Is Integration Leaving Less Room for Design Innovation?" The answer isn't as simple as the question might suggest. "Integration used to be a driver for increasing the functionality of silicon," Teich said. "Increasingly, it will be used to incorporate more features of an entire ... » read more

IoT Myth Busting

By Brian Bailey - 13 Jul, 2017 - Comments: 0

The [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] (IoT) means many things to a large number of people, but one thing is clear—every discussion involving the IoT invariably includes some rather dramatic growth predictions for how many connected devices will be sold and who will be the primary beneficiaries. While that data helps spice up speeches, and typically gets people to read and quote ... » read more

When Digital, Physical Worlds Merge

By Ed Sperling - 06 Jul, 2017 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down with Simon Segars, [getentity id="22186" e_name="ARM's"] CEO, and [getperson id="11764" comment="Lucio Lanza"], managing partner of Lanza techVentures, to talk about changes in the IoT, self-driving vehicles, cloud-based health monitoring, and the impact of machine learning. What follows are excerpts of this conversation. SE: Several years ago the [getkc i... » read more

Reflecting Back On 2016

By Brian Bailey - 22 Dec, 2016 - Comments: 0

Anyone can make a prediction, and sometimes the more outlandish they are the more they get noticed. But at the end of the year some people hit the mark while others may have been way off. Many people simply make projections based on the current trajectory of trends, while others look for the potential discontinuities that may lie ahead. Semiconductor Engineering examines the projections made... » read more

Getting The Jump On Analog/RF IP

By Ed Sperling - 26 Jul, 2016 - Comments: 0

When Magma Design was sold to Synopsys in 2012, then-president and COO Roy Jewell sat down with VC Lucio Lanza to figure out what to do next. As Jewell tells it, Lanza convinced him not to take another job. While it’s too early to tell if that was sage advice, it did trigger a search for a new business and a way of funding it. Jewell said that when Magma went looking for money, it raised $... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

NAND Flash Targets 1,000 Layers

New techniques go beyond improved deposition and etching, but challenges stack up, too.

by Bryon Moyer

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.