Architecting Faster Computers


To create faster computers, the industry must take a major step back and re-examine choices that were made half a century ago. One of the most likely approaches involves dropping demands for determinism, and this is being attempted in several different forms. Since the establishment of the von Neumann architecture for computers, small, incremental improvements have been made to architectures... » read more

Data Center Architectures In Flux


Data center architectures are becoming increasingly customized and heterogeneous, shifting from processors made by a single vendor to a mix of processors and accelerators made by multiple vendors — including system companies' own design teams. Hyperscaler data centers have been migrating toward increasingly heterogeneous architectures for the past half decade or so, spurred by the rising c... » read more

Growth Spurred By Negatives


The success and health of the semiconductor industry is driven by the insatiable appetite for increasingly complex devices that impact every aspect of our lives. The number of design starts for the chips used in those devices drives the EDA industry. But at no point in history have there been as many market segments driving innovation as there are today. Moreover, there is no indication this... » read more

Tradeoffs Between Edge Vs. Cloud


Increasing amounts of processing are being done on the edge, but how the balance will change between what's computed in the cloud versus the edge remains unclear. The answer may depend as much on the value of data and other commercial reasons as on technical limitations. The pendulum has been swinging between doing all processing in the cloud to doing increasing amounts of processing at the ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Mobix Labs finalized its acquisition of Cosemi Technologies, a provider of hybrid active optical cables, optical transceivers, and optical engines. Mobix Labs provides wireless connectivity solutions with CMOS-based mmWave beamformers, antenna solutions, and RF semiconductors. “Our Cosemi acquisition bridges the gap between wireless and wired applications, enabling Mobix Labs to bring a full ... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive Infineon announced a new MEMS scanner chipset for automotive heads-up displays (HUD) and AR (augmented reality) eyeglasses. The design has MEMS mirror — which tilts and can work with laser beam scanner (LBS) projectors — and MEMS driver. The size and energy use is small and yet it projects content over a wider area of the windshield. A partnership between Ansys and IPG Automo... » 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

Startup Funding: May 2021


Big investment poured into AI hardware companies this month, with a focus on edge applications. Companies are experimenting with different architectures, including analog-focused devices and those that are capable of withstanding the harsh conditions of space. IP and EDA startups in China also drew funding as the country tries to create a full chip design ecosystem. Plus, PCB assembly, photonic... » read more

11 Ways To Reduce AI Energy Consumption


As the machine-learning industry evolves, the focus has expanded from merely solving the problem to solving the problem better. “Better” often has meant accuracy or speed, but as data-center energy budgets explode and machine learning moves to the edge, energy consumption has taken its place alongside accuracy and speed as a critical issue. There are a number of approaches to neural netw... » read more

Putting Limits On What AI Systems Can Do


New techniques and approaches are starting to be applied to AI and machine learning to ensure they function within acceptable parameters, only doing what they're supposed to do. Getting AI/ML/DL systems to work has been one of the biggest leaps in technology in recent years, but understanding how to control and optimize them as they adapt isn't nearly as far along. These systems are generall... » read more

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