Good Vs. Bad Acquisitions


M&A activity is beginning to heat up across the semiconductor industry, fueled by high market caps, low interest rates, and a slew of startups with innovative technology and limited market reach. Some of these deals are gigantic, such as the pending acquisition of Arm by Nvidia, and the proposed purchase of Maxim Integrated by Analog Devices. Others are more modest, such as Arteris IP's ... » read more

Deals That Change The Chip Industry


Nvidia's pending $40 billion acquisition of Arm is expected to have a big impact on the chip world, but it will take years before the effects of this deal are fully understood. More such deals are expected over the next couple of years due to several factors — there is a fresh supply of startups with innovative technology, interest rates are low, and market caps and stock prices of buyers ... » read more

The Next Wave Of Consolidation


End markets and technologies are changing, stock prices are up, and interest rates are down. Those are the necessary ingredients for acquisition binging. So why isn't much happening? The answer is that more industry consolidation is ahead, but it's all happening more slowly than the economics would suggest. Some of the reasons are obvious, others less so. The big delay is the COVID-19 pa... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive The State of California has banned the selling of new vehicles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2035. All new passenger cars sold in 15 years in California will be zero emission cars, according to an executive order signed by the state’s governor. Older ICE passenger cars will still be allowed on the roads and can still be sold as used vehicles. The order... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers and OEMs Apple has launched a new Apple Watch and iPad. Missing from the announcement was the iPhone 12, which may appear next month, according to Krish Sankar, an analyst at Cowen. What was interesting about this week’s announcement? Apple unveiled the iPad Air with the A14 Bionic, Apple’s most advanced chip. “Apple revealed the new 8th gen iPad (starting at $329) powered by ... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Security Synopsys’ Software Integrity Group published the results of a security survey that looked at the ways organizations across industries are handling their software security initiatives and how to improve them. The Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM) version 11 (BSIMM11 Study) describes the work of 8,457 software security pros. FinTech — the technology that “follows the mon... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Nvidia will acquire Arm from SoftBank in a $40 billion deal. Nvidia says that Arm will continue to operate its open-licensing model while maintaining global customer neutrality. SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016 for $32 billion; it also holds an ownership stake in Nvidia that is expected to remain under 10%. The deal does not include Arm's IoT Services Group. The acquisition will need to pass regul... » read more

Nvidia To Buy Arm For $40B


Nvidia inked a deal with Softbank to buy Arm for $40 billion, combining the No. 1 AI/ML GPU maker with the No. 1 processor IP company. Assuming the deal wins regulatory approval, the combination of these two companies will create a powerhouse in the AI/ML world. Nvidia's GPUs are the go-to platform for training algorithms, while Arm has a broad portfolio of AI/ML processor cores. Arm also ha... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research What’s in store for the IC market in 2020 and 2021? Here’s the latest IC forecasts from IC Insights, Semico, Semiconductor Intelligence, WSTS and others. “We at Semiconductor Intelligence find it difficult to expect much of an increase in the world semiconductor market in 2020. However, the strength of the PC market and the relatively optimistic 3Q 2020 guidance of severa... » read more

The Evolution Of High-Level Synthesis


High-level synthesis is getting yet another chance to shine, this time from new markets and new technology nodes. But it's still unclear how fully this technology will be used. Despite gains, it remains unlikely to replace the incumbent RTL design methodology for most of the chip, as originally expected. Seen as the foundational technology for the next generation of EDA companies around the ... » read more

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