Where Are The Autonomous Cars?


Are we there yet? Governments, consumers, and engineers alike want to know how close the automotive world is to producing a fully autonomous Level 5 vehicle. While some experts say such vehicles could hit the road in the next few years, they're a shrinking minority. Most forecasts say a truly self-driving car is at least a decade away — and maybe much longer, because it requires disruptive... » read more

Software Infrastructure For Silicon Lifecycle Management


Semiconductor technology continues to deliver higher levels of logic density in the era of nanometer processes. System-on-chip (SoC) teams can deliver even higher functionality when coupled with the massive integration possibilities of three-dimensional integrated circuit (3DIC) architectures. However, this growth must be matched by increases in capabilities and productivity in the collection a... » read more

Product Lifecycle Management For Semiconductors


Product lifecycle management (PLM) and the semiconductor industry have always been separate, but pressure is growing to integrate them. Automotive, IIoT, medical, and other industries see that as the only way to manage many aspects of their business, and as it stands, semiconductors are a large black box in that methodology. The technology space is driven by a mix of top down and bottom-up p... » read more

Structural Vs. Functional


When working on an article about PLM and semiconductors, I got to review a favorite topic from my days in EDA development – verification versus validation. I built extensive presentations around it and tried to persuade people within the EDA industry, as well as customers, about the advantages of doing a top-down functional modeling and analysis. The V diagram that everyone uses is flawed and... » read more

2020 CEO Outlook


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the semiconductor industry's outlook and what's changing with Simon Segars, CEO of Arm; Joseph Sawicki, executive vice president of IC EDA at Mentor, a Siemens Business; Raik Brinkmann, CEO of OneSpin Solutions; Babak Taheri, CEO of Silvaco; John Kibarian, CEO of PDF Solutions; and Prakash Narain, CEO of Real Intent. The conversation was part of the... » read more

The Race For Better Computational Software


Anirudh Devgan, president of Cadence, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about computational software, why it's so critical at the edge and in AI systems, and where the big changes are across the semiconductor industry. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: There is no consistent approach to how data will be processed at the edge, in part because there is no consis... » read more

Siemens-Mentor Deal Retrospective


Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO of Siemens PLM Software and CEO of Mentor, a Siemens Business, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about the acquisition of Mentor Graphics, the shift toward more customized design, and where AI fits into the design picture. SE: How does a company like Siemens see the EDA industry evolving? Hemmelgarn: Part of the reason we bought Mentor Grap... » read more

Digital Twins Deciphered


Ever since Siemens acquired Mentor Graphics in 2016, a new phrase has become more common in the semiconductor industry – the digital twin. Exactly what that is, and what impact it will have on the semiconductor industry, is less clear. In fact, many in the industry are scratching their heads over the term. The initial reaction is that the industry has been creating what are now termed digi... » read more