Software-Defined Hardware Architectures


Hardware/software co-design has been a goal for several decades, but success has been limited. More recently, progress has been made in optimizing a processor as well as the addition of accelerators for a given software workload. While those two techniques can produce incredible gains, it is not enough. With increasing demands being placed on all types of processing, single-processor solutio... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a cybersecurity warning about Chinese state-sponsored activity impacting networks across U.S. critical infrastructure. “One of the actor’s primary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) is living off the land, which uses built-in network administration tools to perform their objectives," the agency said. Hacking eff... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Cadence bought Pulsic, a U.K.-based developer of place-and-route tools for custom digital and analog. The acquisition follows a previous acquisition attempt by a Chinese firm in August 2022, which was blocked by the U.K. government. At the G7 Summit in Japan, IBM announced a 10-year, $100 million initiative with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago to develop a quantum-centr... » read more

IP Becoming More Complex, More Costly


Success in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market requires more than a good bit of RTL. New advances mandate a complete design, implementation, and verification team, which limits the number of companies competing in this market. What constitutes an IP block has changed significantly since the concept was first introduced in the 1990s. What was initially just a piece of RTL (reg... » read more

Making Tradeoffs With AI/ML/DL


Machine learning, deep learning, and AI increasingly are being used in chip design, and they are being used to design chips that are optimized for ML/DL/AI. The challenge is understanding the tradeoffs on both sides, both of which are becoming increasingly complex and intertwined. On the design side, machine learning has been viewed as just another tool in the design team's toolbox. That's s... » read more

Data Leakage Becoming Bigger Issue For Chipmakers


Data leakage is becoming more difficult to stop or even trace as chips become increasingly complex and heterogeneous, and as more data is stored and utilized by chipmakers for other designs. Unlike a cyberattack, which typically is done for a specific purpose, such as collecting private data or holding a system ransom, data leaks can spring up anywhere. And as the value of data increases, th... » read more

EDA Makes A Frenzied Push Into Machine Learning


Machine learning is becoming a competitive prerequisite for the EDA industry. Big chipmakers are endorsing and demanding it, and most EDA companies are deploying it for one or more steps in the design flow, with plans to add much more over time. In recent weeks, the three largest EDA vendors have made sweeping announcements about incorporating ML into their tools at their respective user eve... » read more

Nightmare Fuel: The Hazards Of ML Hardware Accelerators


A major design challenge facing numerous silicon design teams in 2023 is building the right amount of machine learning (ML) performance capability into today’s silicon tape out in anticipation of what the state of the art (SOTA) ML inference models will look like in 2026 and beyond when that silicon will be used in devices in volume production. Given the continuing rapid rate of change in mac... » read more

AI Benchmarks Are Broken


Artificial Intelligence (AI) is shaping up to be one of the most revolutionary technologies of our time. By now you’ve probably heard that AI’s impact will transform entire industries, from healthcare to finance to entertainment, delivering us richer products, streamlined experiences, and augment human productivity, creativity, and leisure. Even non-technologists are getting a glimpse of... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Rambus will begin selling Arm's CryptoCell embedded security platform and CryptoIsland root-of-trust cores, setting the stage for a much broader push by Rambus into security for a wide range of connected devices, and ultimately into security as a service. Under the terms of the deal, Rambus' customers will be able to license Arm IP directly from Rambus. For Arm's existing customers, there will ... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →