Memory Matters For Mid-Range Mobile Devices


In recent months, we’ve seen signs of saturation in the high-end mobile device market where smartphones and tablets retail for more than $300. The largest growth in the mobile device markets are in Asia, with China in particular showing an annual growth rate of more than 50% in the mid-range ($100-$299) market while low-end products retail for less than $50! Features like storage capacity,... » read more

Pointing Fingers, Often In The Wrong Direction


Every design these days, regardless of whether it’s a processor, an SoC, an ASIC, FPGA or stacked die, relies on a combination of re-used and third-party intellectual property. No company—not even Intel, Apple or Samsung—has the capability of building everything itself within a highly compressed market window. There is a spectrum of IP use and re-use, of course. In some cases, it may i... » read more

IP To Meet 2.5D Requirements


The semiconductor industry is still in the early stages of evolution in the realm of 2.5D, but when these devices do come out, the IP used on them will have to be brand new, according to Javier DeLaCruz, senior director of engineering at eSilicon. “The IP causes the biggest risk that you’re going to have in this implementation,” he said. “Everything else in here for making those ASIC... » read more

Powerful Memories


Memory consumes more of the surface area of a die than any other component. So what changes have happened over the past few years to reduce the power consumption of memories, and where are the big opportunities for saving power? Let's take a closer look. A Growing Concern One of the key drivers for SoCs is the desire to reduce product costs, reduce form factors, reduce power, increase perfo... » read more

Security Matters In The Face Of The Internet Of Things


There’s much talk about the huge growth potential of the Internet of Things, with estimates citing 30 billion to 50 billion connected devices by 2020. One billion smartphones were sold in the last five years; an impressive number, no doubt. But did you know we also added 244 million smart grid devices, over 5 billion consumer electronics devices, and over 500 million connected appliances i... » read more

Hiding The Electronic Crumbs


Imagine an old Western movie where the posse tracks the outlaws by following footsteps on a dirt trail or looking for broken branches. Now fast forward to the present, where the trail is electronic, the posse is comprised of bad guys, and the loot is frequently encrypted. As any security expert will concede, every security system can be compromised, every chip can be reverse engineered and h... » read more

When Smart Cards Make Sense…


Smart cards, also referred to as hardware tokens, offer one of the highest levels of security within the framework of securable objects. This is for one obvious reason – it is disconnected from the interconnected world. Unlike wireless or hard-wired objects that require online connectivity for functionality, smart cards must be in physical, or near physical contact (contactless that requir... » read more

Securing Chip Data More Critical Than Ever


Everywhere you turn in the mainstream media, it is easy to find stories of security breaches – from Target not adequately protecting customer data to cars allegedly being hacked to hackers themselves showing how easy it is to do what they do. As technology increases in complexity, so do the hackers themselves. This is a problem. As such, chipmakers are increasingly becoming aware of vulner... » read more

DPA Countermeasures


Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices con- tain cryptographic keys that protect payments, VPN/network connections and on-device flash memory. Although some smartphones and other devices contain countermeasures, many do not and can be easily compromised. Even a simple radio can tune into the radio frequency emissions from mobile devices and gather side channel information. In some cases,... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Cadence announced its intention to acquire Jasper Design Automation, adding formal technology to its roster of verification tools. The purchase price was about $146 million, the $170 million Cadence offered minus the $24 million in cash and equivalents on Jasper’s books. Tools Synopsys rolled out new LPDDR4 IP that offers up to 3.2 Gbps with low power consumption. The company is ... » read more

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