Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys rolled out an AI-driven design suite called Synopsys.ai at the Synopsys User Group conference this week, which it says reduces time to better results at multiple points in the design flow. The company noted the new technology uses reinforcement learning, which compensates for relatively small data sets by allowing engineers to interact with that data more easily at any point, and to ch... » read more

Raise A Fence, Dig A Tunnel, Build A Bridge


There are three main options for chipmakers over the course of the next decade. Which option they choose depends upon their individual needs, talents, and how much and what kind of differentiation they believe will matter to them. The options roughly fall into three categories—fence, bridge or tunnel. The fence option Rather than changing anything, the entire ecosystem can stick to wha... » read more

SEMICON Taiwan’s Packaging Punch


SEMICON Taiwan packed a punch, setting several new records and new heights in 2015. This year marked the 20th anniversary of SEMICON in Taiwan and was the largest SEMICON in Taiwan ever, with a Nobel Prize winner (Professor Shuji Nakamura, 2014’s winner) keynoting the Executive Summit, Taiwan’s President Ma speaking at the hugely attended Gala Dinner, and 2015 on track for TSMC to be the wo... » read more