Architecting Chips For High-Performance Computing


The world’s leading hyperscaler cloud data center companies — Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, and Akamai — are launching heterogeneous, multi-core architectures specifically for the cloud, and the impact is being felt in high-performance CPU development across the chip industry. It's unlikely that any these chips will ever be sold commercially. They are optimized for specific ... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Applied Materials may scale back or cancel its $4 billion new Silicon Valley R&D facility in light of the U.S. government's recent announcement to reduce funding for construction, modernization, or expansion of semiconductor research and development (R&D) facilities in the United States, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. TSMC could receive up to $6.6 billion in direct funding... » read more

Memory On Logic: The Good And Bad


The chip industry is progressing rapidly toward 3D-ICs, but a simpler step has been shown to provide gains equivalent to a whole node advancement — extracting distributed memories and placing them on top of logic. Memory on logic significantly reduces the distance between logic and directly associated memory. This can increase performance by 22% and reduce power by 36%, according to one re... » read more

Using AI/ML To Minimize IR Drop


IR drop is becoming a much bigger problem as technology nodes scale and more components are packed into advanced packages. This is partly a result of physics, but it's also the result of how the design flow is structured. In most cases, AI/ML can help. The underlying problem is that moving to advanced process nodes, and now 3D-ICs, is driving current densities higher, while the power envelop... » read more

Linear Drive Optics May Reduce Data Latency


Optical and electrical are starting to cross paths at a much deeper level, particularly with the growing focus on 3D-ICs and AI/ML training in data centers, driving changes both in how chips are designed and how these very different technologies are integrated together. At the root of this shift are the power and performance demands of AI/ML. It can now take several buildings of a data cente... » read more

Integrating Energy Efficiency Considerations Into Your Design From The Beginning


Data center networking is responsible for consuming about 1% of the global electricity supply. With the advent and integration of AI into various sectors, the pressure on both hardware and software infrastructures, necessitated by neural networks and extensive language models, is expected to increase significantly. The burgeoning energy consumption by hyperscale data centers emerges as an ur... » read more

Unlocking PPA Benefits of Backside Routing


The power delivery network (PDN) is a critical part of any modern semiconductor device. Even with advanced power-saving technologies, today’s chips are hungry for power. Traditionally, power is distributed through metal layers on the same side of the substrate as the signal metal layers. This creates competition for the available layers and pushes the limits of fabrication technology to add m... » read more

Blog Review: April 10


Cadence's Shyam Sharma looks at the evolution of the LPDDR standard and finds that LPDDR5X is opening new specialized markets for low-power DRAMs beyond the traditional areas of mobile, IoT, and automotive. Siemens' Hossam Sarhan and Dusan Petranovic find that new physical verification approaches are needed to ensure the performance and reliability of superconducting ICs and introduce a hybr... » read more

IC Test And Quality Requirements Drive New Collaboration


Rapidly increasing chip and package complexity, coupled with an incessant demand for more reliability, has triggered a frenzy of alliances and working relationships that are starting to redefine how chips are tested and monitored. At the core of this shift is a growing recognition that no company can do everything, and that to work together will require much tighter integration of flows, met... » read more

Reimagining PVT Monitoring IP For Advanced Node GAA Process


As process technology continues to evolve, so must design tools and the IP that support them. One example of an industry evolution is on the PVT monitoring IP side. The process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) monitors embedded within chips provide feedback on silicon status at every stage of the lifecycle, including mission use in the field. The data gathered from the monitors enables benefits ... » read more

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