Chip Industry Startup Funding Annual Report & Analysis: 2022


Introduction New ideas fuel the semiconductor industry, and money enables those ideas. Tracking what startups get funded is one way to see which ideas are more viable and which problems need to be solved most urgently. In general, the more startups working on a solution to a particular problem, the greater the need for a viable solution — and the more likely one will be developed. Investo... » read more

Startup Funding: June 2022


Big money went to manufacturing in June, with a massive round for a Chinese analog foundry’s expansion to 55 – 40nm nodes. A fab management software startup also drew sizeable investment, as did a supplier of semiconductor-grade silicon components. Investors didn’t forget chip design, with three EDA companies receiving new funding, one of which drew over $100 million. Plus, numerous te... » read more

Week In Review, Manufacturing, Test


Samsung announced initial production of its 3nm process node, which uses a gate-all-around (nanosheet) transistor structure that the company calls Multi-Bridge-Channel FET (MBCFET). The first-generation 3nm process can reduce power consumption by up to 45% compared with a 5nm process, as well as improve performance by 23% and reduce area by 16%, according to the company. The second-generation 3... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive U.S. electric truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors has an electric truck but after a large buyer fell through, it admitted it does not have any firm orders on its trucks, according to an AP story. The CEO and CFO resigned earlier this week. The electric car company Canoo announced its US manufacturing facility will be in Oklahoma. Cadence revealed its Tensilica FloatingPoint DSP (... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Second-tier cities in the U.S. that can’t attract projects like the Amazon HQ2 are welcoming the testing of autonomous vehicles, smart city technology, and advanced surveillance techniques, this analysis notes. What do they get in return? Much of the time, little or nothing. And bad things can happen. People have been throwing objects at Waymo vehicles in Chandler, Ariz., ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys announced several new products: a new test family, a physical verification solution, and a software library for neural net SoCs. TestMAX, the new family of test products, includes soft error analysis and X-tolerant logic BIST for automotive test and functional safety requirements. TestMAX enables test through functional high-speed interfaces and supports early validation of DFT logi... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A QuickLogic acquired SensiML Corporation. Founded in 2017 as a spin-off from Intel, SensiML provides a Software-as-a-Service suite for developing pattern matching sensor algorithms optimized for ultra-low power consumption using machine learning. Details of the deal were not disclosed, though QuickLogic will fund it with shares of common stock. IP CEVA debuted an all-purpose, hybrid... » read more