The Week In Review: Design/IoT

Tools

Cadence updated its Allegro PCB product line with a new manufacturing option that accelerates manufacturing documentation and technology updates for increased efficiency, control and productivity for designers and streamlining handoff to manufacturing. The release also allows users to develop custom fabrication and assembly rules.

Invionics expanded its Invio EDA development platform to support Verilog-AMS. This was based on customer pressure and according to Brad Quinton, Invionics’ CEO, is likely because “problems in the analog domain are very specific and often not addressed by mainstream EDA tools that tackle the more general problems.”

eSilicon released its second-generation online ASIC design and manufacturing platform. The platform adds a new chip optimization offering that explores all possible ASIC implementation scenarios to identify the best fit for a particular set of PPA and cost requirements.

OneSpin extended the Apps model that has been very successful within the formal verification market by enabling users with limited knowledge of formal technology to develop and deliver formal-based apps using their 360 LaunchPad adaptive formal technology platform. They also announced that Agnisys and Tortuga Logic are shipping such apps.

IP

Synopsys updated its controller and PHY IP solution for PCI Express 3.1 with a significant reduction in both active and standby power consumption. New power gating brings standby power down to less than 10uW/lane and an updated transmitter design and equalization bypass schemes cut active power to well below 5mW/Gb/lane.

ARM and UMC collaborated on a physical IP platform for UMC’s 55nm ultra-low-power process technology, aiming to speed up and simplify the bring-up of ARM-based SoC designs for IoT and other embedded applications.

Deals

UNICEF and ARM launched a multi-year partnership with the ‘Wearables for Good’ challenge to generate designs for a wearable device that offers a cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable solution to pressing maternal, newborn or child health needs in emerging economies.

Mentor Graphics inked two deals: Specialty foundry TowerJazz adopted their automated waiver management product to manage foundry design rule waivers associated with embedded IP in its customers’ designs; Mellanox Technologies chose their hierarchical ATPG solution, citing reductions in processing time and system memory required to generate test patterns for their giga-gate IC designs.

Numbers

According to IHS, the industrial semiconductor industry grew almost 18% to $40.4M in 2014, led by the United States and China. Growth for 2015 is expected to be only 7%. TI maintains the top position followed by ST and Infineon.

Synopsys posted second quarter financial results, reporting revenue of $557.2 million, up 7.6% from the same period last year. GAAP net income for Q2 2015 was $55.6 million, or $0.35 per share, compared to $63.3 million, or $0.40 per share, for Q2 2014. Non-GAAP, net income was $107.6 million, or $0.68 per share, compared to $101.7 million, or $0.65 per share, for the second quarter of 2014.