Week In Review: Design, Low Power

Aldec expanded the rule-checking capabilities of its ALINT-PRO tool, adding twice as many FSM checks and new graphical representations to aid state exploration. Also included is enhanced setup automation for complex Xilinx Vivado and ISE projects that automatically organizes a workspace to deliver hierarchical and incremental DRC and CDC analysis.

Xilinx acquired AI startup DeePhi Technology. Founded in 2016, Bejing-based DeePhi Tech specializes in deep compression, pruning, and system-level optimization for neural networks. Xilinx has been a major investor in the company since 2017, and DeePhi Tech’s neural network pruning technology has been optimized to run on Xilinx FPGAs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In an effort to reduce operating expenses, Lattice Semiconductor will discontinue its millimeter wave business. “After careful evaluation, millimeter wave was determined to be a non-core business, unable to achieve the required near-term scale to be profitable or to warrant any further investment,” said interim CEO Glen Hawk. The move is expected to result in approximately $25 million of primarily non-cash restructuring and impairment charges in the second quarter of 2018, and an annualized reduction in operating expenses of approximately $13 million.

Socionext inked a patent license agreement with Rambus, giving it access to technologies related to memory controllers, SerDes and security.

Helic’s electromagnetic modeling engine and RaptorX tool have been certified for GlobalFoundries’ 22nm FD-SOI process technology.

The worldwide semiconductor market is expected to grow by 14% this year to $509.1 billion, exceeding the $500.0 billion level for the first time, according to market research firm IC Insights. The firm attributes this growth to the increasing content of semiconductors in electronic systems, which they expect to reach 31.4% on average this year, breaking the all-time record of 28.8% that was set in 2017.

Rahul Goyal has been elected to a one-year term as board chair of Si2. Goyal has been an Si2 board member since 2003, and is vice president, Technology and Manufacturing Group and director, Research and Development Strategic Enabling for Intel.