Top 10 <span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Houses’ Combined Revenue Grows 12% in 2023, NVIDIA Takes Lead for the First Time, Says TrendForce
  In 2023, the combined revenue of the world’s top ten IC design houses reached approximately $167.6 billion, marking a 12% annual increase. This growth was primarily driven by NVIDIA, which saw a remarkable 105% increase in revenue, significantly boosting the overall industry. While Broadcom, Will Semiconductor, and MPS experienced only marginal revenue growth, other companies faced declines due to economic downturns and inventory reductions, says TrendForce.  Looking ahead to 2024, TrendForce predicts that with IC inventory levels returning to healthy standards and driven by the AI boom, major CSPs will continue to expand the construction of LLMs. Additionally, AI applications are expected to penetrate personal devices, potentially leading to the introduction of AI-powered smartphones and AI PCs. Consequently, the global IC design industry's revenue growth is expected to continue its upward trajectory.  NVIDIA, Broadcom, and AMD benefit from a surge in demand for AI  The top five IC design houses boosted their 2023 revenues to $55.268 billion—a 105% year-over-year increase—primarily driven by NVIDIA’s AI GPU H100. Currently, NVIDIA captures over 80% of the AI accelerator chip market, and its revenue growth is expected to continue in 2024 with the release of the H200 and next-generation B100/B200/GB200. Broadcom’s revenue reached $28.445 billion in 2023 (semiconductor segment only), growing by 7%, with AI chip income accounting for nearly 15% of its semiconductor solutions. Despite stable wireless communications revenue, Broadcom expects a near-double-digit decline in broadband and server storage connectivity this year.  AMD’s revenue fell by 4% to $22.68 billion in 2023, due to declining PC demand and inventory reductions, affecting most of its business segments. Only its data center and embedded businesses, boosted by the acquisition of Xilinx, grew by 17%. AMD’s AI GPU MI300 series, launched in the fourth quarter of 2023, is expected to be a major revenue driver in 2024.  Conversely, Qualcomm and MediaTek were impacted by the downturn in the smartphone market. Qualcomm’s 2023 revenue decreased by 16% YoY to $30.913 billion (QCT only) due to weak demand in the handheld device and IoT sectors, with China’s smartphone shipments hitting a decade low. However, Qualcomm is actively promoting the automotive market, expecting automotive revenues to more than double by 2030.  MediaTek’s revenue also fell in 2023, dropping 25% YoY to $13.888 billion, with declines in smartphone, power management IC, and smart edge businesses. Nevertheless, due to the adoption of its Dimensity 9300 by several Chinese clients and expected growth in high-end smartphone shipments, the company predicts a return to double-digit growth for all of 2024.  Two significant changes in the ranking from sixth to tenth took place: First, Cirrus Logic fell off the list from its last place spot and was replaced by MPS, whose 2023 revenue rose 4% YoY to $1.821 billion thanks to automotive, enterprise data, and storage computing businesses—offsetting declines in communication and industrial sectors.  Secondly, Realtek’s revenue fell by 19% annually to $3.053 billion in 2023, dropping the company down to eighth place. The decline was mainly due to a sharp decrease in PC shipments, a suspension of telecom tenders in China, and early inventory write-offs. However, after clearing inventory, Realtek saw a slight improvement in PC and automotive shipments in the first quarter of 2024 over networking and consumer electronics. With the launch of WiFi-7 in the third quarter, the restart of telecom tenders, and participation in the development of edge computing frameworks through the Arm alliance, Realtek’s revenues are poised for growth.
Key word:
Release time:2024-05-13 14:48 reading:965 Continue reading>>
Unveiling the Intricacies of <span style='color:red'>IC Design</span>
  In the realm of modern technology, Integrated Circuits (ICs) stand as the cornerstone of electronic innovation. These miniature marvels, also known as microchips or chips, serve as the fundamental building blocks of countless electronic devices, from smartphones and laptops to medical devices and automotive systems. Behind every IC lies a complex process of design and development, encompassing a myriad of disciplines, methodologies, and challenges. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve deep into the fascinating world of IC design.  What is an IC design?At its essence, IC design is the process of creating the blueprint for a microelectronic device that integrates multiple electronic components, such as transistors, capacitors, resistors, and interconnects, onto a single semiconductor substrate. The design process involves translating functional requirements and specifications into a detailed circuit layout that meets performance, power, area, and cost targets. IC designers employ a combination of theoretical knowledge, simulation tools, and engineering principles to conceptualize, model, simulate, and validate complex circuitry.  What are the different styles of IC design?IC design encompasses a diverse range of styles and methodologies tailored to various applications, technologies, and design objectives. These styles of IC design differ in their approach, complexity, and implementation, catering to the specific requirements and constraints of different projects. Here are some common styles of IC design:  Analog IC Design  Digital IC Design  Mixed-Signal IC Design  RF IC Design  Power IC Design  ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) Design  FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) Design  System-on-Chip (SoC) Design  How to design an IC?The IC design process encompasses several key stages, each of which contributes to the realization of a functional and manufacturable microelectronic device. These stages typically include:  Specification and Requirements Analysis: Define the functional requirements, performance targets, power constraints, and other specifications for the IC based on market needs and application scenarios.  Architecture Design: Develop the high-level architecture of the IC, including block diagrams, functional partitioning, and interface definitions, to achieve the desired system-level functionality.  Circuit Design: Design and optimize the individual circuit blocks, such as amplifiers, oscillators, logic gates, and memory cells, using analog, digital, and mixed-signal design techniques.  Layout Design: Translate the circuit schematics into a physical layout on the semiconductor substrate, considering factors such as placement, routing, parasitic effects, and manufacturability.  Simulation and Verification: Perform extensive simulation and verification tests to validate the functionality, performance, and reliability of the IC design under various operating conditions and corner cases.  Prototyping and Fabrication: Fabricate prototype ICs using semiconductor manufacturing processes, such as CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) technology, through foundries or in-house fabrication facilities.  Testing and Characterization: Conduct comprehensive testing and characterization of the fabricated ICs to assess their electrical characteristics, functionality, yield, and adherence to specifications.  Iterative Optimization: Iterate on the design, incorporating feedback from testing and characterization results, to improve performance, yield, and manufacturability for subsequent design iterations.  Which software is used to design IC?  Cadence Virtuoso: Cadence Virtuoso is a widely used platform for analog, digital, and mixed-signal IC design. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for schematic capture, layout design, simulation, and verification, supporting complex IC design workflows.  Synopsys Design Compiler: Synopsys Design Compiler is a synthesis tool used for RTL (Register Transfer Level) synthesis in digital IC design. It enables designers to convert high-level RTL descriptions into gate-level netlists optimized for area, power, and timing.  Mentor Graphics Calibre: Mentor Graphics Calibre is a suite of tools for physical verification, DRC (Design Rule Check), LVS (Layout versus Schematic), and DFM (Design for Manufacturability) checks in IC design. It ensures compliance with foundry-specific rules and manufacturing constraints.  Ansys HFSS: Ansys HFSS (High-Frequency Structure Simulator) is an electromagnetic simulation tool commonly used for RF (Radio Frequency) and microwave IC design. It enables designers to analyze and optimize the electromagnetic performance of RF circuits, antennas, and interconnects.  Silvaco TCAD: Silvaco TCAD (Technology Computer-Aided Design) is a suite of simulation tools used for process and device simulation in semiconductor fabrication. It allows designers to model semiconductor processes, device behavior, and electrical characteristics at the device level.  Tanner L-Edit: Tanner L-Edit is a layout editor commonly used for analog and mixed-signal IC design. It provides intuitive tools for drawing and editing IC layouts, enabling designers to create complex physical layouts with ease.  Keysight ADS: Keysight ADS (Advanced Design System) is a simulation and design platform for RF, microwave, and high-speed digital IC design. It offers a wide range of simulation capabilities, including harmonic balance, transient analysis, and EM simulation, for RF circuit design and optimization.  CircuitMaker: CircuitMaker is a free, community-driven PCB design tool that can be used for simple IC design and prototyping. It offers basic schematic capture and PCB layout capabilities, making it suitable for hobbyists, students, and small-scale projects.  ConclusionIC design represents the pinnacle of engineering ingenuity and innovation, fueling progress and breakthroughs in diverse fields of technology. From conceptualization to realization, the IC design process embodies a synthesis of creativity, expertise, and perseverance, culminating in the creation of groundbreaking microelectronic devices that power our interconnected world. As technology continues to evolve and redefine the boundaries of possibility, the role of IC design remains indispensable, driving the forefront of innovation and shaping the trajectory of the digital age.
Key word:
Release time:2024-04-29 16:13 reading:684 Continue reading>>
Jiangsu Runic Technology Co., Ltd Honored with China <span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Achievement Award & Selected in China Fabless100 List
  On March 29th, the award ceremony of "2024 China IC Design Achievement Award" organized by ASPENCORE was held in Zhangjiang Science Hall, Shanghai. Jiangsu Runic RS50XX series of low noise, high accuracy and ultra-low temperature-drift precision voltage references were awarded the Best Amplifier/Data Converter/Isolator of the Year in China IC Design Achievement Award.  Jiangsu Runic Technology Co., Ltd has been listed as one of the "Top 10 Analog Signal Chain Companies" for two consecutive years.  Jiangsu Runic Technology Co., Ltd as China's high-performance, high-quality analog/mixed-signal IC R&D and sales of high-tech semiconductor design company has been selected for two consecutive years in the China Fabless100 list of Top 10 analog signal chain companies, fully demonstrates Runic in the analog signal chain market area of technical strength and competitive advantage, and has been widely recognized by the industry.  The China IC Design Fabless 100 list is based on quantitative mathematical models, corporate public information, vendor questionnaires, and first-hand interviews by a team of AspenCore analysts, who carefully select the companies with the strongest overall strength and growth potential in China's IC design industry; the Top 10 companies are selected according to the category (each company is categorized into one category only); and the criteria for selecting the Top 10 companies in each category are as follows The selection criteria for each category of Top 10 companies are as follows:  Companies headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong/Macau, but excluding Taiwan enterprises  Fabless companies only, IDM companies with fabs are excluded from screening  Self-developed and designed chip products have been mass-produced and have been put into commercial use or entered the supply chain of mainstream OEMs.  Owns a number of patents for Invention Technology, and has strong chip R&D and application design capabilities
Key word:
Release time:2024-04-10 13:24 reading:717 Continue reading>>
Top Ten <span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Houses Ride Wave of Seasonal Consumer Demand and Continued AI Boom to See 17.8% Increase in Quarterly Revenue in 3Q23, Says TrendForce
  TrendForce reports that 3Q23 has been a historic quarter for the world’s leading IC design houses as total revenue soared 17.8% to reach a record-breaking US$44.7 billion. This remarkable growth is fueled by a robust season of stockpiling for smartphones and laptops, combined with a rapid acceleration in the shipment of generative AI chips and components. NVIDIA, capitalizing on the AI boom, emerged as the top performer in revenue and market share. Notably, analog IC supplier Cirrus Logic overtook US PMIC manufacturer MPS to snatch the tenth spot, driven by strong demand for smartphone stockpiling.  NVIDIA’s revenue soared 45.7% to US$16.5 billion in the third quarter, bolstered by sustained demand for generative AI and LLMs. Its data center business—accounting for nearly 80% of its revenue—was a key driver in this exceptional growth.  Qualcomm, riding the wave of its newly launched flagship AP Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the release of new Android smartphones, saw its third-quarter revenue climb by 2.8% QoQ to around US$7.4 billion. However, NVIDIA’s rapid growth eroded Qualcomm’s market share to 16.5%. Broadcom, with its strategic emphasis on AI server-related products like AI ASIC chips, high-end switches, and network interface cards, along with its seasonal wireless product stockpiling, managed to offset weaker demand in server storage connectivity and broadband. This strategic maneuvering led to a 4.4% QoQ revenue boost to US$7.2 billion.  AMD witnessed an 8.2% increase in its 3Q revenue, reaching US$5.8 billion. This success was due to the widespread adoption of its 4th Gen EPYC server CPUs by cloud and enterprise customers and the favorable impact of seasonal laptop stockpiling. MediaTek's revenue rose by 8.7% to US$3.5 billion in the third quarter, buoyed by a healthy replenishment demand for smartphone APs, WiFi6, and mobile/laptop PMIC components, as inventories across brand clients stabilized.  Cirrus Logic ousts MPS from tenth position thanks to smartphone inventory replenishment  Marvell also made significant gains, with its third-quarter revenue hitting US$1.4 billion, a 4.4% QoQ increase. This growth was primarily driven by increasing demand for generative AI from cloud clients and the expansion of its data center business—despite declines in sectors like enterprise networking and automotive. However, the outlook for some sectors remains mixed, with areas like TV and networking still facing uncertainties, leading to a cautious approach from clients. This resulted in some IC design companies, such as Novatek and Realtek, witnessing a decline in revenues by 7.5% and 1.7%, respectively.  Will Semiconductor benefited from the demand for Android smartphone components, breaking free from past inventory corrections with a 42.3% increase in 3Q revenue to US$752 million. Cirrus Logic, similarly capitalizing on the smartphone component stockpiling trend, saw a significant 51.7% jump in revenue to US$481 million, ousting MPS from the top ten.  In summary, TrendForce forecasts sustained growth for the top ten IC design houses in the upcoming fourth quarter. This optimistic outlook is underpinned by a gradual normalization of inventory levels and a modest seasonal rebound in the smartphone and notebook market. Additionally, the global surge in LLMs extends beyond CSPs, internet companies, and private enterprises, reaching regional countries and small-to-medium businesses, further bolstering this positive revenue trend.
Key word:
Release time:2023-12-22 16:13 reading:2003 Continue reading>>
<span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Companies Seek Advanced Process Second Source, Overview of Competition Between TSMC and Samsung
  According to TechNews’ report, Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, and MediaTek all utilize TSMC’s semiconductor processes for manufacturing their latest chips, with some potentially employing Samsung’s foundry, though typically not for flagship products.  With Samsung’s improved yield rates in recent months, the company is eager to secure a portion of the orders, particularly for the 3-nanometer GAA (Gate-All-Around) process.  Earlier market reports suggested that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 might adopt a dual-foundry strategy, simultaneously utilizing TSMC’s N3E process technology and Samsung’s SF3E process technology.  However, both Qualcomm and MediaTek currently plan to employ TSMC’s second-generation 3-nanometer process technology (N3E) for manufacturing chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Dimensity 4, without pursuing a dual-foundry strategy at this time.  As of the end of June 2022, Samsung announced the commencement of production for 3-nanometer process chips at its Hwaseong Industrial Complex in South Korea. These chips incorporate a new GAA transistor architecture technology, rumored to be more energy-efficient compared to TSMC’s 3-nanometer FinFET technology. Despite this, in the realm of 3nm, Samsung has yet to secure substantial orders from major clients.  Interestingly, the company has seen more success in the 4nm domain. It is reported that Samsung has gradually addressed yield and various issues in the 4-nanometer process technology domain. The third generation of 4-nanometer process technology has seen improvements in performance, reduced power consumption, increased density, and achieved yields close to TSMC’s level. Market sources indicate that Samsung has gained recognition from companies like AMD and Tesla, securing new orders.  Currently, TSMC’s 3-nanometer process technology production capacity is ramping up, with an expected monthly capacity of 100,000 wafers by the end of 2024. The revenue contribution is projected to increase from the current 5% to 10%.  Meanwhile, Samsung plans to introduce the second generation of its 3-nanometer process technology, named SF3 (3GAP), in 2024. Building upon the existing SF3E, it aims for further optimization, and Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2500 is expected to be one of the first high-performance chips to adopt this new process technology.
Key word:
Release time:2023-11-27 13:51 reading:2030 Continue reading>>
Only Qualcomm Reported to Post Slight Decline Among Top Ten Fabless <span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Houses by 3Q18 Revenue
TrendForce announced the ranking of top 10 fabless IC design houses worldwide based on their revenues for 3Q18, among which Qualcomm was the only one to post a slight decline. The other nine companies all registered year-on-year growth in their revenue, driven by segments like networking, data center, automotive application and consumer electronics.Taiwan-based IC design houses in the ranking, including MediaTek, Novatek, and Realtek, showed remarkable performances in the third quarter due to stock-up demand from consumer electronics makers for the upcoming holiday sales. MediaTek has recovered from the revenue decline since the second quarter this year and grew by 3% in the third quarter.However, the only company in the ranking to see a drop was Qualcomm with a revenue decline of 0.1% YoY in 3Q18, “Qualcomm has adopted an aggressive product strategy, introducing five new processors with different market positioning by the end of the third quarter,” says senior analyst CY Yao from TrendForce. Its comprehensive product ranges also contributed to the shipment growth. However, the slowdown in the global smartphone market has resulted in lower prices, leading to a drop in Qualcomm’s revenue.The largest move upward in the revenue growth came from NVIDIA, which benefited from strong momentum in segments like gaming, professional vision, data center and automotive applications. Particularly, a remarkable revenue growth of 65.3% YoY was recorded for NVIDIA’s data center IC business in the third quarter.Following NVIDIA, Marvell registered the second highest revenue growth. After the acquisition of Cavium, Marvell’s revenue increased by 28.2% YoY in the third quarter, which brought Marvell to the sixth place in the ranking, surpassing Xilinx.The design houses headquartered in Taiwan kept pursuing better performances during the past quarter. MediaTek registered a rise of 3% YoY in sales in 3Q18, thanks to its continuous adjustments in product mixes. The company has allocated more capacity to its products on 12nm process and improved the cost structure of processors. It turned out to achieve a gross margin of 38.5% in the third quarter, the highest quarterly margin since 2016. On the other hand, Novatek’s SoC products received wider market reception, benefited from the favorable demand from global TV market. As for Realtek, it showed a growth of 7.9% YoY in the third quarter, driven by the growing networking market in China and the coming of year-end sales.Looking ahead to 4Q18 and 1Q19, Qualcomm will continue to deploy its aggressive product strategy in segments like RF transceiver components, automotive electronics and the Internet of Things. However, it remains to be seen whether the product adjustments can moderate the loss brought by the slowdown in the global smartphone market, says Yao. On the other hand, MediaTek has entered a period of stable development after one year of adjustments in operation and product portfolio, despite the impacts from lower smartphone sales.Despite the highest revenue growth among the top IC design houses, NVIDIA was short of the market expectations in terms of the results of revenue due to the lower-than-expected gaming sales. The gaming segment always contributes to the majority of NVIDIA’s revenue. For instance, graphics cards for gaming represent 60% of the company’s sales in 3Q18. However, the decreasing demand for cryptocurrency mining has resulted in excess Pascal mid-range gaming card inventory in the channel. In response, NVIDIA is bound to clear out inventory as soon as possible to facilitate the better sales of its new graphics cards with Turing architecture GPU. Therefore, NVIDIA may anticipate a period of adjustment in the near future with the revenue outlook impacted, as a result from selling the excess channel inventory of midrange Pascal products.
Key word:
Release time:2018-11-22 00:00 reading:1246 Continue reading>>
Is Big Data for <span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Too Big to Manage?
  Big data? Everyone’s doing it. It shows up now in biotech, finance, agriculture, education and transportation. Industries are letting it reshape the very nature of their business.  But what about semiconductors?  IC Manage Inc., a provider of design data and IP management software for chip companies, announced Wednesday (Dec. 13) the launch of its Big Data Labs.  Dean Drako, IC Manage CEO, described Big Data Labs as a “platform” on which his company hopes to “develop and customize new big-data-based design analytic tools” for customers.  In the big-data era, semiconductor companies are already designing ICs that go into data centers. The question, though, is if these chip designers use big data themselves. They already have tons of raw data — spit out by different EDA vendors’ tools.  But have electronics designers figured out a way to optimize and accelerate their chips with big data?  The simple answer is “not yet.”  Certainly, the semiconductor industry has been using data management software for several years. IC Manage has been offering tools to “keep large amounts of data safe and get it neatly organized so that it makes data accessible to others,” explained Laurie Balch, a chief analyst with Gary Smith EDA.  But as for the analytical tools that might enable IC designers to apply this data to intelligent decisions, “We are at a point, it’s only now that it’s become feasible,” Balch told us.  IC Manage isn’t a traditional EDA vendor. It makes no conventional EDA tools such as simulation, synthesis, or layout. Instead, the company’s specialty is in “EDA enterprise tools,” explained Balch. Describing it as “a company with a stronghold in the IC design database market,” she called IC Manage “the industry leader, by a long shot.”  At a time when “electronics design is known for a huge amount of data it’s creating,” she observed that chip vendors are wrestling with increasingly voluminous data. IC Manage might just become the first company to come up with a solution.  Unstructured data  Big data, by definition, consists of large unstructured data, explained Drako.  He acknowledged that the world of electronics design is already seeing a huge spike in unstructured data — coming independently from various tools designed by different EDA companies.  Most IC designers, however, aren’t equipped to absorb all this stuff, let alone make sense of it. It’s time-consuming and resource-intensive to do so.  Connecting the dots between such independent sets of data across tools and vendors is no easy feat, said Drako.  Furthermore, “there are only limited industry and company expertise and resources available” that can quickly derive actionable insights and create management options with implementation details, he added.  This is where IC Manage hopes to come in.  Drako explained that IC Manage has overlaid unstructured data on top of the organized design data. “By merging unstructured data (such as verification log files) and structured data (electronics design data), we are offering a hybrid database,” said Drako, which chip companies can use for running high-performance advanced EDA analytics.  The result that IC Manage hopes to achieve is a platform offering visual analytics that will help users create interactive reports.  Tape-out prediction  This isn’t IC Manage’s first foray into big-data design tools for IC vendors.  A few years ago, the company developed a big-data product called “Envision Design Progress Analytics.” The tool offered a foundation for IC Manage customers to accurately predict the tape-out of their new chips.  With the launch of Big Data Labs, though, IC Manage is taking it a few steps further. Organizing big data and making it accessible to everyone in a design team or a whole company isn’t enough.  By closely working with customers (chip companies) and partners (EDA tool vendors), IC Manage hopes to develop — and potentially customize — tools that will allow designers to keep track of every designer’s contributions, history of revisions, IP reuse, and any other actions. This will result in a tool allowing designers to see the impact of their decisions on the rest of the design process. Its analysis will help them make intelligent decisions, noted Drako.  Envision Verification  On Wednesday, IC Manage simultaneously announced the launch of its first verification analytics tool, “Envision Verification,” based on its Big Data Labs’ platform.  Leveraging the platform’s ability to link multi-vendor environments, the tool delivers “near-real-time visual analytics,” according to IC Manage.  “To understand everything that’s going on,” Drako said that Envision Verification pulls in all verification data from different EDA vendor environments — Verilog, Mentor and Cadence — and tracks design activity, regression tests and verification status, and bugs that emerge along the way. Then it identifies the changes.  Without such big-data verification, Drako said, “Traditionally, if you were a part of a 300-engineer team, you’d have to spend a lot of time asking around, ‘Did you change anything?’ ‘What’s tested?’ ‘Who broke it?’ ‘Are we missing anything?’ etc.”  With an interactive report of verification results in hand, “Envision can accelerate functional verification analytics by 10 to 100 times. You can identify not only bottlenecks but also root causes of problems that have emerged during a verification process,” said Drako.  Bug-tracking analytics is also part of the process. With Envision Verification, “an engineer can assign a ticket for further debug when a test fails or update the bug status to pass, fail, or needs investigation,” according to IC Manage.  Over time, Drako noted, “Development teams can immediately tie verification progress bottlenecks directly to design changes to quickly optimize their resources to accelerate tight schedules. Also, they should be able to do milestone estimations.”  The analyst Balch explained that verification is an “extraordinarily big challenge” for electronic designers. Because everyone aims for “first-time right” design and manufacture — due to the cost-prohibitive nature of chip redesign, “designers need to verify the heck out of it,” she said. Verification involves many test facets, she noted, “as outcomes change depending on operating conditions and you need to be cognizant of corner cases.”  The first tool coming out of IC Manage’s newly launched Big Data Labs is this functional verification tool. But what else does IC Manage have in the pipeline?  Drako hesitated to make predictions until his company is actually ready to reveal. Nonetheless, he said that other logical big-data analytics products would include physical verification, timing analysis and power.  Pointing out that there are so many parts to functional verification, including simulation and emulation of semiconductor, circuit, digital, and analog designs, Balch suspects that IC Manage will be busy for a long time developing further its functional verification tools — including customizations.  Who will use it?  There is no denying that the use of data-management tools has been somewhat “slow to take off” among chip companies, according to Balch. Given a budget, chip designers prefer to buy core design tools rather than big-data analytics tools. “They just don’t see it as vital. They also think it’s only for a big design team.”  With the semiconductor industry currently engulfed in mega-mergers, the landscape might be changing more rapidly than previously predicted, however. If Broadcom succeeds in buying Qualcomm, for example, imagine the data-management nightmare that will hit a huge number of design teams running inside the two giants. The merged company needs to monitor progress at different design teams, ensuring that design information and IPs are shared across the board.  IC Manage’s Envision Verification Analytics is available immediately as part of the IC Manage Envision product suite.
Key word:
Release time:2017-12-14 00:00 reading:1198 Continue reading>>
AI to Spur Uptick in AS<span style='color:red'>IC Design</span> Starts
  Design starts for artificial intelligence (AI) voice-activated device ASICs will be increasing at a compound annual rate approaching 20 percent by 2021, nearly twice the 10.1 percent CAGR of all ASIC design starts between 2016 and 2021, according to a new report by Semico Research.  With the surge in popularity of voice-activated digital assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, plus the general frenzy of work being done around AI, both startups and established companies are pushing hard to develop silicon to add voice activated capabilities and other AI features to products, especially in the consumer arena.  According to Rich Wawrzyniak, senior analyst for ASIC/SoC research at Semico, AI in the form of pattern recognition, voice recognition and language translation will find its way into almost every device and application that has a processor, DSP or FPGA and some level of computational resources in coming years.  "There is demand for these types of capabilities at every level and in every market segment to some degree," Wawrzyniak said in a press statement. "We believe these capabilities will become 'check-box' items at the very least and could spark the next great surge in the semiconductor market."  Semico's report on ASIC design starts for 2017, authored by Wawrzyniak, projects that ASIC unit shipments will grow by 10.1 percent from 2016 to 2021, led by growth in the industrial and consumer market segments. Total ASIC shipments grew by 7.7 percent globally last year, according to the report.  While many of the traditional end-use applications are experiencing slower growth rates due to market saturation and reduced demand, while those associated with the Internet of Things (IoT) are taking off, according to the report.  In addition to IoT and AI, ASIC growth rates for products associated with the smart grid, wearable electronics, solid state drives, drones, industrial IoT, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and 5G infrastructure are also expected to grow faster than the broader market, Semico said.  Basic SoC design starts in the consumer segment are expected to grow at a 19 percent CAGR and industrial IoT ASIC design starts are projected to grow by 25 percent through 2021, according to the Semico report.  The report also predicts that IoT ASIC unit shipments will eclipse 1.8 billion units next year.
Key word:
Release time:2017-11-20 00:00 reading:1206 Continue reading>>

Turn to

/ 1

  • Week of hot material
  • Material in short supply seckilling
model brand Quote
CDZVT2R20B ROHM Semiconductor
RB751G-40T2R ROHM Semiconductor
TL431ACLPR Texas Instruments
BD71847AMWV-E2 ROHM Semiconductor
MC33074DR2G onsemi
model brand To snap up
ESR03EZPJ151 ROHM Semiconductor
TPS63050YFFR Texas Instruments
IPZ40N04S5L4R8ATMA1 Infineon Technologies
STM32F429IGT6 STMicroelectronics
BP3621 ROHM Semiconductor
BU33JA2MNVX-CTL ROHM Semiconductor
Hot labels
ROHM
IC
Averlogic
Intel
Samsung
IoT
AI
Sensor
Chip
About us

Qr code of ameya360 official account

Identify TWO-DIMENSIONAL code, you can pay attention to

AMEYA360 mall (www.ameya360.com) was launched in 2011. Now there are more than 3,500 high-quality suppliers, including 6 million product model data, and more than 1 million component stocks for purchase. Products cover MCU+ memory + power chip +IGBT+MOS tube + op amp + RF Bluetooth + sensor + resistor capacitance inductor + connector and other fields. main business of platform covers spot sales of electronic components, BOM distribution and product supporting materials, providing one-stop purchasing and sales services for our customers.

Please enter the verification code in the image below:

verification code