The Week In Review: Sept. 25
By Ed Sperling
The big news of the week is that Intel bared its teeth and declared war on almost everyone in the processing market—from supercomputers to cell phones. Whether Intel is successful in these markets remains to be seen, but its lineup now includes Atom processors, the regular computer processor line, and SoCs that can run x86 code. The big question for many potential competitors is just how low Intel can get its power consumption—and how quickly.
Apparently it’s the season to cut deals with foundries. Mentor Graphics’ low-power technology was included in TSMC’s reference flow 10.0. The deal encompasses everything from the Olympus SoC implementation system to the 0-In CDC tool for verification. So much for the point-tool providers.
SMIC, the Shanghai-based foundry, will be using Virage Logic’s AEON multi-time programmable non-volatile memory for RFID applications. Given the growth in short-range communications, both real and projected, this could prove to be very significant.
Synopsys took the covers off its StarRC Parasitic Extraction Solution for analog/mixed-signal and custom digital design. The rollout is a combination of its Star-RCXT extraction technology with Raphael NXT 3D fast field solver. What’s interesting here is that integration of technologies is becoming far more important for two reasons. First, it makes it much easier for customers to use tools that are integrated. And second, it makes it much harder for smaller players to gain a foothold in the market. Expect to see more of these kinds of announcement.
Actel introduced a catalog of firmware that’s compatible with the IP cores in its embedded processor. This isn’t exactly like the old Sears Roebuck catalog, though. It’s actually an executable program that allows you to configure firmware drivers, hardware abstraction layers and design examples. Welcome to the electronic world.
ARM and NXP launched a rapid prototyping tool set for microcontrollers. ARM also extended its serial-wire debug technology to include multi-chip and multicore debugging with only two pins. This is an update of a mature technology that most of the ARM world already uses, but it’s good to see they’re still working on it.
TSMC is going green, and so are its suppliers—whether they want to or not. The foundry announced a supply chain carbon inventory assistance plan to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. Given the pollution levels across the Taiwan Strait, this certainly can’t hurt.1
TSMC also is looking a little blue—as in Big Blue. The foundry will be churning out Power chips from AppliedMicro based upon the architecture created by IBM (and Apple and Motorola/Freescale).
MIPS inked a deal with Opulan Technologies in Shanghai to provide its 24KEc core to the fixed-network supplier. These kinds of deals are an indication of a full-fledged economic recovery in that part of the world.
Cadence, meanwhile, cut a deal with Linear Technologies for a slew of mixed signal tools. It’s interesting that the analog chipmakers all complain about the tools that are available, but they still buy them. What are we missing?
Tags: Actel, ApplieMicro, ARM, Cadence, Linear Technologies, Mentor Graphics, MIPS, NXP, Synopsys, TSMC, Virage Logic