The Week In Review: Sept. 4
By Ed Sperling
Actel introduced the first radiation-tolerant FPGA with embedded radiation-protected mutiply-accumulate blocks for use in outer space. With increased density at each node, the number of single-event upsets increases proportionately due to cosmic radiation. In some cases, these kinds of events can destroy a chip, leading to all sorts of complicated error-correction designs.
Mentor Graphics pushed further into the IP world, rolling out its configurable Precise-IP independent IP platform for FPGA design that links to categorized third-party IP from a variety of vendors including ARC (soon to be part of Virage Logic), ARM, Aeroflex Gaisier, CAST, Eureka, Hellon, IPextreme, Innovative Logic and OptNgn. This is like an instant ecosystem. Just add water.
That comes on the heels of a couple of major product adoptions for Mentor—Catapult C Synthesis by Fujitsu and Veloce Emulation by MIPS. Sounds like business is starting to pick up again.
Speaking of Fujitsu, the company seems to be in technology acquisition mode. ARM licensed its Cortex-M3 processor to Fujitsu for future low-power applications.
Synopsys, meanwhile, was making noise about one of its customers, Ubixum. The company used Galaxy Custom Designer to achieve first silicon for its sensor chip. Coming on the heels of multiple customer wins, this is yet another sign of life in the chip world.
Cadence inked a multi-year deal with GlobalFoundries, the AMD spinoff, to incorporate Cadence technology across the flow from design to manufacturing. Given the source of the money behind this deal, it’s a …well…big deal.
Magma announced it is offering a 6% conversion price for restructuring its debt. This will surely feed into lots of speculation about whether that is high, low, normal, and indicative of the company’s future. We’re staying blissfully neutral on this one.
Tags: Actel, Aeroflex Gaisier, AMD, ARM, Cadence, CAST, Eureka, Fujitsu, GlobalFoundries, Hellon, Innovative Logic, IPextreme, Magma, Mentor Graphics, MIPS, OptNgn, Synopsys, Virage Logic