The Week in Review: April 16
By Ed Sperling
Moore’s Law marches on. Virage Logic rolled out its memory compilers and logic libraries for TSMC’s 28nm high-k/metal gate process. This follows Virage’s first 28nm test chip tapeouts late last year. Word on the street—from those willing to talk about it—is that 28nm is relatively straightforward from a feature-shrink standpoint, although power will still be an issue. But 22nm is giving everyone the chills.
Mentor Graphics rolled out a DO-254 platform with enhanced HDL coding. DO-254 is an FAA standard for complex hardware in airborne systems.
NTT Electronics created a graphics chip using Arteris’ network on chip technology. This is an interesting application for NoCs because of the high volume of traffic on a graphics chip. Graphics is one of those areas that is embarrassingly parallel, so adding order to the chaos of on-chip communications is vital.
RT-RK created a big-endian version of Android for the MIPS platform. There was already a little-endian version. Big endian and little endian were terms created years ago by Unix vendors, depending on whether you read zeros and ones from left-to-right or right-to-left. It was an analogy to the big end of the egg or the little end. It’s a good thing eggs aren’t round.
Sales are up everywhere. STMicroelectronics also adopted Mentor’s Veloce emulation platform for next-generation set-top box chips. It should be noted, however, that even though we insist on calling these set-top boxes, nothing can ever rest on a flat-panel TV. Perhaps we need a new name.
Also on the sales front, Cadence inked a deal with TSMC for integrated signoff at 65nm with synthesis, place and route and RC extraction. Cadence also won new business from HSilicon for mixed-signal and low-power tools, and from LSI for mixed-signal technology.
And in the same vein, Aptina adopted Apache Design System’s analysis, optimization and signoff technology for its image sensors. Apache also started the year with record bookings and revenue for Q1. We like hearing that kind of news.
eSilicon and Brite Semiconductor joined Synopsys’ IP OEM partner program. This puts eSilicon into the same group as Open-Silicon and Global Unichip. Apparently this is a club you need to join if you build chips for other companies.
Global Unichip, meanwhile, also licensed ARM’s IP portfolio. This is an interesting company to watch because of TSMC’s hedged investment in a company that rivals eSilicon and Open-Silicon, both of which are TSMC customers. It’s like riding a bicycle on a narrow trail next to a precipice. You don’t want to make any sudden movements. http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/global-unichip-licenses-comprehensive-arm-ip-portfolio.php
Tags: Apache Design Solutions, ARM, Arteris, Brite Semiconductor, Cadence, eSilicon, Global Unichip, Mentor Graphics, MIPS, NTT, Open-Silicon, RT-RK, STMicroelectronics, Synopsys, TSMC, Virage Logic