Tech Companies Leverage Artificial Intelligence to Increase Engineering Productivity

 

Intel CEO Outlines Future Plans

 Intel CEO 'Unleashing'' Future Plans. Watch full video below.



Optimized Digital Design, Implementation, and Signoff on TSMC N3 - Breakfast Bytes - Cadence Blogs - Cadence Community

Optimized Digital Design, Implementation, and Signoff on TSMC N3 - Breakfast Bytes - Cadence Blogs - Cadence Community

NVIDIA to Acquire Arm for $40 Billion

 

NVIDIA to Acquire Arm for $40 Billion, Creating World’s Premier Computing Company for the Age of AI

Image source : NVIDIA website


From press release:

  • Unites NVIDIA’s leadership in artificial intelligence with Arm’s vast computing ecosystem to drive innovation for all customers
  • NVIDIA will expand Arm’s R&D presence in Cambridge, UK, by establishing a world-class AI research and education center, and building an Arm/NVIDIA-powered AI supercomputer for groundbreaking research
  • NVIDIA will continue Arm’s open-licensing model and customer neutrality and expand Arm’s IP licensing portfolio with NVIDIA technology
  • Immediately accretive to NVIDIA’s non-GAAP gross margin and EPS
  • Consideration of $40 billion to be met through a combination of NVIDIA shares and cash

NVIDIA and SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG) today announced a definitive agreement under which NVIDIA will acquire Arm Limited from SBG and the SoftBank Vision Fund (together, “SoftBank”) in a transaction valued at $40 billion. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to NVIDIA’s non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP earnings per share.

The combination brings together NVIDIA’s leading AI computing platform with Arm’s vast ecosystem to create the premier computing company for the age of artificial intelligence, accelerating innovation while expanding into large, high-growth markets. SoftBank will remain committed to Arm’s long-term success through its ownership stake in NVIDIA, expected to be under 10 percent.

“AI is the most powerful technology force of our time and has launched a new wave of computing,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “In the years ahead, trillions of computers running AI will create a new internet-of-things that is thousands of times larger than today’s internet-of-people. Our combination will create a company fabulously positioned for the age of AI.

“Simon Segars and his team at Arm have built an extraordinary company that is contributing to nearly every technology market in the world. Uniting NVIDIA’s AI computing capabilities with the vast ecosystem of Arm’s CPU, we can advance computing from the cloud, smartphones, PCs, self-driving cars and robotics, to edge IoT, and expand AI computing to every corner of the globe.

“This combination has tremendous benefits for both companies, our customers, and the industry. For Arm’s ecosystem, the combination will turbocharge Arm’s R&D capacity and expand its IP portfolio with NVIDIA’s world-leading GPU and AI technology.

“Arm will remain headquartered in Cambridge. We will expand on this great site and build a world-class AI research facility, supporting developments in healthcare, life sciences, robotics, self-driving cars and other fields. And, to attract researchers and scientists from the U.K. and around the world to conduct groundbreaking work, NVIDIA will build a state-of-the-art AI supercomputer, powered by Arm CPUs. Arm Cambridge will be a world-class technology center.”

“NVIDIA is the perfect partner for Arm,” said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SBG. “Since acquiring Arm, we have honored our commitments and invested heavily in people, technology and R&D, thereby expanding the business into new areas with high growth potential. Joining forces with a world leader in technology innovation creates new and exciting opportunities for Arm. This is a compelling combination that projects Arm, Cambridge and the U.K. to the forefront of some of the most exciting technological innovations of our time and is why SoftBank is excited to invest in Arm’s long-term success as a major shareholder in NVIDIA. We look forward to supporting the continued success of the combined business.”

“Arm and NVIDIA share a vision and passion that ubiquitous, energy-efficient computing will help address the world’s most pressing issues from climate change to healthcare, from agriculture to education,” said Simon Segars, CEO of Arm. “Delivering on this vision requires new approaches to hardware and software and a long-term commitment to research and development. By bringing together the technical strengths of our two companies we can accelerate our progress and create new solutions that will enable a global ecosystem of innovators. My management team and I are excited to be joining NVIDIA so we can write this next chapter together.”

Commitment to Arm and the UK
As part of NVIDIA, Arm will continue to operate its open-licensing model while maintaining the global customer neutrality that has been foundational to its success, with 180 billion chips shipped to-date by its licensees. Arm partners will also benefit from both companies’ offerings, including NVIDIA’s numerous innovations.

SoftBank and Arm are fully committed to satisfying the undertakings made by SoftBank when it acquired Arm in 2016, which are scheduled to complete in September 2021. Following the closing of the transaction, NVIDIA intends to retain the name and strong brand identity of Arm and expand its base in Cambridge. Arm’s intellectual property will remain registered in the U.K. 

NVIDIA will build on Arm’s R&D presence in the U.K., establishing a new global center of excellence in AI research at Arm’s Cambridge campus. NVIDIA will invest in a state-of-the-art, Arm-powered AI supercomputer, training facilities for developers and a startup incubator, which will attract world-class research talent and create a platform for innovation and industry partnerships in fields such as healthcare, robotics and self-driving cars.

Source:

NVIDIA

AMD to Acquire Xilinx, Creating the Industry’s High Performance Computing Leader

AMD to Acquire Xilinx, Creating the Industry’s High Performance Computing Leader

From the press release:

— Strategic transaction strengthens AMD’s industry-leading technology portfolio —

  • Expands AMD’s rapidly growing data center business
  • Xilinx, the No. 1 provider of adaptive computing solutions, increases AMD TAM to $110 billion
  • Immediately accretive to AMD margins, cash flow and EPS
  • All stock transaction with combined enterprise value of approximately $135 billion

SILICON VALLEY, CALIF. 10/27/2020
AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) and Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for AMD to acquire Xilinx in an all-stock transaction valued at $35 billion. The combination will create the industry’s leading high performance computing company, significantly expanding the breadth of AMD’s product portfolio and customer set across diverse growth markets where Xilinx is an established leader. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to AMD margins, EPS and free cash flow generation and deliver industry-leading growth.

The acquisition brings together two industry leaders with complementary product portfolios and customers. AMD will offer the industry’s strongest portfolio of high performance processor technologies, combining CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, Adaptive SoCs and deep software expertise to enable leadership computing platforms for cloud, edge and end devices. Together, the combined company will capitalize on opportunities spanning some of the industry’s most important growth segments from the data center to gaming, PCs, communications, automotive, industrial, aerospace and defense.

 “Our acquisition of Xilinx marks the next leg in our journey to establish AMD as the industry’s high performance computing leader and partner of choice for the largest and most important technology companies in the world,” AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su said. “This is truly a compelling combination that will create significant value for all stakeholders, including AMD and Xilinx shareholders who will benefit from the future growth and upside potential of the combined company. The Xilinx team is one of the strongest in the industry and we are thrilled to welcome them to the AMD family. By combining our world-class engineering teams and deep domain expertise, we will create an industry leader with the vision, talent and scale to define the future of high performance computing.”

“We are excited to join the AMD family. Our shared cultures of innovation, excellence and collaboration make this an ideal combination. Together, we will lead the new era of high performance and adaptive computing,” said Victor Peng, Xilinx president and CEO. “Our leading FPGAs, Adaptive SoCs, accelerator and SmartNIC solutions enable innovation from the cloud, to the edge and end devices. We empower our customers to deploy differentiated platforms to market faster, and with optimal efficiency and performance. Joining together with AMD will help accelerate growth in our data center business and enable us to pursue a broader customer base across more markets.”

With a combined team of 13,000 talented engineers and over $2.7 billion of annual1 R&D investment, AMD will have additional talent and scale to deliver an even stronger set of products and domain-specific solutions.

Latest VLSI Back-end Physical Design Interview Questions - Semiconductor Product Company Team 2 and 3

Interview Questions from Major Semiconductor Product Company Team 2:
(These questions were asked by tech lead with ~6-10 years of experience)
  • What are PLL related specification for placement?
  • What is static IR drop?
  • What are different types of dynamic IR?
  • Is it average, peak to peak? Or RMS? What are all these?

New Clock Gating Method That Does Not Introduce Clock Skew



FULLY SYNCHRONOUS DESIGN

Fully Synchronous Design (Abbreviated FSD) refers to a digital system having a single clock signal for all Flip Flops (Abbreviated FF) within the system.

In such a design, all FFs are clocked all together by this single clock signal : should a design comprise 1200 FFs, they are clocked together by the same clock signal.

If one is planning an ASIC, then the ASIC manufacturer is responsible for designing a clock tree for his particular die, offering a known (and minimal) clock skew.

The ASIC manufacturer is also responsible for the design of a reset tree for his particular die.

To All VLSI Training Institutes

    I have been seeing promotional comments written by multiple reputed VLSI training centers in comment section of pages or articles. Despite my humble request this is still continuing. Let me clearly tell all those people that none of these comments will be published unless yo follow standard guideline i have put forward in 'training' page. My intention is not to dis-respect you , rather to improve the genuineness of  your business. 

Latest VLSI Back-end Physical Design Interview Questions - Semiconductor Product Company Team 1

I have given below physical design interview questions asked in one of the major semiconductor companies located in Bangalore. This semiconductor giant has multiple independent teams and they evaluate candidates as per their project requirements. Irrespective of the company, these questions are very important if you intend to grow in VLSI(Very Large Scale Integration) physical design domain. 

I welcome answers from my readers for these questions. Best discussions will be published below each questions. In this way please help improve knowledge of the seekers and let this bit help from us may get blessed from those in need. 

These are difficult times due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Updating our knowledge is key for survival and success !!

New Advanced Semiconductor Fab from TSMC in USA


source: TSMC

TSMC Announces Intention to Build and Operate an Advanced Semiconductor Fab in the United States 

Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C., May 15, 2020 – TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced its intention to build and operate an advanced semiconductor fab in the United States with the mutual understanding and commitment to support from the U.S. federal government and the State of Arizona. 

This facility, which will be built in Arizona, will utilize TSMC’s 5-nanometer technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication, have a 20,000 semiconductor wafer per month capacity, create over 1,600 high-tech professional jobs directly, and thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem. Construction is planned to start in 2021 with production targeted to begin in 2024. TSMC’s total spending on this project, including capital expenditure, will be approximately US$12 billion from 2021 to 2029. This U.S. facility not only enables us to better support our customers and partners, it also gives us more opportunities to attract global talents. This project is of critical, strategic importance to a vibrant and competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem that enables leading U.S. companies to fabricate their cutting-edge semiconductor products within the United States and benefit from the proximity of a world-class semiconductor foundry and ecosystem. 

TSMC welcomes continued strong partnership with the U.S. administration and the State of Arizona on this project. This project will require significant capital and technology investments from TSMC. The strong investment climate in the United States, and its talented workforce make this and future investments in the U.S. attractive to TSMC. U.S. adoption of forward-looking investment policies to enable a globally competitive environment for a leading edge semiconductor technology operation in the U.S. will be crucial to the success of this project. It will also give us the confidence this and other future investments by TSMC and its supply chain companies will be successful.

 In the United States, TSMC currently operates a fab in Camas, Washington and design centers in both Austin, Texas and San Jose, California. The Arizona facility would be TSMC’s second manufacturing site in the United States

About TSMC 

TSMC pioneered the pure-play foundry business model when it was founded in 1987, and has been the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry ever since. The Company supports a thriving ecosystem of global customers and partners with the industry’s leading process technologies and portfolio of design enablement solutions to unleash innovation for the global semiconductor industry. With global operations spanning Asia, Europe, and North America, TSMC serves as a committed corporate citizen around the world. 

TSMC deployed 272 distinct process technologies, and manufactured 10,761 products for 499 customers in 2019 by providing broadest range of advanced, specialty and advanced packaging technology services. TSMC is the first foundry to provide 5-nanometer production capabilities, the most advanced semiconductor process technology available in the world. The Company is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan

AtopTech No More?

EDA giant Synopsys sued AtopTech alleging patent infringement. After loosing battle AtopTech filed for bankruptcy.

ATopTech, Inc. Initiates Voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection Proceeding

It all started very promisingly.
EDA place-and-route startup ATopTech out of the gates with Broadcom win

But Synopsys doesn't like AtopTech using it's flagship PrimeTime report formats (and may be many more than this) in its tools. They decided to discuss the stuff in court and finally Judge/s gave the judgement in favor of Synopsys.
Synopsys, Inc. v. Atoptech, Inc, No. 3:2013cv02965 - Document 874 (N.D. Cal. 2016)

Read above document, it is pretty interesting, you won't find often VLSI in law schools and books, but here it is !

And now AtopTech website also doesn't work ! It shows some "Syntax Error", in typical style of EDA tool. Then how Aprisa can work !!

Thanks for reading !

Update 23rd Feb 2017:
Atoptech website is accessible now.


Is Qualcomm to Buy NXP Semiconductors?

Is Qualcomm to Buy NXP Semiconductors?

News reports are emerging with some details:


Brodcom Layoff in Server Team

Broadcom (Now part of Avago) seems to have laid -off it approximately 80 to 90 employees from server team affecting jobs in USA and India. Top management to bottom engineering level, all seems  to been affected by this move. Sometime back i heard rumors about Broadcom selling its Server business to unknown company. It is evident from the move that Avago doesn't believe R&D, just get the products out which can make money for it.

You may recall, since Avago acquired Broadcom in multi billion deal it has announced job cuts in large number to align its business priorities.

Intel to Layoff: 12000 Job Cut

Intel doing major shake-off, to layoff 12000 of its engineering force from PC business.
According to press release Intel is shifting its focus from PC business to IoT-Internet of Things, Data center, Memory and FPGAs, Connectivity business, Two-in-Ones, Gaming and Home Gateways.

Intel, Best of Luck !

Press Release

Intel Layoffs Are A Sign Of Poor Management

Western Digital Acquires SanDisk

Press release from Western Digital:

"New platform creates  greater scale and ability to deliver extensive portfolio of innovative products and technology

Combined business well-positioned  to capture growth and opportunities created by rapidly evolving storage industry

JV with Toshiba provides stable NAND supply at scale  through a time-tested business model and extends across NVM technologies such as 3D NAND"



Western Digital to buy SanDisk in $19 billion deal