Jack G.

Jim Keller, former Intel, AMD, and Tesla engineer, aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance in AI with Tenstorrent's energy-efficient chip design. Tenstorrent's upcoming second-generation AI chip promises superior energy and cost efficiency, presenting a viable alternative to Nvidia's offerings. The innovative design of Tenstorrent's chip features independent decision-making cores, potentially reshaping AI chip technology across diverse applications. #AI #Nvidia #semiconductor #semiconductors #chip #technology #innovation #research #computing Tenstorrent NVIDIA https://lnkd.in/g6a3vAu4

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Last week’s DAC showcased exciting announcements from startups that are revolutionizing semiconductor design however these rising stars overshadowed a major update from an industry stalwart - Alphawave Semi - whose news is poised to accelerate the proliferation of chiplets and give rise to a “chiplet marketplace”. Alphawave Semi announced a breakthrough with the tapeout of the industry's first off-the-shelf, multi-protocol I/O connectivity chiplet. This technology can seamlessly integrate into larger SoCs or multi-chip modules, giving designers increased flexibility and more connectivity options for different applications. Reflecting on the Chiplet Summit this past spring, I remember listening to Tony Chan Carusone, Alphawave’s CTO, as he passionately described the significance of chiplets and how Alphawave will foster a more open and democratic design ecosystem. Now, just one quarter later, his team has launched a technology that brings this vision much closer to becoming a reality. Adding to their momentum, Alphawave also announced an expanded partnership with Samsung Foundry to advance the industry's progression toward cutting-edge semiconductor nodes, crucial for the evolution of advanced compute. Samsung’s roadmap in sub-4nm technologies includes FinFET and Gate-All-Around, which are designed to maximize performance in the post-Moore era. Initially targeted for data centers and HPC, these innovations may trickle down to low-cost, AI-enabled edge devices, putting the transformative power of AI into the hands of billions of people worldwide. This news follows Alphawave’s early June announcement of their new partnership with Arm, aimed at unlocking the potential of processors. Alphawave will give Arm access to their robust portfolio of connectivity solutions and silicon IP, which Arm will integrate into their proven portfolio of compute cores. At a time when AI technology is accelerating at breakneck speed, many companies are searching for ways to boost compute performance and address the challenge of moving data between compute and memory more efficiently. While multiple startups offer unique solutions, many customers want battle-tested technology to avoid the risk of investing in solutions that may become obsolete by the time they reach tapeout. Alphawave has developed vital solutions and in doing so, has increased design flexibility, built bridges to new process technologies, and shortened the path to market. “Connectors” are often the catalysts of innovation and Alphwave’s is a testament to that word. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from Alphawave and strongly believe they stand at the forefront of an emerging chiplet marketplace. More broadly, I believe their technology serves to democratize design technology and will give emerging companies more options to bring their brilliant ideas to life. #semiconductorindustry #ai #chiplets

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We’re one day into DAC, and there have already been announcements that will shape the future of semiconductor design. One startup that I've followed closely for two years shared groundbreaking news that promises to revolutionize chip development and democratize accessibility to chiplets. Baya Systems emerged from stealth mode last week, and CEO and co-founder Sailesh Kumar has done a remarkable job of staying under the radar since founding the company, choosing the perfect moment to unveil updates. Baya revealed not only WHAT they’re working on but also HOW they plan to tackle some of the most pressing challenges faced by SoC architects and designers, and it’s inspiring. The complexity of system design, high costs, and long time-to-market for advanced SoCs often means that a chip can be nearly obsolete by the time it reaches customers. The rapid pace of innovation, especially in AI chips, creates an unforgiving environment where promising startups might only have one shot at success. Baya’s solutions, WeaverPro and WeaveIP, aim to accelerate the design and performance of complex single-die and multi-die SoCs and chiplets. By leveraging a software-centric architecture, Baya simplifies development and accelerates data movement between chiplets and dies. This approach reduces the overall costs associated with advanced AI and CPU acceleration and speeds up time-to-market. WeaverPro and WeaveIP have already received the best kind of acclaim, customer adoption, and Baya announced this week that chiplet technology advocate Tenstorrent will license their WeaveIP fabric to scale their AI and RISC-V chiplet solutions. Chip design icon Jim Keller, who sits on Baya’s Advisory Board, praised the company, saying: “Baya makes great, comprehensive fabric tools that start with top-level architecture and allow us to plan at a detailed level… this, coupled with their visualization tools, enables designers to build next-generation chips, chiplets, and IP.” Adding to their momentum, Baya announced a partnership with Blue Cheetah Analog Design, Inc. yesterday at DAC and introduced a combined chiplet-optimized Network on Chip and PHY interconnect IP solution that simplifies the design and architecture of chiplet-based systems. Sailesh said, “In partnership, we provide system architects with a state-of-the-art platform and powerful tools to create the most innovative and cost-effective chiplet-based products.”   I've mentioned before that enabling development is key to unlocking the door to innovation. For founders without deep pockets or connections to investors, gaining access to better tools and proven intellectual property allows them to move faster and at a lower cost, ultimately helping to bring new designs to life. I’m impressed that Baya, a small yet mighty startup, has created this accessibility and fostered partnerships to help proliferate it. My encouragement to the community - watch them closely. #semiconductorindustry #ai #chiplets

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In this episode of the "Quick Chip Series" on the Semiconductor Leadership Podcast, we dive into the remarkable journey of Qualcomm, a powerhouse in the semiconductor industry. On Youtube: https://lnkd.in/de6CY2Jw On Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dppbZi5C Join us as we uncover surprising facts and lesser-known stories about the company's rise to prominence. Did you know Qualcomm's name was almost different? What unexpected innovation sparked its success? How did a single invention revolutionize mobile communication forever? Tune in to discover these intriguing details and more. Subscribe to our YouTube and Spotify channels now to stay updated with our latest episodes and never miss an insight into the semiconductor world!

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And the right course it is!

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In the fiercely competitive semiconductor industry, companies are in a constant battle to retain top talent because in the heart of every good engineer is a passionate problem solver, looking for their next challenge. For them, innovation is the currency of success. Yet companies like Qualcomm, Intel, and Broadcom attract tens of thousands every year by dangling lucrative compensation packages to lure them from competitors. Startup leaders don’t have those resources, so they have to work harder to attract the best talent and then fight like hell to retain them. But some of the most successful startup leaders I know take a different approach. Rather than viewing attraction and retention as a fight, they leverage the inherent qualities of their companies as their advantage. They use their nimbleness, bias toward innovation, and their collaborative cultures like superpowers to attract the right people and those usually end up being the reasons why people stay. Take Richard Fung, CEO of The Six Semiconductor, for example. I had a conversation with Richard and asked him to share his approach to motivating his team. His response was like a mini-masterclass on the topic of talent attraction and retention. Richard emphasized that a culture that encourages engineers to dive deep into the intricacies of their craft, understand the systems they’re building, and connect with the end customer is a successful culture. Richard has been using this approach and it's been paying dividends for The Six Semiconductor so in his honor, here are his six key concepts for creating this type of organization: 1. Foster a Learning Culture: Support ongoing learning and skill development beyond employees' core responsibilities. 2. Prioritize Customer Focus: Embed a customer-centric mindset, and encourage employees to enhance user experiences through their work. 3. Champion Problem-Solving: Empower employees to creatively solve challenges with a focus on customer needs. 4. Promote System-Level Understanding: Encourage employees to grasp the bigger picture of the company's offerings and their role within it. 5. Break Down Silos: Promote collaboration to ensure a comprehensive understanding of projects across teams. 6. Offer Meaningful Challenges: Provide intellectually stimulating projects that make a tangible impact on the company's success. What Richard highlighted is that success goes much deeper than getting great people to join. It's about unleashing the full potential of every individual on your team to drive innovation and help shape the company, and ensuring your team heads in the right direction together. I’m thrilled I got to learn Richard’s perspective and believe other leaders can benefit from hearing it, so I shared the video below. My "challenge question" to other startup leaders is this: what are you doing to foster this type of culture in your organization? Either share below or, feel free to DM me. #semiconductorindustry #startup #leadership

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yieldHUB has semiconductor customers from 13 countries. Customers have, on average, been with us for 5 years. 33% have been with us for at least 5 years and 20% have been with us for more than 10 years. With few exceptions, customers are well funded private companies or well known and publicly quoted companies. Some dropped off over the years, but we grow net customers every year, this year being the second fastest of net customer growth after 2021 (move to cloud tech for big data accelerated during and just after Covid). 50% of payments by all customers are either on time or ahead of time. The payment average is 4 days over payment terms this year so far, 3 days over being the median. But every one of them has paid what they are supposed to, and that's going back 19 years. Semiconductors is a very honourable industry and it's great to be part of it. #customersuccess #payments #customerretention #semiconductors

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Interesting takeover bid to take ASMPT private by KKR. There is a lot of movement and potential consolidation in the advance packaging space, that’s growing fast, driven by AI applications. In particular hybrid bonding is of interest due to its use in 3D packaging and upcoming implementation for high bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks that are integrated with logic chips for AI processing. ASMPT has a strong packaging experience and a hybrid bonder with pretreatment modules from EVG on the market. An interesting twist is ASM International’s 25% stake in ASMPT, which has been an activist shareholder target in the past. Activists suggested in the past that there were no synergies between the companies and the stake should be divested for shareholders’ benefit. However, things change and I would argue that there are very strong synergies with ASMI’s deposition technology as ALD and new materials are introduced for advance packaging. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. #ALD, #ASMPT, #ASMI

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I have finally delved into this year's "100 Silicon Startups Worth Watching in 2024," recently published by EE Times | Electronic Engineering Times. One insight from Peter Clarke in his preface is the interesting shift in the geographical distribution of these top 100 companies. While there's a slight decline in California and North American representation (is it real?), the most striking changes are the sharp decrease in Chinese companies and the meaningful rise in European entries. Peter attributes the Chinese decline to trade tensions: "#China continues to have high levels of startup activity, but its reduced presence on the Silicon 100 reflects the trade tensions between the U.S. and China. That friction has intensified in recent years and has hit a number of Chinese startups that may have had international aspirations but have been denied access to leading-edge silicon out of foundry TSMC." #Europe, on the other hand, has seen an increase from 23 to 29 startups, with the U.K. leading the charge: "The U.K. has 12 startups on the current list, up from nine startups in version 23. The U.K., with longstanding entrepreneurial bases in Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, and Edinburgh, has enjoyed strong representation for many years." In my view, this growth is a testament to #Europe's robust academic system, coupled with government support, investments, and incubators like Silicon Catalyst.UK. Israel continues to excel: "Israel has always punched way above its weight by population and continues to do so," with its representation growing slightly from 7 to 8 this year, including NeuReality*, POLYN Technology, NeoLogic*, Speedata.io, Pliops, Chain Reaction Ltd.*, Hailo, .Quantum Machines . (*=new additions to the 2024 list). This list provides a good overview of this dynamic and evolving industry, blending both emerging and more established technologies. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the future of #semiconductor #innovation. For the full list: https://lnkd.in/dgfrNUWX

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Tackling Data Retention in SSDs (by Anil Burra from Intelligent Memory) 🤩 "SSDs have conquered the market due to their speed, durability, energy efficiency, and small form factor. However, write endurance and data retention are concerns in #embedded and #industrial applications, especially as the technology moves to ever smaller nodes." (Anil Burra) With the scaling of #NAND #flash #technology to higher densities (e.g., Triple-Level-Cell or Quad Level-Cell) and smaller process nodes, data retention becomes more challenging due to increased cell-to-cell interference and reduced margins for charge storage. Therefore, newer #technologies may have shorter specified data retention periods compared to older, more robust #SLC (Single-Level-Cell) or #MLC (Mul ti-Level-Cell) #NAND products. Two key factors affect data retention, the period over which #flashmemory can store #data without loss or corruption, in #NANDflash cells: program/erase (P/E) cycling and operating temperature. A very big thank you to Anil Burra from Intelligent Memory for this insightful article via Electronic Specifier Ltd with more background and insights via the link below 💡🙏👇 - A very good read to an important TOPIC 🤩 https://lnkd.in/eqdH7-N2 #semiconductorindustry #semiconductormanufacturing #innovation #it #ai #ssd #datastorage #automotiveindustry #embeddedsystems #ic #computer #computing #iot #memory #chip #chips #technology #tech

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A very interesting blog by Giuseppe Piccolboni of Weebit Nano Ltd about the use of our #ReRAM for #neuromorphic applications

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How does TechSovereign Partners stand out as consultants and contractors to the semiconductor industry? Because we don't bring on experts who "worked" in the industry. We are building a team of technologists who helped build it. Each one of our technologists has 25 years and more developing the tools and processes that the industry runs on. These processes work because we helped get them working in the first place. And we all have something in common. We just. love. solving. problems. We have an incredible amount of firepower for crushing out defects or optimizing processes, or for full integration scheme implementation. And in many cases, the engagement costs less than replacing a filter cartridge. We encounter clients all the time who fought with an issue for weeks (even months) until we engaged and in many cases found the answer within days. Even within hours. Ok, I'm not exaggerating, even within minutes. We say, let the easy stuff be easy. And we can make a LOT of things easy. It's what we're for. #ProcessEngineering #DefectReduction #ManufacturingExcellence #ProblemSolvers #SemiconductorIndustry #SemiconductorManufacturing #SemiconductorSolutions #AdvancedPackaging #PlatingProcesses #SemiconductorConsulting

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Nice low cost alternative to a fiber cable solution. No costly installation. And, the 60GHz spectrum is Unlicensed so NO spectrum reoccurring data usage costs is great for ROI.

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Contract Price Increases Offset Seasonal Slump, Boosting #DRAM Q1 Revenue by 5.1%, Says TrendForce Corporation TrendForce reveals that the #DRAM industry experienced a 5.1% revenue increase in 1Q24 compared to the previous quarter. This growth—reaching US$18.35 billion—was driven by rising contract prices for mainstream products, with the price increase being more significant than in 4Q23. As a result, most companies in the industry continued to see revenue growth. The top three suppliers experienced a decline in shipments in the first quarter, demonstrating the industry’s off-season effect. Additionally, downstream companies had higher inventory levels, which led to a significant reduction in #procurement volume. As for ASP, the top three suppliers continued to benefit from contract price increases seen in 4Q23. With inventory levels still healthy, there was a strong intention to raise prices. #Mobile DRAM saw the highest price increase out of all applications thanks to strong sales of Chinese #smartphones. On the other hand, the price increase for consumer DRAM was the lowest among all applications, as manufacturers still need to clear their inventories. Thanks again to TrendForce Corporation for the full article with more background and insights via the link below 💡🙏👇 https://lnkd.in/eXyJeY8D #semiconductorindustry #semiconductors #semiconductor #technology #tech #informationtechnology #memory #smartphones #pc #notebook #server #mobile #artificialintelligence #ai #aiot #chip #chips #geopolitics MEMPHIS Electronic Intelligent Memory Neumonda Samsung Electronics Micron Technology SK hynix Nanya Technology Winbond

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PCIe Gen6 + 5nm + MRVL SerDes = Lowest Power for AI!!

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HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory), which is based on DRAM products, is a crucial building block for data centers. The following article addresses some complex issues in building such products. https://lnkd.in/gSYcAxuN

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Industry collaboration is a key to developing the hardware necessary to advance #AI #technology. It’s great to see tech groups work together to develop custom AI chip solutions for the good of our world. In today’s #ConnectingAI #54, read about how AI is helping make our lives better and how it’s possible because of custom AI chips: https://lnkd.in/gQp_MbK7 #artificialintelligence #machinelearning

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