Steve Majors

Texas Instruments Wins $4.6 Billion in #ChipsAct Grants, Loans - Funding will support $18 billion in spending in #Texas, #Utah - Biden administration almost finished allocating #chips grants Texas Instruments Inc. is set to receive $1.6 billion in Chips Act grants and $3 billion in loans, the #Bidenadministration announced Friday, marking the latest major award from a program designed to boost #American #semiconductormanufacturing. The funding will help pay for one factory in Utah and two in Texas — projects that will cost about $18 billion through 2029 — the Commerce Department said in a statement. The effort is expected to generate around 2,000 #manufacturing #jobs and thousands more in #construction. In total, #TexasInstruments plans to spend around $40 billion across both states, including an additional two factories in #Sherman, Texas. It’s likely that those will come online after 2030, and the Commerce Department has said it will prioritize projects that will be done by the end of the decade. Thanks again to Mackenzie Hawkins and Bloomberg for the full article with more background and insights via the link below 💡🙏👇 https://lnkd.in/eFiP2W4P #semiconductorindustry #semiconductors #semiconductor #technology #tech #it #chips #it #geopolitics #subsidies #usa #innovation #chip #ic

265

2 Comments

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

1

Great article with insights by Bernard Murphy at SemiWiki.com, "Arteris Frames Network-On-Chip Topologies in the Car." "... while there is plenty of complexity in evolving car architectures and the consequent impact on subsystem chip/chiplet designs, connected on-chip through both coherent and non-coherent networks, the intent behind these systems is quite clear. We just need to start thinking about total car system architecture rather than individual chip functions." #Arteris #NetworkOnChip #Automotive https://bit.ly/3UiKqls

25

Arm Is Rebuffed by #Intel After Inquiring About Buying Product Unit - Intel’s rapid decline has spurred takeover speculation - Arm is interested in product group, not factory operations Arm Holdings Plc approached Intel Corporation about potentially buying the ailing chipmaker’s product division, only to be told that the business isn’t for sale, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. In the high-level inquiry, Arm didn’t express interest in Intel’s #manufacturing operations, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. Intel has two main units: a product group that sells #chips for #personalcomputers, #servers and #networking equipment, and another that operates its factories. Combining with Intel would help Arm’s reach and kick-start a move toward selling more of its own products. The company currently licenses #technology and designs to customers, who then turn them into complete components. Its client list includes the biggest names in #technology, such as Amazon.com Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Thanks again to Ian King and Bloomberg News for the full article with more background and insights via the link below 🙏💡👇 https://lnkd.in/eCDvrC_h #semiconductorindustry #semiconductors #semiconductor #tech #it #chip #chips #innovation #technology #semiconductormanufacturing

130

6 Comments

Tessolve, a leading semiconductor engineering solutions provider, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire German chip design firm Dream Chip Technologies in a deal valued up to ₹400 crore. This acquisition strengthens Tessolve’s global footprint and enhances its capabilities in delivering end-to-end, turnkey design solutions for advanced chips, particularly in System on Chip (SoC) applications across the AI, automotive, data center, and industrial sectors. As part of this acquisition, Tessolve will add four new delivery centers in Germany and the Netherlands, including a specialized Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and imaging center of excellence. Srini Chinamilli, Tessolve’s CEO, highlighted that this deal positions Tessolve among the few global design firms with comprehensive capabilities to tackle complex ASIC design projects. Jens Benndorf, CEO of Dream Chip, noted that the combined strengths of Dream Chip’s design IP and Tessolve’s established services will enable fully integrated solutions, from chip architecture to post-silicon testing and supply chain management. This collaboration aims to drive innovation, especially in camera-based and AI-driven ASIC applications. In parallel, reports indicate that Hero Electronix, a key stakeholder in Tessolve, may sell a 25-30% stake in the company, though Hero remains committed as a long-term majority shareholder. Thanks again to The Economic Times for the full article with more background and insights click the source link in the comments below 💡 🙏👇 #Semiconductors #ChipDesign #Acquisition #TechInnovation #AI #ADAS #AutomotiveTech #SoC #ASIC #DataCenter #SemiconductorIndustry #Tessolve #DreamChip

247

3 Comments

Lattice Semiconductor Explores Bid for Intel’s Altera Unit: What’s at Stake? Lattice Semiconductor Corp. is reportedly considering a bold move to acquire Intel Corporation’s Altera unit, potentially disrupting Intel's current plan to sell a minority stake in the business. This development has drawn attention due to the scale of the transaction and its implications for the semiconductor industry. Intel acquired Altera for $17 billion in 2015, but recent reports suggest private equity firms, including Francisco Partners, Bain Capital, and Silver Lake Management, are weighing investments in Altera at a valuation of around $3 billion—far below Intel's original price. These investments may involve structured financial instruments. Lattice, a significantly smaller player with a $7.48 billion market value, is working with advisors and seeking private equity backing for its potential bid. CEO Ford Tamer, a seasoned semiconductor executive, is leading this effort. Intel remains focused on selling a minority stake in Altera by early 2024 as part of its broader turnaround strategy, with an eventual IPO of the unit in view. Altera's primary focus is on multi-use chips for telecommunications networks. While deliberations continue, no decisions have been made. The outcome of this process could reshape market dynamics, highlighting the evolving strategies of semiconductor giants. Thanks again to Yahoo Finance for the full article with more background and insights click the source link in the comments below. #SemiconductorIndustry #LatticeSemiconductor #IntelAltera #ChipIndustryNews #PrivateEquity #SemiconductorInnovation #TechAcquisitions

307

32 Comments

Samsung Electronics Elec plans global job cuts of up to 30% in some divisions, sources say 💡 #Samsung Electronics, opens new tab, the world's top maker of #smartphones, #TVs and #memory #chips, is cutting up to 30% of its overseas staff at some divisions, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. #SouthKorea-based Samsung has instructed subsidiaries worldwide to reduce sales and marketing staff by about 15% and the administrative staff by up to 30%, two of the sources said. The plan will be implemented by the end of this year and would impact jobs across the #Americas, #Europe, #Asia and #Africa, one person said. Six other people familiar with the matter also confirmed Samsung's planned global headcount reduction. Samsung employed a total of 267,800 people as of the end of 2023, and more than half, or 147,000 employees, are based overseas, according to its latest sustainability report. Thanks to Seunggyu lim , Aditya Kalra and Reuters for the full article with more background and insights via the link below 💡🙏👇 https://lnkd.in/eFE75pWK #semiconductorindustry #semiconductors #semiconductor #technology #tech #foundry #dram #nand #nandflash #chip #innovation #ai #hbm #it

48

1 Comment

#Memory Industry Revenue Expected to Reach Record High in 2025 Due to Increasing Average Prices and the Rise of #HBM and QLC, Says TrendForce Corporation 💡 TrendForce 集邦科技’s latest report on the memory industry reveals that #DRAM and #NAND #Flash revenues are expected to see significant increases of 75% and 77%, respectively, in 2024, driven by increased bit demand, an improved supply-demand structure, and the rise of high-value products like #HBM. Furthermore, industry revenues are projected to continue growing in 2025, with DRAM expected to increase by 51% and #NANDFlash by 29%, reaching record highs. This growth is anticipated to revive capital expenditures and boost demand for upstream raw materials, although it will also increase cost pressure for memory buyers. Thanks again to TrendForce Corporation for the full article with more background and insights via the link below 💡🙏👇 https://lnkd.in/eQufNZQg #semiconductorindustry #semiconductors #semiconductor #technology #tech #chip #chips #ai #aiot #consumerelectronics #datacenter #it #ic #chips #artificialintelligence #samsung #micron #skhynix #kioxia #nanya #westerndigital #winbond #japan #usa #southkorea #taiwan #china #it

129

Wrapping up #DAC61, I am curious about the decision to rebrand the event as "DAC, The Chips to Systems Conference," instead of the traditional "Design Automation Conference." This is not just a simple change of words — consider the keynote speakers. Last year, they were all #EDA luminaries:  Mike Ellow (recently appointed CEO of Siemens EDA), Lip-Bu Tan (former Cadence CEO), Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli (founder of both Cadence and Synopsys) and Walden C. ( Wally ) Rhines - long time CEO of Mentor Graphics. In contrast, this year, the keynote speakers were Jim Keller (Tenstorrent), Gary Patton (Intel) and Alan Lee (ADI) - all "Chip to Systems" executives. Is this a coincidence? Does it reflect EDA companies taking a lesser role at DAC? Siemens EDA (Siemens Digital Industries Software) was a notable exception as a Diamond sponsor, investing in a sizable booth and team, and hosting guests for a Giants' game at Oracle Park. (The famous Denali party is long gone...) Or is it because part of Design Automation is increasingly being done within "Chips to Systems" companies? Just look at Jim Keller discussing the importance of #opensource and Alan Lee explaining that "Product Design is Complex." What do you think? #Designautomation #chipdesign

55

2 Comments

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

50

1 Comment

Grant, contain, and slap seems to be the Tech-moto for Biden admin's last full week of the year. Hello everyone, hope your holiday season is blessed with spirits, food & fun... the healthy stuff starts the 1st of Jan'25 :) Christmas started a couple of days early for tech giants TI, Samsung, and Amkor. Perhaps it was a last minute "now or never deal" because the current admin feels the Chips Act will be shifting to protect Mr. Musk's Tech vision endeavors and not necessarily the local tech manufacturing industry. Some experts say it’s just "executive end of year bonuses", other say it is not enough to really get the industry re-shored and efficiently working. One thing is clear regarding the Chips act, it will either die or get doubled down by Trump's administration... no in between. Regarding Chinese legacy chips. The Biden admin launched yet another US probe. This will surely involve more tariffs and legislation that will contain the use and purchase of the Chinese dominated commodity. Again, too little to late, especially for EU mkt dependence on CN legacy chips, but it had to be done before the end of the year because... who knows what will happen once Mr. Musk has a say on the matter after Jan 20th. Legacy chips are essential for EV manufacturing... you do the math. Finally, the TSMC, the only Corporation in the CHIPS ACT that has delivered and surpassed the chip fab output expectation, has been found liable for selling tech chips that ended up in Huawei phones. The result is more blacklisted customers. Not a terrible consequence for TSMC, but it set ups the stage for more government intervention. TSMC ruined the curve productions for all other companies subsidized by the CHIPS ACT. In other words, TSMC has put to shame everyone else. In one yr they build a humongous chip fab plant, hired local talent, and are now having the same output as their biggest plants in Taiwan. On the other hand, we have US companies with almost double the subsidize, that have yet to build 1 new chip, in a new plant. What do you think, will the new US administration use the same initiative of granting, holding, and slapping to re-shore tech manufacturing, or will they wallow and reshape the whole program? Hard to say. One thing is clear though, Mr. Musk will have a huge say on what will happen to the US tech manufacturing ind. in the next 4 yrs. Thank you for reading amigos y amigas. Have a lovely week, don't forget to grateful and remember to have fun!

3

1 Comment

a very nice article on chiplets, delving into physical connectivity (bridges like EMIB and CoWoS-R, standards BOW and UCIe), socket concept, thermal issues, interfacing it is a summary article, so doesn't dog deep but gives a comprehensive summary https://lnkd.in/gPfJFd6g

32

2 Comments

Terrific article in Nikkei Asia about EdgeCortix's innovative & efficient approach to delivering AI inference at the edge. Worth a read.

3

Micron’s team delivered a record revenue quarter for our fiscal Q1, which represented an 84% increase from our year-ago revenue results. Our data center revenue reached a record high, making up more than half of our revenue for the first time, with revenue growing 400% year-over-year. Our shipments of HBM — a critical product for #AI data center servers — were ahead of plan and we doubled HBM revenue from the previous quarter. Customer inventory reductions in consumer-oriented segments and seasonality are slowing near-term bit shipment estimates. That said, we expect this adjustment period to be relatively brief and anticipate customer inventories reaching healthier levels by spring, enabling stronger bit shipments in the second half of fiscal and calendar 2025. Longer term, we see particularly robust growth ahead for HBM, with the total addressable market growing from $16 billion in 2024 to greater than $100 billion in 2030 (bigger than the entire combined DRAM/HBM market today). We continue to apply our technology leadership to create leading-edge products — from high-capacity server modules to SSDs, low-power DRAM and mobile memory — that address the high-growth segments of multiple markets, putting Micron in the strongest competitive position in our 46-year history.

2,011

66 Comments

TSMC and Cadence are collaborating on next-generation #AI-driven flows, including the Cadence Cerebrus™ Intelligent Chip Explorer, for design productivity and optimization and Pegasus™ Verification System for Physical verification Signoff. #Cadence #Signoff #PhysicalVerification #Design #FoundryCertified “We have a distinguished track record collaborating with TSMC to deliver a broad set of innovations across EDA, packaging and IP to accelerate system and semiconductor design and enable customers to achieve aggressive time-to-market goals. These new certified design flows and standardized solutions allow customers to confidently design for TSMC advanced nodes and usher in improved design efficiency and technological advancements,” said Chin-Chi Teng, SVP and GM, R&D, Cadence. Read the press release here: https://ow.ly/bTym50REHjG

29

the capacitor makes this circuit a low pass filter, as the author suggested the then reduces noise but even if one doesn't necessarily need a low pass filter, it improves phase margin of the feedback configuration (or is high pass in feedback) - very useful for marginally stable designs

3

Why NVDA should buy INTC... Intel has been struggling a lot lately with it's stock price down to a low of $18.84 from over $50 this past year. I remember hearing old timers at Intel refer to the company as a manufacturing company, not a microprocessor company. The true strength of Intel is its production and packaging. The company even famously pivoted from producing DRAM to processors in the 1980's. Microprocessors served them well for decades as computation and Internet scaled. However, the centrality of the microprocessor in computation today is diminishing, displaced by AI. Intel is trying to develop it's own AI hardware with very limited success, and the company enterprise valuation has shrunk to $110B Nvidia meanwhile, with its $2.6T enterprise valuation has the world's most lucrative ASIC product but can't produce enough of them. It seems to me like a perfect opportunity for Nvidia to buy Intel and complete their pivot to AI from microprocessors. I think it could do this on a all stock basis even. Nvidia would acquire the ability to manufacture it's own chips which could unleash new capabilities and profits. There are numerous other benefits like preventing Intel from failing and reshoring manufacturing of critical technology to America Intel is too important to fail and I am bullish on it's long term prospects

664

162 Comments

One Financial Ratio impresses in the Texas Instruments Q1-24 reporting. The CapEx to Revenue Ratio is 34% (share of revenues spent on CapEx). This is significantly higher than the full fab IDMs, having an average of 28%. TI is becoming more "FAB" than the Full Fabbers. TI reported Q1-24 in line with expectations. It was another tough quarter, down 16.4% annually and 10.2% sequentially. #TI #IDM #Semiconductor #Chipsact https://lnkd.in/dTG7bU29

73