Author Archives: paulmcl

Old standards never die

Posted on November 14, 2011 by paulmcl

I just put up a blog about the EDA interoperability forum, much of which is focused on standards. Which reminded me just how long-lived some standards turn out to be. Back in the late 1970s Calma shipped workstations (actually re-badged … Continue reading →

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Apple is the Most Valuable Company in the World

Posted on August 9, 2011 by paulmcl

I wrote about six months ago about how Apple was the most valuable tech company in the world. At the time Exxon was still significantly ahead and it seemed unlikely that Apple would catch them quickly. But today it happened. … Continue reading →

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On-chip supercomputers, AMBA 4, Coore’s law

Posted on July 12, 2011 by paulmcl

At DAC I talked with Mike Dimelow of ARM about the latest upcoming revision to the AMBA bus standards, AMBA 4. The standard gets an upgrade about every 5 years. The original ARM in 1992 ran at 10MIPS with a … Continue reading →

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Going to DAC? There’s an app for that

Posted on May 30, 2011 by paulmcl

Are you going to DAC in San Diego? Do you have an iPhone? In which case Bill Deegan’s dac48 app is something you should install before you get there. It’s free, which makes a nice change from EDA software pricing. … Continue reading →

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Intel buys an ARMy?

Posted on April 19, 2011 by paulmcl

Is Intel in trouble? Since it is the #1 semiconductor company and, shipping 22nm in Q4 this year with 14nm in 2013, it is two process generations ahead of everyone else it is hard to see why it would be. … Continue reading →

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Carl Icahn

Posted on March 30, 2011 by paulmcl

I ran into Wally Rhines at a Mentor press event yesterday. As I was leaving he took time to tell me how great the EDAgraffiti book is. “The best book on the EDA industry.” Actually, I think it is about … Continue reading →

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Nokia

Posted on February 12, 2011 by paulmcl

I’ve been following the cell-phone industry for years, ever since I was involved in strategic planning for VLSI Technology’s communications group, one of the first semiconductor companies to get involved in, first, GSM and then CDMA (we had a license … Continue reading →

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EDA and Wall Street

Posted on February 11, 2011 by paulmcl

Good news in a way: Merrill Lynch (or Bank of America Merrill Lynch as I suppose we have to get used to calling them) have re-started coverage of EDA with a 20 page report on the industry, much of which … Continue reading →

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DesignCon

Posted on February 3, 2011 by paulmcl

I spent Tuesday at DesignCon. I expected more EDA participation. All the big guys were there with skeleton crews and a few middle sized guys but they were outnumbered by all sorts of companies that are peripheral to design. How … Continue reading →

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3D chips: design tools

Posted on January 18, 2011 by paulmcl

One of the open areas for 3D chip design is what the design methodology needs to be and what design tools will be required. A more fundamental issue is going to be the business model to pay for tool development. … Continue reading →

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