Virage Logics's new IP venture: It's the subsystems, stupid!

Junko Yoshida, EE Times
(04/13/2010 6:51 PM EDT)

NEW YORK — Semiconductor IP vendor Virage Logic, whose quarterly revenue is less than one-fifth that of processor IP giant ARM, may be "off the radar" among investors and media. But its ideas and ambitions are as big as anybody's, according to the company's CEO Alex Shubat who talked to EE Times this week.

For starters, Virage Logic no longer sees itself as just a provider of a collection of semiconductor IP cores. Instead, it's betting on a future of becoming a supplier of "subsystems" that can be quickly, painlessly and deeply embedded in SoCs for its licensees.

Further, the company is said to be prepared to offer just about everything chip vendors need to succeed in their SoC business.

That includes: a close partnership with foundries on the next-generation process node; investment in tools for design for yield and design for test; a design team to integrate IP cores and build SoCs; and a dedicated team to maintain and refresh IPs; and disperse those IPs across different subsystems.

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