D&R Headline News (October 2011)

Headlines for Monday Oct. 31, 2011

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Microchip Technology Licenses Sonics' On-Chip Networks for Industry-Leading 32-bit Microcontroller Family

Sonics today announced Microchip Technology Inc. has licensed a number of its popular on-chip networks and memory subsystems for its award-winning 32-bit PIC32 microcontroller family.

• Chinese processors power supercomputer
• TI Introduces Sitara AM335x ARM Microprocessors, the Industry’s First $5 High-Performance, Feature-Packed ARM Cortex-A8 Devices
• Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 2.7% in September
• Cadence Palladium XP Enables QLogic to Rapidly Develop Sophisticated Network Switch
• SiliconBlue's New "Los Angeles" 40-nm Ultra-Low-Power 640, 1K and 4K LP and HX Devices Sampling

Headlines for Friday Oct. 28, 2011

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ARM Discloses Technical Details Of The Next Version Of The ARM Architecture

ARM today disclosed technical details of its new ARMv8 architecture, the first ARM architecture to include a 64-bit instruction set. ARMv8 broadens the ARM architecture to embrace 64-bit processing and extends virtual addressing, building on the rich heritage of the 32-bit ARMv7 architecture upon which market leading cores such as the Cortex™-A9 and Cortex-A15 processors are built.

• Lattice, Valens Semiconductor Announce New Reference Design For The Surveillance Camera Market
• Global Unichip Refines Business Direction
• Sterling Partners Agrees to Acquire MOSAID Technologies for $46 per Share
• MIPS Technologies 'Processor IP at the Heart of Sequans' New LTE SoCs for Handsets and Tablets
• MIPS Technologies' First Quarter Earnings Grow Sequentially
• MIPS Technologies Appoints William Slater as Chief Financial Officer
• AppliedMicro Selects TSMC as Manufacturing Partner for ARM 64-bit SoCs On Advanced 40nm and 28nm Process Technology
• AppliedMicro Revitalizes the Cloud with World's First 64-bit ARM Architecture Compliant Processor Converging Compute Performance with Power Efficiency
• AppliedMicro Showcases World's First 64-bit ARM v8 Core

Headlines for Thursday Oct. 27, 2011

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H.264/AVC Superior DCI 4K Support and 3D Full HD Video Processing Now in the Evatronix JPEG 2000 Encoder

Evatronix have announced the new generation of the JPEG 2000 encoder IP core. Thanks to its innovative multi-channel single-core architecture the controller is capable of seamless processing of DCI 4K or 3D Full HD quality images at the impressive rates of 24 (DCI 4K) or 50 (3D Full HD) frames per second.

• TSMC Reports Third Quarter EPS of NT$1.17
• New Magillem Verification Scenarii (MVS) Environment Configures Validation of IP & Sub-systems, and Automates Test Bench Generation
• Interoperability verified: CommAgility & Radiocomp MTI
• CEVA, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2011 Financial Results
• Cadence CEO laments loss of VC in semis
• Intilop to showcase their 3rd generation enhanced Ultra-low latency 10G bit TCP Offload Engine and system solutions for the Financial Markets at the FIX Protocol Conference
• Cadence Reports Q3 2011 Financial Results
• UMC sees utilization falling below 70% in Q4
• Atmel Samples First ARM Cortex-M4 based Flash Microcontroller; Unveils Fifth-Generation Family
• Report: HP readies ARM-based servers
• Arasan Chip Systems Appoints Vice President of Worldwide Marketing

Headlines for Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011

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RAD3 Communications, Inc. Announces Intent to be Acquired by PMC-Sierra

RAD3 Communications, a Calgary-based communications intellectual property (IP) company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by PMC-Sierra, the semiconductor innovator transforming storage, optical and mobile networks.

• Kineto licenses Imagination’s HelloSoft Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) and Noise Cancellation (NC) for its Smart Wi-Fi Application on Android Phones
• Synopsys' DesignWare Audio IP Achieves First-Pass Silicon Success in Leading 65-nm and 55-nm Process Technologies
• Xilinx and Cadence Introduce an Extensible Virtual Platform to Enable Software-Centric Approach for Embedded Software Developers
• Freescale reveals new product platform that integrates ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-M4 and Cortex(TM)-A5 cores
• TSMC's R&D chief sees 10 years of scaling
• One on one with lead designer of Cortex-A7
• ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore Fast Processor Models Provided by Imperas and OVP
• Samsung and Cadence Announce Production of Breakthrough 32nm HD Digital Camera SoC for Ambarella

Headlines for Tuesday Oct. 25, 2011

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ARM Holdings Plc Reports Results For The Third Quarter And Nine Months Ended 30 September 2011

ARM Holdings plc announces its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended 30 September 2011.

• Mentor Graphics Delivers Emulation Solutions for the Verification of USB SuperSpeed (3.0) Products
• Xilinx MicroBlaze Model Provided by Imperas and OVP
• Xilinx Ships World's Highest Capacity FPGA and Shatters Industry Record for Number of Transistors by 2X
• VIA Telecom Selects Arteris C2C High-Speed Inter-Chip Communications IP
• EnSilica launches version 2.5 of its eSi-RISC Development Suite
• Imagination launches HelloSoft 4G VoLTE platform and SDK
• Triad Semiconductor Introduces Three New Configurable High Voltage Mixed Signal ASICs
• eSilicon Selects Synopsys' Custom IC Design Solution and Tapes Out 28-nm Designs
• Why Intel is not inside TVs, smartphones
• Tablet PC Architectures Dominated by ARM and iOS; New Kindle Could Light a Fire Under Android
• EnVerv Selects Tensilica for Smart Grid Power Line Communications
• MIPS Technologies and Starboard Reach Agreement
• Jur-ASIC Parts Program Recreates Obsolete and NLA Devices

Headlines for Monday Oct. 24, 2011

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Open-Silicon Launches ARM Center of Excellence

Open-Silicon today announced the launch of its ARM® Center of Excellence. The new engineering group will focus on providing complete SoC development solutions for low-power chip development to the networking, telecommunications, storage and computing markets.

• Ashling Microsystems Announces New High Performance Debug and Trace Probe for ARM devices
• D2 Technologies Partners with Altair Semiconductor to Create Ultra-Low Power 4G VoLTE Communications Solution
• Mentor Graphics and MoreThanIP Collaborate to Deliver Veloce Emulation Solutions for Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Verification
• CEVA and Mindspeed to Demonstrate Real-World LTE Small Cell Base Station Technology at 4G World
• Xilinx Continues Record Fast 7 Series FPGA Product Rollout, Secures Over 200 Design Wins & Ships Thousands of Devices Worldwide
• Cadence CEO: Chip execs eye China, India
• Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs may launch in March
• TSMC 28nm Technology in Volume Production

Headlines for Friday Oct. 21, 2011

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ARM unleashes 'little dog' on Intel's tail

While ARM is certainly making a rather big deal over its "big-little" A7/A15 core combo, its partners may not be completely sold on the idea.

• Altera's 28-nm Stratix V FPGA Selected by Infinera For Use in DTN-X Multi-Terabit Packet-Optical Transport Network Platform
• Altera's CEO sees parallels to '08 downturn
• Arasan Chip Systems Demonstrates Industry's First UFS 1.0 Link Layer IP and Hardware Development Platform
• Altera Announces Third Quarter Results

Headlines for Thursday Oct. 20, 2011

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Sequans Enters Agreement with Fujitsu Semiconductor

Sequans has established a technology and marketing collaboration with Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited for the purpose of providing customers with a comprehensive, high-performance LTE product offering that combines Fujitsu Semiconductor’s multimode 2G/3G/LTE RF solution with Sequans’ just-announced, next generation LTE baseband solutions.

• Rambus Reports Third Quarter Financial Results
• Musical ARM chairs as Drew goes strategic
• Infineon and Lantiq Achieve Lawsuit Withdrawal and License Grant Without Monetary Consideration in Patent Litigation with CIF Licensing LLC
• Sequans Unveils Next-Generation FDD and TDD LTE Chips and Global LTE Platforms
• Mentor Graphics Announces the Next-Generation Nucleus RTOS Addressing Power Management and Connectivity Issues for Embedded Systems
• Xilinx Announces Q2 Fiscal 2012 Results
• MOSAID Advises Shareholders To Take No Action On Increased Wi-LAN Offer

Headlines for Wednesday Oct. 19, 2011

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ARM Unveils Its Most Energy Efficient Application Processor Ever; Redefines Traditional Power and Performance Relationship with big.LITTLE Processing

The Cortex-A7 processor builds on the low-power leadership established by the Cortex-A8 processor that is at the heart of many of today's most popular smartphones. A single Cortex-A7 processor delivers 5x the energy-efficiency and is one fifth the size of the Cortex-A8 processor, while providing significantly greater performance.

• Freescale Licenses ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A15 Processor Cores for Future Generations of i.MX Products
• WiLAN Raises All Cash Offer to Acquire MOSAID to $42.00 per MOSAID Share
• ABI Research Teardown: iPhone 4S has New RF Front End, Altered Qualcomm Modem, and a Throttled Apps Processor
• SoCtronics Announces the First 28nm Design Tapeout From India by the World's Premier Design Service Company
• Arasan Chip Systems Announces Mixed Signal USB 2.0 PHY IP

Headlines for Tuesday Oct. 18, 2011

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ARM and TSMC Tape Out First 20nm ARM Cortex-A15 Multicore Processor

ARM and TSMC today announced that they have taped out the first 20nm ARM® Cortex(TM)-A15 MPCore(TM) processor. The two companies completed the implementation from RTL to tape out in six months using TSMC's Open Innovation Platform® (OIP) 20nm design ecosystem.

• Intrinsic-ID launches Confidentio Security Processing Unit (SPU) for mobile applications
• Altera and Eutecus Announce World's First 1080p/30fps Video Analytics Solution on an FPGA
• Analyst: Chip market downturn to be brief
• Evatronix Enhances its NAND Flash Controller Compatibility with Toggle Mode Support
• ARM and Cadence Achieve Industry Milestone with Tape Out of 20nm ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore Processor
• Synopsys Low Power Solution Accelerates Time to Market for 3G Mobile IC
• NanGate Design Optimizer and Library Creator for Advanced 28nm SoC Design Adopted by Fujitsu Semiconductor

Headlines for Monday Oct. 17, 2011

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Sidense Raises Additional $5.6M Venture Capital

Sidense announced today that it has raised an additional $5.6 million for its Round C financing from several sources, including one new source, Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF).

• Chipworks Partners With Elysium Digital LLC
• iPhone 4S Shows Key Design and Component Changes
• Report: Samsung ramping Apple's A6 chip
• eMemory and Grace Semiconductor Expand Partnership, Develop Diverse Solutions and Advanced Processes
• Lattice Announces New Release of ispLEVER Classic Design Tool Suite
• Advantest Standardizes on SpringSoft's Verdi Debug System with Multi-Year Contract
• Cadence Library Characterization Scripts Now Available in New TSMC Reference Kit
• Faraday Technology Adopts ATopTech's Aprisa for Physical Implementation at Advanced Process Nodes
• Lattice Announces New Release of ispLEVER Classic Design Tool Suite

Headlines for Friday Oct. 14, 2011

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Xylon's 3D graphics accelerator IP core targets the Xilinx Zynq-7000 Extensible Processor Platform (EPP) family

The new IP core from Xylon's logicBRICKS IP library enables designers to use industry standard graphics API and add 3D graphics to their Xilinx Zynq-7000 EPP designs

• 45nm and Below Grabs 24% of Wafer Demand in 2011
• Dolphin Integration adds value-added resellers for its mixed-signal EDA
• TSMC's Chang gives bleak outlook for 2012
• Costs up at India's R&D centers
• SMSC Inter-Chip Connectivity Technology Licensed by Samsung
• LG Electronics Accelerates Analog Simulation by 10X with Synopsys CustomSim
• Chips&Media to Exhibit at the 1'st TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum

Headlines for Wednesday Oct. 12, 2011

• Imperas Cooperates with Renesas Electronics on Verification of OVP Fast Processor Models of Renesas V850 Cores
• MoSys Announces Bandwidth Engine Development Kits
• Altera Embeds Synopsys' Virtual Prototyping Technology in New ARM-based SoC FPGA Offering
• UMC and Synopsys Collaborate to Develop DesignWare IP for 28-nanometer Technology
• Variscite announces the VAR-SOM-OM44 OMAP4460, 1.5GHz Dual-Core

Headlines for Tuesday Oct. 11, 2011

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Altera Introduces SoC FPGAs: Integrating ARM Processor System and FPGA into 28-nm Single-Chip Solution

Altera today unveiled its family of ARM-based SoC FPGAs, integrating 28-nm Cyclone® V and Arria® V FPGA fabric, a dual-core ARM® Cortex(TM)-A9 MPCore(TM) processor, error correcting code (ECC) protected memory controllers, peripherals and high-bandwidth interconnect into a single chip.

• Gemalto Select Keil Tools for ARM Processor-based Smartcard Development
• Altera Releases FPGA Industry's First Virtual Target for Software Development on SoC FPGAs
• Imec implements multi-mode digital TV receiver on reconfigurable processor with record area efficiency
• Zero Latency for intoPIX FPGA-based JPEG2000 Encoder & Decoder IP-Cores
• IntegrIT's DSP Math Library Now Available for Tensilica's Baseband DSPs
• Digital Media Professionals (DMP) Joins TSMC Soft IP Alliance
• Imec IR-UWB enables hi-quality low-power mobile applications

Headlines for Monday Oct. 10, 2011

• Nuvoton Introduces First Audio SoC with ARM Technology
• Evatronix Develops MIPI SLIMbus IP To Help LnK Introduce their New Product - I2S to SLIMbus Audio Bridge
• Chips&Media to deliver CODA980, the latest video IP core with highest quality encoder

Headlines for Friday Oct. 07, 2011

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Arasan Chip Systems Announces 1080p HD Display Support with MIPI DSI IP

Arasan announced today that the company continues to push the limits of production ready MIPI DSI IPs through the introduction of 1080p High-Definition Display support on its popular DSI Host and Device IP’s.

• TSMC September 2011 Sales Report
• Synopsys Acquires Extreme DA
• Imagination Technologies licenses further high-performance graphics processor core to MediaTek

Headlines for Thursday Oct. 06, 2011

• Crocus and IBM Sign Technology Development and Patent License Agreements
• Annual Shipments of ARM Processors Forecast to Equal Twice The World's Population in 2015
• Silicon Infusion's HDRM-D2 Demodulator gets 256QAM Option
• IEF: TSMC pushes innovation for recovery
• Gennum's Snowbush IP Group Receives SATA-IO Certification Revision 3.0 at 6Gb/s
• ARM and UMC Extend Long-Term IP Partnership into 28nm

Headlines for Wednesday Oct. 05, 2011

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Fab-Lite/Asset-Lite Business Model Gaining Momentum

Arguably, no other trend has so quickly swept through the IC industry and stirred up so much debate about the future of chip making as the spread of the "fab-lite" (or "asset-lite") business model, which is being embraced by a growing number of major integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) worldwide.

• EDA Consortium Reports Revenue Increase for Q2 2011
• eSilicon and MIPS Technologies Announce Tapeout of 28nm 1.5GHz Microprocessor Cluster for Embedded Platforms
• Alvand Technologies Offers Analog Mixed-Signal IP in 28nm Process
• Yogitech Raises 1 Million Euros from Atlante Ventures
• Fujitsu Selects Wind River for Android Testing
• TranSwitch Corporation Announces a Business Re-organization and Restructuring in Line with the Company's Growth Strategy and Narrows Guidance for the 3rd Quarter of 2011
• Analog to Reach $61.9 Billion by 2015

Headlines for Tuesday Oct. 04, 2011

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Kilopass Non Volatile Memory XPM Intellectual Property Core Holds Configuration Data in Haier Digital TV Decoder

Kilopass today announced that its XPM IP is integrated into a Haier Set Top Box (STB) decoder SoC targeting the global high-growth STB market. Configuration data for mixed signal components are programmed in Kilopass XPM IP for each Haier SoC during final test and can be reprogrammed once installed to accommodate wear in the mixed signal components over time.

• MoSys Demonstrates Bandwidth Engine IC Interoperability with Avago Technologies SerDes
• Quantenna Announces Strategic Partnership with Samsung Electronics to Develop Next-Generation Wireless Products
• Adapteva Announces 28nm 64-Core Epiphany-IV Microprocessor Chip

Headlines for Monday Oct. 03, 2011

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Memoir Systems Writes the Next Chapter on How to Increase System Performance

Through its unique, patent-pending Algorithmic Memory(TM) technology, Memoir solves the Memory Operations Per Second (MOPS) bottlenecks that are plaguing today's SoC products. The company's technology provides an order of magnitude increase in embedded memory performance.

• Global Semiconductor Sales Increase in August
• Synopsys' DesignWare SuperSpeed USB 3.0 IP Achieves More Than 40 Design Wins
• Memoir Systems Introduces Groundbreaking Technology for Networking and Multicore SoC Products
• Analog Bits Expands SERDES Product Line to Include SONET Grade IP
• Ensphere's Shipments of Thunderbolt (Optical) Chips Exceeded 500k in 2011
• Sonics and Lantiq Team to Design Next-Generation Networks for the Digital Home
• ColdFire architecture continues to blaze new territory in processor licensing models
• SpringSoft Unveils New VIA Exchange for Development of Custom Applications with Verdi Debug System
• Silicon Infusion Announces 3-Layer ISDB-T Demodulator
• RivieraWaves announces the world's first qualified baseband IP for dual mode Bluetooth 4.0
• Cavium Unveils OCTEON Fusion: Industry's Most Powerful "Base Station-on-a-Chip" Family