D&R Headline News (April 2012)

Headlines for Monday Apr. 30, 2012

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Cadence Announces TripleCheck IP Validator for Faster IP Compliance Testing

Cadence today announced TripleCheck IP Validator, a new addition to the Cadence Verification IP (VIP) Catalog that simplifies and accelerates compliance testing of interface design IP. The expanding Cadence VIP Catalog is helping leading system and semiconductor companies quickly and thoroughly verify their implementations of standard interfaces, such as PCI Express 3.0.

• NXP today: 'Practically a Chinese company'
• Samsung Electronics Tapes out Gigahertz+ ARM Cortex-A15 Processor with Synopsys IC Compiler
• Worldwide Semiconductor Market Grew 3.7% in 2011 to $301 Billion -- IDC Expects 6-7% Revenue Growth in 2012
• Achronix chairman: Intel foundry gambit poised for payoff
• TSMC raises capex to record $8.5 billion, pulls in 20-nm
• Chip execs see 20 nm variants, 3-D ICs ahead
• PolyCore Software Introduces Poly-Platform 2.0 with Enhanced Memory Management Tools for Optimal Multicore Performance
• Huawei and Intel Collaborate on LTE TDD

Headlines for Friday Apr. 27, 2012

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AppliedMicro Unveils Apache Web Server Running on World's First 64-bit ARM Implementation

Applied Micro today announced the world's first web server implementation running on a 64-bit ARM v8-compliant processor.

• MIPS Technologies Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Financial Results
• Cosmic Circuits attains ISO 9001:2008 certification
• Intrinsic-ID enables Secure Boot Software Authentication on New VoIP Processor of Dialog Semiconductor
• Faraday Reported 2012 First Quarter Results First Quarter 2012
• Imagination licenses PowerVR graphics core to Sunplus Technology

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 26, 2012

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GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 8 Adds Tools To Enable 3D Chip Stacking at 20nm and Beyond

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced a significant milestone on the road to enabling 3D stacking of chips for next-generation mobile and consumer applications. At its Fab 8 campus in Saratoga County, NY, the company has begun installation of a special set of production tools to create Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs) in semiconductor wafers processed on the company’s leading-edge 20nm technology platform.

• TSMC Reports First Quarter EPS of NT$1.29
• Open-Silicon Expands Semiconductor Design Solutions
• Elecard announces UpScaler IP Core for design and development of video-output devices
• Cadence Reports First Quarter 2012 Financial Results
• Three Chinese Cellphone Suppliers Join the Top 10 According to Forward Concepts

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 25, 2012

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Intel exec says fabless model "collapsing"

It’s the beginning of the end for the fabless model according to Mark Bohr, the man I think of as Mr. Process Technology at Intel.

• Quantenna Communications Raises $79 Million Led by RUSNANO and Sequoia Capital
• Synopsys Extends HAPS Debug Visibility by 100X
• CAST's Talos Evaluation Kits Help Designers Choose the Best Microcontroller/Processor IP Cores
• SK Planet Partners with Elliptic Technologies To Secure HD Video Streaming On ARM TrustZone Platforms with Elliptic tVault HDCP 2.1
• Posedge Underscores Commitment to Growth with Opening of Two New Design Centers
• 3-D FPGAs enable silicon convergence
• Tiempo and Alcineo announce partnership for smartcard applications
• Xilinx Unveils the Vivado Design Suite for the Next Decade of 'All Programmable' Devices

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 24, 2012

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ARM Holdings plc Reports Results for the First Quarter 2012

ARM Holdings plc announces its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2012. Total dollar revenues in Q1 2012 were $209.4 million, up 13% on Q1 2011. Q1 sterling revenues were £132.5 million, up 14% year-on-year.

• Ingenic Semiconductor and Vivante Expand GPU Technology Partnership for Next Generation Mobile Products
• Algotochip Industry's First Company to Deliver Complete SoC GDSII From C Models of Algorithms
• IPextreme Taps IP Leaders for Constellations
• D16950 UART - All in One with IRDA onboard
• Achronix's New Speedster FPGAs Hit the Target
• Lattice Announces New 32 QFN Package For MachXO2 Programmable Logic Devices
• S3 Group and Cognovo to accelerate Software Modem System-on-Chip Design
• Marquise Technologies partners with Barco Silex for real-time JPEG2000 encoding
• China mulls national CPU architecture spec

Headlines for Monday Apr. 23, 2012

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Chips&Media delivers its latest CODA9A0 to Freescale

Chips&Media today announces that it has begun shipping the fully verified CODA9A0 video encoder and decoder IP to partners including Freescale, and it will be deployed in future i.MX application processors after i.MX6.

• Ericsson's JV ST-Ericsson announces new strategic direction
• CCS Licenses LDPC IP Cores from Creonic
• ARM and MStar Extend Relationship with License for ARM Cortex-A9 Processor
• Time for a return to the customer-backed joint venture foundry?
• Tensilica Reaches Audio DSP Milestones: 300 Million HiFi Audio/Voice DSPs, Over 100 Software Packages, More Than 30 Partners
• Imagination licenses its Ensigma UCC IP to Qualcomm
• Tensilica Adds Support for Dynamic Resolution Adaptation Audio Standard to HiFi Audio DSP Library
• Tensilica Expands Dataplane Processor R&D Center in Pune, India

Headlines for Friday Apr. 20, 2012

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No fab for Qualcomm but firm mulls business evolution

The problems acknowledged by Qualcomm Inc. in getting enough 28-nm chips out of its foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. are not about to prompt the company to build or acquire its own fab, according to Steve Mollenkopf, chief operating officer of the fabless chip company.

• Dolphin Integration highlights an innovative solution to improve drastically the performance of Embedded Flash memories
• Broadcom, Qualcomm, CSR, and Texas Instruments are Benefiting from $8 Billion Wireless Connectivity IC Market Bonanza

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 19, 2012

• Rambus Reports First Quarter Financial Results
• Altera Announces First Quarter Results
• Lattice Semiconductor Reports First Quarter 2012 Results
• Mentor Graphics Adds MIPI Protocol Verification IP to the Questa Verification IP Library
• Analyst: Linear Tech's outlook signals IC recovery
• Qualcomm engages other foundries amid 28-nm capacity shortage

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 18, 2012

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TSMC to offer only one process at 20-nm

TSMC will offer only one process at the 20-nm node, a change from the multiple processes that the foundry giant has offered customers for the past several nodes, a TSMC executive said Tuesday (April 17).

• Intel says 25% of shipments will be on 22-nm in Q2
• Mentor Graphics and Stonestreet One Announce Integrated Bluetooth Software Stack for Nucleus RTOS Targeting Low Power, Connected Embedded Development
• Lattice Is Recognized As "Core Partner" By Huawei
• Buying MIPS would bring AMD nothing much, say analysts
• TSMC's Chang: 'The worst is behind us' on 28-nm
• Tensilica Promotes Hiroyuki Uchimura to Managing Director of Japan Office
• Texas Instruments unveils industry's first real-time JPEG 2000 HD solution on multicore DSP
• Google to bundle MIPS support with Android
• GSA Reports A Decerase in March Semiconductor Funding Activity
• Advantech and Ittiam to Cooperate in HD Audio Transcoding Initiative on Multicore DSP
• Socle Technology Q1 Revenues Hit Record High and Year Revenues to Double Back
• Soitec outlines fully depleted product roadmap for advanced planar and three-dimensional transistors

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 17, 2012

• ARM Announces Cortex-A15 Quad-Core Hard Macro
• Arteris FlexNoC Interconnect IP Licensed by Core Logic for Mobile and Multimedia Processors
• China's SICMicro Selects MIPS Technologies' Processor IP for New Set-Top Box Chip
• Tensilica's ConnX BBE16 DSP IP Core for Digital Baseband Signal Processing Licensed to Renesas Electronics

Headlines for Monday Apr. 16, 2012

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CEVA Introduces CEVA-TeakLite-4 -- The Most Powerful, Low Power 32-bit DSP Architecture Framework for Advanced Audio and Voice Applications

Built on the proven foundation of the widely-used CEVA-TeakLite family, the CEVA-TeakLite-4 introduces innovative smart power management technology and supports customer-owned extensions, making it a highly flexible architecture and ideal for even the most area and power sensitive designs.

• Barco Silex delivers its JPEG 2000 IP cores on all 28nm FPGA platforms
• BBC R&D Designs Xilinx FPGAs into New Camera-Back Mount to Support Transmission of Video Over IP
• Xilinx Display Targeted Design Platform Accelerates Development of Super High Resolution 4K2K Displays
• Enhanced Xilinx Real-Time Video Engine Accelerates Path to Production for Next Generation Video Processing Equipment
• Altera and Eutecus Provide FPGA-Based Video Analytics Solution for Multi-Channel D1 Resolution Video Surveillance Systems
• ARM Expands Processor Optimization Pack Solutions for TSMC 40nm and 28nm Process Variants
• Fraunhofer and Intopix present DCP creation with real-time JPEG 2000 coding
• Soitec provides affordable paths to higher performance, lower-power processors for mobile and consumer devices
• intoPIX and AXON announce their collaboration on a new series of JPEG 2000 enabled products

Headlines for Friday Apr. 13, 2012

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Report: MIPS up for sale

MIPS Technologies Inc., a pioneer of the reduced instruction set computing (RISC) style of architecture, is looking for a buyer according to a Bloomberg report that referenced unnamed sources.

• Nvidia calls for move to 450mm wafers
• Would the Chinese buy MIPS?
• Imagination launches PowerVR Brazil SDK for ray traced rendering

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 12, 2012

• JEDEC Announces Plans to Standardize Non-Volatile Wireless Memory
• Altera Showcases Productivity and Cost Reduction Solutions for Multichannel Systems at 2012 NAB
• STARCHIP develops a High-performance 32-bit RISC Secure core based on CORTUS APS3s CPU
• UBM TechInsights takes first look inside Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processor
• Pure-Play Semiconductor Foundry Market Set for 12 Percent Growth in 2012
• Ittiam to Showcase High-Density, High-Quality Broadcast Solutions at NAB 2012
• Oxford Digital Limited and SMSC Collaborate on JukeBlox DSP

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 11, 2012

• intoPIX announces new JPEG 2000 & security IP-cores optimized for the 28nm FPGAs
• MtekVision Licenses Arteris FlexLLI MIPI Low Latency Interface (LLI) IP

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 10, 2012

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MediaTek Announces Acquisition of Leading DSP Technology Provider Coresonic AB

MediaTek today approved the purchase and acquisition of the Swedish company Coresonic AB, a global leader of Digital Signal Processor (DSP) technology. Following the formalization of the acquisition, Coresonic AB will become another wholly owned subsidiary of MediaTek in Europe.

• Altera's OpenCL for FPGAs Program Delivers Dramatic Reductions in Development Times for Early Customers
• Oasys Design Systems Closes Series B Funding With Investments From Intel Capital, Xilinx
• Amlogic Unveils Market Leading Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A9 Processor-Based SoCs for Next-Generation Tablet, Set-Top-Box and Mobile Devices
• TSMC March 2012 Sales Report
• Gartner Says India Semiconductor Spending to Reach $9.2 Billion in 2012, a 20 Percent Increase from 2011
• Nimbis Services Demonstrates WorkFlow-as-a-Service for EDA
• Cadence Low-Power, Advanced-Node Digital Technology Incorporated Into SMIC 40nm Reference Flow
• InterDigital Expands Agreements with Acer and Pantech
• SMIC Raises First Quarter 2012 Revenue and Gross Margin Guidance

Headlines for Monday Apr. 09, 2012

• EDA Consortium Reports Revenue Increase of over 12 Percent for Q4 2011
• TSMC Begins Further Expansion of Fab 14
• Xilinx Accelerating Design Productivity and Increasing System Performance Along the Video Production Chain at NAB 2012
• UMC Reports Sales for March 2012
• RealNetworks Completes Sale of Patents and Next Generation Video Codec Software to Intel

Headlines for Friday Apr. 06, 2012

Top Story

Extreme Results in Top 25 2011 Semiconductor Sales Ranking!

Although only 2% growth was registered in the worldwide semiconductor market in 2011, several companies posted results that were far different.

• intoPIX enhances its JPEG 2000 IP-cores with the support of the new Broadcast profile
• Netronome to Build World's Highest Performance Flow Processors on Intel 22nm Technology
• STMicroelectronics Leverages Apple Design Wins to Increase Consumer and Mobile MEMS Leadership
• GUC Monthly Sales Report - March 2012

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 05, 2012

• Mindspeed to cut jobs in wake of Picochip buy
• GEO Semiconductor Completes Series A Financing with Final $1 Million in Equity
• Recore Systems selects King Horn as distributor for Greater China
• Sital's EBR-1553 IP Core is Now Available
• Intilop Corporation announces the release and delivery of their highly customizable 3rd generation 10G Ultra-Low Latency and High Performance Ethernet MAC
• Novocell Semiconductor Announces NVM IP Tape Out at IBM 45nm – Brings 100 Percent Reliable Anti-Fuse One-Time Programmable Non-Volatile Memory to Advanced Node
• Aliathon announces 100G Transponder & Muxponder Demo Design

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 04, 2012

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HDL Design House announces new TX and RX controller cores for the HDMI and DisplayPort standards

HDL Design House, a company that offers design and verification services as well as soft and hard IP cores (digital and analog), today announced the availability of soft IP TX and RX controller cores for the HDMI and DisplayPort standards.

• NXP Semiconductors Acquires the Catena Group
• Intrinsic-ID Closes New Round of Financing with Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH and Prime Ventures
• Global Semiconductor (Silicon) Intellectual Property (IP) Market Worth $5.7 Billion by 2017
• Elpida, the mega-merger, and what comes next
• Dolphin Integration: Stable sales turnover on this first semester, with promising bookings

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 03, 2012

Top Story

ARM, Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient Form Joint Venture To Deliver Next-Generation Security For Services Running On Connected Devices

ARM, Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient today announced the creation of a joint venture dedicated to delivering a secure, accessible environment for advanced services running on the growing range of connected devices.

• OCP-IP Announces Newly Enhanced Advanced Accellera Systems Initiative SystemC TLM Kit
• MOSAID First to Achieve Single Channel, Full Performance 16-Die NAND Flash Stack
• Kilopass XPM Non-Volatile Memory IP Wins Design In SICMICRO Digital Set-Top Box System on Chip
• CEVA-TeakLite-III Becomes Industry's First DSP Core to Offer Optimized Skype SILK Super Wideband Speech Codec
• Test and Verification Solutions Limited (TVS) Announces Opening of France Office
• Faraday Strengthens ASIC Design Service with Extended License for ARM Cortex-A9 Processors and Mali-400 MP GPUs
• intoPIX aggressively increases its IP-core portfolio development and salutes the creation of Image Matters by Jean-Francois Nivart
• Synopsys' StarRC Extraction Solution Certified by UMC for 28-nm Designs

Headlines for Monday Apr. 02, 2012

Top Story

Open-Silicon Unveils Interlaken IP Core with 600 Gbps Chip-to-Chip Interface Support for Networking, Storage and High-Performance Computing Products

Open-Silicon announced today version six of the company’s Interlaken IP core. This release offers tremendous implementation flexibility to customers by supporting SerDes data rates up to 28Gbps and multiple data width options. The IP core also conforms to the recently released “Interlaken Retransmit Extension” protocol definition from the Interlaken Alliance.

• Sigma Designs Selected to Purchase Trident's Digital Television Business
• Memoir Systems Unveils First Commercial Product--Renaissance 2X Embedded Memory IP
• Analog Devices Acquires Multigig for High-Speed Clocking Technology
• Latest Synplify FPGA Synthesis Software Offers New High-Reliability Features and Improves Productivity for FPGA-Based Prototyping