D&R Headline News (April 2020)

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 30, 2020

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Rambus Announces Complete 800G MACsec Solution for Enhanced Data Center and 5G Infrastructure Security

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS), a premier silicon IP and chip provider making data faster and safer, today announced its 800G MACsec (Media Access Control security) solution for next-generation networking infrastructure.

• SmartDV Expands Line of Memory Controller Design IP, strengthening its Already Broad Portfolio of IP Products
• SiFive Joins Open COVID Pledge to Fight Global Pandemic
• Imagination supports Google Android GPU Inspector
• Picocom License CEVA DSP for 5G New Radio Infrastructure SoC
• VESA Releases Updated DisplayPort Alt Mode Spec to Bring DisplayPort 2.0 Performance to USB4 and New USB Type-C Devices

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 29, 2020

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Arm offers silicon startups zero-cost access to the world's most widely used chip designs

Arm today announced the launch of Arm® Flexible Access for Startups, an extension of its already highly successful Flexible Access program

• Multi-Constellation GNSS IP licensed to a US Semi-Conductor company for integration into a ultra-low power cellular IOT chip by T2M
• Total Foundry Revenue to Undergo Single-Digit Growth in 2020, Owing to Deferred Seasonality from COVID-19
• Imagination showcases groundbreaking new safety-critical driver
• NXP Announces General Availability of the Arm Cortex-M33-based LPC551x/S1x MCU Family
• Memory Market Not Forecast to Exceed 2018 High of $163.3B until 2022
• Silicon Catalyst Collaborates with Arm to Accelerate Semiconductor Startups

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 28, 2020

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Mixel's MIPI D-PHY IP Integrated into the Lattice CrossLink-NX FPGA

Mixel®, a leading provider of mixed-signal intellectual property (IP), announced today that Mixel’s MIPI® IP solution has been successfully integrated into Lattice Semiconductor’s Crosslink-NX FPGA now sampling to customers.

• MediaTek to Enable Cutting-edge AV1 Video Codec Technology on Android Smartphones
• Synopsys Introduces 3DIC Compiler, Industry's First Unified Platform to Accelerate Multi-die System Design and Integration
• Imec Builds World's First Spiking Neural Network-Based Chip for Radar Signal Processing
• Rianta Releases 400G MACsec IP Core for Ethernet Security Acceleration ASICs and SoCs
• Khronos Group Releases OpenCL 3.0
• OmniVision Unveils World's First 0.7 Micron, 64 Megapixel Image Sensor for Ultra Thin, High End Smartphones

Headlines for Monday Apr. 27, 2020

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Wave Computing Set to File Chapter 11, With MIPS the Likely Winner

Rumors are rife this week that Wave Computing, which also has MIPS under its wing, is heading for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time of writing, a simple web search for filings of U.S. bankruptcies does not show them listed, so this is not the case – yet.

• GLOBALFOUNDRIES Dresden Certified to Manufacture Secure Products
• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts March 2020 Billings
• CFX announces commercial availability of anti-fuse OTP technology on CanSemi 0.18um Logic process

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 23, 2020

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Chips&Media Now Reveals c.WAVE120 - New Generation of Super-Resolution HW IP

Chips&Media, the leading global hardware IP provider, today announced the launch of c.WAVE120, which is a deep learning-based neural network, super-resolution IP that upscales the low-resolution data into high-resolution in real-time.

• Faraday Reports First Quarter 2020 Revenues at NT$1,265 Million
• Codasip Releases Support Package for Western Digital's First RISC-V SweRV Core
• Renesas Releases Major Update of Flexible Software Package Supporting RA Family of 32-Bit Arm Cortex-M Microcontrollers

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 22, 2020

• Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups selects Arm Flexible Access to support local startup companies
• IC Unit Shipments Forecast to Display First-Ever Back-to-Back Decline

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 21, 2020

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Imagination Commits to Keeping U.K. HQ - For Now

The Imagination Technologies saga continues: the question of will they stay in the U.K. or will they be moved to China is resolved for now.

• SiPearl signs a major licensing agreement with Arm for the development of its first-generation of microprocessors
• Silex Insight takes another key step to strengthen its presence in Israel by partnering with Beyond Electronics
• Faraday Releases Licensable Gigabit Ethernet PHY on UMC 40LP Platform
• Imperas Leading RISC-V CPU Reference Model for Hardware Design Verification Selected by Mellanox
• Cadence Reports First Quarter 2020 Financial Results
• New York Institute of Technology - Vancouver Develops Secure Boot Application for Gowin SecureFPGA

Headlines for Monday Apr. 20, 2020

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5G and HPC Drive 45% Q1 Revenue Growth at TSMC

TSMC this week reported 45.2% revenue growth for Q1 2020 compared to the same period last year, driven by 5G and high-performance computing (HPC) products.

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 16, 2020

• TSMC Reports First Quarter EPS of NT$4.51
• Samsung and Xilinx Team Up for Worldwide 5G Commercial Deployments
• GLOBALFOUNDRIES Qualifies Synopsys' IC Validator for Signoff Verification on 22FDX Platform

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 15, 2020

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Arm enables global IoT proliferation through Pelion IoT platform ecosystem expansion

According to the 2020 Economist IoT Business Index study, nearly one-third of external IoT projects remain in the early implementation phase. While this is a vast improvement compared to previous years (only 14% in 2017), there is still much work to be done.

• Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Declined 12% in 2019
• Kandou Named One of Europe's Most-Promising Growth Companies
• UltraSoC and Agile Analog collaborate to detect physical cyber attacks

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 14, 2020

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Imagination Drops CEO, What Next?

When a CEO is abruptly removed from his position at the helm of a leading intellectual property (IP) company owned by Chinese investors, it certainly begs the questions, what next?

• Xylon Expands Its Offer of FMC Expansion Boards Featuring High-Speed Serial Links for FPGA Based Multi-Camera Automotive Application Development
• Gradual Rebound or Slight Dip - Two Scenarios for COVID-19 Impact to 2020 Global Silicon Wafer Market Sales
• Does China Have Imagination?
• Softbank Vision Fund loses $16.7bn of its value
• 2019 Global Semiconductor Equipment Sales Slip 7 Percent to $59.8 Billion, SEMI Reports
• CEVA Wins 2019 CEM Editor's Choice Award for its Bluetooth 5 IP

Headlines for Monday Apr. 13, 2020

• Groq Adopts Synopsys ZeBu Server 4 to Develop Breakthrough AI Chip

Headlines for Friday Apr. 10, 2020

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Imagination Technologies commits to the UK as it looks to accelerate growth in new areas of technological innovation

Imagination Technologies has today committed to increasing its investment in the UK as it seeks continued growth in the USA, Europe and Asia. Ron Black, is to step down as CEO of the company and from the Board with immediate effect to be replaced by Ray Bingham, currently Executive Chairman and a Partner at Canyon Bridge.

• Global IC Market Forecast Lowered From 3% to -4%
• UMC Reports Sales for March 2020
• TSMC March 2020 Revenue Report
• Flex Logix Discloses Real-World Edge AI Inference Benchmarks Showing Superior Price/Performance For All Models

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 09, 2020

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COVID-19: Economic and Microelectronics Industry Impacts - Insights from McKinsey & Company

For five days in the latter half of March, the pall of the heavy human and economic toll COVID-19 has exacted in China appeared to be lifting. The epicenter of Wuhan reported no new coronavirus infections through domestic transmission. And in an initial step to loosen its nationwide lockdown, China began reversing restrictions on travel within its borders.

• Two Months in Hubei, Quarantined Away from Home
• Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue to Decline 0.9% in 2020 Due to Coronavirus Impact
• Xilinx Appoints Brice Hill as Chief Financial Officer

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 08, 2020

Top Story

Welcome to the Third Era of 32/64-bit Embedded CPUs

The first two eras of 32/64-bit embedded processors were defined by proprietary architectures. The third won’t be.

• BrainChip Announces Wafer Fabrication of the Akida System-on-Chip
• Flex Logix Announces nnMAX IP Delivers Higher-Throughput/$ and Higher Throughput/Watt for Key DSP Functions

Headlines for Tuesday Apr. 07, 2020

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Synopsys Introduces New 64-bit ARC Processor IP Delivering Up to 3x Performance Increase for High-End Embedded Applications

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) today announced the new DesignWare® ARC® HS5x and HS6x processor IP families for high-performance embedded applications.

• Imagination Tech's Fate Hangs as Chinese Investors Assert Rights
• CEVA Announces Industry's First High Performance Sensor Hub DSP Architecture
• MaxLinear to acquire Intel's Home Gateway Platform Division
• Mirabilis Design is making the standard training class on Model-based System Simulation and Electronic System-Level Design for free

Headlines for Monday Apr. 06, 2020

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Perceive Corporation Launches to Deliver Data Center-Class Accuracy and Performance at Ultra-Low Power for Consumer Devices

Perceive Corporation, an edge inference solutions company, today launched the company and debuted its first product, the Ergo™️ edge inference processor. Ergo brings breakthrough accuracy and performance to consumer devices such as security cameras, smart appliances, and mobile phones.

• Faraday Adopts Synopsys' Platform Architect and Hybrid Prototyping Solutions to Expand Design Services
• 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium Rebrands to Ethernet Technology Consortium; Announces 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Specification
• GUC Monthly Sales Report - March 2020
• Global Semiconductor Sales in February Down 2.4 Percent Month-to-Month
• HEVC Advance Passes 10,000 Patent Milestone - announces Toshiba Corp. Joins as a Licensor

Headlines for Friday Apr. 03, 2020

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Strategic Investment of NXP in Kalray

Kalray today announces a strategic investment from NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) for €8 million (approximately US$9 million), to enable the companies to develop together safe, reliable and scalable solutions for autonomous driving, combining NXP Automotive solutions and Kalray MPPA® (Massively Parallel Processor Array) Intelligent Processors.

• CXL Consortium and Gen-Z Consortium Announce MOU Agreement
• eInfochips to Exhibit and Present at Design & Reuse IP-SoC Silicon Valley 2020

Headlines for Thursday Apr. 02, 2020

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Allegro DVT AV1 Encoder and Decoder Hardware IPs Embedded in Products by End of 2020

Allegro DVT, a leading provider of video semiconductor IP solutions, today announced the release of its AL-D21x family of video decoder IPs which adds support for the AV1 video format.

• Leading Industry Veteran Joins SiFive as Chief Financial Officer
• Synopsys Expands Collaboration with Broadcom for 7nm and 5nm Designs
• Silex Insight launches Chinese OSCCA high performance (400 Gbps) SM4 Crypto Core
• Compact Model Developed at CEA-Leti for FD-SOI Technologies Designated as a Chip-Industry Standard
• BrainChip Introduces Company's Event-Based Neural-Network IP and NSoC Device at Linley Processor Virtual Conference

Headlines for Wednesday Apr. 01, 2020

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Intel shines amidst the carnage of the 2019 semiconductor market

It was a year when global semiconductor revenue fell by the greatest percentage in at least two decades, when eight of the top-10 chip suppliers suffered revenue declines and when sales fell for every application market and for every global region.

• MagnaChip Semiconductor Announces Definitive Agreement To Sell Foundry Business and Fab 4
• Hardent Joins Forces with Maojet & Fujisoft To Expand Presence in Asia
• SEGGER announces comprehensive support for SiFive Insight debug/trace platform