IN THE NEWS

Business and technology news from the semiconductor and design tool industries.

In the News

The ASIC Council (Austin, Texas) has reached a preliminary conclusion on its Open EDA Library Initiative. The council's technical committee, consisting of representatives from IBM Microelectronics, LSI Logic, Motorola, NEC, and VLSI Technology, presented its choice of a next-generation library format to the full council meeting on Nov. 10. The initiative was established this June to select a single EDA library representation that will effectively model next-generation ASIC processes and provide effective methods for protecting intellectual property. The ASIC Council is part of the Silicon Integration Initiative Inc. (SI2), formerly CFI Inc.

Digital Equipment Corp. (Maynard, Mass.) and Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.) have settled their suits against each other, which started with Digital's suing Intel for patent infringement. In addition to dropping the suits, the two companies will form a "broad-based" business relationship. The 10-year agreement includes Intel's purchase of Digital's semiconductor manufacturing operations for approximately $700 million and the cross-licensing of patents, for which Intel will pay Digital an undisclosed sum. Intel will supply DEC with both Intel and Alpha microprocessors, and DEC will develop future systems based on Intel's IA-64 64-bit microprocessors. In addition, DEC will port its version of Unix to Intel's IA-64, with technical support from Intel, and Intel will obtain rights to manufacture and sell other non-Alpha Digital semiconductor products. Because of the possibility of anticompetitive elements, the settlement is subject to government approval, which most observers expect.

OrCAD Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.) has signed a definitive merger agreement with MicroSim Corp. (Irvine, Calif.). Wolfram Blume, chairman, president, and CEO of MicroSim, will join OrCAD's board of directors and serve as the company's chief technology officer and senior vice president of research and development. In addition, MicroSim's vice president of strategic planning, Michael Wimbrow, will become OrCAD's vice president of product strategy and architecture. OrCAD will retain MicroSim's existing Irvine facility and operate it primarily as a product development center.

The Electronic Design Automation Consortium (San Jose) reported record new license and services revenues of $652 million for the second quarter of 1997. The figure is the highest quarterly revenue for the EDA industry recorded to date. For the first half of 1997, the industry's revenues grew 16 percent from the same period in 1996. EDA consulting services were the fastest-growing category for the quarter--climbing 64 percent over the same period in 1996, to nearly $70 million in revenues. The new intellectual property (IP) category, which includes physical libraries and generators, previously part of IC layout, swelled almost 60 percent (from a small base), to over $21 million. Place-and-route revenues were up more than 50 percent, to $43 million. Analysis tools grew more than 40 percent (also from a small base), to nearly $15 million; IC layout tools increased 36 percent, hitting $99 million; and synthesis grew 23 percent, to $49 million. Unix continues to dominate the EDA industry. In the quarter, it accounted for 91 percent of all revenues, exactly matching its share of the market in the first quarter, and almost matching 1996, when Unix-based software revenues were 93 percent of the total.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Migdal Haemek, Israel) and Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. (Natanya, Israel) signed a technology agreement to develop and manufacture a new flash memory technology, based on a proprietary concept of Saifun's, a technology and product start-up. The technology will make possible flash memories of as much as 128 Mbits using a 0.5-µm CMOS process and is particularly suitable for combining flash arrays with standard logic, as well as for commodity memories, the companies say. Tower will have an exclusive license for semiconductor contract manufacturing using the technology. Tower previously made an equity investment in Saifun and intends to make additional investments.

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Camarillo, Calif.) has received certification to ISO9001:1994 standards for its quality system. The registrars, Det Norske Veritas, granted the certification based on extensive audits of Vitesse's facility in Camarillo.

American Microsystems Inc. (AMI) has begun working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to voluntarily control and reduce the emission of perflourocompounds (PFCs) that semiconductor manufacturing plants release into the atmosphere. AMI joins other members of the semiconductor industry in signing a memorandum of understanding with the EPA to work together to find ways to measure, control, and reduce PFC emissions. The understanding specifies a three-year period, beginning when AMI joins the partnership, during which the company will research and determine an effective strategy for reducing PFC emissions. As a partner to AMI and other industry signatories, the EPA will develop a clearinghouse of information and data on successful strategies for reduction. The EPA will also conduct a preliminary assessment of the possibility for product substitutes.

Cadence Design Systems Inc. (San Jose) will expand its Design Factory network with the opening of a 35-person design center in Jackson, Miss. The team comes to Cadence through an agreement with the Institute for Technology Development , an organization that serves as an incubator for technology-based business development in Mississippi.

Cyrix Corp. (Austin, Texas) revealed the internal architecture of its next processor core, code-named Cayenne, at Microprocessor Forum '97. Cayenne will feature a fully pipelined, dual-issue floating-point unit and 15 new MMX floating-point instructions for high-performance 3-D graphics, DVD, and 3-D audio. It will also include a 64-kbyte level-one cache and an enhanced sixth-generation integer unit. Processors based on the core will initially be manufactured using a 0.25-µm, five-layer metal process that includes a C4 process for flip chip assembly. As a result, the core die size is expected to be about 65 mm ² . Processors based on the core are expected to be in production in the second half of 1998 at speed ratings of PR300 to PR400.

The Virtual Socket Interface Alliance has grown to more than 150 members and has developed two industry-wide standards for the use of IP in system-level ICs in its first 12 months of operation. Both the Analog/Mixed Signal VSI Extension and the Structural Netlist and Hard VC Physical Data Type standards were finished and recently went through a 60-day comment period. After members' comments are integrated and reviewed, the specifications will be submitted to the governing Steering Working Group (SWG) for final approval and public release.

Cadence and Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo) described, at the Japan IP Conference in Tokyo, the first microprocessor core to conform to the two VSIA standards. Engineering teams from Toshiba and Cadence's Professional Services unit jointly designed a 32-bit RISC core that will be available to Toshiba's SystemASIC, ASSP, and SystemLSI customers. In addition, Cadence developed a detailed methodology to ensure that all IP newly developed at Toshiba can be readily reused throughout the company.

The Electronics Industries Association of Japan and the ASP-DAC '98 Organizing Committee announced that Asia­South Pacific DAC 1998 and EDA Technofair (EDATF) will be held at the Pacifico Yokohama Convention Center in Yokohama, Japan, Feb. 10­13.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (Palo Alto, Calif.) has licensed a defect-mapping tool for memory devices from Heuristics Physics Laboratory Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.). Called BitMapView, the tool is a multipurpose visualization package that allows engineers to view failed bits, rows, and columns in standard-product and embedded memories.

Movers and Shakers

Information Storage Devices Inc. (San Jose) announced that revenues for the third quarter, ended Sept. 27, were $13.8 million, up 68 percent from the $8.2 million posted for the third quarter of 1996 and 21 percent ahead of the $11.4 million reported for the second quarter of 1997. The net loss for the period was $0.7 million, or $0.07 per share.

Quickturn Design Systems Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) recorded revenues of $30.1 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, a 4 percent increase over the $28.8 million in the comparable period in 1996. Net income for the quarter, before a one-time charge related to the acquisition of the Arkos product from Synopsys Inc., was $2.47 million, or $0.13 per share, compared with net income in the third quarter of 1996 of $3.87 million, or $0.22 per share.

Zycad Corp. (Fremont, Calif.) has changed its corporate name to Gatefield Corp. Its Nasdaq National Market stock symbol will change from "ZCAD" to "GATE." The company changed its name to reflect its new ProASIC (Programmable ASIC) business thrust, based on Gatefield's flash-based FPGA technology and architecture.

Ikos Systems Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.) has adopted a program to repurchase, at management's discretion, up to 1 million shares of the company's common stock in the open market or in private through the period ending Oct. 1, 1998, at prevailing market prices.

Money Bits

Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) named Richard Hegberg vice president for North American sales. Hegberg was previously vice president of worldwide sales for Trident Microsystems Inc. and has more than 15 years' experience in sales and business operations at semiconductor and electronics companies.

Cascade Design Automation has expanded its sales and technical office in Bracknell, Berks., U.K. John MacDermott , an 18-year veteran of EDA, joins Cascade as European general manager, and Richard Langridge , who has 10 years' experience in IC design and application support, joins as senior field application engineer.

Synopsys Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) appointed Ernst W. Hirt senior vice president of human resources and facilities, reporting directly to Synopsys 's president and CEO, Aart J. de Geus . Hirt has more than 30 years of experience in human resources programs and development with high-technology companies in the semiconductor and diversified electronics industries.

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Camarillo, Calif.) named James Mikkelson CTO and Jeanne Johnson vice president of human resources. Mikkelson is a cofounder of Vitesse and has served as vice president of technology, in charge of IC operations, since its inception in 1987. Johnson has served as director of human resources since 1987.

Xynetix Design Systems Inc. (Fishers, N.Y.) has elected Ronald A. Rohrer to its board of directors. Rohrer is an industry-recognized expert in IC design, electrical engineering, and analysis whose early research established Spice circuit simulation. As a technical consultant and adviser, he has been instrumental in the success of many of today's leading EDA companies, including Avanti and Synopsys . *

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integrated system design  December 1997