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In the News
- Synopsys, Inc. (Mountain View, CA) and Infineon Technologies, Inc. (Germany) have agreed to a multi-year, multi-million-dollar deal for Synopsys to port and optimize its Designware silicon library (memories, I/Os, and standard cells) for several Infineon semiconductor process technologies. This agreement will enable Infineon to focus its development resources on intellectual property (IP), products, and silicon process developments. The Designware silicon libraries consist of standard and special-purpose cells, datapath cells, an I/O pad library, and memory generators (RAMs, ROMs, register files). The libraries are optimized for Synopsys design flows from RTL to GDSII, as well as other tools.
- Fujitsu Semiconductor Group (San Jose) has qualified Tera Systems' (Campbell, CA) Teraform RTL Design Planner for release with Fujitsu's IP Symphony system-on-a-chip (SOC) design methodology. As part of IP Symphony, Teraform will be available to Fujitsu's worldwide design teams and ASIC customers. Teraform enables Fujitsu's chip designers to identify potential timing errors early in the ASIC design process.
- Ansoft Corp (Pittsburgh, PA) released Serenade SV (student version) for high-frequency circuit and communication system design. Serenade SV provides engineering students and professionals with an introductory design environment based on Ansoft's EDA software. To promote the development of engineering skills throughout the high-frequency design community, Ansoft will provide free copies of Serenade SV. The tool contains high-frequency circuit simulation and communication system simulation. Serenade SV is an extension of the company's University Program that offers all of Ansoft's commercial products at a reduced cost to educators who are interested in incorporating the software into their curriculum or research efforts.
- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (San Jose) has licensed rights to embed Numerical Technologies' (San Jose) patented phase-shifting technology into its sub-wavelength implementation solutions for both custom and cell-based flows. This agreement augments the ongoing integration of Numeritech's silicon versus layout (SIVL) and optical proximity correction (OPC) technology into the Cadence design flow. By embedding phase shifting and OPC into the design flow, Cadence and Numeritech aim to bridge the gap between the design process and the fabrication process, offering designers a reliable, transparent flow to access sub-wavelength technology nodes.
- UMC (Taiwan) agreed to become the first foundry anchor tenant of the SiliconX (San Jose; www.silconx.com) portal. The SiliconX integrated circuit design portal focuses on information and services for IC design chain management. Through SiliconX, UMC plans to offer information, tools, and services aimed at further enhancing its customers' ability to generate system-level IC designs targeted to various semiconductor processes. Under terms of the agreement, SiliconX is creating a multi-faceted design infrastructure on its portal for UMC to enable the foundry to reach the IC design community further up the design chain, providing that community with productivity enhancing design capabilities. UMC's portal, within SiliconX, will focus on re-integrating the design chain with an emphasis on accelerating time-to-market for start-up and emerging semiconductor suppliers. This will include tools that enable IC designers to configure and build system-on-a-chip designs.
- Innoveda, Inc. (Marlboro, MA) reported that it has added Optimum Design, Inc. (Madison, WI) as its value-added reseller (VAR) in the upper Midwest region of the United States. Optimum Design will represent Innoveda as a VAR in WI, MN, MO, ND, SD, IO, and IL. Optimum Design, Inc., an EDA company, recommends and delivers software and service-based solutions that help customers achieve maximum design efficiency for electronic packaging and engineering.
- Schlumberger Semiconductor Solutions (San Jose), a unit of the test and transactions business segment of Schlumberger (San Jose), has completed installation of its 100th SOC test system in Taiwan. The installation of the EXA 2000 took place at KYEC, a semiconductor test sub-contractor in Taiwan. Schlumberger now has a total installed base of over 260 SOC systems worldwide. Annual output in Taiwan is expected to more than double by 2002 to 13.4 million wafers.
- The International Engineering Consortium (IEC; Chicago, IL) added 15 new tutorials to its website. The site now features 125 free tutorials. The IEC Web Proforum tutorials were developed to meet the information industry's need for easily accessible education and knowledge of important industry topics. Each tutorial is sponsored by a leading company in the information industry and designed to educate industry professionals and those in academia on current and emerging technologies. From signaling system 7 (SS7) to synchronous optical network (SONET), the web Proforums provide up-to-date research on the most significant developments in the field. The site receives nearly 7 million hits and averages around 300,000 user sessions per month. The following is a list of the 15 new tutorials: Agilent Technologies: Fax Technology and Testing Issues; ADVA: The Direction of the Optical-Networking Market; Net Plane, Inc.: A Comparison of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Traffic-Engineering Initiatives; Hewlett-Packard: Carrier-Grade, High-Availability Computing Platforms for Voice and Data Networks; Informix: Business Intelligence for the Telecommunications Industry; Luxn: Optical Access; Motorola Computer Group: Highly Available Embedded Computer Platforms Become Reality; Nortel Networks: Shared Loops-How ILECs and CLECs Can Deliver Competitive DSLAM Applications; Nortel Networks: Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) Transmission; Oracle: Managing Communications Companies on a Low-Cost and Flexible Infrastructure in an Internet Environment; Radvision: Gatekeeper Simpler Networks: Managing the Copper Loop in the 21st Century; Texas Instruments: The Evolution of the Remote Access Server (RAS) to a Universal Port-Enabled Platform; Trillium Digital Systems: Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS); Turnstone Systems: Copper Loop Management in a Digital Environment-Migration from an Analog to a Digital Environment. The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to catalyzing positive change in the information industry and its university communities by providing high-quality educational opportunities for industry professionals, academics, and students.
- Simtek Corp. (Colorado Springs, CO) acquired Integrated Logic Systems, Inc. (ILSI; Colorado Springs, CO). The acquisition combines two companies with complementary technologies to create growth potential for Simtek while allowing ISLI to expand into worldwide markets. ILSI has established markets in North America and Korea. Simtek, with $7 million in 1999 revenues, markets throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. ISLI is expected to expand its coverage into all of Simtek's major international markets. ILSI specializes in providing low-cost metal programmable gate array (MPGA) replacements for programmable logic devices (PLDs) supplied by companies such as Xilinx, Altera, Actel, and AMD.
- Avanti Corp. (Fremont, CA) will contribute an additional $4 million to the Avanti Foundation. Using these resources, the Avanti Foundation will undertake new initiatives on behalf of children and families in need. The Avanti Foundation was inaugurated in 1997 with an initial contribution of $1 million. Since then, the Foundation has supported programs to help children succeed in high school and attend college, and to provide free computers and Internet access to the elderly and the physically challenged. The Foundation has partnered with leading Silicon Valley institutions, including Stanford University, the San Jose Symphony, the San Jose Sharks, San Jose State, the San Jose Mercury News, and local television stations. The Foundation's work has won the National Bilingual Education Conference's "Corporate Citizen Award," the City of San Jose's "Month of the Young Child Award," and the National Achievement Award from the Asian-American Educational Association. For more information on the activities of the Avanti Foundation, please call Dr. Stephen Lehane, the Foundation's executive director, at (408) 971-2553.
- UMC (Taiwan) has successfully produced fully functional 2MB SRAM chips using its Worldlogic 0.13-ım logic technology. The SRAM chips were taped-out during the first quarter of 2000 and were verified with natural good-die yield on May 2. The chips feature full copper interconnect technology, 0.10-ım gate length devices, and what the company calls the world's smallest SRAM bitcell (6T). UMC expects to enter pilot production for its 0.13 ım technology before the end of the year.
- Verisity Ltd. (Mountain View, CA) announced that NEC Electronics, Inc. selected Specman Elite for use in NEC's SOC open system design methodology initiative, code-named ACE-2. NEC's ACE-2 program is a three-year, $30 million effort, chartered with the development of an enhanced design environment. The goal is to offer NEC customers a three-month turn-around time from system specification to tape-out for a 30-million gate design by the year 2002. Phase 1 of the initiative focused on five steps in the overall SOC design flow that significantly impact the turn-around time for SOCs. Those steps are: IP modeling, software verification, fast RTL verification, interface to silicon design, and system evaluation. Specman Elite currently holds 77 percent market share.
- Mosys, Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC; Taiwan) reported the successful development of test chips fabricated using Mosys' advanced 1T-SRAM embedded memory on TSMC's 0.15-ım process. This achievement comes less than two months after TSMC launched its 0.15-ım process technology.
- Actel Corp. (Sunnyvale, CA) and Gatefield Corp. (Fremont, CA) have signed a letter of intent to merge. In the merger, Actel will pay cash consideration of $5.25 for each share of Gatefield common stock. Actel expects the acquisition, which is subject to approval by Gatefield's stockholders, to close on June 30, 2000. The two companies have been working jointly since August 1998 to develop and market the Pro ASIC line of ASIC-like, Flash-based FPGAs. At that time, the companies announced an exclusive strategic marketing agreement establishing Actel as the sole worldwide marketing and sales agent for Pro ASIC. Actel also took an equity position in Gatefield and acquired Gatefield's Protocol Design Services Group in Mt. Arlington, NJ. In May 1999, Actel provided Gatefield with additional operating capital in the form of an $8 million convertible promissory note, further increasing its equity interest in the company.
- Sequence Design, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA), the company that formed out of the merger between Frequency Technology, Inc. and Sente, Inc., has announced its new corporate identity. Sequence said it is taking a position in timing and power optimization for design closure in the emerging ultra-deep submicron (UDSM) silicon infrastructure for advanced applications such as high-end ASICs, wireless communications, and Internet backbone. In addition, Sequence Design announced a Series D round of venture funding, totaling $9.3 million. LSI Logic Corp. is the lead investor in this round. Other participants include previous investors such as Atlas Venture, IVP, and Sofinnova. This latest round of financing will be used for expanding the company's R&D and sales operations. Sequence chairman, president, and CEO, Alain Labat announced John Daane, executive vice president of the communications products group for LSI Logic, to the company board of directors.
- Sychip, Inc. (Warren, NJ), a new venture announced by Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ), is developing integrated SOC products, aimed at improving the performance and reducing the cost and size of next-generation Internet appliances, such as personal digital assistants and cell phones. Sychip, Inc., will offer complex Chip-Scale Modules (CSM's) that integrate memory, logic, analog, digital, and passive functions on a single chip. Sychip's initial focus will be to incorporate proprietary radio-frequency (RF) passive component and chip-on-chip interconnect technologies in high-performance modules for wireless Internet appliances. Sychip is the sixteenth venture announced by Lucent.
Movers and Shakers
- Zuken USA (Santa Clara, CA) appointed Paul Ewing to the position of vice president and general manager. Ewing will oversee all North American operations for Zuken, aiming to extend the company's reach in the EDA market. Prior to his appointment, he was senior vice president of Zuken's North American operations where he managed the same team and defined direction for the company's advanced packaging products. Prior to Zuken, Ewing held management positions at Harris EDA.
- BOPS, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) has appointed Victor Young as its first CFO. Young reports to Carl Schlachte, who recently joined BOPS from ARM as chairman and CEO. Prior to joining BOPS, Victor Young was a senior business assurance partner with Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP (formerly Coopers & Lybrand) based in San Francisco. He served 5 years in Asia where he established the then Coopers practice in Taiwan, the Republic of China, and served as U.S. liaison partner for Southeast Asia.
- Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (CSM; Yokohama, Japan) appointed Masayuki Suzuki as general manager for its regional office in Japan. The company also announced its relocation to a new and expanded premise in Yokohama. In his new role, Suzuki will manage the company's business in Japan and oversee marketing, customer service, and field engineering support activities. Prior to joining Chartered, Suzuki was director of sales at LSI Logic KK. He joined that company in 1987 and has held management positions in manufacturing, marketing, and sales.
Money Bits
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Singapore) announced that the underwriters of its global public offering of 135,100,000 ordinary shares, directly or in the form of American Depository Shares (ADSs), have exercised their option to purchase 20,265,000 additional ordinary shares, directly or in the form of ADSs, to cover over-allotments. The underwriters are exercising the option with respect to 11,700,000 shares from Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd and 8,565,000 shares from Singapore Technologies Semiconductors Pte Ltd.
- Semiconductor Insights, Inc. (Ottawa, Canada), a provider of technical consulting services to the global semiconductor industry, recently closed its first external round of financing for a total of CDN $15.65 million. The financing syndicate was led by Vengrowth Capital and included: BDC Venture Capital; Sofinov, the technology investment subsidiary of the Caisse de dıpıt et placement du Quıbec; the Canadian Science & Technology Growth Fund; Capital Alliance Ventures; and local entrepreneur Antoine Paquin. The funds will be used for technology development for the company's consulting business, for product and market development for its subsidiary, Symagery Microsystems. Symagery, established in 1997, develops and supplies standard and customer-specific imaging components for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) applications.
Correction:
The Focus Report on Synthesis Tools (May 2000) erroneously reported that Exemplar recently released Amplify, a new FPGA high-end synthesis tool. Amplify is, in fact, produced by Synplicity, Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA.
In the article titled "Prototyping Self-Timed Circuits Using PLDs," (May 2000) the sentence on pg. 40 that reads, "data needs to be de-asserted (back to 01)." should read, "data needs to be de-asserted (back to 00)." In the last paragraph on pg. 44, the sentence that reads, "...to prevent the event from merging.", should read "...to prevent the events from merging." Additionally, Simon Moore's bio (pg. 46) stated that he is a professor at Cambridge University. He is, in fact, a lecturer at Cambridge.
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