As chiplets start to catch on throughout the chip designer community, security is a growing concern. That’s why the ESD Alliance, a SEMI Technology Community, and member company Silicon Assurance are hosting a panel discussion webinar to emphasize the emerging security threats during chiplet design, assembly and testing. It will be held Thursday, March 14, from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m.

The panel led by Raj Gautam Dutta, CEO of Silicon Assurance, a startup addressing security assurance and trust issues in silicon chips, will identify threats that occur at the different stages of chiplet design, assembly and test. He and his panelists will examine the latest advancements and discuss safeguarding the future of chiplet technology.

Read the rest of ESD Alliance and Silicon Assurance Plan Chiplet Security Webinar March 14

Getting ready for this year’s Phil Kaufman Award ceremony honoring Dr. Lawrence Pileggi of Carnegie Mellon University made me think back on previous years, especially since two former Phil Kaufman Award recipients have visible roles.

Dr. Andrzej Strojwas from CMU and CTO of PDF Solutions will be the tribute speaker.

Wally Rhines, President and CEO of Cornami and former CEO of Mentor Graphics (now Siemens), will serve as emcee.

Dr. Walden (Wally) Rhines, President and CEO of Cornami and former CEO of Mentor Graphics (now Siemens), will serve as emcee. He is the 2015 Phil Kaufman Award Recipient. The tribute speaker will be Dr. Andrzej Strojwas, also from CMU and currently the CTO of PDF Solutions. He was also honored with the Phil Kaufman Award in 2016.

This blog post includes a few photos from the enjoyable evenings celebrating Wally and Andrzej.

Please join the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance), a SEMI technology community, and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA) Thursday, February 22, from 6:30-9:30pm at The GlassHouse in San Jose, Calif., as we celebrate Larry Pileggi’s contributions to our industry. Member tickets are $250 per person and $300 per non-member. Member pricing is offered for individuals or companies active SEMI or IEEE members. Registration is found on the ESD Alliance website or the CEDA website.

Read the rest of Looking Forward to Phil Kaufman Award Ceremony with a Look Back at Previous Years

Come celebrate the 2023 Phil Kaufman Award Recipient Dr. Lawrence T. Pileggi from Carnegie Mellon University with the ESD Alliance and IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA)! The Phil Kaufman Award Ceremony and Banquet will be held Thursday, February 22, from 6:30-9:30pm at The GlassHouse in San Jose, Calif.  Register at: http://tinyurl.com/55raxb88

This just in! Wally Rhines, President and CEO of Cornami and former CEO of Mentor Graphics (now Siemens) who is also the 2015 Phil Kaufman Award Recipient, will moderate. The tribute speaker will be Andrzej Strojwas, also from Carnegie Mellon and the 2016 Phil Kaufman Award Recipient.

2024 kicks off with welcome news from the latest Electronic Design Market Data (EDMD) report produced by the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance, a SEMI Technology Community. The ESD industry reported near record revenue growth in Q3 2023 with an increase of 25.2% to $4,702.4 million from $3,756.3 million in the third quarter of 2022. The four-quarter moving average comparing the most recent four quarters to the prior four rose 13.8%.  

According to Wally Rhines, Executive Sponsor of the SEMI EDMD report, this was the highest overall growth since Q4 1998. Computer-Aided Engineering, IC Physical Design and Verification, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and Multi-Chip Module (MCM), and Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP) categories reported double-digit growth. All geographic regions reported substantial growth, he added.

Head count increased as well. Companies tracked in the EDMD report employed 59,737 people globally in Q3 2023, a 10.6% jump over the Q3 2022 headcount of 53,034 and up 1% compared to Q2 2023.

Read the rest of Electronic System Design Industry Posts $4.7 Billion in Revenue in Q3 2023

Note: This article originally appeared in the November/December issue of DENA (Designing Electronics North America).

In September 2023, SEMI announced plans to begin licensing its server certification protocol, an industry-developed solution to combat software piracy, which is a growing and costly concern for software vendors and their users.

This three-year project was managed by the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance), a SEMI Technology Community, with Cadence Design Systems, Siemens EDA, and Synopsys participating in the development effort to provide strong protection against piracy. The protocol was reviewed and approved by an independent group of semiconductor companies that rely on EDA tools in their business operations, thereby giving it a user seal of approval.

Unauthorized use of licensed software—more commonly known as software piracy—is a problem that impacts both providers and users of licensed software. Industry reports estimate unauthorized access to software costs the industry billions of dollars annually.

The Software Alliance—the leading advocate for the global software industry whose members create software solutions that help businesses modernize and grow—estimates that unlicensed and counterfeit software costs companies nearly $359 billion per year. Of course, unauthorized compliance covers a range of piracy, from malware and ransomware to other critical security threats. Unlicensed software is estimated to cost companies nearly $46 billion a year in revenue.
Read the rest of ESD Alliance and SEMI Take on Software Piracy

Note: Prakash Narain, CEO of Real Intent, a member of the ESD Alliance Governing Council, and I recently discussed how he grew into a management role. The Q&A blog post below based on our conversation originally appeared on SEMI.

Prakash Narain, a founder of Real Intent who serves as its president and CEO, grew his skillset from EDA tool developer to senior executive. In our recent conversation, he describes how his thirst to build a company led to the founding of Real Intent 25 years ago. He also offers advice on how to move into management or entrepreneurism and we conclude our talk with his opinion of recent industry trends.

Smith: How did your career journey get you into the business world and on to becoming the leader of Real Intent?

Narain: My background is in engineering; I received my Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. I first worked in EDA tool development at IBM EDA, CAD flow development at AMD, then moved on to semiconductor design at Sun Microsystems.

I always had a thirst to build a company to solve problems and improve the status quo. Over time, I decided it was important to address the verification challenges that our industry faced. That led to the founding of Real Intent 25 years ago, back in 1998.

Read the rest of Real Intent CEO Prakash Narain on Growing into a Management Role