Reactions to AMD-Xilinx deal; more acquisitions; upcoming events

Acquisitions make up most part of this week’s article. Catching up on some of the news from the last thirty days, the AMD-Xilinx deal inevitably stands out – clearly no longer as a fresh update, but as a topic that deserves some reflections. We will therefore take a look at some of the comments that have been published by the media. Coincidentally, several more acquisitions were announced over the past few weeks – clearly much smaller, but still significant in their respective markets.

AMD-Xilinx deal: some comments from the media

With the acquisition of Xilinx, AMD hopes to create “the industry’s High Performance Computing leader”. The future scenario for HPC silicon, therefore, could be characterized by three major competitors: Nvidia (with the recent addition of Arm), Intel (which bought Altera in 2015), and the AMD-Xilinx combination. Sally Ward-Foxton on EETimes asks a question that is key to figure out the future competitive landscape: “Is AMD trying to build a complete data center computing platform, similar to what Nvidia is trying to do with Arm?” She also observes that “Nvidia has plans to combine Mellanox’ SmartNICs with Arm CPU accelerators and VLIW acceleration blocks to make what it calls a DPU (…). AMD doesn’t have anything in this area, but Xilinx does — a SmartNIC platform based on its FPGAs was launched this spring.” Commenting the new scenario, Kris Kachris on SemiWiki anticipates less freedom of choice for customers: “We are moving on the era of Heterogeneous Data Processing Platforms where computing platforms will include SmartNICs, multi-core processors and hardware accelerators and the user will have to select a complete solution instead of mix-and-match. Intel, AMD and Nvidia will offer complete computing platforms with their own proprietary accelerators and SmartNICs. (…) the option to select the best of each world will not be feasible any more or at least it will be more challenging.”

Anyway, the goal of becoming a High Performance Computing leader must be a compelling motivation for AMD, strong enough to pursue the Xilinx acquisition despite some circumstances that made this move unexpected and unusual – at least according to Kevin Krewell. In his article on EETimes he points out several aspects: the purchase price is high compared to AMD’s capitalization; AMD’s CEO Lisa Su is considered “conservative” in business deals; and Xilinx was not known to be ready to be acquired, as their new CEO was in the midst of transforming the business.

Apart from the creation of a complete data center computing platform, a ‘natural’ way to look at the AMD-Xilinx deal is through an apples to apples comparison between Xilinx and Intel (Altera) offerings in FPGA-based AI acceleration for servers. According to Sally Ward-Foxton, here Xilinx has now a leading position: “Intel released its first AI-optimized FPGA, the Stratix 10-NX, this summer, while Xilinx has been working on its ACAP silicon for several years so its AI FPGA offering is much more mature.”, she wrote.

Comments also raised the point of the integration between AMD and Xilinx. Most commentators concede that the two companies are largely complementary; Daniel Nenni on SemiWiki sees complementarity in the two company cultures, too – with AMD historically more marketing oriented, and Xilinx more engineering oriented. Krewell adds an interesting element: Xilinx CEO Victor Peng Is a former AMD executive. There seems to be, however, different approaches to integration: Brian Santo, reporting on EETimes about AMD’s quarterly earnings conference, notes that Peng on several occasions mentioned opportunities on the edge – a clearly different focus from HPC. Santo also points out that Lisa Su emphasized the software environment as a top priority in the upcoming AMD-Xilinx technology integration path. Nenni, for its part, dismisses the concern of internal competition for the most advanced wafers, as the application lifecycle of FPGAs is longer than that of AMD’s own products. As for the benefits that AMD will gain from the acquisition, both Krewell and Nenni point out Xilinx’s experience in 2.5D or 3D packaging, such as TSMC’s CoWos technology. Krewell also adds another potential benefit: a stronger negotiating position with TSMC, as both AMD and Xilinx are customers of the Taiwanese foundry.

Definitely, the AMD-Xilinx deal is a major event for the FPGA industry: as Majeed Ahmad on EDN puts it, this is the end “of what many semiconductor industry watchers called the Coke and Pepsi era of the FPGA world.” According to Kachris, “there is a huge concern on the FPGA community on the future of FPGAs.” And more FPGA vendors could become targets for further acquisitions: Nenni, for example, suggests that Nvidia might be interested in buying Achronix. For sure, the semiconductor industry is now in an unprecedented merger mode. Wally Rhines on SemiWiki offers some reflections on what he calls a “merger mania”, and dismisses the concern of a domination by a few big companies. According to Rhines, the new companies and businesses that are emerging – fueled by an annual venture capital investment in chip companies now in the range of $2 billion – will give the industry “ample opportunity to create new leaders.”

More acquisitions

Interestingly, two other recent acquisitions are related to datacenters and FPGAs, respectively. Marvell, a provider of infrastructure processors and storage solutions – will acquire Inphi, a company specializing in high-speed electro-optics data movement technologies. The acquisition is mostly targeted at the cloud and 5G infrastructure. In conjunction with the transaction, Marvell intends to reorganize so that the combined company will be domiciled in the United States, “creating a U.S. semiconductor powerhouse with an enterprise value of approximately $40 billion.” And Microchip has acquired Toronto-based LegUp Computing, provider of a high-level synthesis tool that allows to program any FPGA device in C/C++.The LegUp HLS tool will be used alongside Microchip’s VectorBlox Accelerator Software Design kit and VectorBlox Neural Networking IP generator to provide a complete front-end solution stack for C/C++ algorithm developers who want to work with PolarFire FPGA and PolarFire SoC devices without having to understand the underlying RTL development flows.

Significant acquisitions have recently taken place in the EDA industry, too. Synopsys has acquired Moortec, a provider of in-chip monitoring technology specializing in process, voltage and temperature (PVT) sensors. The Moortec sensors will be a key component to Synopsys’ new Silicon Lifecycle Management (SLM) platform, spanning from design implementation through manufacturing, production test, bring-up and in-field operation. And Silvaco has completed the acquisition of the memory compiler technology and standard cell libraries of Dolphin Design, a French company specializing in ultra-low power, high-density memory compilers targeted at the SoC development.

Two more recent acquisitions concern Flash memories and LEDs, respectively. Following governmental approvals, SK hynix will acquire Intel’s NAND memory and storage business for US $9 billion. The transaction includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China. Intel will retain its distinct Intel Optane business. And Smart Global Holdings will purchase the Cree LED Products business unit. Currently, Smart mainly offers memory modules. Cree LEDs applications include general lighting, specialty lighting, large-format video screens and outdoor and architectural lighting. By selling its LED business, Cree will be able to focus on its silicon carbide products – the Wolfspeed brand.

Upcoming events

A few days after the end of the online version of the European electronica trade show, let’s take a look at some upcoming events – all of them in a virtual format, of course. Running now, and until November 19, is SC20, this year’s edition of the International Conference for High Performance Computing. Next, the GSA Awards Ceremony from Global Semiconductor Alliance will be hosted virtually on Thursday, December 3. The 2020 edition of IP-SoC Conference, usually taking place in Europe, will be online on December 8 and 9. Same dates, but one more day, for this year’s RISC-V Summit, online from December 8 to 10. Lastly, this year’s edition of IEDM (IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting) will run from December 12 to 18.

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