Taiwan Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua is the subject of high hopes as the automotive chip shortage continues to be an urgent issue for carmakers around the world. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has reportedly asked Ms. Wang to address this problem in talks with TSMC, and – according to another press report – a similar initiative has been taken in the U.S. by Biden administration officials. Let’s now move to this week’s news summary.

EDA updates: Ansys, Si2

Ansys has recently launched its 2021 R1 release, offering advancements on many fronts such as large electromagnetic system simulations, analysis of signal integrity and power integrity, thermal and mechanical stress on 3D multi-die systems etc. Advancements includes specific solutions for autonomous vehicle and electric vehicle development, etc.

Artificial Intelligence was the common underlying theme of the online workshop hosted by Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) last January 29th. Keith Strier, Vice President of Worldwide AI Initiatives at Nvidia, pointed out the role currently played by Paris-based intergovernmental economic organization OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in helping policy makers around the world to measure AI compute needs and capabilities. Yiorgros Makris from the University of Texas at Dallas discussed the use of machine learning to reduce semiconductor testing costs, urging chipmakers to share their test data with the academy to enable the development of better AI-based test tools. The workshop included an update from the Si2 ‘AI/ML in EDA’ Special Interest Group. Joydip Das – SIG chair and senior engineer at Samsung Austin R&D Center – and Kerim Kalafala – SIG co-chair and senior technical staff member at IBM EDA – recalled the two white papers recently published by Si2 on this topic and preannounced future initiatives such as tutorials.
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