A couple of ‘geopolitical’ updates. General Motors and GlobalFoundries have announced a strategic, long-term agreement establishing a dedicated capacity corridor exclusively for GM’s chip supply. Through this first-of-its-kind agreement, GlobalFoundries will manufacture for GM’s key chip suppliers at GF’s advanced semiconductor facility in upstate New York, bringing a critical process to the U.S. Thomas Caulfield, president and CEO of GlobalFoundries, said that GF will expand its production capabilities exclusively for GM’s supply chain. And the U.S. government is reportedly poised to extend restrictions to American investments that are used to finance the development of advanced technologies in China. According to the report, the executive order would most likely prohibit outright investments in some sensitive areas, like quantum computing, advanced semiconductors and certain artificial intelligence capabilities with military or surveillance applications.
STMicroelectronics and SK Hynix unveil results achieved using Synopsys DSO.ai
Synopsys’ AI-based DSO.ai design system has reached the mark of 100 commercial tape-outs. The announcement includes quotes from two important Synopsys customers, unveiling the results they obtained. STMicroelectronics, which used Synopsys DSO.ai on Microsoft Azure cloud, increased PPA exploration productivity by more than 3x, allowing fast implementation of a new Arm core, while exceeding power, performance and area goals. SK hynix cited a recent project where DSO.ai delivered a 15% cell area reduction and a 5% die shrink.
