Siemens acquires Altair; AI architecture modeling; IBM demonstrates 21nm lines; limited effectiveness of U.S. export restrictions

An update on the litigation between Arm and Qualcomm: Arm has reportedly given Qualcomm a 60-day notice of the cancellation of its license. However, some investors and analysts believe the two companies will reach a settlement ahead of the trial, which is scheduled to start in December.

Siemens acquires Altair

Siemens has signed an agreement to acquire Altair Engineering in a transaction which assigns Altair an enterprise value of approximately USD 10 billion. More details in our next post.

Deneb’s architecture modeling tool for AI SoCs

EDA startup Deneb Design has announced the availability of an architecture modeling and exploration tool for AI-enabled system-on-chip products. The tool, called Deneb SoC, includes a library of cycle-accurate and cycle-approximate architectural block models such as CPU, memory subsystem, network-on-chip, tensor and vector processing units, GPU etc. A typical use case of Deneb SoC is to simulate the compute pipeline of a neural processing unit that is executing a machine learning model, to properly size the different components. According to the company, still today SoC architecture design and IP selection are often based on simple spreadsheet analysis or engineer’s intuitions.

Altium to introduce new solutions at Electronica

Altium, the PCB EDA vendor recently acquired by Renesas, will introduce three new solutions at the upcoming Electronica show in Munich, Germany. Altium Discover is a cloud-based collaboration solution for semiconductor vendors, distributors, and product developers. According to the company, it has the ability to maintain a persistent context across the entire product lifecycle, ensuring that information is consistently accessible in real time and traceable. It also allows secure handling of intellectual property, and offers product developers tools for evaluating, comparing and selecting components. The other two solutions are Altium Develop, helping small and medium-sized businesses to unify electronics, mechanical, and software design in a single workflow; and Altium Lifecycle, providing enterprises with lifecycle control.

IBM demonstrates 21nm lines using high-NA EUV single patterning

Using high-NA EUV equipment from ASML, IBM and its partners at Albany NanoTech Complex have achieved early demonstration of copper damascene interconnects down to 21-nanometer pitch using single expose patterning, unlocking the needs of semiconductor designs below the 2-nanometer node and simplifying future nanosheet technology.

Nikon lithography system for advanced packaging

Nikon is developing a digital lithography system with resolution of one micron and high productivity for advanced semiconductor packaging applications. This product is scheduled to be released in Nikon’s fiscal year 2026. As the company explained, advanced packaging requires exposure equipment that combines high resolution with a large exposure area. Nikon is addressing this need by leveraging the multi-lens technology of its flat panel display lithography systems, a solution that uses multiple projection lenses in an array as if a single giant lens were used. The digital lithography system does not use photomasks. Instead, it uses a projection optical system.

Qualcomm and Google collaborate on Gen AI automotive applications

Qualcomm has announced a multi-year collaboration with Google to deliver Generative AI digital cockpit solutions. The companies will leverage technologies from the Snapdragon Digital Chassis, Android Automotive OS and Google Cloud to produce a new standardized reference platform, to enable in-car experiences like intuitive voice assistants, immersive map experiences, and real-time updates to anticipate driver’s needs. Key elements of the collaboration are a Gen AI-enabled digital cockpit development framework, and a unified SDV (software-defined vehicle) car-to-cloud framework.

Risc-V ratifies vector and hypervisor extensions

Risc-V International has ratified the RVA23 Profile, whose key components include Vector Extension and Hypervisor Extension. The Vector extension accelerates math-intensive workloads, including AI/ML, cryptography, and compression/decompression. Vector extensions yield better performance in mobile and computing applications with RVA23 as the baseline requirement for the Android Risc-V ABI. The Hypervisor extension will enable virtualization for enterprise workloads in both on-premises server and cloud computing applications. This will accelerate the development of Risc-V-based enterprise hardware, operating systems, and software workloads. The Hypervisor extension will also provide better security for mobile applications by separating secure and non-secure components.

WBG capacity updates: Texas Instruments, Wolfspeed

Mixed news from some of the manufacturers of wide-bandgap power devices, with GaN capacity growing and a SiC planned fab reportedly cancelled. On the one hand, Texas Instruments has begun production of gallium nitride power semiconductors at its factory in Aizu, Japan. Coupled with its existing GaN manufacturing in Dallas, Texas, TI will now internally manufacture four times more GaN-based power semiconductors, as Aizu ramps to production. On the other hand, Wolfspeed has reportedly shelved plans to build a silicon carbide fab in Ensdorf, Germany, due to slow electric vehicle adoption.

Acquisitions

Celestial AI (Santa Clara, CA) has acquired silicon photonics intellectual property from Rockley Photonics, including worldwide issued and pending patents. The acquired patent portfolio is comprised of optoelectronic systems-in-package, electro-absorption modulators (EAMs) and optical switch technology, relevant for multiple AI data center infrastructure applications. Celestial AI is the creator of the Photonic Fabric, an optical interconnect technology platform for compute and memory.

Further reading: how China is circumventing U.S. export restrictions

Analysis firm SemiAnalysis has published a detailed study on the limited effectiveness of U.S. export restrictions of key technologies to China. Among many other aspects, the article provides several examples of how the restrictions can be circumvented. For instance, two fabs owned by Chinese foundry SMIC have been classified in different ways by the U.S. for restriction purpose, even though they both are in the same site and connected via wafer bridge, such that an automated overhead track can move wafers between them (see the image below). While one of the two buildings is entity-listed by the U.S. because it is working on advanced logic for AI chips, the other one is free to import “dual use” tools as it runs only “legacy processes”. Another example is process node reclassification: Chinese memory maker CXMT’s advanced DRAM with 18-nanometer half pitch was subject to the original 2022 export controls, but with a new method of calculating half-pitch the same node is now considered 19-nanometer, resulting in no export control. “Lobbying efforts by giants such as Applied Materials who has made over $3 billion from CXMT may be noteworthy,” SemiAnalysis comments. Another point raised by the analysts is the need to extend export restrictions upstream, to include equipment components: “Current controls prohibit exports of EUV scanners into China. Yet they do not restrict EUV optics from Zeiss. This makes no sense – ASML and any chipmaker using EUV can tell you that projection optics are the #1 critical component,” SemiAnalysis observes.

Source: SemiAnalysis

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