RISC V and the Data Center – SiFive’s new processor
We have not written about RISC V much this year. Our sense was that there was not much news. Last year, it seemed like there was news every week, if […]
Category Archives: Roll Your Own
What does Marvell want to be?
Marvell has immense talent and a wide range of capabilities. But it is not clear how that all hangs together. It is hard to see Marvell as an independent company five years from now.
Can Qualcomm compete in Custom Silicon?
There are a lot of reasons why Qualcomm is not a force in the custom ASIC business – fear of creating competing products, no sales culture – but we think the main reason is the can of legal worms it would open up for their IP licensing.
SiFive Overview
RISC V pioneer SiFive has gone through several iterations, but has now solidified a business model that essentially positions it as a direct competitor to Arm. If they can continue to execute they will benefit from much of the very healhty RISC V momentum
The Bad Romance of Apple and Qualcomm
Apple’s antipathy towards Qualcomm pre-dates the launch of the iPhone and seems to be deeply ingrained in their culture. Qualcomm would probably be very flexible to normalize the relationship, but has limits to what i can offer, especially around IP.
Intel – 28 Months Later
Like the hero of a zombie movie – Intel has fixed its manufacturing process and awoken from its coma – only to find the world radically altered. Intel has a lot of talent, but the competition is clawing at the door.
Are We Reaching the Limits of Homegrown Silicon?
Oppo is has largely given up designing its own chips, but they faced a very specific set of challenges which do not apply to many of the others looking to roll their own semis.
Marketing CPUs in a Multi-Polar World
How do CPU companies market in a newly, highly-fragmented market? There are no easy answers in this very complex, rapidly moving environment, but there is some hope.
Our Semis Are From the Niagara Falls Area
Apple has a history of relegating its homegrown chips to the Apple Watch. Is that the fate of their future cellular modem?
AI Semis Market Landscape
There are really three markets for AI semis – training, cloud inference and edge inference. All of them are already fairly crowded. Choose your battles carefully.