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Scaling Up and Scaling Out: Reimagining Silicon Switching for the AI Era

This has been another “one of those days.” I’ve been discovering all sorts of things pertaining to what’s currently happening in the high-end of artificial intelligence (AI) space (where no one can hear you scream), and now I’m screaming inside and my head hurts. 

Let’s start with the concept of an “AI Pod.” This term … Read More → "Scaling Up and Scaling Out: Reimagining Silicon Switching for the AI Era"

AI-Based PCBA Machine Vision Solution Ensures Supply Chain Integrity

I wish you could visit me in Max’s World, where everything is bigger, brighter, and more colorful. The birds sing sweeter (and in harmony), the flowers are more fragrant, the butterflies are more brillacious—a neologism of brilliant and bodacious that I just invented—and the beer flows plentifully and cold. Most importantly, everyone is nice, kind, honorable, and trustworthy. No one would even dream … Read More → "AI-Based PCBA Machine Vision Solution Ensures Supply Chain Integrity"

A 10-cent RISC-V microcontroller from China? Why not?

Just as I was finishing my previous article about a new TI microcontroller that was smaller than a grain of white rice and sold for 16 cents in thousand-unit quantities, I learned of another new microcontroller based on a proprietary implementation of the 32-bit RISC-V processor ISA that sells for 10 cents (presumably in volume). This new microcontroller from WCH, aka Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics, a Chinese chip and IP … Read More → "A 10-cent RISC-V microcontroller from China? Why not?"

Quantum Simulations of New Materials for the 21st Century

We are surrounded by a multiplicity of materials, from metals and alloys to crystals, glasses, and ceramics; from polymers and plastics to organic and living-derived substances; and let’s not forget natural materials like stone and exotic materials like aerogel.

The amazing thing to me is that all these materials are formed from different combinations of the same small group of elements. For … Read More → "Quantum Simulations of New Materials for the 21st Century"

Only the Most Epic Embedded Online Conference Ever!

The value of online (virtual) conferences is increasing in leaps and bounds as travel becomes more problematic and time is increasingly at a premium. Some of these events “stand proud in the crowd,” as it were. Allow me to expound, elucidate, and explicate. 

When it comes to embedded space (where no one can hear you scream), the virtual extravaganza on … Read More → "Only the Most Epic Embedded Online Conference Ever!"

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May 21, 2025
The term "brassed off"'”an informal British idiom meaning annoyed, fed up, or unhappy'”reflects a kind of period-specific British vernacular that has faded in modern times...
chalk talks
Accelerating Time to Fault Campaign Success with Siemens EDA — Siemens  In this episode of Chalk Talk, Ann Keffer and Robert Serphillips from Siemens and Amelia Dalton explore how the Siemens EDA functional safety platform can guide your team through the complete ISO 26262 lifecycle. They also examine the benefits that the Veloce Fault App brings to automotive IC designs and how you can take … Read More → "Accelerating Time to Fault Campaign Success with Siemens EDA — Siemens"
FPGA-based Prototyping with the Latest High-Capacity FPGA Enables New Use Modes – Siemens  FPGA-based prototyping is an essential tool for any SoC and digital chip design and verification. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Juergen Jaeger from Siemens and Amelia Dalton explore the multitude of benefits of the Veloce proFPGA CS platform from Siemens. They also investigate the debug capabilities, software prototyping and scalable hardware of this … Read More → "FPGA-based Prototyping with the Latest High-Capacity FPGA Enables New Use Modes – Siemens"
Calibre DesignEnhancer: Layout Modifications that Improve your Design – Siemens  In this episode of Chalk Talk, Jeff Wilson from Siemens and Amelia Dalton investigate the variety of benefits that the Calibre DesignEnhancer brings to IC design and how this tool suite can be used to find and fix critical design stage issues. They also explore how the Calibre DesignEnhancer can Identify and resolve issues … Read More → "Calibre DesignEnhancer: Layout Modifications that Improve your Design – Siemens"
Vector Funnel Methodology for Power Analysis from Emulation to RTL to Signoff – Synopsys  The shift left methodology can help lower power throughout the electronic design cycle. In this episode of Chalk Talk, William Ruby from Synopsys and Amelia Dalton explore the biggest energy efficiency design challenges facing engineers today, how Synopsys can help solve a variety of energy efficiency design challenges and how the shift left methodology … Read More → "Vector Funnel Methodology for Power Analysis from Emulation to RTL to Signoff – Synopsys"
Accelerating Tapeouts with Synopsys Cloud and AI — Synopsys  In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Vikram Bhatia from Synopsys explore how you can accelerate your next tapeout with Synopsys Cloud and AI. They also discuss new enhancements and customer use cases that leverage AI with hybrid cloud deployment scenarios, and how this platform can help CAD managers and engineers reduce … Read More → "Accelerating Tapeouts with Synopsys Cloud and AI — Synopsys"
SLM Silicon.da Introduction — Synopsys  In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Guy Cortez from Synopsys investigate how Synopsys’ Silicon.da platform can increase engineering productivity and silicon efficiency while providing the tool scalability needed for today’s semiconductor designs. They also walk through the steps involved in a SLM workflow and examine how this open and extensible platform … Read More → "SLM Silicon.da Introduction — Synopsys"