Arteris Articles

When discussing system-on-chip (SoC) design with my semiconductor design and software development peers, the conversation eventually gets around to the problem of, “There’s just too much IP!” The feelings I hear border on exasperation at the problem of integrating IP on today’s large SoCs. Engineers who were once paid to write lines of Verilog or C code from scratch are now spending much of their time tying together commercial hardware IP and the associated software. Their jobs have changed, and they’ve had to acquire new skills and new tools to be successful.

It’s official: The great IP land grab has begun.

The process actually has been taking place gradually, but has accelerated with Imagination Technologies’ acquisition of MIPS last year and, most recently, Cadence’s acquisition of Tensilica. For makers of semiconductors, four competing IP behemoths are emerging after years of fragmentation within the semiconductor IP industry.

I was fortunate to be able to meet with 13 different semiconductor industry analysts from eight different companies over the last two weeks. Our conversations ranged from the current state of the semiconductor industry to future software architecture trends. I want to take this opportunity to thank them once again for the exchange of ideas and the opportunity to learn from them. Here’s a summary of some things I learned, and also some things that surprised me.