By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Renesas and NXP are rolling out software-defined vehicle development platforms. A platform encompassing hardware, software and cloud-based tools is a huge advancement compared to past offerings to the automotive industry. But no one dares to promise their effectiveness in a real world where OEMs design SDVs with hardware and software from multiple vendors.

To serve the plans of OEMs designing software-defined vehicles (SDVs), Renesas has unveiled an SDV development platform called “ROX” (R-Car Open Access),” boasting that it integrates “all essential hardware, operating systems (OS), software and tools” automakers need to rapidly develop next-generation vehicles “with secure and continuous software updates,” said Renesas.

Similarly, NXP Semiconductors announced earlier this year “CoreRide” designed to address the complexity, scalability and costs carmakers face as they transition their creaky E/E architecture to newer software-defined vehicle architectures.

This initiative by the two leading automotive chip suppliers illustrates their urgent perception that they must minimize the impact of the software crisis facing many car OEMs.

By Ron Wilson

What’s at stake:
There is growing discussion of AI in chip design. Could this be mainly marketing, or could it reflect a new weapon in the EDA armory? If the latter, AI could take on some of the most intractable challenges of designing multi-die systems.

Global industry is placing huge bets that artificial intelligence will create a step-function increase in productivity. From customer service to materials handling, from bond trading to medical research, this faith thrives across a broad domain. But what exactly do these faithful mean when they say AI? There are many species in that phylum. And how exactly will AI — demonstrably excellent at pattern recognition and parlor games, but with fundamental limitations when it comes to accuracy and predictability — make knowledge workers more productive?

The EDA industry, with its witheringly complex tasks, massive data sets, vastly skilled practitioners, and utter intolerance of error, offers an excellent laboratory for exploring these questions. The emerging field of high-performance multi-die modules in particular includes some of the most formidable challenges. And among the tasks in this area, the challenge of multi-physics analysis of modules — analyzing the interacting electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical properties of a module design — can be most daunting. This may be a great place to ask our questions.

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
The CHIPS and Science Act has created the opportunity — and federal subsidies — for semiconductor companies both big and small to return chip production capacity to the United States. But thus far, the Department of Commerce’s decision-making process has been shrouded in mystery. The latest announcement of Rogue Valley Microdevices getting the grant gives us a glimpse into the federal government’s inner workings.

Without the power of major market share, what does it take to horn into federal funding action?  Likely ingredients include chutzpah, street cred, and experience in the technology biz. These qualities exist emphatically at Rogue Valley Microdevices (Medford, Oregon), a pure-play MEMS foundry founded by Jessica Gomez, once a lab operator at Standard Microsystems (SMSC) in Long Island, New York. Gomez worked at a small aging fab — attached to the then SMSC’s headquarters — where the company made MEMS inkjet printheads. 

Gomez’s journey started with a local community college science degree. She gained first-hand operational experience at SMSC and went on to run a foundry service at a short-lived MEMS company in California. This background convinced Gomez that she could establish her own MEMS foundry. She launched Rogue Valley Microdevices (RVM) in 2003.