Industry Expert Blogs

I would like to further discuss this graphic (presented during IP-SoC 2014 by John Koeter, VP of Marketing IP and prototyping, Synopsys) and focus on Active Design and Tapeouts at 28nm. In fact the very first activity appeared in Q1 2007, but it was only during 2010 that 28nm become popular, after the first Tapeouts coming in Q1 and an average number of active designs per quarter being around 75, to climb to 100 ranges during 2011 and 2012. To really understand this graphic we need to remember that the active design and Tapeouts numbers stop being reported in the graphic, but still exists in the real life! These numbers may still grow, and considering the 28/32nm shape, I would guess so. As you know, before going into production, an IC passes through active design (18 to 24 months), then Tapeout/prototyping/validation (another 6 to 12 months) before production ramp-up and full production. In other words, the active designs listed in Q4 2012 are most probably not yet into production today!

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