New Intel group will drive system-chip design

Rick Merritt, EE Times
(12/06/2007 10:30 AM EST)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Intel has created a new system-on-chip enablement group under Gadi Singer, a veteran executive who has led many high profile projects for the company. The move comes at a time when the company is accelerating efforts both in multicore PC processors as well as a range of SoCs for sockets outside its traditional PC markets.

"Every major element being developed going forward will be done in a way that makes it reusable," said Singer who has at various times led efforts on Pentium, Itanium and cellular processors and been head of design automation software at Intel. "We are defining practices, flows and architectures that will allow plug-and-play across all Intel products," he said of the new group.

Intel is not saying how big the new group is in terms of headcount or budget, but its mandate includes defining interconnects and test standards for silicon blocks and system-in-package devices. Singer and others noted making the SoC shift will not be easy for a company with a long heritage of custom design at the circuit level aiming at top performance.

"Developing something that is highly modular requires more effort which sometimes conflicts with other goals for a project so we do get some push back, but this extra effort is a very worthwhile investment," said Singer. "Going forward having SoC capabilities will be part of our competitiveness," he added.

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