Xilinx Beats Altera to the First FinFET FPGA!
Why do I stalk the FPGA industry? Well, FPGAs are an important part of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem for two reasons: 1.) They enable very cost effective design starts which are the life’s blood of the semiconductor industry and 2.) FPGA prototyping allows designers to verify their designs before committing to silicon and gives software developers a head start with working programmable silicon. And if that isn’t enough, the battle between industry leaders Altera and Xilinx is Kardashian-like reality TV. Or, if you are into sports, it would be a UFC Championship Match inside the Octagon. In this scenario Xilinx would be Women’s Bantam Weight Champion Ronda Rousey! Oh yaaaaa...
For me the FPGA fight really got interesting when Xilinx moved from UMC to TSMC at 28nm. I remember seeing an entire floor at UMC headquarters filled with Xilinx employees. Then disaster struck and Xilinx was late to the 40nm node. Next thing I know the 4th floor was empty and Xilinx people were all up in TSMC’s business. Given the close relationship between Altera and TSMC it really was like adding a second wife to your marriage. The result of course was Altera divorcing TSMC and marrying Intel.
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