A popular trend among semiconductor giants has been to consume and consolidate. Reducing the amount of competition in the market while increasing volume output has been a great way of increasing profit. This process has left little option for low- to medium-volume customers.

Industry is making great efforts to smarten itself up, in the expectation that this will increase productivity. In turn, that will lead to higher profit margins; which must always be the bottom line. How is this being achieved? The key to success lies in greater automation: better use of technology and technological breakthroughs are driving the change. Author: Edel Griffith Technical Marketing Manager, S3 Semiconductors

  Global supplier of mixed-signal and RF Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) solutions, S3 Semiconductors, has joined the Arm Approved design partner programme. This programme provides customers who wish to adopt Arm embedded solutions a trusted and accelerated path to full custom ASIC design. 

In order to give customers access to cost-optimised, custom single-chip solutions that put performance right at the edge of the IoT, S3 Semiconductors has announced the introduction of its SmartEdge Platform. Processing at the Edge is a rapidly evolving trend that accelerates data analytics at the source and reduces cloud-based processing, delivering more responsive decision making. 

An online bill of materials (BOM) calculator that shows how custom ICs are economically viable even in low to medium volumes has been released by S3 Semiconductors. Leaning on S3 Semiconductors’ 20 years of experience in designing custom ICs, the BOM calculator will provide an estimate of project development costs and give a guide to break-even volumes using just a few key data points.

  Darren Hobbs, Director of Marketing and Strategy at S3 Semiconductors talks about how custom semiconductors are an expensive and out-of-reach tech solution has become a statement of past significance. Today, System on Chip (SoC) solutions are in abundance, and companies like S3 Semiconductors make custom silicon not only practicable, but cost effective as well.

Global technology group operating in the semiconductor and connected health industries, S3 Group, has announced a change in strategy for its custom semiconductor business, S3 Semiconductors (S3semi). It will now focus on industrial and communications OEMs, converting their electronic systems and boards into mixed-signal integrated circuits and delivering packaged and tested chips, rather than just design services and IP. This process promises cos...