Programmable Logic

2016 - Q1
The information found in Industry Watch is collected from many sources. It is gathered and updated on a quarterly basis by America II’s Product Marketing Team. The data is intended to provide a high-level overview of lead times and market conditions. Buyers should use this information for guidance only.

Automotive Sector Helping FPGA Growth

ByteSnap believes that FPGAs will make inroads in the HPC (High Performance Computing) market segment in 2016, though a key will be software tools. If FPGA manufacturers can open the door of hardware-accelerated functions to software engineers, there could be a step change in FPGA adoption - especially in automotive and e-health where sensor algorithms are complex. ByteSnap contends that FPGAs may still be too expensive for use in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, though Microsemi and Lattice are bucking the trend by offering ultra-small, low-cost and power-efficient devices. There is also growing demand from the automotive sector where more sensors and control systems are being added at an unprecedented rate. FPGAs could be quite cost-effective here.

Intel announced in late December 2015 that it has completed the $16.7 billion acquisition of Altera, which will now operate as a new business unit called the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG). Intel can start packaging their Xeon processors with Altera’s FPGAs to offer the complete solution. Intel says it will start pairing the two chips sometime this year, which will boost performance by up to 50 percent. Intel is betting that its production technology can help bring such integrated products to market quickly.