Author Archives: Pete Davy
Startups often get this decision wrong the first time
How to approach physical design resourcing without blowing your burn rate Early on every semiconductor company faces the same dilemma: Should we build an internal physical design team, partner with specialists or both? Tarun has seen the models up close. … Continue reading
A DDR4 subsystem… nine bytelanes… and zero margin for timing error
That was the challenge for a recent space application ASIC. When a client building hardware for orbit approached NextGen, the brief was clear: Deliver a full DDR4 subsystem implementation with perfect clock alignment, first time right. Space doesn’t forgive mistakes. … Continue reading
Finding senior physical design engineers in 2025 is harder than closing timing at 5nm
And that’s exactly why NextGen exists For 15 years, Tarun worked as a physical design contractor for UK, European and American semiconductor companies. Different companies. Different process nodes. Same message from clients: “Are you free? We just need someone we … Continue reading
Insights in physical design
Introducing a new series of posts for the UK & EU semiconductor community: Inside Physical Design — Real Stories. Real Challenges. Real Tapeouts Over the next few weeks, we’re sharing short, honest insights from 25+ years of RTL-to-GDSII experience — … Continue reading
Why physical design expertise is so important
The semiconductor industry talks endlessly about AI accelerators, chiplets and advanced nodes. But there’s a quieter challenge that determines whether ambitious chip designs actually make it to silicon: finding competent physical design engineers you can trust. After 15 years as … Continue reading