Rob Knoth’s Post

A beautiful essay on computation and randomness. Working in science and engineering, we’re constantly surrounded by computation. This was a great reminder to step back and marvel at the bigger picture. I hope I can also “hear the music”. Maybe the “music” is what helps inspire me when I have the opportunity to speak about what we and our partners are doing with accelerated compute, AI, digital twins, and all the tools involved in designing scientific and engineering solutions. Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes with this one: https://lnkd.in/gEQqSVhR #ai #acceleratedcompute #eda #semiconductors

The great challenges aren't solved by one hero in isolation. The true heroes are the hard working teams that collaborate, question, investigate, and innovate together. This collaboration between Samsung Semiconductor and Cadence Design Systems is a great example of that. Just like how different people bring unique and important perspectives to solve problems better, having engines that analyze and optimize across different physical phenomena and across all design scopes (transistors, cells, IP, chiplet, SOC, package, board, enclosure, ... , all the way to climate) are key to tackling problems like thermal. This is how we change the world: together.

We're all looking to make a difference. At work, at home, in our community. I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to make a difference in our community through my service on the board and as a volunteer at Bend's Family Kitchen. Our mission: to provide nutritious meals to anyone in need in a safe and caring environment. We are starting a brave new chapter at Family Kitchen, and are looking for an Executive Director to help lead the change. We've been around since 1986, and have never missed serving a meal for those in need. Today, we're a 501(c)(3), serving 20,000 meals a month, in 3 cities. We're on the hunt for a new physical location, and on the precipice of being able to realize our vision of helping eliminate food insecurity in Central Oregon. Are you looking to join a small team, with a large community and volunteer support network, and make a huge difference? Do you want to live in a great city with amazing outdoor and recreation options? Do you want to apply your nonprofit and organizational skills to one of the most basic needs: feeding hungry people? Let's talk. https://lnkd.in/g7RcNQcC

8 years at Cadence. Wow.   Where I am now is one of the happiest places I've been in my career. It's not an easy job, but it is incredibly rewarding, and has the opportunity for infinite growth.   A few things that stand out for me looking back: * Work life started mowing lawns and scooping ice cream on hot Wisconsin nights. My end products are different now, but the work ethic and team work I learned back then still applies. * Screwing up what "CMOS" stood for on my first college co-op report from working at Tektronix, yet still getting invited back. Endless opportunity to learn, own, make mistakes, experiments, and discover. Sleeping in my truck waiting for Apollo P&R jobs to finish, and learning how to program EDA tools. Thanks for trusting me, Dave. * Making the leap from design to the world of EDA, and joining Magma Design Automation. Looking back, this was the forge which really made me into the engineer and teammate that I am today. The benchmarks won (and lost), products launched, late nights, early mornings, and the will to keep going. Some of my closest friends and best mentors came from working here. Nothing could have prepared me for how hard it was. I am so proud to be part of the Magma story that's still shaping our industry. * Leaving Magma, and going to Intel Corporation at the tail end of the recession, taught me invaluable skills about good and bad ways to manage complex projects, get difficult decisions made well, and a master class about hierarchical design methodology that was way ahead of its time. It was cool to own the layout convergence for (what was then) the largest integrated circuit on the planet. While the number of years there were not long, they were intense and made an impression. * Coming back to EDA and joining many of my old friends at Cadence Design Systems. The feeling of coming back "home" to EDA after revisiting the world of design was amazing. At the time it felt risky, but looking back it was the best career move I've made. The value of working with crazy talented people that you respect (and are friends) cannot be overstated. What you find in yourself, the creativity that comes from brainstorming, the results that come from trusting your team are truly special. Being part of the team as we've grown from EDA to systems and now being part of the AI and digital twin revolution, having a literal seat at the table as our industry grows, teaches, and learns - that's priceless. * All along, the invaluable and honest feedback from my most important partner: my wife. She was the one who asked the hard questions, planted the seeds, and inspired me to take the risks which were so pivotal in that career, and which will undoubtably show up in the future. Thanks, Dawn Rae. Sorry I'm a slow learner sometimes, but I don't give up.  

As industries grapple with the impact of AI, and the costs of adoption, one common issue is the energy cost of computation. Data centers consuming more power for training and inference are spurring new public policies and debate. One key item overlooked is how modern accelerated compute coupled with modern scientific compute software, can help drive major improvements in the energy efficiency. The benefits of combining these two are clearly highlighted in a recent post by Dion Harris. The work that Cadence Design Systems and NVIDIA have done together for improving the energy efficiency of scientific compute for semiconductor design, system analysis and optimization, and even scaling up to data center and climate show 13X to 30X better results running Cadence algorithms on the recent NVIDIA #graceblackwell superchip. By co-optimizing software and hardware, we can deliver more energy efficient compute to design more power-efficient #semiconductors, systems, and #datacenters. We can help the improve the utilization and efficiency of existing data centers, avoiding the need to construct new ones. Together, we can deliver the #AI systems which can help analyze and optimize the challenges facing our world and deliver the solutions we need for climate and society.