# An Interview with Philip Freidin - Xenodochial Xilinx Ex-Employee

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2012-07-09
- Length: 1h 22m
- Episode: 103
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-103-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee/

## Summary

Philip Freidin, a consultant and former employee of AMD and Xilinx, discusses his career in chip design, starting with the development of the AMD 29000 RISC CPU and the decline of the BitSlice architecture. He details the technical challenges of designing early FPGAs at Xilinx, specifically the complexity of routing logic and the strategic decision to use Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs). Freidin analyzes the competitive landscape of the programmable logic industry, explaining why startups fail to compete with giants like Xilinx and Altera due to high barriers to entry, and discusses the future of hard silicon blocks within FPGAs.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee#t=0) Introduction and Early Career
- [7:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee#t=462) AMD and the 29000 RISC CPU
- [22:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee#t=1364) The BitSlice Architecture and Its Decline
- [31:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee#t=1878) Joining Xilinx and FPGA Architecture
- [47:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee#t=2859) The FPGA Market and Barriers to Entry
- [55:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-07-09-an-interview-with-philip-freidin-xenodochial-xilinx-ex-employee#t=3316) FPGA Pricing, ASICs, and Future Trends

## Topics

- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- AMD (company)
- Xilinx (company)
- Altera (company)
- 29000 (product)
- 2901 (product)
- 3000 series (product)
- Ross Freeman (other)
- Intel (company)
- TSMC (company)
- NVIDIA (company)
- ATI (company)
- Lattice (company)
- Actel (company)
- Papilo (product)

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## Citing this page

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