The plan for the software that runs on the chip: boot, drivers, firmware, operating system support and tools.
Architecture Work product in the SoC and full-chip lifecycle, the Firmware and software stack lifecycle, the Semiconductor equipment lifecycle, the Avionics and airborne electronics lifecycle, the Industrial and energy electronics lifecycle and the System development lifecycle
It defines the software that will run on the chip, so firmware, drivers and tools are planned with the hardware rather than after it. Without it, hardware features have no software support, pre-silicon platforms are not used and customers wait for software after silicon.
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