Non-Traditional Chips Gaining Steam


Flexible hybrid electronics are beginning to roll out in the form of medical devices, wearable electronics and even near-field communications tags in retail, setting the stage for a whole new wave of circuit design, manufacturing and packaging that reaches well beyond traditional chips. FHE devices begin with substrates made of ceramics, glass, plastic, polyimide, polymers, polysilicon, stai... » read more

How To Make 3D NAND


In 2013, Samsung reached a major milestone in the IC industry by shipping the world’s first 3D NAND device. Now, after some delays and uncertainty, Intel, Micron, SK Hynix and the SanDisk/Toshiba duo are finally ramping up or sampling 3D NAND. 3D NAND is the long-awaited successor to today’s planar or 2D NAND, which is used in memory cards, solid-state storage drives (SSDs), USB flash dr... » read more

Consolidation’s Aftermath


The recent spate of industry consolidation continues to have repercussions across the semiconductor industry. Some of those effects will subside once the deals are either approved or nixed by regulatory agencies. Others will raise questions for months or years to come. Consolidation is not a new trend in the semiconductor industry, but the pace and size of the acquisitions in the past year a... » read more

Consolidation Creates Confusion


Consolidation in any industry is a sign of maturation. Diverse business models converge to the ones that really work. Supply and demand find equilibrium with a right-sized supply base. And generally, the fittest survive. The semiconductor industry is somewhere around a half-century old, so consolidation in this industry is to be expected, and we have certainly seen some consolidation of late. ... » read more

Avago Buys Broadcom; NXP Spins Off RF Power Unit


Merger and acquisition activity continues to heat up across the semiconductor industry. On one front, Avago Technologies continues on its acquisition spree. And on another front, NXP Semiconductors is moving to spin off its RF power business. And there are other deals in the works as well, including Intel's proposed move to buy Altera. What’s driving the wave of M&A activity? The sem... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Cypress Semiconductor has made a bid to buy U.S. memory maker Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. (ISSI). In fact, Cypress may have started a bidding war against a Chinese consortium to buy ISSI. In March, a Chinese consortium of investors led by Summitview Capital entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire ISSI. The proposed transaction values ISSI’s equity at approximately $639.5 mi... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Deals Arteris teamed up with Yogitech to integrate the two companies' products. They're planning a set of ISO 26262 deliverables for a series of SoC reference designs and a functional safety assessment of the Arteris FlexNoC interconnect IP. ARM and Green Hills Software collaborated on an optimized compiler for the Cortex-R5 processor. The compiler achieved a score of 1.01EEMBC Automarks/... » read more

3D NAND Market Heats Up


After some delays and uncertainty in past years, the 3D NAND market is finally heating up. In 2013 and 2014, Samsung was the only vendor participating in the 3D NAND market. Most other suppliers were supposed to ship 3D NAND devices in volumes last year, but vendors pushed out their production dates for various business and technical reasons. Going into 2015, [getentity id="22865" e_nam... » read more

Trouble Spots And Optimism For 2015


Most top executives in the semiconductor industry are bullish about 2015 and even beyond, particularly as the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] begins to drive new markets and market mash-ups, and as more semiconductors find their way into markets such as automotive, health-care and manufacturing. But it's not an entirely rosy picture, and top executives point to potential trouble sp... » read more

Tech Talk: What’s Inside Your Car?


Dinraj Shetty, vice president of design engineering at Spansion, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about automotive electronics and where the big concerns are today. The video was shot at the Cadence Low Power Summit. [youtube vid=-Qbgh8aFDTA] » read more

← Older posts