Adaptation In A Volatile Era


2018 has been a volatile year by almost any measure, and the global electronics industry was at the center of the action. Soaring memory prices and tech stock valuations drove eye-popping growth in the first half, with Samsung solidifying its position as the world’s largest chipmaker and Apple briefly topping $1 trillion of market capitalization. Fast forward to the second half of the year an... » read more

Finding New Dimensions Of Innovation


Whenever a company announces a major strategy shift and restructuring, such as pivoting away from 7nm FinFET technology development, it’s understandable that confusion, uncertainty and misunderstandings may arise. The best way to allay these concerns is to take an objective look at the situation: Demand for chips for the automotive, IoT, mobility and data center/wireless infrastructure mar... » read more

Optimizing 5G With AI At The Edge


AI touches our lives in many different ways, and while some AI-enabled applications are highly visible, like the increasingly popular Amazon Echo and Google Home voice-controlled intelligent digital assistants, others are less obvious. But by no means are they less important. For example, AI techniques are essential to the successful rollout of 5G wireless communications. 5G is the develop... » read more

Moving To ASICs For ADAS


By some estimates, there are now more than 260 startups and established companies around the world scrambling to develop, qualify and bring to market chips and technologies for new ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) and autonomous driving applications. Accordingly, venture capitalists, technology companies, carmakers, Tier 1 automotive suppliers and others are sharply ratcheting up ... » read more

System-In-Package Vs. eNVM


The booming automotive and IoT markets are driving increasing demand for microcontrollers (MCUs). Recent forecasts project that the overall MCU compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will reach 4% over the next five years, and in particular the automotive MCU CAGR could reach close to 14%. Non-volatile memory (NVM) is a critical element of MCUs, as it is needed not only to store the code, but al... » read more

How 5G Differs From Previous Network Technologies


The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain is the wireless industry’s leading annual event, and this year’s edition in late February was buzzing with talk of 5G wireless technology and its evolving uses and technology requirements. First, Gregg Bartlett and Dr. Bami Bastani, Sr. Vice Presidents of GlobalFoundries' CMOS and RF business units, respectively, outlined 5G-related semico... » read more

Auto Industry Driving Faster


Automotive electronics used to be a lumbering, trailing-edge business. Not anymore. Today, powerful semiconductor technologies are driving the development of automotive features that once might have been seen as science fiction, such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) which are paving the way to self-driving cars. Overall, the market for semiconductors in automotive applications is... » read more

New Applications, Multiple Approaches


It may be tempting to view the strong demand for semiconductors as just one more up-cycle in our traditionally cyclical industry, but what’s really driving things right now is the opening of entirely new horizons, made possible by the increased capabilities of today’s chips. Chip demand is no longer only being driven by the needs of computer and smartphone manufacturers. Now, a mushroomi... » read more

5G Is Coming


When I returned from the holidays, I thought I had entered a time warp. Did I sleep through January and wake up near the end of February? I expected to see the usual deluge of news about the gadgets and gear that will be featured at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2018). Instead, I’ve seen story after story about next-generation 5G mobile networks—typically the stuff of Mobile W... » read more

Toward Self-Driving Cars


The automotive market for semiconductors is shifting into high gear. Right now the average car has about $350 worth of semiconductor content, but that is projected to grow another 50% by 2023 as the overall automotive market for semiconductors grows from $35 billion to $54 billion. This strong growth is being driven by the need to develop what we are calling the ‘connected car.’ The ... » read more

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