Chip Industry Week In Review

By Jesse Allen, Karen Heyman, and Liz Allan

More than 1 billion generative AI smartphones are expected be shipped during 2024 to 2027, reports Counterpoint. The share of GenAI smartphones will be 4% of the market in 2023 and is likely to double in 2024, with Samsung capturing half the market, followed by Chinese OEMs. By 2027, GenAI smartphones could account for 40% of the market.

Global battery EV (BEV) sales grew 29% year-over -year in Q3 and are expected to reach almost 10 million units in 2023, reports Counterpoint. U.S. OEMs manufactured more EVs than they sold, leading to an inventory glut. “China still holds 58% of the global BEV market, with the US taking around 12%. Germany, the third-biggest BEV market, also grew more than 60% annually.”

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Special Report: Proprietary vs. commercial chiplets. Who wins?

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Researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and College London developed a 3D head-up display of London streets using a 3D laser scanner and lidar, which can display potential hazards as high-resolution 3D holograms directly in a driver’s field of vision in real time.

Michigan-based Rydberg Technologies demoed long-range atomic RF communication based on a quantum sensor at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. The device operates in the high-frequency and super high-frequency bands (3 to 30 MHz).

Quick links to more news:

Design and Power
Manufacturing and Test
Automotive
Security
Pervasive Computing and AI
In-Depth Reports
Events

Design and Power

Siemens EDA, sureCore, and Semiwise are collaborating on cryogenic CMOS circuits capable of operating at temperatures near absolute zero, where electron mobility is higher. Semiwise used Siemens’ analog/mixed-signal IC design technology to develop cryogenic CMOS circuit designs featuring cryogenic SPICE models as well as SPICE simulator technology that can perform accurate analyses at cryogenic temperatures.

Siemens EDA also launched Cre8Ventures, a collaborative venture initiative to help European IC startups. It will provide access to Siemens’ tools, emulation, and FPGA prototyping solutions to develop, test and demonstrate their initial products through subsystem and system-wide pre-silicon digital twins.

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Top Story: RISC-V micro-architectures. A whole new challenge.

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Revenue of the world’s leading IC design houses soared 17.8% to reach US$44.7 billion in Q3 2023, fueled by stockpiling for smartphones and laptops, plus rapid acceleration in the shipment of generative AI chips and components, reports TrendForce. NVIDIA took the top spot, while Cirrus Logic came in tenth. Meanwhile, on the mobile front, DRAM and eMMC/UFS prices are expected to surge by 18 to 23% in Q1 2024 as smartphone brands continue stockpiling, TrendForce says.

Mobix Labs went public on Nasdaq under the ticker MOBX after closing its merger with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Chavant Capital Acquisition Corp. Mobix develops CMOS-based mmWave beamformers, antennas, and RF/mixed signal semiconductors for the 5G infrastructure, satellite communications, and defense industries. Mobix also completed its acquisition of EMI Solutions, which makes electromagnetic interference filters for military and aerospace applications.

Wistron adopted Ansys‘ simulation software to automate 5G cellular antenna power density analysis and optimize signal coverage. Wistron also used Cadence’s AI-driven electromagnetic in-design analysis workflow to design a complex 800G network switch.

France’s Alice & Bob taped out a 16-qubit quantum processing unit that can perform error correction and will be used by the company to develop a logical qubit.

The University of Stuttgart will build two new supercomputers. A transitional supercomputer called Hunter, with peak performance of 39 petaflops, will begin operation in 2025. That will be followed in 2027 with the installation of Herder, an exascale system.

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center debuted its third generation of open-source processors. Based on RISC-V, the Sargantana chip is an experimental prototype intended for testing applications and research. The BSC also officially launched its MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, which a maximum total performance of 314 petaflops across two distinct systems, one based around CPUs for general-purpose scientific computing and the other based on GPUs for AI and numerical simulation.

Manufacturing and Test

Japanese chemical maker Asahi Kasei will invest over 15 billion yen ($105 million) to build a new plant in central Japan to make semiconductor materials.

The U.S. Department of Commerce will launch a new survey in January 2024 that will serve as a foundation for continued analysis of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and national defense industrial base.

SMIC achieved a technological breakthrough in chipmaking gear, according to a major state-backed shareholder, suggesting the firm has made advances in China’s fight to overcome U.S. sanctions.

ASML plans to manufacture 10 machines capable of producing 2nm chips next year, while aiming to increase its annual production capacity to 20 devices in the coming years, reports TrendForce.

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Top Story: Fabs Ramp Up ML To Debug Processes, Boost Yield.

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CEA-Leti developed a 200mm gallium nitride/silicon (GaN/Si) process technology compatible with CMOS cleanrooms that costs less than existing GaN/SiC technology, and described the world’s-first 3D sequential integration (3DSI) of CMOS over CMOS with advanced metal line levels, bringing 3DSI with intermediate BEOL closer to commercialization.

Advantest is collaborating with wireless solution provider Amarisoft to enable users of Amarisoft’s 4G and 5G AMARI Callboxes to leverage Advantest’s Micro Line Test (MLT) test management software.

NIST awarded nearly $3 million to 15 small businesses under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Winning projects include advances in semiconductors and flexible electronics manufacturing, such as a heterogeneous millimeter-wave gallium nitride heterojunction bipolar transistor from QuantTera of Arizona.

Luxshare will acquire Qorvo’s assembly and test facilities in Beijing and Dezhou, China.

Automotive

Ansys launched AVxcelerate Autonomy, a cloud-based system capable of simulating the majority of the required test driving for L2+, L3, and above ADAS and AV compliance. Co-developed with BMW, the simulator can reduce development cost and validation time by 100,000X.

Infineon is collaborating with POLYN Technology on tire sensors that can detect changes in both pressure and vibration, and which processes much of that data right at the sensor using a neural network. The companies say that reduces the volume of data by a factor of 4,000 with only a few microwatts of power.

Toyota recalled certain 2020-2022 Toyota and Lexus models in the U.S. affecting about one million vehicles. “The subject vehicles have Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors in the front passenger seat that could have been improperly manufactured, causing a short circuit.”

Mercedes-Benz received permits for turquoise-colored marker lights to indicate the automated driving system is in operation, in California and Nevada. Designed in accordance with SAE J3134 Recommended Practice, the marker lights are integrated into the front and rear lights as well as the two outside mirrors in Mercedes-Benz testing vehicles.

Infineon introduced a dual IGBT module and an emitter-controlled diode aimed at large conveyor belts, pumps, high-speed trains, and locomotives, plus commercial, construction and agricultural vehicles (CAVs).

Fig. 1: Infineon’s 4.5 kV IGBT module. Source: Infineon

Future Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche electric vehicles (EVs) will use Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging port, starting in 2025, and the companies are exploring adapter solutions for existing vehicles to access the Tesla Supercharger network. Scout vehicles will be able to access the Tesla network once they go on sale.

Yole analysts reviewed 2023, including factors influencing advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS); the implementation of electrification; stand out innovations; who is leading in automotive semiconductors; and the impact of the trade wars.

Security

To address the security issues of non-volatile memories (NVMs), a team of researchers proposed a lightweight memory encryption/decryption scheme by exploiting in-situ memory operations, with negligible performance and power overhead compared to existing solutions.

Mitre Engenuity announced that MITRE Caldera can run the Center for Threat-Informed Defense’s emulation plans for the Russian state-sponsored threat actor Turla. A Caldera user can test defenses against real-world threats or get familiar with Turla’s commonly used tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).

Helmholtz Center for Information Security (CISPA) researchers tested a new method for uncertainty quantification in machine learning applications. The key advantage is that it is “model independent, meaning that it doesn’t matter which model is used, so you don’t need to train anything from scratch.” CISPA also invited applications from undergraduate, graduate students, and researchers in cybersecurity and related fields to its 2024 summer schools. The first is focused on usable security and the second is focused on cryptography.

The NSA published its 2023 Cybersecurity Year in Review, and CISA issued various alerts.

Pervasive Computing and AI

IBM will acquire the StreamSets and webMethods platforms from Software AG for €2.13 billion (~$2.69 billion) to bolster AI and hybrid cloud offerings.

The display driver IC (DDIC) market is expected to swing significantly upward, driven by demand for TVs, gaming monitors, and commercial notebooks. But DDIC prices are expected to continue to drop due to ongoing market pressures.

imec’s president and CEO Luc Van den Hove discussed how 2023 marked the start of a new era as AI became available at everyone’s fingertips.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requested information to assist with its responsibilities under President Biden’s recent executive order on AI. NIST needs to develop guidelines for evaluation, red-teaming and more; facilitate development of consensus-based standards; and provide testing environments for the evaluation of AI systems.

The Office of Science approved $30 million in funding for three projects aimed at integrating high performance computing at the Department of Energy’s X-ray and neutron light source facilities.

GlobalLogic plans to acquire Mobiveil, which provides IP and engineering services for the networking, storage, and enterprise markets. Mobiveil’s lineup of IP includes RapidIO interface IP, memory controllers, flash storage controllers and interfaces, and AXI Interconnect IP.

In-Depth Reports

Here are more new stories by the Semiconductor Engineering team this week.

Systems & Design:

• 2023 has had more than its fair share of surprises, but who were the winners and losers? The good news is that by the end of the year, almost everyone was happy.
• In 2024, the industry will focus on new developments AI/ML, RISC-V, quantum, security, and much more.

Manufacturing, Packaging & Materials:

• Generative AI forces chipmakers to use compute resources more intelligently.
• Modeling compute in memory to boost energy efficiency.

Events

Find upcoming chip industry events here, including:

Upcoming webinars are here.

Further Reading and Newsletters

Read the latest special reports and top stories, or check out the latest newsletters:

Systems and Design
Low Power-High Performance
Test, Measurement and Analytics
Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials
Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing