Five Trends In IC Packaging


At one time, chip packaging was an afterthought. Chipmakers were more worried about IC design. Packaging was considered a mere commodity, which was simply used to house the design. More recently, though, chip packaging has become a hot topic. The IC design is still important, but packaging is a key part of the solution. In fact, the industry can go down two paths. The traditional way is t... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Packaging and test A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics (IME) has formed a fan-out wafer-level packaging consortium comprising of OSATs, materials vendors, equipment suppliers and others. The group is called the FOWLP Development Line Consortium. As part of the announcement, Singapore’s IME has established a development line to accelerate the development of fan-out. Located in IME’s... » read more

Litho Options For Panel Fan-out


Several packaging houses are inching closer to production of panel-level fan-out packaging, a next-generation technology that promises to reduce the cost of today’s fan-out packages. In fact, ASE, Nepes, Samsung and others already have installed the equipment in their panel-level fan-out lines with production slated for 2018 or so. But behind the scenes, panel-level packaging houses contin... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers Bloomberg has reported that Broadcom is in talks to acquire Qualcomm for $70 per share or about $90 billion. Qualcomm is attempting to acquire NXP, but Broadcom has its sights on Qualcomm, not NXP. “We think AVGO would want to acquire QCOM assets not NXP,” said Amit Daryanani, an analyst with RBC. Samsung continues to reshuffle its management amid a plethora of changes at t... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Finance Farmobile has raised $18.1 million in a Series B round of funding, led by Anterra Capital and AmTrust Agricultural Insurance Services, bringing its total funding to more than $28 million. Existing investors also took part in the new round. The agricultural Internet of Things startup will use the money to expand its operations around the world. Farmobile provides agronomic and machine d... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Finance Automile, an Internet of Things company involved in field-service businesses, has received $34 million in Series B funding led by Insight Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $47 million. Existing investors Dawn Capital, Point Nine Capital, SaaStr Fund, and Salesforce Ventures also participated in the new round. Automile will use the money on marketing, product developmen... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Acquisitions ASSA ABLOY has agreed to acquire August Home, a startup providing home security products; the purchase price wasn’t revealed. August Home, which raised $75 million in private funding, should fit well with the Scandinavian conglomerate’s Yale lock business. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions; it is expected to close by the end of ... » read more

The Evolving Data Center


Confession time. In addition to being utterly fascinated by all things chip design, I have always been absolutely enthralled by the magnificent data center. With a family member that has worked in them for most of his career, I can recalled being delighted to be amongst the racks in a second floor data center in Palo Alto in the early 90s. Time to time throughout my career it’s been thrilling... » read more

The Importance Of Wi-Fi


Wi-Fi has had a huge impact on the modern world, and it will continue to do so. From home wireless networks to offices and public spaces, the ubiquity of high speed connectivity without reliance on cables has radically changed the way computing happens. It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that because of ready access to Wi-Fi, we are consequently able to lead better lives – using o... » read more

What’s Next for the IoT?


The Internet of Things continues to evolve, attempting to overcome its poor reputation for cybersecurity and making the case for wider adoption, especially by enterprises. Consumer IoT, largely represented in smart-home automation, remains a market being targeted by Amazon, Apple, Google, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and other technology titans. The big bucks are in [getkc id="78" k... » read more

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