Custom Hardware Thriving


In the early days of the IoT, predictions about the commoditization of hardware and the end of customized hardware were everywhere. Several years later, those predictions are being proven wrong. Off-the-shelf components have not replaced customized hardware, and software has not dictated all designs. In fact, in many cases the exact opposite has happened. And where software does play an elev... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Manufacturing Veeco Instruments has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ultratech. With the deal, Veeco will enter into the lithography market for chip-packaging as well as the laser spike anneal business. Veeco is a supplier of MOCVD tools. The implied total transaction value is approximately $815 million and the implied enterprise value is approximately $550 million. FlexTech, a SE... » read more

What’s Missing In Advanced Packaging


Even though Moore's Law is running out of steam, there is still a need to increase functional density. Increasingly, this is being done with heterogeneous integration at the package or module level. This is proving harder than it looks. At this point there are no standardized methodologies, and tools often are retrofitted versions of existing tools that don't take into account the challenges... » read more

Chip Advances Play Big Role In Cloud


Semiconductor engineering teams have been collaborating with key players in the data center ecosystem in recent years, resulting in unforeseen and substantial changes in how data centers are architected and built. That includes everything from which boxes, boards, cards and cables go where, to how much it costs to run them. The result is that bedrock communication technology and standards li... » read more

Making 2.5D, Fan-Outs Cheaper


Now that it has been shown to work, the race is on to make advanced [getkc id="27" kc_name="packaging"] more affordable. While device scaling could continue for another decade or more, the number of companies that can afford to develop SoCs at the leading edge will continue to decline. The question now being addressed is what can supplant it, supplement it, or redefine it. At the center o... » read more

Silicon Photonics Comes Into Focus


Silicon photonics is attracting growing attention and investment as a companion technology to copper wiring inside of data centers, raising new questions about what comes next and when. Light has always been the ultimate standard for speed. It requires less energy to move large quantities of data, generates less heat than electricity, and it can work equally well over long or short distances... » read more

Where Are The IoT Industry Standards?


Are you ready for some Internet of Things standards? Good, because you can help make them. The IoT is proceeding apace as a business, eagerly embraced by such corporate behemoths as Cisco Systems, General Electric, IBM, and Verizon Communications. What’s lacking is the codification of industry standards for the IoT, as many companies have aligned with groups that have competing agendas and... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Technology The Internet of Things got some attention at this week’s Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich introduced the Joule compute module in his opening-day keynote address. The module is a high-performance developer platform supporting Intel RealSense depth-sensing cameras. Canonical, Microsoft, and PivotHead were among the IDF exhibitors demonstrating the Jou... » read more

The Week In Review: IoT


Deals Rambus completed its $32 million acquisition of the Snowbush IP assets from Semtech. Through the end of 2022, Rambus may make additional payments on the transaction, depending upon new product sales. The Snowbush IP assets became part of the Memory and Interfaces Division at Rambus, complementing the company’s offerings in IP and serializer/deserializer blocks. Samsung Electronics A... » read more

Complete Control Through Software


As Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications proliferate in critical infrastructure, such as the power grid and water supply, the importance of the underlying software and the availability of an open-source platform for app development is coming to the forefront. This marks a significant shift, particularly in the industrial and commercial world, where software historically has playe... » read more

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