The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers Inotera, known as Micron Technology Taiwan, suspended its operations after an accident occurred at its Fab 2 facility in Taoyuan City on July 1, according to TrendForce. Inotera is responsible for manufacturing Micron’s LPDDR4 products that go into Apple’s supply chain for the iPhone, according to the market research firm. The problem involved a malfunction in the fab. “Th... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers Intel has announced plans to invest more than $7 billion to complete its previously-announced fab in Chandler, Ariz. The fab was announced several years ago, but Intel delayed the plant in 2014. Now, the plant, dubbed Fab 42, is moving forward again. Targeted for 7nm technology, Fab 42 will be completed in 3 to 4 years and will create approximately 3,000 jobs. The announcement was m... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers At upcoming the 2016 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, TSMC will square off against the alliance of IBM, GlobalFoundries and Samsung at 7nm. IEDM will take place Dec. 3-7, 2016. TSMC will present a paper on 7nm finFET technology. Using 193nm immersion and multi-patterning, the 7nm technology features more than three times the gate density and ei... » read more

Electronic Labeling Takes Off


One hit product for the Internet of Things (IoT) market is the electronic shelf label (ESL). The ESL is rapidly replacing the paper price labels on store shelves throughout Europe and Asia, as well as within retail giants such as Walmart in the United States. But why are retailers replacing nearly zero cost paper labels with an electronic widget that sells for on the order of $5 each (prici... » read more