Wanted: Mask Equipment for Mature Nodes


Rising demand for chips at mature nodes is impacting the photomask supply chain, causing huge demand for trailing-edge masks and a shortfall of older mask equipment. The big issue is the equipment shortfall, which could impact customers on several fronts. Tool shortages could lead to longer mask turnaround times and delivery schedules for chips being developed at 90nm and above, which are bu... » read more

RISC-V: More Than a Core


The open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) is attracting a lot of attention across the semiconductor industry, but its long-term success will depend on levels of cooperation never seen before in the semiconductor industry. The big question now is how committed the industry is to RISC-V's success. The real value that RISC-V brings is the promise of an ecosystem and the opportun... » read more

Adding AI To The IoT


The Internet of Things is about to undergo a radical change, fueled by vast number of things coupled with an almost pervasive presence of AI. The IoT today encompasses a long list of vertical markets, all of them connected to the Internet but not necessarily to each other. The concept of the IoT really began taking off in 2015, when a combination of data analytics, high-speed, affordable and... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Deals Dialog Semiconductor made a blockbuster deal with Apple – the chip company will license power management technologies and transfer some assets to Apple, which will use them in their internal chip research and development. More than 300 Dialog employees, mostly engineers, will join Apple, which will pay $300 million in cash for the transaction and prepay another $300 million for Dialog ... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Amazon Web Services announced that Iridium Communications has joined the AWS Partner Network. AWS and Iridium have collaborated on development of Iridium CloudConnect, a service that enables worldwide coverage for Internet of Things applications through Iridium’s satellite network. AWS IoT is being paired with Iridium IoT services as a result. IHS Markit forecasts there wi... » read more

NIST’s Considerations For ‘Cybersecuring’ The Internet Of Things


Experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have kicked off an initiative to support the development and application of standards, guidelines, and related tools to improve the cybersecurity of connected devices and the environments in which they are deployed. NIST’s Cybersecurity for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Privacy Engineering Programs drafted a report ... » read more

Making Buildings Smarter


Calling a building “smart” implies that technology is embedded to make that building more efficient, useful, convenient and profitable. The goal is to program efficiency beyond what humans can provide. But “smart” also may imply a healthy dose of marketing hype. No one wants to live in a “dumb building,” but it's difficult to define what makes a building smart. And while much is ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 2


Photonic sensor Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis devised a way to record environmental data using a wireless photonic sensor resonator with a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) architecture capable of resonating at light frequencies and also at vibrational or mechanical frequencies. Optical sensors are not affected by electromagnetic interference, a major benefit in noisy or har... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things IBM this week launched the Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture, which combines artificial intelligence, Internet of Things technology, and cloud-based offerings, providing insights to farmers through a managed service. Among other features, growers can deploy drones to send photos to the IBM Cloud for AI-based trend analysis and detection of crop diseases. The platform ... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Release 3 is published by oneM2M, the worldwide Internet of Things interoperability standards initiative. The third set of specifications deals with 3GPP interworking, especially as it relates to cellular IoT connectivity, among other features. The release is said to enable seamless interworking with narrowband IoT and LTE-M connectivity through the 3GPP Service Capability E... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →