Startup Funding: February 2024


A startup developing AI chips dedicated to low-power AI inferencing captured one of the largest rounds of February. The startup, Recogni, already offers a low-power vision inferencing chip. Several other sizeable rounds were focused on the automotive space, with robotaxis, autonomous delivery, and the sensors that enable them. Another active area, power electronics drew funding for several c... » read more

Startup Funding: May 2023


Photonic interconnects were an area of activity in May, with two companies raising funds for what could be much faster chip-to-chip and chiplet-to-chiplet links. Microstructured optics and metasurfaces also drew investment, with four companies creating products for a range of applications from flexible LEDs to multi-wavelength spectral imaging. The large language models that power many gener... » read more

Startup Funding: December 2022


The month of December saw six rounds of $100 million or more. The largest, at a massive half-billion dollars, will support manufacturing of 12-inch monocrystalline silicon polished wafers and epitaxial wafers in China. The company is aiming for a production rate of 1 million pieces a month when current expansion is completed. Also in the half-billion club last month is a company making auton... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research Smartphone shipments in China stood at 98.9 million units in the third quarter of 2019, down 3.6% year-on-year, according to IDC. Of that, 5G phone shipments in China have grown from virtually zero not long ago to 485,000 units in the third quarter of 2019, according to IDC. Vendors shipped devices amid the launch of commercial 5G services in October. The early smartphone le... » read more