The Week In Review: Manufacturing


German laser giant Trumpf is spending more than 70 million euros ($76.9 million) to build a new facility for its laser amplifier technology in EUV lithography applications. Trumpf has nothing to do with the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. But rather Trumpf is a German-based supplier of machine tools, lasers and electronics for industrial applications. Meanwhile, Trumpf’s new b... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


At an event, Samsung rolled out its 10nm finFET technology. The company also showed a 300mm wafer with 10nm finFET transistors. "We have silicon-based PDKs out," said Kelvin Low, senior director of foundry marketing for Samsung. Samsung plans to move into production with its 10nm finFET technology by the end of 2016, he said. IC Insights released its chip rankings in terms of sales in the fi... » read more

5 Issues Under The Foundry Radar


In the foundry business, the leading-edge segment grabs most, if not all, of the headlines. Foundry vendors, of course, are ramping up 16nm/14nm finFET processes, with 10nm and 7nm in R&D. The leading-edge foundry business is sizable, but it’s not the only thing going on in the competitive arena. In fact, there are battles taking place in many other foundry segments, such as 2.5D/3D packag... » read more

Industry Scorecard For 2014


At the end of last year, Semiconductor Engineering asked the industry about the developments they expected to see in 2014. If you care to refresh your memory, they were categorized under markets, semiconductors and development tools. Now it is time to look back and see how accurate those predictions were and where they fell short. Markets The obvious trend, at the beginning of the year, wa... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Is the sky falling on the ATE market? The ATE market is expected to hit $2.8 billion in 2014, up from $2.28 billion in 2013, according to Pacific Crest Securities. “Overall, we are now modeling overall semiconductor test demand to decline by 2% in 2015, a significant change from our previous estimate of up 10%,” said Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, in a report. “Te... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Gartner has released a chart, which tracks the “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies in 2014.” According to the chart, here’s some of the technologies that are still a number of years away from reaching the marketplace: virtual personal assistants; human augmentation; brain-computer interface; quantum computing; smart robots; biochips; smart advisors; autonomous vehicles; and natural-lang... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


IBM’s move to sell its chip business to GlobalFoundries may have stalled or is dead, according to the Albany Times Union and other news outlets. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state will partner with over 100 private companies, led by GE, to launch the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium. GE will be a lead partner in a fab, housed at the CNSE Nano Tech co... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Tools Mentor Graphics rolled out embedded Linux software for AMD’s x86 G-series SoCs, code-named Steppe Eagle and its Crowned Eagle CPUs. Ansys-Apache and TowerJazz have created a power noise and reliability signoff design kit, including reference flow guidelines, test case examples and flow setup guidance. Synopsys updated its verification portfolio with static and formal tools for CD... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


IC Insights has released its rankings of the Q1 ‘14 top 25 semiconductor suppliers. Outside of the top five spots, there were numerous changes. MediaTek jumped up four positions. Also, last year’s Micron/Elpida merger created a new giant semiconductor company with Micron’s sales expected to be over $17 billion this year. Toshiba will demolish the No. 2 semiconductor fabrication facilit... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Tools Mentor Graphics unveiled a new version of its PCB design platform, even going so far as to rename it slightly (Expedition to Xpedition). Mentor claims it’s the most significant product in that space in years, bridging the environments between designers and engineers. Included are placement planning in densely packed boards, which simplifies re-use and improves time to market, and elect... » read more

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