Chip Industry Week In Review


Infineon rolled out the world's first 300mm gallium nitride (GaN) wafer, opening the door for high-volume manufacturing of GaN-based power semiconductors. A 300mm wafer contains 2.3 times as many chips per wafer as a 200mm wafer. Fig.1: Infineon's 300mm GaN wafer. Source: Infineon The Semiconductor Industry Association released its 2024 State of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry report th... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Three Fraunhofer Institutes (IIS/EAS, IZM, and ENAS) launched the Chiplet Center of Excellence, a research initiative to support the commercial introduction of chiplet technology. The center initially will focus on automotive electronics, developing workflows and methods for electronics design, demonstrator construction, and the evaluation of reliability. The UCIe Consortium published the Un... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Adam Kovac, Karen Heyman, and Liz Allan. India approved the construction of two fabs and a packaging house, for a total investment of about $15.2 billion, according to multiple sources. One fab will be jointly owned by Tata and Taiwan's Powerchip. The second fab will be a joint investment between CG Power, Japan's Renesas Electronics, and Thailand's Stars Microelectronics. Tata will run t... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis will create an electric vehicle charging network, installing more than 30,000 high-powered DC charge points accessible to any cars that use Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors. Opening summer 2024, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology and allow easy digital ... » read more

Better Choreography Required For Complex Chips


The rapidly growing number of features and options in chip design are forcing engineering teams to ratchet up their planning around who does what, when it gets done, and how various components will interact. In effect, more elements in the design flow need to be choreographed much more precisely. Some steps have to shift further left, while others need to be considered earlier in the plannin... » read more

Rethinking Engineering Education In The U.S.


The CHIPS Act, as well as the ongoing need for talent, is causing both industry and academia in America to rethink engineering education, resulting in new approaches and stronger partnerships. As an example, Arizona State University (ASU) now has a Secure, Trusted, and Assured Microelectronics Center (STAM). The center offers an interdisciplinary approach to learning secure and trusted semic... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive, Mobility Tesla employees have been viewing customer videos, according to an investigative report by Reuters. The news outlet surveyed and interviewed Tesla employees, who described using the footage for both legitimate purposes and entertainment purposes within the company. Some employees forwarded videos to coworkers. Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk was not immune. Employees found an in... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive, Mobility The U.S. space agency NASA entered a $57.2 million contract with ICON to develop technology to build roads on the moon. ICON, a Texas-based 3D printing construction company, has been working with NASA and the U.S. Air Force on construction technologies that can use local materials to build infrastructure on Mars. NASA is working on advanced 3D printing construction systems... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Pervasive computing, connectivity Semtech Corporation announced that it will acquire Sierra Wireless, an IoT services company. The acquisition will combine Semtech’s LoRa end nodes and cloud service with Sierra Wireless’ cellular capabilities. Telit will incorporate Thales’s cellular IoT products business under a new name Telit Cinterion, led by Telit. Telit Cinterion will be Californ... » read more

IC Reliability Burden Shifts Left


Chip reliability is coming under much tighter scrutiny as IC-driven systems take on increasingly critical and complex roles. So whether it's a stray alpha particle that flips a memory bit, or some long-dormant software bugs or latent hardware defects that suddenly cause problems, it's now up to the chip industry to prevent these problems in the first place, and solve them when they do arise. ... » read more

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