Chip Industry Week In Review


By Jesse Allen, Gregory Haley, and Liz Allan. The Japanese government approved $3.9 billion in funding for chipmaker Rapidus to expand its foundry business, of which 10% will be invested in advanced packaging. This is in addition to the previously announced $2.18 billion in funding. In a meeting next week, the U.S. and Japan are expected to cooperate on increasing semiconductor development a... » read more

Quantum Computing Challenged By Security, Error Correction


The number and volume of warnings about a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) world are rising, as governments, banks, and other entities prepare for a rash of compromised data and untrustworthy digital signatures. Exactly when this will become a genuine threat is still somewhat fuzzy, because it depends on progress in developing robust qubits. A report by McKinsey & Co. estimates that by 20... » read more

Photonic Compact Chip That Seamlessly Converts Light Into Microwaves (NIST, et al.)


A new technical paper titled "Photonic chip-based low-noise microwave oscillator" was published by researchers at NIST, University of Colorado Boulder, California Institute of Technology, UCSB, University of Virginia and Yale University. Abstract "Numerous modern technologies are reliant on the low-phase noise and exquisite timing stability of microwave signals. Substantial progress has b... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Adam Kovac, Karen Heyman, and Liz Allan. Europe's semiconductor footprint is growing in areas that previously had little association with chips. Silicon Box plans to build a panel-level foundry in northern Italy, funded in part by the Italian government. The deal is worth around €3.2 billion ($3.6B). In addition, imec will establish a specialized 300mm chip technology pilot line in M... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Adam Kovac, Gregory Haley, and Liz Allan. Cadence plans to acquire BETA CAE Systems for $1.24 billion, the latest volley in a race to sell multi-physics simulation and analysis across a broad set of customers with deep pockets. Cadence said the deal opens the door to structural analysis for the automotive, aerospace, industrial, and health care sectors. Under the terms of the agreement, 6... » 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

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Susan Rambo, Karen Heyman, and Liz Allan. Renesas plans to acquire Altium, maker of PCB design software, for $5.9 billion. In a conference call, Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata cited Altium's PCB design software and digital twin virtual modeling as key components of its future strategy. "I believe it will generate transformational value for our combined customers and our stakeholders," Shib... » read more

Research Bits: Feb. 13


Fast phase-change memory Researchers from Stanford University, TSMC, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and University of Maryland developed a new phase-change memory for future AI and data-centric systems. It is based on GST467, an alloy of four parts germanium, six parts antimony, and seven parts tellurium, which is sandwiched between several other nanometer-thin material... » read more

Heterogeneous Integration And Electronics Packaging Manufacturing Roadmap (SEMI & UCLA)


A report titled “Manufacturing Roadmap for Heterogeneous Integration and Electronics Packaging (MRHIEP)” was published by researchers at SEMI and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)'s Center for Heterogeneous Integration and Performance Scaling (CHIPS), and funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). MRHIEP Goals: "The goal of MRHIEP is to develop an o... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Jesse Allen, Linda Christensen, and Liz Allan.  The Biden administration plans to invest more than $5B  for semiconductor R&D and workforce support, including in the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), as part of the rollout of the CHIPS Act. Today's announcement included at least hundreds of millions for the NSTC workforce efforts, including creating a Workforce Cente... » read more

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