The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Fab tools and T&M Applied Materials and the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), have announced a five-year extension of their R&D collaboration at the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Packaging in Singapore. The organizations will expand the scope of their R&D collaboration to focus on advancing fan-out wafer... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers AMD has entered into a long-term amendment to its wafer supply agreement (WSA) with GlobalFoundries for the period from Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2020. Today, GlobalFoundries’ Fab 8 in Malta, N.Y. is playing a big role in providing leading-edge foundry capacity for AMD's graphics and processor products. As part of the amended deal, AMD will grant to West Coast Hitech, a subsidia... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A The FTC has given the go-ahead to ON Semiconductor's acquisition of Fairchild Semiconductor. As part of the requirements, ON Semiconductor had to divest its planar insulated gate bipolar transistor business, which will be sold to Littelfuse. (Littelfuse will also pick up the transient voltage suppression diode and switching thyristor product lines for a combined $104 million in cash.... » read more

Addressing The Challenges Of Automotive Motor Control


By Andrew Talan and Ahmed Eisawy As you leave work today and enter the parking lot, you hit the unlock button on your car remote. Using the power lift to open the hatch back, you put your laptop bag in the back of the car. While seated in the car, you adjust your seat position and bump your driver-side mirror into a new position and then head for home. You probably don’t think much about y... » read more

IC Industry Waking Up To Security


By Jeff Dorsch & Ed Sperling Many people pay lip service to the concept of security in Internet of Things devices, software, and networks. That oversight is beginning to fade away, however, as companies begin digging into one of the broadest and most complex problems in the IoT age. Unlike other technology issues, which have been solved in increments, security is all-inclusive. While ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers IC Insights released its top chip makers in terms of sales for the first quarter of 2016. The top-20 ranking includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and six fabless companies. Intel remained in the top spot, followed in order by Samsung and TSMC. The biggest movers in the ranking were made by the new Broadcom (Avago/Broadcom) and Nvidia. Broadcom jumped f... » read more

Flexible Sensors Begin Ramping


Sensors are at the heart of the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"]. Flexible sensors promise to extend the Internet of Everything to the battlefield, the gymnasium, the hospital, and many other places. Flexible [getkc id="187" kc_name="sensors"] represent the forefront of a sea of change in electronics, marking the transition from rigid semiconductors made with silicon and other ha... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Samsung Electronics is expected to demonstrate three new technologies at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The technologies are part of Samsung’s so-called Creative Lab (C-Lab) projects. The first project, dubbed WELT, is a healthcare belt that helps people manage their waist size by measuring their daily habits and behaviors. “WELT is a smart wearable healthcare belt that looks... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


In 2015, Korea outspent all other countries ($9 billion) on front-end semiconductor fab equipment, according to SEMI. But Korea is expected to drop to second place in 2016, as Taiwan takes over with the largest CapEx spending at $8.3 billion, according to SEMI. In 2015, Americas ranked third in overall regional CapEx spending with about $5.6 billion and is forecast to increase only slightly to ... » read more

Consolidation’s Aftermath


The recent spate of industry consolidation continues to have repercussions across the semiconductor industry. Some of those effects will subside once the deals are either approved or nixed by regulatory agencies. Others will raise questions for months or years to come. Consolidation is not a new trend in the semiconductor industry, but the pace and size of the acquisitions in the past year a... » read more

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