The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Intel announced plans to invest up to $1.6 billion in the next 15 years to upgrade its Chengdu, China factory for die prep, assembly and test operations, as well as to bring Intel’s latest Advanced Test Technology to China. Advanced Test Technology is Intel’s internal ATE capabilities. “It is also the single biggest investment by Intel in Chengdu,” said William Holt, executive vice pres... » read more

IoT Standards Needed


The promise of the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] is effortless communication between devices, all of which are smart enough to transmit data to the Internet directly, or through connecting hubs, and to ad hoc devices that are authorized to be added to a personal or industrial network. What's not yet clear is how that promise will be realized. Even though many devices are desig... » read more

Fujitsu Reorgs For Manufacturing


Fujitsu officially announced its intention of reorganizing its semiconductor manufacturing businesses, including dividing the Aizu Wakamatsu factory and Mie factory as branches of the foundry companies. The rest of the organization, including the system memory department and Fujitsu Electronics will become a part of Fujitsu’s semiconductor group. The new Foundry Company will also be a part of... » read more

The Bumpy Road To 3D NAND


The NAND flash memory market is dynamic, but it’s also sometimes predictable. Suppliers tend to roll out identical NAND flash chips and then scale them to smaller geometries. And NAND chip prices rise and fall, depending on the supply/demand equation at a given point. Going forward, though, the NAND market is expected to become less predictable, if not chaotic, amid a new and major technol... » read more

China Foundries Seek Niches


By Mark LaPedus For decades, China has launched several initiatives to modernize its semiconductor industry with hopes of becoming the next IC powerhouse in Asia. In 2001, for example, China unveiled its so-called "Tenth Five-Year Plan," which called for the nation to build 25 new fabs from 2001 to 2005. At the time, the Chinese government hoped to start and fund a new crop of domestic fou... » read more

Mixed-Signal Technology Summit Proceedings


On September 20 Cadence held the second Mixed-Signal Technology Summit. Experts from Cadence and other leading companies presented the latest mixed-signal design methodologies. If you missed the event, you can still view the material via the below archived proceedings. To view the presentations and videos, click here. » read more

New Entrants Seek Niches in NAND Flash Fray


By Mark LaPedus For some time, the NAND flash market has been primarily dominated by five vendors: Micron, Samsung, SanDisk, SK Hynix and Toshiba. Other vendors have been seeking to get a foothold in the exploding market — with little or no luck. Intel Corp. and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. have separately experienced limited success in NAND. And Elpida Memory Inc. and Spansion Inc. are... » read more

Newer posts →