Chip Industry Week In Review


The Malaysian government signed a deal with Arm to kickstart a chip design ecosystem. Until now, Malaysia has focused on packaging and test. Adding chip design represents a major change in focus. The country will pay SoftBank $250 million over 10 years for Arm’s chip design IP and train 10,000 engineers. Global chip sales reached $56 billion in January, up nearly 18% from the same period i... » read more

Three Key Reasons That The Future Of Smart Home Devices Is Embedded Contextual AI


Artificial intelligence has become a transformative force, reshaping how consumers interact with technology. Consumer-level AI tools like ChatGPT have set new benchmarks for smart home devices, raising expectations for seamless functionality, natural language interactions, and personalized user experiences. As consumers demand smarter, more intuitive devices, embedded engineers and system engin... » read more

Wearable Connectivity, AI Enable New Use Cases


The sensing and processing technology used in smart phones, watches, and rings is starting to be being deployed in a wide variety of wearable devices, ranging from those that fill the gap between sports and med tech, to haptic devices to assist the visually impaired and AR/VR glasses. Emerging applications include payment, building, and factory wearables. Most of these devices process signal... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The chip industry is well on its way to hit $1 trillion in revenue by the end of its decade. Several analyst firms released 2024 annual results and 2025 predictions: Worldwide semiconductor revenue reached $626 billion in 2024, an 18% increase versus 2023, according to preliminary Gartner report. Memory revenue grew about 70%  2024 versus 2023. The firm forecasts that HBM will make up 19%... » read more

Med Tech Morphs Into Consumer Wearables


Doctors have been using advanced technology for years, but the growing trend is for consumers to use devices at home and have direct access to their data. Watches and rings that were once primarily used for counting steps or registering sleep patterns can now read blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen, body temperature, and other early signs of illness. Meanwhile, various patches are under d... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Chinese startup DeepSeek rattled the tech world and U.S. stock market with claims it spent just $5.6 million on compute power for its AI model compared to its billion-dollar rivals in the U.S. The announcement raised questions about U.S. investment strategies in AI infrastructure and led to an initial $600 billion selloff of NVIDIA stock. Since its launch, DeepSeek reportedly was hit by malicio... » read more

Global IC Fabs And Facilities Report: 2024


The chip industry made significant capital investments this year to build new fabs and facilities or expand existing premises. A number of sites were dedicated to SiC, GaN, DRAM, HBM, along with packaging and assembly by OSATs, and essential gases, chemicals, and other components. More than a dozen R&D centers were also established for 8-inch wafers, EUV, and advanced packaging. Investments... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Global semiconductor sales hit $57.8 billion in November 2024, an increase of 20.7% compared to the same month last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. In U.S. government news: The U.S. Department of Commerce finalized up to $325 million in CHIPS Act funding for Hemlock Semiconductor, which will support construction of a new semiconductor-grade polysilicon manufac... » read more

Edge And IoT Security Turning A Corner


Security is beginning to improve for a wide range of IoT and edge devices due to better tools, the implementation of new standards and methodologies, and an increasing level of collaboration and communication across different market segments that in the past had little or no interaction. Until recently, many vendors in cost-sensitive markets offered the bare minimum of security. To make matt... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is ramping up R&D for next-gen EUV and plasma-based particle sources, aiming to increase the EUV laser source power by an order of magnitude while also making it more energy-efficient. Specifically, the goal is to replace today's CO2-based laser with a solid-state laser, using a thulium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride medium to increase the laser's powe... » read more

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