Startup Funding: January 2021


Over $800M in funding went to companies developing autonomous driving technology, from self-driving-focused AI chips to full vehicles and aftermarket solutions. A couple electric vehicle manufacturers stood out this month, with investors putting large backing behind US-based Rivian and China-based Leapmotor. And with EVs come lots of batteries: funding went to a few startups trying out new batt... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A AMD will acquire Xilinx for $35 billion in an all-stock deal. "Joining together with AMD will help accelerate growth in our data center business and enable us to pursue a broader customer base across more markets,” said Victor Peng, Xilinx president and CEO. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021. The acquisition of the programmable logic giant will leave only a few purepla... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive Synopsys added support for Infineon's automotive AI chip, the AURIX TC4xx 32-bit microcontroller with parallel processing unit. Dialog Semiconductor announced automotive qualification for its DA7280 high-definition haptic driver. The company Alps Alpine is using the DA7280 in Alps Alpine Heavy, the latest version of its HAPTIC Reactor Linear Resonant Actuators (LRAs). Bosch, M... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 12


More stable quantum states Researchers at the University of Chicago found a way to make quantum systems retain coherency 10,000 times longer. The fragile nature of quantum states remains a challenge for developing practical applications of quantum computing, as they can be easily disrupted by background noise coming from vibrations, temperature changes or stray electromagnetic fields. Ap... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 19


Neuromorphic magnetic nanowires Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas, and Sandia National Laboratory propose a neuromorphic computing method using magnetic components. The team says this approach can cut the energy cost of training neural networks. "Right now, the methods for training your neural networks are very energy-intensive," said Jean Ann... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 11


Light-emitting silicon Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Johannes Kepler University, and Technische Universität München developed a silicon germanium alloy that can emit light, paving the way for a silicon laser that could be integrated for on-chip and chip-to-chip communication. Bulk silicon is extremely inefficient at emitting... » read more

System Bits: Aug. 27


A ring of 18 carbon atoms Scientists at IBM Research – Zurich and Oxford University write about allotropes of carbon – the many versions of atomic carbon formations, such as diamonds and graphite. “Carbon, one of the most abundant elements in the universe, can exist in different forms - called allotropes - giving it completely different properties from color to shape to hardness. For... » read more

System Bits: May 21


Washable, wearable energy devices for clothing Researchers at the University of Cambridge collaborated with colleagues at China’s Jiangnan University to develop wearable electronic components that could be woven into fabrics for clothing, suitable for energy conversion, flexible circuits, health-care monitoring, and other applications. Graphene and other materials can be directly incorpor... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Pepper IoT collaborated with the Dark Cubed cybersecurity firm to produce “The State of IoT Security Report,” which can be downloaded here. Pepper IoT is an Internet of Things platform and service provider. Key findings of the report: Device security is important, but the platform is much more critical; patching will not fix systemic problems; and the market must make se... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 4


High precision system for self-driving car navigation Based on technology developed by ETH Zurich researchers, Fixposition is a spin-off specializing in real-time navigation systems for use in self-driving vehicles, robots or industrial drones, which uses a combination of satellite-based positioning systems such as GPS with computer vision technologies to achieve an unparalleled degree of prec... » read more

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