Chip Industry Week In Review


Global chips sales hit a record $56.9 billion in October, a 22% increase versus October 2023, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Also, global semiconductor equipment billings reached $30.38 billion in Q3 2024, a 19% YoY increase and 13% growth QoQ, SEMI reported. TSMC commenced equipment installation for its 2nm fab in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, six months ahead of schedule. The 2n... » read more

Chip Industry Technical Paper Roundup: April 30


These new technical papers were recently added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library. [table id=222 /] Find more technical papers here. » read more

Single-Molecule Transistor Using Quantum Interference


A new technical paper titled "Quantum interference enhances the performance of single-molecule transistors" was published by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, University of Oxford, Lancaster University, and University of Waterloo. Abstract "Quantum effects in nanoscale electronic devices promise to lead to new types of functionality not achievable using classical electronic co... » read more

Research Bits: March 26


Skyrmion switches Researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and National University of Singapore harnessed skyrmions to build a switch that has the potential to process data faster while using significantly less energy. Skyrmions are magnetic whirls that form in very thin metal layers and can be efficiently moved between magnetic regions. Using a magnetic tun... » 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

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Jesse Allen, Karen Heyman, and Liz Allan Renesas will acquire Transphorm, which designs and manufactures gallium nitride power devices, for about $339 million. GaN, which is a wide-bandgap technology, is used for high-voltage applications in a slew of markets, including EVs and EV fast chargers, as well as data centers and industrial applications. Cadence acquired Invecas, a provider o... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Jesse Allen, Karen Heyman, and Liz Allan More than 1 billion generative AI smartphones are expected be shipped during 2024 to 2027, reports Counterpoint. The share of GenAI smartphones will be 4% of the market in 2023 and is likely to double in 2024, with Samsung capturing half the market, followed by Chinese OEMs. By 2027, GenAI smartphones could account for 40% of the market. Global ... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Jesse Allen, Susan Rambo, and Liz Allan The U.S. government will invest about $3 billion for the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP), including an advanced packaging piloting facility to help U.S. manufacturers adopt new technology and workforce training programs. It also will provide funding for projects concentrating on materials and substrates; equipment, tools, ... » read more

Research Bits: October 24


Photonic-electronic hardware processes 3D data Researchers from the University of Oxford, University of Muenster, University of Heidelberg, and University of Exeter are developing integrated photonic-electronic hardware capable of processing three-dimensional data, which the team claims boosts data processing parallelism for AI tasks. The researchers added an extra parallel dimension to the... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


By Liz Allan, Jesse Allen, and Karen Heyman. Canon uncorked a nanoimprint lithography system, which the company said will be useful down to about the 5nm node. Unlike traditional lithography equipment, which projects a pattern onto a resist, nanoimprint directly transfers images onto substrates using a master stamp patterned by an e-beam system. The technology has a number of limitations and... » read more

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