Chip Industry Week In Review


Synopsys agreed to sell its Optical Solutions Group to Keysight for an undisclosed amount, in a deal deemed necessary for Synopsys to win regulatory approval for its planned acquisition of Ansys. The sale to Keysight is contingent on the Synopsys-Ansys deal going through. Meanwhile, Ansys has its own optical business. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) made the first awards for Microelectr... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Autos


Products/Services Rambus reports completing the sale of its Payments and Ticketing businesses to Visa for $75 million in cash. “With 30 years of experience pushing the envelope in semiconductor design, we look toward a future of continued innovation to carry on our mission of making data faster and safer,” Rambus President and CEO Luc Seraphin said in a statement. “Completing this transa... » read more

July’19 Startup Funding


During the month of July, 21 technology startups took in mega-rounds of $100 million or more. Those companies together received more than $7.5 billion. On the other end of the financing spectrum, dozens of startups got seed funding or a Series A round. The dollar amounts were much smaller. Still, they are the beating heart of entrepreneurship around the world. It also was a month when som... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Products/Services Visa agreed to acquire the token and electronic ticketing business of Rambus for $75 million in cash. The business involved is part of the Smart Card Software subsidiary of Rambus. It includes the former Bell ID mobile-payment businesses and the Ecebs smart-ticketing systems for transit providers. Meanwhile, Rambus expanded its CryptoManager Root of Trust product line. “Sec... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things NXP Semiconductors provided its A71CH trust anchor to Google IoT Cloud, enabling authentication for Google IoT Cloud Core. The technology helps to secure edge devices for Internet of Things deployments. Separately, NXP announced the promotion of Kurt Sievers, executive vice president and general manager of the chip company’s automotive business, to president of NXP Semicon... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Finance CyberInt raised $18 million in new funding led by Viola Growth and including existing investors. The company provides cybersecurity detection and response services. CyberInt has offices in Israel, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Panama. San Diego-based Kneron, which provides artificial intelligence technology for edge devices, received $18 million in Series A1 funding l... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Finance Vectra raised $36 million in Series D funding led by Atlantic Bridge Capital. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Nissho Electronics also participated in this funding round along with returning investors Khosla Ventures, Accel Partners, IA Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DAG Ventures, and Wipro Ventures, bringing Vectra’s total funding to date to $123 million. Vectra will use the... » read more

Chaos, Progress In Mobile Payment Security


Semiconductor suppliers and their embedded software partners, internally and externally, have made tremendous strides in recent years supporting secure mobile payment processing. It hasn't been easy. Or simple. And it's still evolving. The result of those efforts, which is now set to play an increasingly important and widespread commercial role in 2017, are trusted execution environment t... » read more

Smartphone Security: For Your Eyes Only


Fans of the Olympics here in the United States were treated to a great Samsung commercial throughout the broadcast. The commercial stars the genius, multi-award-winning actor Christoph Waltz, showing how Americans can multitask with the amazing new Galaxy Note7. Yes, THAT Galaxy Note7. The 90-second long commercial is a delight to watch, but it must have cost Samsung some serious bucks to produ... » read more

Apple Legitimizes The IoT


There have been plenty of reviews this week about the new iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch, both of which are either extremely cool or ho-hum, depending upon the disposition of the reviewer. But what’s really significant about all of this has nothing to do with the device. It’s a follow-the-money innovation. What made the iPod, and singlehandedly resurrected Apple’s reputation, wasn’t th... » read more