AI chip revenue and investments; Siemens acquires Helios; Synopsys acquires PikeTec; Rambus’ security IP for FPGA; NIST quantum encryption algorithms; Volkswagen’s Semiconductor Sourcing Committee; Ford and Hyundai recalls; SiC ramping due to automotive demand; Jaguar and Pramac’s mobile battery ESS; VMware and NVIDIA’s AI platform.
The AI chip market is booming. Gartner expects revenue for the year will hit $53.4 billion, up 20.9% from 2022. The firm predicts that number will grow to $119 billion by 2027. In the consumer electronics market, the value of AI-enabled application processors will amount to $1.2 billion in 2023, up from $558 million in 2022.
Germany will spend nearly €1 billion (~US$1.7B) over the next two years to close the AI skills gap with China and the U.S., while the U.K. will spend £100 million (~US$127M) on AI chips, including key components from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, according to various sources.
NVIDIA announced record revenue, mostly driven by AI, but warned that more U.S. curbs will impact its ability to compete in China.
Synopsys acquired Germany-based PikeTec. The deal, which enables Synopsys’ software-in-the-loop (SiL) and virtual hardware solutions to be combined with PikeTec’s test automation tools and services, is aimed at speeding time to market for software-defined vehicles.
Siemens will acquire Netherlands-based Heliox, a provider of fast charging solutions for e-Bus and e-Truck fleets and passenger vehicles, to complement Siemens’ existing eMobility charging portfolio.
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Rambus released a full suite of security IP solutions for the FPGA market, with cryptographic, side-channel, and quantum-safe protections for the data center, AI/ML, edge, IoT, and defense, among others.
CISA, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a fact sheet urging organizations “to begin early planning for migration to post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) standards by developing their own quantum-readiness roadmap.”
NIST also released draft standards for three encryption algorithms that can resist attack by quantum computers, and called on the worldwide cryptographic community to provide feedback until Nov. 22, 2023.
Existing leakage models are limited because none cover CPU exceptions, which are essential to implement security abstractions such as virtualization and memory protection, and a source of critical vulnerabilities such as Meltdown, MDS, and Foreshadow. Researchers at Microsoft and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam captured “the leakage for a representative subset of exceptions on four different x86 microarchitectures.”
Side-channel attacks exploiting NVRAM are practical, and can defeat on-chip-only resources, accodring to researchers at UC San Diego, Purdue University, and UT Austin. Researchers said they have developed a solution based on cache partitioning.
Denmark-based cloud company CloudNordic suffered a ransomware attack and said, via Google Translate, that “the attackers succeeded in encrypting all servers’ disks, as well as on the primary and secondary backup system, whereby all machines crashed.” The company said it is impossible to recreate the data, which will be lost to customers.
MITRE released its list of Stubborn Weaknesses in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Top 25, showing 15 software weaknesses that have been present in every top 25 list over the last five years.
CISA issued numerous alerts, including a vulnerability in Ivanti, and an industrial control systems advisory (ICS) related to Mitsubishi Electric’s MELSEC WS Series Ethernet interface module.
Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs found that HiatusRAT threat actors are back and using malware to target Taiwanese organizations and research U.S. military websites. The campaign infected business-grade routers globally in March 2023.
Volkswagen established a Semiconductor Sourcing Committee (SSC) to make direct purchases from semiconductor manufacturers for strategically important semiconductors across all the group’s brands. “The transparency regarding semiconductors means that technical alternatives can be identified and implemented more quickly in the event of bottlenecks. Another positive effect is that a reduction in the diversity of variants in the hardware results in a lower degree of software complexity.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a recall query (RQ) “after receiving 12 consumer complaints alleging a high voltage battery main contactor failure in MY 2021-2022 Ford Mach-E vehicles.” The failure was thought to have been fixed after the recall in June 2022.
Hyundai is recalling certain 2021 to 2023 Elantra HEV vehicles because a “software error in the motor control unit (MCU) may cause unintended vehicle acceleration after the brake pedal is released.”
Cruise agreed to remove half its fleet of autonomous robotaxis from San Francisco streets, according to AP News, following an incident involving a firetruck. Cruise and Waymo gained expansion approval less than two weeks ago.
Laser-based spoofing techniques can be leveraged to selectively remove the LiDAR point cloud data of genuine obstacles at the sensor level before being used as input to the autonomous vehicle (AV) perception, according to researchers at University of Michigan, University of Florida, and the University of Electro-Communications (Japan).
The power electronics market is showing an 8.1% annual growth rate and is expected to reach US$33.3 billion by 2028 from US$20.9 billion In 2022, according to Yole. Electric vehicles (EVs), DC charging infrastructure, and automotive applications driving growth in the discrete market while the module market is being driven by EVs and renewables, including photovoltaic and wind.
Silicon carbide production is ramping quickly, driven by end market demand in automotive and price parity with silicon. Many thousands of power semiconductor modules are already in use in electric vehicles for on-board charging, traction inversion, and DC-to-DC conversion.
Pramac developed a mobile battery energy storage system (ESS) using second-life Jaguar I-PACE batteries. With a capacity of up to 125kWh, the ESS is charged using solar panels. It’s linked to a bi-directional converter and fitted with Type 2 Electric Vehicle (EV) charge connections with dynamic control and rated at up to 22kW AC to allow electric vehicle (EV) charging and other second-life or third-life applications in low-energy situations.
Infineon released a 650 V IGBT7 H7 device featuring an EC7 co-packed diode with an advanced emitter-controlled design and high-speed technology to address the need for environmentally conscious and highly efficient power solutions, ideal for various applications including electric vehicle (EV) charging applications.
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Arcimoto will supply U.S. defense contractor MATBOCK with “electrical systems architecture and energy storage systems for the development of hybrid-electric tactical vehicles.”
Texas-based electric vehicle (EV) drivers need to pay a $200 registration fee and $200 annually, starting Sept. 1, to make up for losses in gas tax revenue used to fund highway repair.
VMware and NVIDIA launched a platform with NVIDIA’s generative AI software and accelerated computing built on VMware’s cloud foundation, enabling “enterprises to customize models and run generative AI applications, including intelligent chatbots, assistants, search and summarization.”
No current artificial intelligence (AI) systems are conscious, according to a team of 19 researchers, but “there are no obvious technical barriers to building AI systems which satisfy these indicators.”
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated image cannot be copyrighted, stating that “human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright.”
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $16 million for 15 projects “that will implement artificial intelligence methods to accelerate scientific discovery in nuclear physics research.”
MIT awarded seven seed grants to projects exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) and human-computer interaction can be leveraged to enhance modern workspaces.
Keysight and MediaTek verified that MediaTek’s 5G modem technology supports 5G NR and IoT technologies based on 3GPP Release 17 standards for non-terrestrial networks.
Winbond procured its first onshore wind power, expected to provide the company with nearly 10 million kWh of renewable energy annually, which is more than the annual electricity consumption of its non-production Taiwan sites.
Global smartphone shipments are expected to decline 6% to 1.15 billion units in 2023, the lowest in a decade, according to Counterpoint. “Premium and ultra-premium growth is a trend that is happening globally and favors vendors like Apple, which have portfolios heavily weighted in the higher segments.”
An EPFL researcher developed a lab-on-a-chip system for T cell screening and sorting, combining two different trapping technologies to enable “high-throughput analysis of essential cell to cell interactions.”
Researchers at University of California San Francisco developed an implantable AI-powered device that translates brain signals into modulated speech and facial expressions, enabling a woman who lost the ability to speak after a stroke to communicate using a talking digital avatar.
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