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Rapidus Sparks Japan’s Semiconductor Comeback

Rapidus Sparks Japan’s Semiconductor Comeback

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

The semiconductor industry is at a crossroads — propelled by AI, but strained by geopolitical tensions, and desperate for innovation. Enter Rapidus Design Solutions, the marketing unit of Rapidus Corp., a company defying expectations and trying to reshape and influence the high-performance chip manufacturing market and Japan’s role in it. Rapidus is Japan’s new foundry formed a few years ago to give the country a fighting chance in the world of advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Rapidus Corp. isn’t just dipping its toes into semiconductor manufacturing. It is diving in headfirst, with the Japanese government playing lifeguard.

A state-of-the-art 2nm fab in Hokkaido, nearly completed after a mere four years, is setting the stage for Japan’s resurgence in chipmaking. Mass production is projected to begin in 2027, but the industry is already taking notice. Rapidus isn’t in full operation yet, and there are many challenges ahead for the company, including the possibility of it missing targets or failing to attract the customers it would need to crack open a spot in the global foundry business. Despite the obstacles, though, Rapidus is already making a name for itself in the market. Will the company sustain the positive take-off?

Read More »Rapidus Sparks Japan’s Semiconductor Comeback
Webcast: 3D-Sensing for In-Cabin Monitoring

Webcast: 3D-Sensing for In-Cabin Monitoring

TechSplicit presents a conversation on Software-Defined Vehicles featuring Timothy Edwards, co-founder and VP, Strategy, at Seeing Machines, and Colin Barnden, principal analyst at Semicast Research. They’ll be discussing 3D Sensing for In-Cabin Monitoring.

Who, What, When and How of Photonic Processors

Who, What, When and How of Photonic Processors

By Junko Yoshida 

Players in the electronics industry are busy boning up on optical computing.

An onslaught of new processors aimed at high performance computing is enabling photonics — always billed as a “next-gen” technology — to finally strut its stuff in the burgeoning AI market.

Photonic processors are no longer a curiosity. Some of them are emerging from the lab as commercial products integrated into PCIe periphery demonstrators.

Read More »Who, What, When and How of Photonic Processors
ST Charges its Edge AI Push with Biosensor MEMS

ST Charges its Edge AI Push with Biosensor MEMS

By Kolade Ojo

What’s at stake:

The big challenge for semiconductor companies racing to offer solutions for the deployment of AI at the edge is figuring out who will bear the responsibility for shaping the future of AI application devices. Should it be the companies developing the technology or the industries applying it? STMicroelectronics isn’t waiting for an answer, though. Rather, it is adding AI capabilities to existing technologies, including MEMS.

There is no doubt about the semiconductor industry’s prevailing focus today. It is artificial intelligence (AI), but not just the kind of AI products and expectations that have propelled Nvidia Corp. into the ranks of the world’s most valuable publicly-traded enterprises.

At the recently concluded Electronica 2024 Exhibition in Munich, AI was the most prominent topic and products. AI resounded throughout the Munich Messe halls as the rallying cry for innovation, with companies across the industry spectrum pushing promises to leverage advancements in the fast-growing market.

Read More »ST Charges its Edge AI Push with Biosensor MEMS
Maelstrom of Change Hitting Automotive Industry

A Central-Compute SoC for SDVs? Really?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Consider the Volkswagen Group’s desperate move to partner with Rivian in hopes of designing its future software-defined vehicle platform. Or Volvo’s catastrophic software failure with its new Volvo EX90 electric car. These stories confirm the huge — and persistently unfillable — software deficit afflicting many car OEMs. So, where should carmakers go to fix their software problem?

The Ojo-Yoshida Report recently had Chet Babla, senior vice president, strategic marketing at Indie Semiconductor, as the guest in our latest episode podcast of “Chat with Junko and Bola”. Although we didn’t intend to talk with Babla about specific examples like VW and Volvo, our conversation reveals the maelstrom of change hitting the automotive industry.

Read More »A Central-Compute SoC for SDVs? Really?
Microchip CEO Ganesh Moorthy

Microchip: ‘Shared Pains’ in the Wake of a Supercycle

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?

Microchip prides itself on being able to deftly wend its way through the semiconductor industry’s cycles by spreading the gains and the pains of each experience throughout the enterprise. The process is well tested and the long-term benefits to Microchip and its employees are numerous, company executives say. The current downcycle cuts deep, says CEO Ganesh Moorthy but the company is sticking with salary cuts and avoiding layoffs. Is the practice worth adopting? Moorthy takes our questions on Microchip’s distinct cycle management strategy and the turbulence of the electronics supply chain.

Microchip Inc. has been on a rollercoaster ride these last several years.

Between fiscal 2021 and 2023, the MCU chipmaker’s revenue soared more than 55 percent, fueled by torrid demand and supply shortages.

Now, in 2024, Microchip is on the downward slope. In the March quarter, revenues are forecast to slide 40 percent, year-over-year, and decline another 40 percent or more in June from the comparable 2023 quarter, eroding most of the gains the company has garnered over the previous years.

That should prompt drastic actions such as severe job cuts. This is how the industry typically responds to each of its sales crisis.

At Microchip, though, it’s the perfect time to trot out an old remedy, one the entire industry should watch closely, if not emulate.

Read More »Microchip: ‘Shared Pains’ in the Wake of a Supercycle