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Who, What, When and How of Photonic Processors

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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.

ST Charges its Edge AI Push with Biosensor MEMS

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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.

Maelstrom of Change Hitting Automotive Industry

A Central-Compute SoC for SDVs? Really?

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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.

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

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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.

ST’s Key to Unlock China: ‘Manufacturing’

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Before the U.S. CHIPS Act changed the formula worldwide, “manufacturing” was a millstone around every semiconductor company’s neck. STMicroelectronics is turning this burden into a bonus, pitching its manufacturing ability to differentiate from competitors. But, will it work?

STMicroelectronics is a solid, non-nonsense semiconductor company proud of having built its business brick by brick. Its acclaimed MCU product lines are supported by an unparalleled developer community.

For decades, the Franco-Italian company stuck with its integrated device manufacturing (IDM) model, even when manufacturing lost its cachet in the industry. That trend prompted many chip companies to go fabless or “fab lite” in the early 2000’s.

As an IDM, ST today does everything from R&D, process technology development and product design to running several fabs, manufacturing, testing, and packaging.

Uninterested in the market trend du jour, rooted in a long market view with disciplined operations, ST is flourishing. It ships “4,000 to 5,000 MCUs every minute,” said Remi El-Ouazzane, ST’s President of Microcontrollers, Digital ICs and RF products Group, in a wide-ranging interview with The Ojo-Yoshida Report.

Sameer Wasson’s Vision for MIPS/RISC-V

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
MIPS, a storied CPU IP core company with a tortuous business/management history, is writing a new chapter under the watch of new CEO Sameer Wasson, formerly an executive at Texas Instruments. Can he lift MIPS from oblivion to relevance and solid growth? Wasson’s first order of business is to explain to the world who MIPS really is today.

Three months in, Wasson told The Ojo-Yoshida Report, “We just got started. We have a lot of work ahead of us.” The MIPS plan includes beefing up its work force from 62 when Wasson joined to “just under 100” by year’s end.

The Ojo-Yoshida Report picked up chatter this week that recent layoffs at SiFive have served as a source of talents for MIPS. We asked Wasson if some ex-SiFivers have migrated to MIPS. Wasson said, “We have hired some people who were let go. But we’re also hiring more people who are not let go.”

Olofsson’s Dream: A Plug & Play Chiplet

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
With the whole industry struggling for consensus on a standard for chiplet interposers and bricks, a startup that has up and turned that trick is the definition of “disruption.” It’s anyone’s guess whether Zero ASIC will be richly rewarded for its insightful initiative or hammered down for being the nail that sticks out.

So far, chiplets have been an elusive vision, despite high hopes in the semiconductor industry.

As Devices Get Cloud Connected by Default, What Must MCUs Do?

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:

IoT used to be defined as the network of physical objects — “things” — embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies so they can connect over the Internet and exchange data with other devices and systems. But today, IoT is defined simply as: Getting data connected to the cloud. How, in this light, must MCUs change?

IoT encompasses myriad market segments and product categories. It covers consumer electronics, factory floors and infrastructure. It offers everything from doorbells, pet trackers and smart speakers to diabetes monitors, smart meters and smart cities.

All these IoT applications inevitably demand different types of wired/wireless network connectivity and protocols, while posing serious cybersecurity concerns. The IoT market, by definition, invites fragmentation and interoperability problems among products and applications, thus creating scaling problems for companies in the IoT space.

Handling the Baggage of Edge AI

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Everyone loves talking about Edge AI, but without mentioning the persistent gap between the AI and embedded worlds. Edge AI designers are caught in a never-ending cycle of ‘optimization’, pressed to fit neural network models and achieve acceptable accuracy on their hardware. They are desperate for tools to lighten their load. At stake is the scaling of edge AI deployment.

Edge AI today stands at “this uncomfortable junction,” said Evan Petridis, CEO at Eta Compute, in a recent interview with the Ojo-Yoshida Report. Edge AI straddles two domains – machine learning (ML) and embedded. These two distinctly different fields share neither the same language nor design philosophies.

Jim Keller at Intel (left) and Jim Keller at Tenstorrent

Jim Keller’s Journey from CPUs to CEO

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Although regarded as a “natural” in computer architecture, Jim Keller acknowledges he had to work hard to develop skills that enable him to lead thousands of engineers. How did he do it? What worked? What didn’t? Keller traces his evolution for us.

Practically everyone in the semiconductor world knows who Jim Keller is. The legendary CPU designer is revered throughout the engineering community.