What’s at stake:
RISC-V’s momentum is established. The question now is who can accelerate the trend by playing the role Arm played in the global semiconductor industry in the early 1990’s.
Now that Arm’s IPO is over, we can breathe easier, look around and ponder who will become the semiconductor IP developer’s successor, this time in the RISC-V market.
What’s at stake:
The chip industry’s trajectory changed forever when a wave of EDA companies sprang up in the 1980s and offered commercial tools to accelerate complex IC design. Traditionally reliant on internal expertise to improve process engineering at fabs, chipmakers might now be ready to embrace commercial tools developed for semiconductor production.
Manufacturing is the new black in the chip industry.
Read More »SandBox Moving AI Tools Beyond IC Design — to Manufacturing
When airlines break a pledge, passengers suffer. It is worse when the airline chooses to be nonchalant.
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Taiwan’s WT Microelectronics, in offering to purchase Canada’s Future Electronics, is breaking new grounds. The proposed East-West purchase is a rarity in the electronics component distribution world. M&As in the business have crawled to a halt since the 1990s when the biggest players led the consolidation of the market. Is another consolidation on tap in the distribution sector and will the biggest companies be on the block this time?
What’s at stake:
We have heard endlessly how robotaxis are safer than human-driven vehicles. In Vienna, at the Autonomous conference, held under the auspices of TTTech Auto, we came not necessarily to debunk that myth but to pick the brains of automakers and regulators about the thorny issues of liability.
It’s a sin to squander an opportunity to take the stage and ask direct questions to people in charge. Waffling and evasion are typical results. Nonetheless, even those non-answers live on in the public record.
Read More »When an AV Has the Wheel, Who’s Driving?
What’s at stake:
One boneheaded move by Nvidia to buy Arm, exacerbated by the geopolitical tension between China and the United States, forced the formation of a Europe-based RISC-V venture.
Europe is angling to play a crucial role in the global semiconductor world, this time with RISC-V. The formation of a new RISC-V venture – announced in August – signals the necessity of this European initiative.
Read More »RISC-V Taking Flight on ‘Airbus’ Model
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Semiconductor sales returned to a positive position in the second quarter, ending early what had been feared could be a prolonged downturn, says a veteran analyst who was heavily bearish about the direction of the market. But is this the beginning of a new upturn or is the industry heading to a false recovery with dips and upswings?
Semiconductor sales swung back into positive territory in the second quarter, defying expectations for a prolonged downturn and shaving off 12 percentage points from a dire outlook from one of the industry’s most respected forecasters.
Malcolm Penn, CEO and founder of IC consulting and research firm, Future Horizons, on Tuesday pronounced the end of the latest semiconductor sales downturn, saying the industry pushed its recovery forward by one quarter.
Read More »The Semiconductor Downturn Has ‘Bottomed’
What’s at stake:
The human brain is known for its efficiency, storing and processing information as sparse representations. At any moment, only a small fraction of neurons are active. Neuroscientists believe they can map brain-inspired logic into algorithms, data structures and architecture running AI models so that they offer a recipe to put “AI power hog” on a diet. Undetermined is whether data scientists are willing to alter their brute-force compute-based AI practice, which appears increasingly unsustainable.
It’s not often you meet a mostly self-funded startup, much less one that, for 18 years, has played a long game in neuroscience research, before suddenly unveiling a commercial software product.
More significantly, the startup’s new product poses a direct challenge to the red-hot Large Language Model (LLM) AI market.
Read More »Numenta Steps into AI-Neuroscience Rift
It’s past time to clarify the liability issues of highly automated vehicles.
What’s at stake:
If connectivity – busting data into the cloud – is basic to embedded IoT devices, choosing a resilient and cost-effective network technology is critical. Low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technology options are many, and often no connectivity choice is perfect for everyone. How does a private network built for a local community, such as Amazon Sidewalk, fare against the global connectivity of established cellular standards? We compare the old with new developments on the connectivity market.
Connecting data to the cloud has become the raison d’être of IoT. Following that premise, embedded IoT device developers must be able to answer two questions: Which ubiquitous wireless networks are compatible with your devices? How much will it cost every time your devices send data to the cloud?
Read More »IoT Device Data into Cloud: Who Ya Gonna Call? Cloudbusters!
