When Is an SDV Update an Update Too Far?
The promise of AI-driven, data-rich, software-defined products keeps the electronics industry going. But have system designers given much thought about the lifecycles of their AI products?
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Future-Proof Your Embedded Career
As embedded systems advance, they hold the promise of improving our quality of life and addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges.
Startup’s CMOS-Compatible Memory Sits Between SRAM and DRAM
By Peter Clarke
What’s at stake:
An Israeli-Swiss startup called RAAAM has gone back to the drawing board to design a CMOS-compatible memory that sits between SRAM and DRAM and that could offer a cost advantage for numerous applications, including artificial intelligence. If RAAAM can persuade a few foundries and fabless companies to adopt its approach, it could become an industry-changer.
RAAAM Memory Technologies Ltd., headquartered in Pekah Tikva, Israel, and with an R&D base in Lausanne, Switzerland, is a 2021 startup that claims to have developed a better way to do embedded memory. The firm’s technology is called Gain-Cell RAM or GCRAM.
RAAAM claims it can achieve single-cycle SRAM read and write performance while providing up to a 50 percent area reduction and up to 10x power reduction compared with high-density SRAM. And GCRAM is fully compatible with standard CMOS fabrication flows, requiring no additional process steps.
Read More »Startup’s CMOS-Compatible Memory Sits Between SRAM and DRAM
Intel Board, After Review, Insists on Token Changes
Intel Corp. said it will halt spending on new fab and facility expansion programs in Poland and Germany temporarily and establish a separate board of directors for its foundry operations in continuation of its reorganization plans and as part of efforts to revitalize the business.
The company also intends to conduct an initial public offering for Altera, the FPGA business it acquired years ago, and sell some of its shares in the business in an operation similar to the floating of Mobileye, the advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous driving division.
The details, laid out in a message to employees but which was simultaneously sent out as a press statement from CEO Patrick Gelsinger, included many of the actions observers said the company was likely to take following news the board of directors had held a special meeting last week. Some observers were expecting Intel to split into separate independent businesses.
Read More »Intel Board, After Review, Insists on Token Changes
When, Where and How AI Should Be Applied
Phil Koopman dissects strengths and weaknesses of machine learning based AI
Out of Intel, America’s Dream Foundry: Here’s How
By Bolaji Ojo
The United States wants a semiconductor foundry that can rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), the world’s No. 1 contract chipmaker.
Many industry executives have lined up behind this objective, considering it a worthy pursuit during a time of rapidly evolving geo-political changes and supply chain turmoil. We agree.
However, after reviewing events of the last several years, the editors of the Ojo-Yoshida Report are convinced that America must go back to the drawing board – and to Intel Corp. – if the creation of America’s world-class foundry is to become more than a wishful thinking.
Read More »Out of Intel, America’s Dream Foundry: Here’s How
Intel’s Crisis Was Predictable. Its Future Isn’t a Mystery, Either
By Bolaji Ojo
Three years ago, Patrick Gelsinger rode in on a charger to save Intel Corp. He should have been on a fighter jet.
The battlefield and combatants had changed since Gelsinger left Intel 10 years earlier in 2009. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) were on his radar, but the main threat was coming from a different source. While Gelsinger was focusing on process technology leadership, Nvidia Corp. with its GPU-CPU combo had invaded and taken over Intel’s lucrative server business.
Gelsinger meant well, but in aiming to restore Intel’s old “glory” with new fabs and billions of dollars in fresh capital expenditure spending, he made a classic mistake that turnaround specialists know well to avoid: attempting the restoration of a storied enterprise is a recipe for further disaster.
Read More »Intel’s Crisis Was Predictable. Its Future Isn’t a Mystery, Either
Can Intel Auto Chip Chart a New Course?
What’s at stake:
By all accounts, Intel Automotive is an underdog. But as automakers go through radical changes in vehicle architecture, electrification and the balance of market power, Intel sees an opening in automotive chips. However, in the midst of its internal turmoil, will Intel stick with automotive as “a must-seize” segment? And will CEO Pat Gelsinger stick with Intel?
Among the businesses in which competitors have outplayed Intel, Intel Automotive is an outlier.
Read More »Can Intel Auto Chip Chart a New Course?
Intel: The Beginning of the End?
By Peter Clarke
What’s at stake:
The break-up of the decades-long leader of the semiconductor industry would likely cause dramatic shifts in the semiconductor landscape. It would not only dent U.S. pride but could also undermine certain aspects of the American government’s technology policy and its CHIPS and Science Act.
The signs are mounting up that chip giant Intel Corp. is not long for this world – at least not in the form familiar to most industry observers.
Intel is now considering its strategic options, including splitting its product and chip manufacturing businesses, a potential sell-off, and whether certain factory projects might need to be delayed or cancelled, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources “familiar with the matter.”
Read More »Intel: The Beginning of the End?
CHIPS Act: Under The Hood
We talked to the Department of Commerce for a breakdown by the CHIPS Program Office.