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Wait! Wasn’t AEB Already Solved?

Wait! Wasn’t AEB Already Solved?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) is a safety function already enabled by robotaxis.  It’s also in the ADAS package featured in many new vehicles. So, how come carmakers are suddenly worried about complying with requirements – both on deadline and performance – newly mandated by NHTSA?

The Autonomous Vehicle (AV) industry has long spun the fairy tale that fully automated vehicles, just around the corner, will start saving people’s lives in droves.

But it’s 2024 now and that corner is not in sight.

Meanwhile, in another hitch for the automotive industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has handed down a final mandate for automatic emergency braking (AEB) in all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029.

Read More »Wait! Wasn’t AEB Already Solved?

Microsoft, Data Centers and the AI Paradox

By George Leopold

Taking a page from Bitcoin miners constantly seeking cheaper power sources, Microsoft Corp.’s planned $3.3 billion investment in Wisconsin represents the next wave of data center expansion driven by generative AI.

The massive project, which is also being promoted as a jobs creator, is nevertheless bound to strain power grids already groaning under the weight of surging electricity demand.

With data center hubs like Northern Virginia approaching full capacity, and quickly running short of power, Microsoft and other hyperscale cloud providers are eyeing new locations away from the coasts as electricity demand soars. The rise of generative AI and the resulting explosion of new server farms required to handle large-language models are expected to drive demand for electricity through the roof.

Read More »Microsoft, Data Centers and the AI Paradox
China EV Road Trip & Beijing Auto Show

China EV Road Trip & Beijing Auto Show

Tu Le, Sino Auto Insights’ founder, assessing Xpeng’s EV on a 1,500 mile road trip, wonders how much Elon Musk can charge for Tesla’s FSD when many Chinese vehicles with similar ADAS systems are already on the road. He shares insights from the recent Beijing Auto Show.

Western Car OEMs’ New Motto: ‘Copy China’

Western Car OEMs’ New Motto: ‘Copy China’

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Why are incumbent automakers flocking to China? Gaining a share in China – now the world’s largest automotive market – is an obvious reason. But there’s another, bigger reason. They want Chinese partners.

Auto OEMs in the West know they need the nimbleness and daring necessary to build cars at a 12-18-month design cycle, faster than the current cycle of several years.

In short, they want to copy China.

Read More »Western Car OEMs’ New Motto: ‘Copy China’

This Semiconductor Market ‘Recovery’ Is Uneven and Crash Prone

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

Questions are being raised about the strength and viability of the current semiconductor market upturn. One analyst says he’s not certain a recovery is even taking place. Why? Unit shipments, which lead the typical cyclical upturn, are down. Sales at some companies keep dropping, while rising at others. This means the capex budgets of the last several years may be based on a false growth premise.

If a semiconductor market recovery is taking place right now, it must be the oddest upturn the industry has seen in its 60-plus years.

Veterans of the industry might, in fact, be forgiven for thinking the chips market has become unmoored from the fundamentals of its cycles. Unit shipments are down, inventories remain stubbornly high while average selling prices (ASP) are up. These facts do not align properly and are indicators of a market in data crisis.

Read More »This Semiconductor Market ‘Recovery’ Is Uneven and Crash Prone
Is It Ground Hog Day for Memory Chip Suppliers?

Is It Groundhog Day for Memory Chip Suppliers?

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?

The memory IC market is notorious for its dizzying cycles. Another one is playing out right now as pricing pressures finally level off, buoying sales. But as they are marking the end of a crisis, the new fabs that suppliers are competing to build under government pressure are pushing them towards the recurring nightmare of demand-supply disequilibrium. Will this market, whittled down to a handful of suppliers, ever gain some semblance of normality?

Memory semiconductor suppliers must be addicted to pricing turbulence. Or they are resigned to fate.

Having barely emerged from the last downcycle during which sales fell a stomach-churning 50 percent, memory IC makers are back at it again, adding new fabs and laying the groundwork for what could be the next punishing round of severe price swings.

They would say that is not the case, though.

Read More »Is It Groundhog Day for Memory Chip Suppliers?
Who Will Rule Software-Defined Vehicle Architecture?

Who Will Rule Software-Defined Vehicle Architecture?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
At the height of autonomous vehicle hype, companies such as Nvidia, Qualcomm and Mobileye were front-runners dictating next-generation vehicle architecture. As more full-fledged software-defined vehicles (SDV) evolve, the competitive landscape is rapidly changing.

The path to software-defined vehicles (SDV) isn’t a straight line. It is branching into multiple forks. With transitions in E/E vehicle architecture happening at various speeds even within a single OEM’s fleets, the consolidation and integration of ECUs and software — from domain to zonal controllers and central compute — has been daunting.

Hence, for automotive chip suppliers seeking traction in SDV derby, solutions that simplify this transition are imperative.

Car OEMs are moving fast, not because SDV is fashionable but because they see SDV as the most logical path to control their future, secure the supply chain, and bring down vehicle costs over the long run.

Read More »Who Will Rule Software-Defined Vehicle Architecture?
Can TSMC Turn Arizona into Taiwan?

Can TSMC Turn Arizona into Taiwan?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
TSMC is in a box in Arizona. It needs to explain its situation more frankly and transparently. If it doesn’t, TSMC looks more and more as though it plans to “make Arizona Taiwanese.”

A statement by TSMC CEO C.C. Wei at its latest earnings call raised eyebrows among semiconductor industry veterans. Wei said the cost to manufacture chips in Arizona will exceed chips made in Taiwan. TSMC expects customers to share the burden of the price hike.

As my colleague Bolaji Ojo wrote last week, many industry observers wonder how this prospect might fly with TSMC clients like Apple and Nvidia.

Before these big customers bite the TSMC bullet, they want to know more about  long-term benefits it is receiving from federal, state and local governments.

More important, everyone deserves more specifics from TSMC as to how it plans to succeed in Arizona. Asking customers to share the higher cost of doing business in the US is one thing. But by blaming its thus far clunky operations in Arizona on American “work habits,” TSMC risks losing the trust of its generous host nation.

Read More »Can TSMC Turn Arizona into Taiwan?