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Apple CEO Tim Cook at the opening ceremony of TSMC's Arizona fabs. (Source: Apple)

The Tangled Triangle of Biden, Apple and TSMC

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
TSMC’s Arizona fabs are often portrayed as a necessity to help TSMC achieve much-needed global diversity in manufacturing. Meanwhile, Apple plays patriot by investing in “a stronger, brighter future” for America. To accept that picture as a reality is naïve. The real issue is what price the U.S. government will pay to curry favor with Tim Cook and Morris Chang during a must-win economic war with China.

The opening ceremony of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)’s first Arizona fab in December was, by any industry’s standard, an epoch-making event.

Read More »The Tangled Triangle of Biden, Apple and TSMC
Back to the Future movie

HU’s in Charge Here?

By David Benjamin

According to “The Jetsons” and Back to the Future 2, we should all be cruising around—by now—in flying cars.

We’re not.

According to Silicon Valley and a flock of “visionary” carmakers, people should not be manually driving cars at all, because those beauties can drive themselves.

But they’re can’t.

Read More »HU’s in Charge Here?
graceful exit from TI

Time for Templeton of TI to Make a Graceful Exit

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
By staying on as board chairman at Texas Instruments after stepping aside for a new CEO, Rich Templeton will still be involved in decision making. His continued presence could prove difficult for TI in the long term.

Texas Instruments Inc.’s decision in 2018 asking Richard Templeton to reassume the titles of president and CEO scrubbed plans for his gradual separation from the analog IC and embedded processor supplier. With the appointment of a new CEO, Templeton and TI’s board should seize the opportunity to cut that cord immediately and permanently, for the sake of everyone involved.

Read More »Time for Templeton of TI to Make a Graceful Exit
Taiwan Strait and TSMC

What’s Plan B if TSMC is Shut Down?

By Ron Wilson

What’s at stake:
If the political confrontation over Taiwan collapses into military confrontation, major U.S. companies would lose access to the advanced chip processes upon which their leading products and their roadmaps depend. There are workarounds, but they are not easy, quick, or cheap.

What if it all goes wrong across the Taiwan Strait? Growing antagonism with the U.S., increasing political and economic pressure inside the People’s Republic of China, simple accident—there is a significant, if unpleasant, chance that combat could occur in Taiwan. And given the parties involved and their interests, Taiwan’s industry and infrastructure would certainly be casualties.

Read More »What’s Plan B if TSMC is Shut Down?
What Tesla claimed in an opener of its promotional video, "Full Self Driving Hardware on All Teslas," released in Oct. 20, 2016

Tesla Deposition Exposes Disregard for Human Drivers

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Tesla is envy of its rivals. That makes a deposition by Tesla’s chief Autopilot software director required reading. His testimony highlights the company’s modus operandi that permits reckless beta roll outs of automation software, enabling the faulty assumption that infallible human drivers will be able to correct mistakes made by vehicles. Distancing themselves from Tesla isn’t enough. It’s time for every car manufacturer to step up and make safety a priority.

Investigations into business or political wrongdoing often lead reporters to top executives, about whom they poise the inevitable question:  “What did he know, and when did he know it?”

But in the case of Tesla, there’s no reason to bother Elon Musk. The question is already asked and answered.

Read More »Tesla Deposition Exposes Disregard for Human Drivers
Faulty economic forecast.

$1 Trillion Chip Market By 2030? Think Again

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Semiconductor suppliers are basing their capital expenditure plans on forecasts that often miss targets by tens of billions of dollars. Only months after rolling out massive fab construction plans to serve what they believe would be a $1 trillion market by 2030, chipmakers are resorting to capex cuts that will impact future supplies.

Looking to grab a share of a projected $1 trillion in sales by 2030, semiconductor vendors and foundries have gone on an extraordinary capital expenditure spree just as the sector appears headed for another downturn. Those countervailing market forces are raising questions about the wisdom of expansive fab construction plans.

Read More »$1 Trillion Chip Market By 2030? Think Again
Apple Watches

Apple’s MicroLED Gambit: Up, Up and Away or ‘Crash and Burn’?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
A smartphone behemoth like Apple might seek to develop its own unique display technology, thereby allowing it to expand and control its own supply chain. Apple has grasped a first-mover advantage on an emerging display technology called microLED. Apple may even be committed to manufacturing and assembling its own displays — at least initially. That’s a big step. Is it a bold move or overreach?

Apple has much riding on its decade-old pursuit of microLEDs, a display technology in which microscopic LEDs form individual pixel elements. Along with resolution, micro-LEDs offer also offer power savings critical to mobile devices.

 If successful, Apple will have a one-of-a-kind display technology, a new supply chain and a fresh ecosystem stretching across the globe.

Read More »Apple’s MicroLED Gambit: Up, Up and Away or ‘Crash and Burn’?