What’s at stake?
When it comes to easy-to-use IoT, we are still not there. The stakes are high for a pure-play IoT company like Silicon Labs. Silicon Labs’ CTO Daniel Cooley explains why Matter, an upcoming smart-home interoperability protocol backstopped by Apple, Google and others, matters in the consumer IoT space. He also pinpoints the breakthrough events in IoT’s journey thus far.
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
Intel has long ruled the semiconductor world, but its dominance is coming to an end. The proposed IPO of its Mobileye division heralds a new dawn marked by the potential breakup of the industry icon.
Intel Corp. wants to hang on as the majority shareholder at Mobileye after it takes its automotive-IC subsidiary public in 2022. That status will last only a few years following the initial public offering. The same forces that led CEO Pat Gelsinger to reconsider Mobileye’s position as an integral part of Intel’s continuing operations will compel the full separation of the unit and result in even more fundamental changes at the parent.
Read More »Intel: Time to Break up the Mothership
What’s at stake?
Intel acquired Mobileye in 2017 — nearly a year into the two companies’ joint AV development partnership with BMW — with great expectations for the autonomous-vehicle revolution. But a lot has changed in four years. Today, BMW is hitching a ride with Qualcomm on ADAS/AV development. Next year, Intel will take Mobileye public. At stake is whether Intel can chart an automotive roadmap for Intel-branded products, independent of its high-flying subsidiary.
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake
Those who invested early in silicon carbide are seeing their efforts start to pay off. But competitors are popping up everywhere, putting more SiC-related M&A and partnership deals in place. The question is who, over time, can build the right ecosystem to advance SiC technologies, bring down costs and ensure a stable supply of raw materials and SiC wafers.
Read More »Silicon Carbide Gets Ready for Prime Time
What’s at stake?
Vehicle electrification helped push silicon carbide (SiC) out of labs and into systems, making SiC a commercially viable alternative to silicon-based power electronics. Some high-profile names have played key roles in that transition, but it may be too early for any company to claim victory in the evolving SiC technology race. Who’s best positioned to profit from the decades-long SiC development effort?
By Ron Wilson
What’s at stake
Silicon carbide isn’t just about drill bits and abrasives anymore. The material also goes into transistors that are increasingly vital to green energy and transportation. The SiC supply chain may determine whether you can actually take delivery on that electric car you’ve been thinking about, or the solar panels to help charge it.
Dear Ted,
Velodyne’s recent announcement introducing you as its new CEO didn’t surprise me. You’re the right executive arriving at the right time to correct the course of a vision-challenged company that has lost its way.
Velodyne went public in September 2020 through the dubious mechanism of a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with blank-check company Graph Industrial. Since then, as the corporate board and its largest shareholder have relentlessly exchanged accusations, Velodyne has become best known for its dysfunction.
Read More »Open Letter to Ted Tewksbury, Velodyne’s New CEO
Drones are coming to the farm, hot above the heels of marauding wild boars.
With the explosive growth of feral hog populations that wreak havoc on crops and fields, farmers worldwide are suffering a significant uptick in crop loss.
Stepping to the front lines in this agricultural clash is Sara Nozkova, CEO and cofounder of Flox Robotics, a drone startup based in Sweden.
Read More »Farm Drones Going Hog Wild
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake
NXP is growing, well above the semiconductor industry average, and is leveraging prior acquisitions and financial strength to establish itself as a major player in the market. Can the company maintain this growth profile in the face of hungry competitors and against the backdrop of its own history? It may take several years for NXP to prove it can withstand market and geopolitical pressures beyond its control.
By Bolaji Ojo
The electronics industry is at it again. Notorious for offering bewildering solutions to chronic and possibly unsolvable problems, OEM and semiconductor executives are convulsed with figuring out a fix for the supply shortages that have shuttered some automotive manufacturing plants and crimped sales as global economies struggle to recover from the pandemic.
Read More »JIC is a Poor Replacement for JIT
