By David Benjamin
“The Chinese people have only family and clan solidarity. They do not have national spirit… We are just a heap of loose sand… Other men are the carving knife and serving dish. We are the fish and the meat.” — Sun Yat-sen
Read More »China’s Achilles’ Heel
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
Fabless semiconductor companies have contributed to the industry’s growth but they’ also added to its complexity with their unwillingness, until now, to shoulder a larger part of the financial burdens associated with making their products. That is changing as a result of today’s acute shortages. The lessons learned now must not be discarded when the shortages ease.
What’s at stake?
Despite all the rhetoric about the artificial intelligent of things (AIoT), implementing AI inference in MCUs is still a stretch. Edge AI is “economically constrained as much as… physically constrained,” according to a market analyst. At stake is the future of MCU suppliers and AIoT OEMs. How long are they willing to stay in the game and how much are they investing?
What’s at stake?
IoT devices are fundamentally different from PCs or mobile phones. They must last 20 to 30 years when deployed in industrial settings. “Imagine a critical vulnerability found in a gateway that sits on top of your oil rig,” says entrepreneur and Arm veteran Ian Drew. Software engineers and chipmakers might be clueless about their own older products that went into that gateway. At stake is the long-term viability and security of IoT devices.
A group of experts convened recently to consider possible solutions to the global supply chain mess. Among the most compelling insights elicited by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission — primarily known for its annual report detailing Beijing’s growing military prowess — were those focused on the fraught semiconductor supply chain.
Read More »Subsidies Are No Panacea for Fixing the Semiconductor Supply Chain
By Bolaji Ojo
Walden “Wally” Rhines is a stalwart of the semiconductor industry and a veteran of two of the electronics industry’s most important companies. At 75, Rhines could be retired, serving as a statesman to the semiconductor industry, playing golf in the sunniest parts of the world or touring exotic places on luxury cruise ships. Instead, Rhines is CEO at homomorphic encryption startup Cornami, where he is shepherding potentially groundbreaking work on data center security.
Read More »Wally Rhines Places All His Chips on a Crypto Startup
What’s at stake?
Not all advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are created equal. Automatic emergency braking, particularly, is known to hit pedestrians and cyclists at night. A Texas startup thinks its new radar is the answer.
By Rebecca Day
What’s at stake:
Vehicle sensors measure multiple functions in the car, but monitoring critical tire and road conditions haven’t been part of the diagnostics picture. Startup Tactile Mobility claims it has a solution for that.
By Jon Peddie
What’s at stake?
Gamers, especially those in China, play on smartphones. Pixelworks’ postprocessor addresses that market by delivering higher frame rates, high pixel resolution and low latency while consuming very little power.
What’s at stake:
As part of its climate agenda, the Biden administration is allocating billions in infrastructure funding to put more EVs on the nation’s roads. While seeding areas like EV battery research, it is also encouraging public-private partnerships to flesh out a sustainable transportation network.
