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Apple CEO Tim Cook in conversation with Mother Nature.

Can TSMC Meet Apple’s 2030 Net-Zero Pledge?

By Junko Yoshida and George Leopold

What’s at stake:
The chip industry’s laudable shift to sustainable manufacturing so far fails to address a key contributor to greenhouse gasses: the complex, energy-hogging steps needed to produce advanced devices. Apple fails to mention that challenge in its recent green marketing campaign. That approach is disingenuous.

If you haven’t watched Apple Inc.’s well-crafted sustainability promo, “2030 Status/Mother Nature/Apple,” you should. Released on Sept. 12, the video generated more than 4 million views on YouTube in just a month.

Read More »Can TSMC Meet Apple’s 2030 Net-Zero Pledge?
PROPHESEE Event-Based Metavision GenX320 ZinnLabs Eye Tracking

Prophesee Emboldens Its Mass Consumer Outreach

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Prophesee is the little engine that could. By launching its fifth-generation event-based imaging sensor and going after the consumer mass market, the French startup run by Luca Verre is demonstrating its resilience. Nothing could deter CEO Verre and his team from leaving any stone unturned in search of a market fit for its neuromorphic vision systems. The unknown is whether AR/VR is the segment that can open the volume market to Prophesee and, if so, how long might it take.

In 2014, a unique bio-inspired vision technology was an asset big enough to convince a team of scholars and a businessman to establish Prophesee.

Prophesee didn’t invent neuromorphic computing. But it has become a pioneer in commercially implementing its principle: Humans don’t record the visual information based on a series of frames. Instead, they capture the stuff of interest – spatial and temporal changes – and send that sparse information efficiently to the brain.

Prophesee has done a yeoman’s work pitching event-based sensors to neophytes, but its efforts have yet to build the mass market. 

Read More »Prophesee Emboldens Its Mass Consumer Outreach
Tension Builds As The Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs

Tension Builds As Auto Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Never underestimate the power of a regulator, especially one armed with a Congressional mandate — and money — to make the roads safer for all users. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill boosted NHTSA’s budget by 50 percent. Observers say the agency is poised to issue regulations with teeth.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is oft criticized for being too slow and cautious in mandating ADAS technology among its regulations. Worse, it has left too much implementation to voluntary agreements with the auto industry.

“This changed on May 31 with NHTSA’s announcement of adding both Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and pedestrian AEB (PAEB) to New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) regulation,” said Egil Juliussen, principal analyst at VSI Labs.

Read More »Tension Builds As Auto Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs
It’s the Chiplet Derby…Without Enough Horses

It’s the Chiplet Derby … Without Enough Horses

By Junko Yoshida

Whats at stake:
Technologies to build 2D and 2.5D multi-die chips have existed for almost a decade. Yet, demand for chiplets languished until the dawn of the generative AI era. Nvidias AI processors have swept the market, triggering a change so abrupt that foundries and Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) companies are left flat-footed. At stake now is how long aspiring chiplet vendors can wait, and whether going to China for chiplet production is an option.

As global chiplet demand soars, the shortage in production capacity has focused sharply for developers of AI processors, high-performance computing chips and automotive OEMs/Tier Ones looking for scalable, automotive semiconductor designs.

Read More »It’s the Chiplet Derby … Without Enough Horses
Kodiak Self-Driving Truck

AV Trucking: Bigger Robots, Bigger Problems?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Robotaxis have gone through cycles. Some are already out of business. If you believe AV trucks have better commercial prospects, think again. The roster is limited and the playing field hasn’t been chalked. Compared to robotaxis, AV trucks are still in their infancy.

Last Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a state law requiring a trained safety driver to occupy autonomous trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds.

The governor’s action was spun differently across the political spectrum. Most vocal were AV industry supporters and lobbyists, who claimed a major victory over the labor-backed Assembly Bill 316. 

Read More »AV Trucking: Bigger Robots, Bigger Problems?
Distribution M&A

Distribution M&A: East Goes West, at Last

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Taiwan’s WT Microelectronics, in offering to purchase Canada’s Future Electronics, is breaking new grounds. The proposed East-West purchase is a rarity in the electronics component distribution world. M&As in the business have crawled to a halt since the 1990s when the biggest players led the consolidation of the market. Is another consolidation on tap in the distribution sector and will the biggest companies be on the block this time?

Read More »Distribution M&A: East Goes West, at Last
When an AV Has the Wheel, Who's Driving?

When an AV Has the Wheel, Who’s Driving?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
We have heard endlessly how robotaxis are safer than human-driven vehicles. In Vienna, at the Autonomous conference, held under the auspices of TTTech Auto, we came not necessarily to debunk that myth but to pick the brains of automakers and regulators about the thorny issues of liability.  

It’s a sin to squander an opportunity to take the stage and ask direct questions to people in charge. Waffling and evasion are typical results. Nonetheless, even those non-answers live on in the public record.

Read More »When an AV Has the Wheel, Who’s Driving?
RISC-V Taking Flight on ‘Airbus’ Model

RISC-V Taking Flight on ‘Airbus’ Model

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
One boneheaded move by Nvidia to buy Arm, exacerbated by the geopolitical tension between China and the United States, forced the formation of a Europe-based RISC-V venture. 

Europe is angling to play a crucial role in the global semiconductor world,  this time with RISC-V. The formation of a new RISC-V venture – announced in August – signals the necessity of this European initiative.

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The Semiconductor Downturn Has ‘Bottomed’

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Semiconductor sales returned to a positive position in the second quarter, ending early what had been feared could be a prolonged downturn, says a veteran analyst who was heavily bearish about the direction of the market. But is this the beginning of a new upturn or is the industry heading to a false recovery with dips and upswings?

Semiconductor sales swung back into positive territory in the second quarter, defying expectations for a prolonged downturn and shaving off 12 percentage points from a dire outlook from one of the industry’s most respected forecasters.

Malcolm Penn, CEO and founder of IC consulting and research firm, Future Horizons, on Tuesday pronounced the end of the latest semiconductor sales downturn, saying the industry pushed its recovery forward by one quarter.

Read More »The Semiconductor Downturn Has ‘Bottomed’