Lies, Damn Lies, and AV Statistics
Cruise’s rapidly growing tally of driverless miles doesn’t prove that it is safer than a human driver. It proves that driving is safer at slower speeds.
Opinion
Yes, it is the Supply Chain, Ladies & Gents
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Modern commerce, of any kind, hangs on the strengths, durability and effectiveness of the supply chain(s) that supports it. In the electronics industry, when the supply chain is fragile, porous or insufficiently flexible, disaster is never far away, notwithstanding the type of business, the value or uniqueness of the design. Engineers, too, are negatively impacted when the supply chain crashes. Now, they are teaming up with other players to find solutions. Will this be a permanent move or will the momentum die as quickly as the next cycle?
What does the global electronics industry have in common with The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemmingway’s ageless story of one man’s struggle with fate?
Read More »Yes, it is the Supply Chain, Ladies & Gents
Street Wars – Attack of the Cones
Why is the state of the robotaxi operation in San Francisco what it is today? There is neither consequence nor accountability when Cruise and Waymo block public transit and first responders.
Chips, Politics, High Numbers
By Peter Clarke
Don’t trust the headline-grabbing numbers.
We’ve had a spate of semiconductor factory announcements in recent days from the U.S. semiconductor leaders Intel and Micron. They mentioned multibillion-dollar sums of money. Those who made timely appearances in such announcement were leaders of governments despite their busy agendas.
Read More »Chips, Politics, High Numbers
Interfacing in a Faceless Era
By David Benjamin
From the first time I heard it, I cringed at the utterance of the word “interface.” It’s a relatively new term, coined to describe contact via an electronic device. It’s not just ugly. It’s an oxymoron. The machines that enable interfaces are a means to avoid the indignity of showing one’s face.
Read More »Interfacing in a Faceless Era
What’s Sam Altman’s Game?
Enough with the handwringing, it’s time to shut down public access to AI
Regressive AI
By David Benjamin
“Sgt. Schulz: How do you expect to win the war with an army of clowns?
“Lt. Dunbar: We sort of hope you’d laugh yourselves to death.”
—Sig Ruman and Don Taylor in Stalag 17
I can’t help but sympathize with the writers’ strike in Hollywood. The news is that the script writers and screenplay authors in the movie biz, as well as those who write copy and compose jingles for commercials, are spooked about the adoption — by the film, television and streaming industries — of “generative artificial intelligence (AI),” the clever technology that powers ChatGPT and its brethren.
AI apps that mimic human speech and writing and devise deceptively realistic photos and video are, by their nature and function, an affront to those of us who have put in years of miserably remunerative labor over notebooks and keyboards as we evolve into good writers.
On the other hand, we’re talking Hollywood, where the vast bulk of the writing, by order of the powers that be, is only sporadically — often accidentally — “good,” and might not even be anthropomorphically “generative.” How many sincere and gifted “content providers” are allowed, in the risk-averse, copycat culture of film and TV production, to be actually and palpably inventive?
Read More »Regressive AI
Artemis Missions Rekindle the Crew Safety Debate
Returning to the moon will be risky. NASA must acknowledge those risks and work tirelessly to reduce them.
Intel ‘Internal’ vs. Pure-Play Foundry Quandary Deepens
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Intel Foundry Services faces a bleak future if the company continues to hang on tightly to the “ownership” strings. Many of the world’s biggest fabless chipmakers will remain on the sidelines if they see Intel as a competitor, which it is. While Intel does not want to spin off its foundry business it should consider deploying an alternate strategy to pull in hesitant potential customers.
Nvidia Corp. is a major force in the artificial intelligence (AI) market. Rival Intel Corp. also wants to “democratize the incredible power of AI” and supply the market with “a full suite of silicon and software to drive AI,” according to CEO Pat Gelsinger. Intel, the world’s No. 1 microprocessor vendor, would also like to have Nvidia as a customer of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), its contract wafer manufacturing division upon which Gelsinger has pinned the company’s future.
Somebody needs a reality check.
Read More »Intel ‘Internal’ vs. Pure-Play Foundry Quandary Deepens
Will this Semiconductor Cycle Be Deep or Shallow?
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Getting an accurate reading of the direction of the electronics market has always been problematic. Yet, the decisions executives take that end up massively impacting employees, shareholders and customers depend so much on a good understanding and acceptance of the market fundamentals. What chipmakers especially must do to determine the direction of the current cycle is clear. Will they go instead with the typical knee-jerk actions, though?
Inaccurate forecasts are the bane of the chip market.
Malcolm Penn, CEO and founder of Future Horizons Ltd., a UK-based semiconductor research and consulting firm, comes closest to being the industry’s one true oracle. Penn may not be the only one to generally get chip sales forecasts mostly correct annually. But he stands out.
Read More »Will this Semiconductor Cycle Be Deep or Shallow?