Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), a leading Chinese-language internet search provider, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that Baidu’s first cloud-to-edge AI accelerator, Baidu KUNLUN, has completed its development and will be mass-produced early next year. Baidu KUNLUN chip is built on the company’s advanced XPU, a home-grown neural processor architecture for cloud, edge, and AI, as well as Samsung’s 14-nanometer (nm) process technology with its I-Cube (Interposer-Cube) package solution.
Blaize Presents Breakthrough AI Processing Architecture at CES 2020
Blaize™ today announced plans for the first public demonstrations of its Blaize Graph Streaming Processor™ (GSP™) architecture at CES 2020. A next-generation computing architecture designed for AI workloads, the Blaize offering tackles the economic and technical barriers to widespread AI adoption, addressing energy, cost and complexity challenges.
In Breakthrough Method of Creating Solar Material, NREL Scientists Prove the Impossible Really Isn’t
Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) achieved a technological breakthrough for solar cells previously thought impossible. The scientists successfully integrated an aluminum source into their hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) reactor, then demonstrated the growth of the semiconductors aluminum indium phosphide (AlInP) and aluminum gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) for the first time by this technique.
Renesas Electronics Collaborates with Xilinx on Versal ACAP Reference Designs
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that its power solutions, as well as timing solutions from IDT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renesas, support the Xilinx Versal adaptive compute acceleration platform (ACAP) devices featured on the Xilinx VCK190 evaluation kit and the Renesas VERSALDEMO1Z power reference board. Built on 7nm process technology, Versal is the industry’s first ACAP platform that addresses the needs of a wide range of applications in data center, automotive, 5G wireless, and wired and defense markets.
Creating a Nanoscale On-Off Switch For Heat
Polymers are used to develop various materials, such as plastics, nylons, and rubbers. In their most basic form, they are made up of many of identical molecules joined together over and over, like a chain. If you engineer molecules to join together in specific ways, you can control the characteristics of the resulting polymer. Using this method, Sheng Shen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and his research team created a polymer thermal regulator that can quickly transform from a conductor to an insulator, and back again. When it’s a conductor, heat transfers quickly. When it’s an insulator, heat transfer much more slowly. By switching between the two states, the thermal regulator can control its own temperature, as well as the temperature of its surroundings, such as a refrigerator or computer.
Compound Photonics Announces World’s Smallest 2Kx2K Microdisplay for Wide Field of View AR/MR Applications
Compound Photonics U.S. Corporation (CP), the leader in compact high-performance microdisplay solutions, today announced the release of its CP2K234 series of Liquid Crystal on Silicon microdisplays targeting next generation AR/MR (Augmented/Mixed Reality) smart glasses, head-mounted display (HMD) and heads-up display (HUD) applications. With its industry leading small 3.015 μm pixel, native 2048×2048 resolution and a unique 1:1 aspect ratio, this 0.34” diagonal display enables retina resolution (60 pixels/degree) when combined with next generation 50°+ wide field-of-view waveguides. The CP2K234 is available as either a polarization (amplitude) or phase (holographic) modulator.
Immersion Appoints Aaron Akerman as Chief Financial Officer
Immersion Corporation (Nasdaq: IMMR), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, today announced the appointment of Aaron Akerman as the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He will begin his employment on January 13, 2020. Akerman joins Immersion from Hypertec Group, where he was its CFO. He brings over 15 years of leadership experience in corporate finance, accounting, treasury, financial and strategic planning, and operations. Aaron will join Immersion’s executive team and manage the company’s finance organization.
New Heat Model May Help Electronic Devices Last Longer
A University of Illinois-based team of engineers has found that the model currently used to predict heat loss in a common semiconductor material does not apply in all situations. By testing the thermal properties of gallium nitride semiconductors fabricated using four popular methods, the team discovered that some techniques produce materials that perform better than others. This new understanding can help chip manufacturers find ways to better diffuse the heat that leads to device damage and decreased device lifespans.
Mobiveil’s PCI Express 4.0 Endpoint Controller Passes PCI-SIG Gold and Interoperability Testing
Mobiveil, Inc., a fast-growing supplier of silicon intellectual property (SIP), platforms and IP-enabled design services, today announced that its GPEX™ PCI Express® (PCIe®) 4.0 Endpoint Controller passed PCI-SIG® Gold and Interoperability testing. To achieve compliance, the Mobiveil GPEX IP passed protocol, electrical and interoperability testing for the PCIe 4.0 specification that reaches 16 gigatransfers per second (GT/s). Its highly flexible and configurable IP design targets endpoint or root complex type devices, as well as switches and bridge implementations. The controller IP architecture is tailored to optimize link utilization, latency, reliability, power consumption and reduce the silicon footprint.
SIA Welcomes ‘Phase One’ U.S.-China Trade Deal
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, released the following statement from SIA president & CEO John Neuffer regarding the “phase one” U.S.-China trade deal announced today.
