Though growth rates in some product categories have slowed, doubling of transistors per chip every two years remains a guideline that the industry continues to follow.
Design
Groovy Key to Nanotubes in 2D
Ultrathin carbon nanotubes crystals could have wonderous uses, like converting waste heat into electricity with near-perfect efficiency, and Rice University engineers have taken a big step toward that goal. The latest step continues a story that began in 2013, when Rice’s Junichiro Kono and his students discovered a breakthrough method for making carbon nanotubes line up in thin films on a filter membrane.
Global Fab Equipment Spending Poised for 2021 Record High
Global fab equipment spending promises to rebound from its 2019 downturn and see a modest recovery this year before a sharp uptick drives record investments in 2021, SEMI reported today in the latest update of its World Fab Forecast report. The report shows a slow recovery in 2020 – 3% year-over-year (YoY) growth to US$57.8 billion – owing in large part to an 18% expected slump in the first half of 2020 from the second half of 2019. The picture should brighten in the second half of this year as a recovery starts to take hold.
Xilinx Launches Industry’s First SmartNIC Platform Bringing Turnkey Network, Storage and Compute Acceleration to Cloud Data Centers
Xilinx, Inc. announced the industry’s first SmartNIC platform delivering true convergence of network, storage and compute acceleration functions on a single device. The Alveo™ U25 SmartNIC is designed to bring the greater efficiency and lower TCO benefits of SmartNICs to cloud service providers, telcos, and private cloud data center operators struggling with increasing networking demands and rising costs.
AI Chipmaker Hailo Raises $60 Million in Series B Funding
Hailo, the leading AI chipmaker delivering unprecedented performance to edge devices, today announced it has raised $60 million in Series B funding. The round, led by existing investors, was joined by key strategic investors including ABB Technology Ventures (ATV) – the strategic VC arm of ABB, a global leader in industrial automation and robotics; NEC Corporation – a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies; and London-based VC firm Latitude Ventures.
A Filter For Cleaner Qubits
Researchers at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), RIKEN, and the University of Tokyo propose an improved method for isolating the qubits in a quantum computer from the external environment, which may help usher in the era of practical quantum computing.
Samsung Adopts Synopsys’ Machine Learning-Driven IC Compiler II for its Next-Generation 5nm Mobile SoC Design
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) today announced that Samsung has adopted the industry-leading IC Compiler™ II place-and-route solution, part of the Synopsys Fusion Design Platform™, for its next-generation 5nm mobile system-on-chip (SoC) production design. In order to meet the aggressive design goals of this complex SoC, Samsung employed IC Compiler II’s cutting-edge machine learning technologies resulting in significant QoR and productivity boosts of up to five percent higher frequency, five percent lower leakage power and faster TAT.
York University Researchers One Step Closer to Creating Organic Batteries
York University researchers have discovered a way to make Lithium-powered batteries more environmentally friendly while retaining performance, stability and storage capacity. Using organic materials are the way forward and that has scientists like Professor Thomas Baumgartner of the Faculty of Science and his team busy developing and testing new molecules to find the right ones to replace the rare metals currently in use.
SEMICON Southeast Asia 2020 Postponed to August 2020
SEMI announced today that it is postponing SEMICON Southeast Asia 2020, the region’s premier event for the global electronics manufacturing supply chain, from 12-14 May 2020to11-13 August 2020.The postponement is due to concern surrounding the ongoing international coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The venue for SEMICON Southeast Asia 2020 will remain the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC). “After close consultation with our stakeholders, which include partners, exhibitors, industry peers and the general…
Global Semiconductor Sales Down Slightly Year-to-Year in January
“The global semiconductor market got off to a solid start in 2020, with the industry nearly posting positive year-to-year sales growth for the first time in more than a year,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Still, the global market faces significant macroeconomic headwinds, including global trade unrest and ongoing concerns about worldwide spread of the coronavirus, which could limit continued market recovery.”
