GLOBALFOUNDRIES® (GF®), the world’s leading specialty foundry, announced today that it has acquired the PDK (Process Design Kit) engineering team from Smartcom Bulgaria AD in Sofia, Bulgaria. The newly acquired team will enhance GF’s scale and capabilities, while strengthening competitiveness of its specialized application solutions to further position the company for growth and value creation.
Packaging
Panasonic to Team up with IBM Japan in Improving Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes
On October 15, 2019, IBM Japan, Ltd. and Panasonic Corporation’s subsidiary, Panasonic Smart Factory Solutions Co., Ltd, announced that the companies have agreed to collaborate to develop and market a new high-value-added system to optimize the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of customers’ semiconductor manufacturing processes and to realize high-quality manufacturing. As part of its circuit formation process business, Panasonic currently develops and markets edge devices and manufacturing methods that contribute to improving semiconductor manufacturing of advanced packaging.
Energy Taiwan Opens Tomorrow to Opportunities in Renewable Energy as Experts from Industry, Government and Academia Gather
Opening tomorrow, Energy Taiwan today hosts a pre-show press conference with photovoltaic (PV) and offshore wind power experts exploring the future of smart energy, industry trends, and strategies for seizing renewable energy business opportunities. The largest renewable energy event in Taiwan, Energy Taiwan connects the global green energy supply chain for three days of expert insights into the latest technologies and business opportunities in solar PV, offshore wind power, hydrogen energy, smart energy storage, and green finance and insurance.
Chinese and Korean Materials Suppliers Profiting from Japanese Politics
Chinese materials suppliers are moving to take market- share at South Korean chip fabrication (fab) lines. Due to residual animosity from 20th century wars, Japanese politicians decided to use the semiconductor materials supplier-chain as a pawn in a political chess game and un-white-listed South Korea from exports. Any good-will between the two nations was immediately erased, and South Korea announced a US$6B government investment to as a huge driving force to help develop local supplies. Now Chinese chemical suppliers have unprecedented openings to qualifications at Korean-owned fabs, including commercial memory fabs in China.
PROPHESEE Joins IRT Nanoelec 3D Integration Program
PROPHESEE, the inventor of the world’s most advanced neuromorphic vision systems, joins the IRT Nanoelec consortium to help broaden the field of potential applications for 3D hybrid wafer-to-wafer bonding with fine interconnect pitches. 3D integration brings, under a single roof, expertise and equipment addressing the entire 3D integration value chain: technology, circuit architecture, EDA tools, packaging and test. STMicroelectronics (IDM), Mentor (EDA), a Siemens business, EVG and SET (equipment suppliers), and CEA-Leti (RTO) are the current members of the consortium. Among other successes, they have developed the first 3D stack imager at a 1.44µm pitch using wafer-to-wafer direct hybrid technology.
Growth of Near Field Communication (NFC) Chips Market to Be Impacted by the Increasing Demand for Smart Parking
The report, NFC chips market 2019-2023, has been added to Technavio’s catalog. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the market, including its global and regional market share as well as market segmentation based on product (smartphones, smart wearables, POS terminals, and others) and geography (APAC, Americas, and EMEA) for the forecast period 2019-2023.
2019 Microprocessor Slump Snaps Nine Years of Record Sales
The microprocessor market’s string of nine straight record-high annual sales between 2010 and 2018 is expected to end this year with worldwide MPU revenue dropping 4% to about $77.3 billion because of weakness in smartphone shipments, excess inventories in data center computers, and the global fallout from the U.S.-China trade war, according to IC Insights’ recently updated forecast.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Qualifies Synopsys Fusion Design Platform on 12LP FinFET Platform
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) today announced that GLOBALFOUNDRIES® (GF®) has qualified Synopsys’ Fusion Design Platform™ for its 12-nanometer (nm) Leading-Performance (12LP) FinFET platform. Optimized for the high-performance and low-power requirements of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and mobile system-on-chips (SoCs), the production-ready flow is based on the silicon-proven RTL-to-GDSII 12LP foundry reference flow and incorporates Synopsys Advanced Fusion technologies for best quality-of-results (QoR) and time-to-results (TTR) in FinFET designs.
2019 Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap Released; Identifies Long-Term Technology Requirements to Speed Innovation
SEMI, the global industry association representing the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain, today announced the 2019 release of the Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap (HIR). Designed to stimulate pre-competitive collaboration in order to advance heterogenous integration technology development and accelerate electronics innovation, HIR provides a long-term vision for the electronics industry, identifying future technology requirements and potential solutions. SEMI is among five HIR sponsors. SEMI members across the global electronics supply chain integrate separately manufactured components into assemblies to enhance electronics system functionality across a multitude of applications.
New Approach For Modern Power Grids That Increases Efficiency, Reduces Cost
Modern power grids are rapidly developing due to the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic and wind power. This trend is expected to rise in the near future, as attested by major countries worldwide in their commitments to the production of large renewable power penetration. A modern power grid, with its reduced dependence on non-renewable energy, has indisputable advantages in terms of environmental safeguards, but its introduction does not come without a cost.
