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Chiplet: Let Integration Race Begin

Chiplet: Let Integration Race Begin

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
With chiplets poised to disaggregate SoCs into tiny dies, companies have begun to generate new ideas, tools and “chiplet platforms” designed to put back together these small dies (chiplets) – horizontally or vertically – in an advanced form of system-in-package. It is almost ironic that the chiplet originally conceived to disaggregate SoCs in Lego-like blocks appears to be getting back into an integration race again.

DreamBig Semiconductor, based in San Jose, Calif., is one of the startups at the gate. It came to CES last week and unveiled an “Open Chiplet Platform” called MARS.

Read More »Chiplet: Let Integration Race Begin
semiconductor wafers

Is Localized Chip Production Doomed to Fail?

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?

Powerful governments are pouring vast amounts of money into semiconductors to create or strengthen national or regional manufacturing and innovation hubs, departing from the globalized system that midwifed the industry. The system being built lacks long-term viability, but chipmakers are going along, drawn by government largesse and coercion. Can this new structure survive harsh business realities such as the need for global sales?

As much as $1.6 trillion may be spent on new semiconductor fabs, R&D, and STEM education programs globally by governments and chipmakers between 2020 and 2040 in a defensive, frantic and possibly doomed effort by leading economies to localize IC innovations and manufacturing in their territories, according to figures compiled by the Ojo-Yoshida Report.

Driven by parochial defense, military, supply security and other economic interests China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and the United States are prodding the semiconductor industry into a new wave of massive, local fab construction projects with promises and plans that appear detached from the market’s fundamentals and historical operational system, according to observers.

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To Meet the STEM Crisis We Need Less STEM

To Meet the STEM Crisis, We Need Less STEM

By Peter Norton

Depending on your source, the so-called “STEM crisis” is either a grave threat or fabricated hype. As a STEM educator, I think it’s both.

Everyone who cares enough to look into the subject knows that tech companies allege shortages in the quantity and quality of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields more to ensure a steady stream of employable graduates than to address any real national crisis.

But this does not mean that all is well in STEM education.

Read More »To Meet the STEM Crisis, We Need Less STEM
Five Minutes 'On the Road' with Intel’s Gelsinger

Five Minutes ‘On the Road’ with Intel’s Gelsinger

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
What’s the deal with Intel and Mobileye? After Intel at CES officially unveiled an automotive strategy independent of Mobileye, the relationship between the companies on all things automotive became all the more mysterious. 

A few questions have been nagging me since I first learned about Intel’s re-entry into the automotive market.

  • Is Intel designing its auto strategy narrowly to avoid stepping on Mobileye’s toes?  
  • Given its continued 88 percent stake in Mobileye, what are Intel’s legitimate expectations for fully autonomous vehicles? 
  • If Intel aspires to be the key player in a rapidly changing automotive market, shouldn’t its solutions integrate both Mobileye’s ADAS and Intel’s in-vehicle infotainment platforms?
  • Do these two teams even talk to each other?
Read More »Five Minutes ‘On the Road’ with Intel’s Gelsinger
War Over Taiwan Is Doubtful, and Unaffordable by China or Anyone

War Over Taiwan Is Doubtful, and Unaffordable by China or Anyone

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Concerns about war over Taiwan have grown since Xi Jinping became president, insisting that China would reunite the island with the mainland – by force, if necessary. The stability of the global supply chain is at stake, but in the end a peaceful resolution is more likely. Too much is at stake for the opponents, including the US and its Western allies. Can the supply chain breathe easier?

Taiwan’s presidential and national legislative elections will take place Jan. 13. At stake is the independence, economy and political future of the island – and for many in the electronics industry, the future of its role in the semiconductor market and in the technology value chain.

Read More »War Over Taiwan Is Doubtful, and Unaffordable by China or Anyone
Generative AI at CES: Good, Bad and Ugly

Generative AI at CES: Good, Bad and Ugly

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
The milling throng at CES this year is bombarded with generative AI marketing pitches. There are glowing promises galore, but the industry continues to cast about for credible applications spun from ChatGPT’s halo effect.

This year’s CES will be “all about generative AI and AI PCs,” said Justin Walker, Nvidia’s senior director of desktop GPUs during last week’s Nvidia’s pre-CES briefing.

He was, of course, spot on. Ahead of the show, most tech companies decided to AI-frame their CES announcements. Many touted their AI savvy by mentioning generative AI in press briefings and demonstrations, and in their booths.

Clearly, AI poses many shades and applications, from AI in PC and AI in cars to AI in robots. Vehicle AI alone encompasses myriad AI applications. It goes into digital cockpits, into ADAS (sensing and monitoring) and into self-driving vehicles (predictions and decision making)

Among all the AI presentations, Volkswagen’s demo won this year’s CES booby prize. 

Read More »Generative AI at CES: Good, Bad and Ugly