Skip to content

Featured

Apple CEO Tim Cook in conversation with Mother Nature.

Can TSMC Meet Apple’s 2030 Net-Zero Pledge?

By Junko Yoshida and George Leopold

What’s at stake:
The chip industry’s laudable shift to sustainable manufacturing so far fails to address a key contributor to greenhouse gasses: the complex, energy-hogging steps needed to produce advanced devices. Apple fails to mention that challenge in its recent green marketing campaign. That approach is disingenuous.

If you haven’t watched Apple Inc.’s well-crafted sustainability promo, “2030 Status/Mother Nature/Apple,” you should. Released on Sept. 12, the video generated more than 4 million views on YouTube in just a month.

Read More »Can TSMC Meet Apple’s 2030 Net-Zero Pledge?
PROPHESEE Event-Based Metavision GenX320 ZinnLabs Eye Tracking

Prophesee Emboldens Its Mass Consumer Outreach

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Prophesee is the little engine that could. By launching its fifth-generation event-based imaging sensor and going after the consumer mass market, the French startup run by Luca Verre is demonstrating its resilience. Nothing could deter CEO Verre and his team from leaving any stone unturned in search of a market fit for its neuromorphic vision systems. The unknown is whether AR/VR is the segment that can open the volume market to Prophesee and, if so, how long might it take.

In 2014, a unique bio-inspired vision technology was an asset big enough to convince a team of scholars and a businessman to establish Prophesee.

Prophesee didn’t invent neuromorphic computing. But it has become a pioneer in commercially implementing its principle: Humans don’t record the visual information based on a series of frames. Instead, they capture the stuff of interest – spatial and temporal changes – and send that sparse information efficiently to the brain.

Prophesee has done a yeoman’s work pitching event-based sensors to neophytes, but its efforts have yet to build the mass market. 

Read More »Prophesee Emboldens Its Mass Consumer Outreach

Pet Robots vs Robotaxis

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Never underestimate pet robots. Sure, they’re toys and they’re adorable . But they foreshadow a future in which people need to communicate, interact and establish relationships with machines.

I’ve been back “home” in Japan for less than a week, during which I’ve been repeatedly reminded — again — of this country’s eternal fascination with robots, and with how people here tend to fall in love with anything cute.

I refer, of course, to Nicobo, a cuddly robot developed by Panasonic and released last May.

Read More »Pet Robots vs Robotaxis
Tension Builds As The Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs

Tension Builds As Auto Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Never underestimate the power of a regulator, especially one armed with a Congressional mandate — and money — to make the roads safer for all users. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill boosted NHTSA’s budget by 50 percent. Observers say the agency is poised to issue regulations with teeth.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is oft criticized for being too slow and cautious in mandating ADAS technology among its regulations. Worse, it has left too much implementation to voluntary agreements with the auto industry.

“This changed on May 31 with NHTSA’s announcement of adding both Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and pedestrian AEB (PAEB) to New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) regulation,” said Egil Juliussen, principal analyst at VSI Labs.

Read More »Tension Builds As Auto Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs
Goodbye, Intel

Goodbye, Intel

By Peter Clarke

What’s at stake:
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is betting on the future of Intel with some bold moves. He has now been in place long enough – since February 2021 – for shareholders, customers and analysts to start to judge Gelsinger by what he does rather than by what he says, which often sound too optimistic.

Intel Corp.’s announcement that it plans to operate the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) as a separate business from January 1, 2024 with a view to an IPO within three years, has revealed an asset-sale trend.

Read More »Goodbye, Intel
It’s the Chiplet Derby…Without Enough Horses

It’s the Chiplet Derby … Without Enough Horses

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Technologies to build 2D and 2.5D multi-die chips have existed for almost a decade. Yet, demand for chiplets languished until the dawn of the generative AI era. Nvidia’s AI processors have swept the market, triggering a change so abrupt that foundries and Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) companies are left flat-footed. At stake now is how long aspiring chiplet vendors can wait, and whether going to China for chiplet production is an option.

As global chiplet demand soars, the shortage in production capacity has focused sharply for developers of AI processors, high-performance computing chips and automotive OEMs/Tier Ones looking for scalable, automotive semiconductor designs.

Read More »It’s the Chiplet Derby … Without Enough Horses
Welcome Back, Intel

Welcome Back, Intel

By Peter Clarke

Last month. a couple of things happened that provide support to the idea that Intel could catch up with rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics in chip manufacturing technology.

One was the opening of Intel’s Fab34 in Leixlip, Ireland, and the start of mass-production of 4nm chips there. The other was the speculation that TSMC is delaying the ramping of its 2nm manufacturing process in Taiwan until 2026.

Why does it matter: Because much of US foreign and commercial policy depends on the country having a semiconductor technology leader and minimizing dependence on southeast Asia, which it apparently acknowledges as China’s sphere of influence.

Read More »Welcome Back, Intel