Adieu to Adele Hars (August 22, 1960 – July 23, 2023)
Journalist focused on microelectronics Adele Hars, contributor to The Ojo-Yoshida Report, passed away peacefully last Sunday in Paris.
Featured
Defying Doubters, Silicon Box Plans Chiplet Foundry
By Junko Yoshida
What’s at stake:
Silicon Box, perceiving the absence of capacity for advanced packaging for chiplets, is charging in to fill the gap. Its foundry model focuses solely on chiplets – something never done before. The semiconductor startup begins life in Singapore with a commitment to spend $2 billion on advanced semiconductor foundry. Its advent confirms the chiplets story is only just beginning with many turns and twists to come.
Silicon Box is offering chiplet services ranging from design to manufacturing and advanced packaging. The newborn company claims that its first production line is already running, with samples being delivered to customers. They say it is ready for volume production later this year.
This is the story of how Silicon Box came about, who’s behind it, and how they plan to change the industry’s infrastructure to support chiplets.
Read More »Defying Doubters, Silicon Box Plans Chiplet Foundry
The Only Substitute for TSMC Right Now is TSMC
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
The desire for multiple sources for advanced semiconductor products has deepened following the latest round of shortages, but the options are limited as Advanced Micro Devices has found out. TSMC holds all the aces. So, how should companies that are concerned about TSMC’s geopolitical challenges play the field?
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. CEO Lisa Su is flummoxed.
That isn’t a position typical for Su but finding an alternate source for the advanced chips TSMC produces for AMD has the company’s boss rolled up in a ball of yarn.
Read More »The Only Substitute for TSMC Right Now is TSMC
China: Irreplaceable Western Supply Chain ‘Frenemy’?
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Once again, the world confronts anew the perils of its geopolitical discords. Rather than lessening, nationalistic frictions between China and the US are intensifying. Can Western technology executives, including semiconductor CEOs who went to the White House on Monday to plead for fewer trade sanctions on China, help soften the grounds and influence their governments to at least start talking more with China?
Has China become the single nation Western electronics manufacturers cannot do without?
This is the question on observers’ minds after the CEOs of Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc., and other chipmakers trooped to Washington DC on Monday to try and avert the imposition of a new slate of restrictions on the sales of high-end semiconductors to Chinese OEMs.
Read More »China: Irreplaceable Western Supply Chain ‘Frenemy’?
Math Quiz: 2X Growth or 4X Carbon?
By Junko Yoshida
What’s at stake:
Cheered by the CHIPS and Science Act and a spike in demand for AI, semiconductor industry executives are flirting with euphoria. Many gleefully tell us,“Chip guys are finally getting a little respect.” But with greater esteem comes greater responsibility. How many chip businesses are making measurable and transparent commitments to growing and operating sustainably?
Lies, Damn Lies, and AV Statistics
Cruise’s rapidly growing tally of driverless miles doesn’t prove that it is safer than a human driver. It proves that driving is safer at slower speeds.
Where Are AMD, Intel & Qualcomm in the Chiplet Rush?
What’s at stake:
Chiplets and heterogenous integration are about to change the way electronic systems are designed, tested, and manufactured. Semiconductor industry prophets believe that future is inevitable. They believe heterogenous, multi-chiplet architectures can reduce cost and power consumption compared with latest design nodes. Despite broad acceptance of this forecast, a question lingers: Who’s ready to do the heavy lifting?
Yes, it is the Supply Chain, Ladies & Gents
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Modern commerce, of any kind, hangs on the strengths, durability and effectiveness of the supply chain(s) that supports it. In the electronics industry, when the supply chain is fragile, porous or insufficiently flexible, disaster is never far away, notwithstanding the type of business, the value or uniqueness of the design. Engineers, too, are negatively impacted when the supply chain crashes. Now, they are teaming up with other players to find solutions. Will this be a permanent move or will the momentum die as quickly as the next cycle?
What does the global electronics industry have in common with The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemmingway’s ageless story of one man’s struggle with fate?
Read More »Yes, it is the Supply Chain, Ladies & Gents
Renesas’ $2B Investment Will Keep on Giving
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
The $2 billion Renesas is paying to Wolfspeed will guarantee supply of the silicon carbide the Japanese chipmaker would require over the next decade, but this looks like the beginning of a deeper relationship. SiC is the future of power computing and securing supplies as well as financing for fabs is key to success for everyone. So, which direction will Renesas and Wolfspeed next take their relationship?
Wolfspeed Inc. CEO Gregg Lowe is going to have fewer sleepless nights now. Money is pouring in for the US company’s growing fabs capex splurge.
Over in Japan, Hidetoshi Shibata is celebrating scoring a coup, too. Renesas Inc.’s boss will have an easier time answering probing questions that investors, customers and reporters have been asking about his company’s silicon carbide (SiC) strategy.
Read More »Renesas’ $2B Investment Will Keep on Giving
Street Wars – Attack of the Cones
Why is the state of the robotaxi operation in San Francisco what it is today? There is neither consequence nor accountability when Cruise and Waymo block public transit and first responders.