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Intel Ponte Vecchio GPU to Feature 63 Chiplets, Foveros 3D Stacking

Chiplets Are Still a Work in Progress

By Ron Wilson

What’s at stake:
Chiplets could break through the barriers obstructing Moore’s Law and disrupt the semiconductor supply chain. But they depend on sometimes-complex packaging solutions that are far from established technologies.

With their claimed ability to deconstruct one massive, leading-edge SoC into an assembly of smaller dies built in less-aggressive processes, chiplets hint at a way forward that bypasses the dotage of Moore’s Law. By offering an alternative, they also promise a diversion around the two-party monopoly on chip fabrication beyond 10nm, suggesting more diverse, robust supply chains.

Read More »Chiplets Are Still a Work in Progress
Michael Hurlston

That Severe Auto IC Shortage? It Will Happen Soon Again

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?
The electronics supply chain is broken and needs a full course of treatment. But industry and governments worldwide are pouring resources mainly into ensuring the availability of leading-edge products. The auto IC supply chain is on the other end, though. That was where the disequilibrium started and where it was most noticeable. Not fixing it portents more trouble, says an industry executive.

Michael Hurlston is an engineer and not a physician. But he could easily be that health expert warning clients against not completing the full course of their immunization. The virus may mutate and become direly resistant to future treatments, Hurlston might say.

A semiconductor industry veteran and CEO at fabless chipmaker Synaptics Inc., Hurlston’s expertise diverges strongly from medicine. But after witnessing many of the semiconductor industry’s cyclical swings, Hurlston can identify the roots of the recent supply shortages that drove panic buying and crippled many automotive manufacturing plants over the last couple of years.

Read More »That Severe Auto IC Shortage? It Will Happen Soon Again
Auto Industry Euphoric over Chiplets. Why?

Auto Industry Euphoric over Chiplets. Why?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Although actual chiplet-implemented automotive semiconductor devices aren’t here yet, automakers are busily imagining what chiplets can bring to their future. Is the chiplet mania wishful thinking, or will it finally open the future for flexible, scalable and differentiated automotive semiconductors that carmakers have always wanted?

Responding to a strong pull from the industry, Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), an international R&D organization backed by strong corporate partnerships, is kicking off the first world-wide automotive-focused chiplet event in Leuven, Belgium on June 20th. It will bring together representatives from more than 25 companies, including tier ones, tier twos, OEMs and tool vendors, Also invited are outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies, and foundries.

Read More »Auto Industry Euphoric over Chiplets. Why?
In-Vehcle Network

Ethernet Switches: Marvell’s Ticket to Automotive

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake: 
For more than a decade, the automotive industry has known the day is imminent for an inevitable change in its in-vehicle network backbone from Controller Area Network (CAN) to Ethernet. Now, more than ever, carmakers know they must cross the chasm. Marvell is showing how.   

Car companies must sink or swim in a tempest turbulent with big changes in the technologies they use and the business models they pursue.

Read More »Ethernet Switches: Marvell’s Ticket to Automotive
Nvidia CEO at Computex 2023

AI Rivalry Heats up, But Catching Nvidia Won’t Be Easy

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?

Catching up with Nvidia in the artificial intelligence market will not be easy but many in the high-tech world are determined to try. Chipmakers are leading the calvary. Hyperscalers, OEMs and others aren’t far behind. They’ve got their work cut out for them.

12 years ago, Nvidia Corp. placed a huge wager on artificial intelligence (AI). Payday came recently in the form of a historic valuation on Wall Street.

But the company had barely a week to celebrate its new status as the world’s most valuable semiconductor company before it became clear it will have its hands full defending its position in the AI market.

Read More »AI Rivalry Heats up, But Catching Nvidia Won’t Be Easy
Useful Sensors

From ‘Smart’ to ‘Useful’ Sensors

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Talk of edge AI, particularly machine learning, has captivated the IoT market. Yet, actual consumer products with local machine learning capabilities, are rare. Who’s ready to pull that off? Will it be a traditional MCU supplier or an upstart — like Useful Sensors?

Tech jargons like “smart home” and “smart sensor” have been overused to the point where real value that might be delivered by the related technologies reaches most non-techie consumers largely as fog.

Why, for instance, would any sensible person fiddle with apps, options and swipes on a smartphone to turn off the light when there’s a simple switch within reach?

Read More »From ‘Smart’ to ‘Useful’ Sensors

Qualcomm Envy Sparks Nvidia-MediaTek Deal

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
The partnership between MediaTek and Nvidia clarifies a gap in the automotive SoC platform. Missing are a unified software development environment and a hardware solution that can scale both up and down. Who has an argument and actual solutions good enough to convince undecided carmakers to adopt their platform?

The recent Nvidia-MediaTek deal to partner on automotive SoCs reveals the intensity of the rivalry among Qualcomm and other automotive chip companies. Nvidia’s move is a clear effort to catch up with Qualcomm. 

It also indicates that many mainstream car OEMs haven’t picked sides on the next-generation automotive platform, opening an opportunity that MediaTek can’t afford to miss. 

Read More »Qualcomm Envy Sparks Nvidia-MediaTek Deal