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Cryptocurrencies in Africa: Wary Regulators Struggle to Control Eager Adopters

By Fred Ohwahwa

What’s at stake?
Many enterprises and private citizens in Africa were quick to embrace digital currencies but differences abound between governments and businesses on its legality and how it should be applied. The recent implosion of FXT in the US has only intensified the uncertainties around crypto currencies in the continent.

The crumbling of US crypto currency giant FXT reverberated worldwide and especially in emerging markets where the fallouts are still being evaluated.

In Africa, the IFX saga has increased the uncertainties surrounding digital currencies even as many enterprises and adopters continue to tout the benefits, often ignoring legal obstacles some governments are putting in their way.

Read More »Cryptocurrencies in Africa: Wary Regulators Struggle to Control Eager Adopters
Crystalline Structure of Silicon Carbide

A Certain Semiconductor in Uncertain Times

By Jean-Christophe Eloy, Yole Group (in collaboration with Poshun Chiu and Ezgi Dogmus, analysts at Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group)

What’s at stake?
Thanks to automotive electrification, the silicon carbide semiconductor market is witnessing unprecedented growth, with industry players jostling for position. Big questions we ponder are who are best positioned to lead the SiC device market and who will eventually acquire whom.

Read More »A Certain Semiconductor in Uncertain Times

TSMC Founder Morris Chang Is Wrong, Globalization (Only) Needs a Reset

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?
A more balanced distribution of semiconductor fabs across the world does not signal the beginning of the end of globalization. True globalization entails not just production efficiency but also the creation of resilient and flexible supply chains. Achieving that goal requires distributed rather than concentrated production.

Morris Chang is no ordinary icon. In the semiconductor industry, Chang has few peers, dead or alive.

Chang has been right about so much – the fabless semiconductor manufacturing model is his most notable call – that contradicting him can be a daunting task. But contradict him we must on the topic of globalization, which he addressed recently in Arizona.

Read More »TSMC Founder Morris Chang Is Wrong, Globalization (Only) Needs a Reset
IoT as China Go

Synaptics Plays ‘Go’ to Win IoT Market

By Ron Wilson

What’s at stake
Our increasing expectations of smart, connected devices are placing a huge technical strain on system vendors and their chip suppliers, almost none of which are structured to exploit the situation. Change must come.

We want small things to be smart. From earbuds to UHD TVs, from kitchen appliances to forklifts, we expect our devices not just to work, but to understand their surroundings, make good decisions, and cooperate with our other devices.

Read More »Synaptics Plays ‘Go’ to Win IoT Market
screen junkie

Smoke on the Brain

By David Benjamin

“I think the primary gateway to the metaverse will be the smartphone…“
“The allure of the metaverse is that we will be able to transcend our physical world, ‘teleport’ to any place, real or imaginary, and have an enjoyable, educational, or practical experience there.”
—Jon Peddie, The Ojo-Yoshida Report

I grew up in a cloud of smoke, an experience pretty close to universal among so-called Baby Boomers. My parents and grandparents smoked, most of my aunts and uncles, nearly every adult, for that matter, in my hometown, smoked. Most of my school friends lit their first cigarette before high school. TV shows were interrupted incessantly by nicotine come-ons, for Kent, Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, Camel, Kool, and “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.”

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triangulate vertically integrated

Onsemi Triangulates Its Silicon Carbide Strategy

By George Leopold

What’s at stake:
Silicon carbide remains a luxury technology: Nice to have but still pricey. New all-inclusive business models that allow chipmakers to produce SiC materials, devices and packages are seen as one way to scale the technology to reduce cost. Onsemi is among those with an early-mover advantage.

Early investors in the nascent market for silicon carbide (SiC) technology have a leg up on relative late-comers jumping on the power-electronics bandwagon being driven by electric vehicle and industrial applications. Among those advantages are the ability to address the emerging SiC market through a vertically integrated business model that enables across-the-board production of material substrates, or boules, wafers, devices and SiC packages.

Read More »Onsemi Triangulates Its Silicon Carbide Strategy
Silicon carbide boule substrate material

SiC Manufacturers Walk a Tightrope

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?
Silicon carbide device designers and wafer suppliers are shifting to a vertically integrated business model — and spending lavishly on capex — betting that demand will remain strong for power electronics in high-growth markets. If those sectors falter, SiC suppliers will be left holding billions of dollars in unused capacity and raw materials.

The silicon carbide supply chain is engaged in a delicate balancing act.

To continue satisfying demand — already strong and expected to skyrocket — SiC manufacturers are investing or promising to invest billions of dollars in new fabs and processes for a market still in its infancy. But it’s potentially problematic that the growth projections for SiC products are largely based on hope.

Read More »SiC Manufacturers Walk a Tightrope
6-inch N-type SiC substrates by SICC in China

SiC in China: ‘Poster Child of the Decoupling Era’

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Fueled by booming electric-vehicle demand and the long-term goal of semiconductor self-sufficiency, China is committed to developing power electronics based on silicon carbide (SiC). What is China’s plan for leapfrogging Western SiC suppliers?

Here are the questions: Who are China’s SiC players? How much money is China pouring into nascent technology and production facilities? Are Chinese vendors devising different business strategies to conquer the SiC market? Each of these riddles keep global power-electronics executives awake at night.

Read More »SiC in China: ‘Poster Child of the Decoupling Era’