Featured

India Renews Its Push for Homegrown Fabs

Featured, News & Analysis

By Sufia Tippu

What’s at stake?
India has been trying unsuccessfully for decades to create strategic alliances for semiconductor manufacturing. Now, amid the confluence of geopolitics, economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions, India’s best shot may be in chip assembly, test and packaging.

An oft-repeated joke in Silicon Valley goes something like this: What comes first, Middle East peace or a fab in India?

Tale of Two Chip Wars: First Japan, Then China

Featured, Opinion

By Junko Yoshida

As a cub reporter in Tokyo in 1992, I covered the U.S.-Japan chip war. Living now in the U.S., I’m watching America’s latest chip war with China building steam like a slow-motion train wreck.

In both conflicts, the U.S. goal is defending its lead in technology innovation, while hobbling its rival’s rapid advances.

Will Intel’s Pro-West Advocacy Draw China’s Ire?

Featured, News & Analysis

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake?

Intel has closely tied its future to Western governments working on holding back Chinese technology advancement and revitalizing local semiconductor production. Will this push make China see Intel as another friendly foe, potentially jeopardizing its current operation in the Communist country?

Autonomous Driving: Taxis, Toasters, Trucks and Trillions

Featured, Opinion

If the shuttering of Argo AI marked the end of the beginning, the beginning of the end is the realization that technological development in the automotive industry is always an iterative process.

The Lithium-Ion Battery Was a Long Time Coming

Conversation, Featured

By George Leopold

What’s at Stake:
Early in the previous century, about 38 percent of vehicles on American roads were powered by electricity. Last year, just 3 percent of new U.S. cars sold were electric. Those statistics underscore the decidedly uneven development and market impact of the leading electric vehicle battery chemistry. As author Charles Murray notes, lithium-ion technology has nonetheless helped reignite the EV market after many fits and starts.

Veteran technology journalist Charles Murray chronicles the history of the lithium-ion battery and its central role in propelling EVs in Long Hard Road: The Lithium-Ion Battery and the Electric Car (Purdue University Press, September 2022).

Tech Roadmap for Automakers Disillusioned With Robotaxis

Featured, Truth & Consequences

OEMs will likely double down on their Level 2 → 2+ → 3 strategies. But there is a very real risk of a race to the bottom since each option comes with challenges.

Argo AI’s Demise Reveals Automakers’ AV Miscues

Featured, Opinion

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
What went wrong with Argo AI is the wrong question. Rather: What’s up with Argo’s investors? What outcome did investors Ford and Volkswagen expect? Were they prepared to play the long game? Most important, do they understand what it takes to build a highly automated vehicle that’s both sexy and safe?

As the enthusiasm of its largest investors–Ford and Volkswagen–for autonomous vehicles waned, Argo AI’s fate was sealed.

Winners, Losers in the Fall of Argo AI

Featured, News & Analysis

Argo’s IP will be dispersed by financial backers Ford and VW, but Qualcomm appears to be the biggest winner.

China’s Startup Army is Being Disarmed

Featured, Opinion

Beijing’s attempts to create a complete technology ecosystem, including extended supply chains for semiconductor design, production and packaging, are being boxed in on a number of fronts.

How Will China Retaliate?

Featured, News & Analysis

By George Leopold and Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
All eyes are on China as the nation mulls its response to the latest U.S. technology export controls. China will no doubt retaliate – but how? Its options appear limited, but so do the options for de-escalation. At stake is whether the tech industry may find itself in a world split in two: China and the rest of the world.