Massive Recall Forces Out Philips CEO van Houten
Philips announced CEO Frans van Houten will leave the company in October. Van Houten, at the company’s helm for almost 12 years, has transformed the Dutch giant from a sprawling consumer electronics, industrial and lighting company to a leading health technology vendor.
Succeeding Van Houten is Roy Jakobs, head of the company’s Connected Care units.
Read More »What Caught Our Eye This Week
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
The future of Intel is in manufacturing semiconductors for other chipmakers, which could help fulfill U.S. geopolitical objectives but require the company to spin off its design operation.
What’s at stake:
Taxpayer funds appropriated by Congress draw a corporate crowd. The Commerce Department now faces the daunting task of distributing CHIPS Act funding in a way that quickly rebuilds U.S. technology supply chains. We’re following the money.
What’s at stake?
Big funding, no matter in what country, attracts lobbyists galore, while politicians and corporate executives jockey for pieces of the action. China’s experience in this feeding frenzy ended in the collapse of Tsinghua Unigroup and the tarnished reputation of its “Big Fund.” There are lessons here as the United States considers how to oversee, divvy up and execute the CHIPS Act.
AMD announced a strategic collaboration with ECARX, a Chinese mobility tech company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
ECARX was co-founded in 2017 by Eric Li, founder of Geely Holding. The Chinese startup is poised to go public in the U.S. as a special purpose acquisition company. It expects to begin trading on the NASDAQ exchange in the fourth quarter.
AMD has yet to outline its automotive strategy since acquiring Xilinx. The company used the ECARX announcement to signal a foray into the global automotive market, thanks to the Geely connection. Geely owns several international brands including Lotus Cars, Lynk & Co., Polestar and Volvo.
Read More »What Caught Our Eye This Week
By George Leopold and Junko Yoshida
What’s at stake:
The latest outsourcing trend for technology companies includes turning over management of patent licensing to intellectual-property brokers. The deals are often based on revenue-sharing schemes. Some, like Intel, also argue the approach could eventually help reform a broken patent system.
In signing landmark semiconductor legislation on Tuesday (Aug. 9), President Joe Biden highlighted corporate investments timed to coincide with passage of the Chips and Science Act that includes $52.7 billion in subsidies and tax incentives.
Read More »Signing CHIPS Act, Biden Touts Semiconductor Investments
What’s at stake?
Unfilled positions at U.S. fabs will soon exceed 100,000 engineers and technicians. The labor shortfall has prompted a growing number of chipmakers and equipment vendors to focus their recruiting efforts on military veterans. The challenge is translating skills learned on the battlefield to the factory floor.
