News & Analysis
Semiconductor Capex Cutback Inevitable as Downturn Looms
By Bolaji Ojo
Chipmakers pledging to spend billions of dollars to construct new fabs and related capital equipment are likely to put many of those plans on hold next year, severely cutting back on spending and even mothballing fab shells as the industry braces for a steep downturn in 2023, according to researcher Future Horizons and Ojo-Yoshida Report analysis of spending forecasts.
Read More »Semiconductor Capex Cutback Inevitable as Downturn Looms
Google, NIST Launch License-Free Chip Production
What’s at stake:
As the Commerce Department prepares to distribute CHIPS Act funding, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has been moving in parallel to promote chip innovation via a Google-backed open hardware initiative. The goal is making license-free chip design and production as ubiquitous as open-source software.
SiFive’s RISC-V Processors Challenge Nvidia’s Auto SoCs
What’s at stake:
Nvidia’s move to acquire Arm in 2020 made SiFive’s full-fledged foray into the automotive market all but inevitable, as the RISC-V IP vendor wagered that automotive chip companies would seek its help to counter the combined forces of Nvidia automotive systems-on-chip and Arm core-based solutions. While the Arm deal never happened, SiFive prepared a portfolio of three low-power, high-performance automotive RISC-V processors. SiFive thinks it solutions, when used in combination, can compete with Nvidia’s automotive SoCs.
Intel Touts DoD As Another Future Foundry Customer
What’s at stake:
Intel needs as many new foundry customers as it can get. In parallel with its commercial efforts, the U.S. chipmaker has helped lead Pentagon semiconductor technology and chip-packaging efforts. Those connections appear to be paying off.
What Caught Our Eye This Week
Here’s our take on the latest technology developments:
- Intel Nixes India Fab
- Riamondo: US Chip Subsidies by Spring 2023
- TuSimple’s Shareholder Lawsuit: A ‘Blueprint’ for Investor Action?
Just-in-Time is Neither Dead, Nor on Life Support
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
The electronics industry abruptly rejected Just-in-Time inventory management during the recent shortages but the model is already staging a comeback, proving its efficacy compared with the more problematic Just-in-Case approach.
Training Future Engineers in the Semiconductor Metaverse
What’s at stake:
New U.S. fabs will generate tens of thousands of jobs. The outsourcing of chip manufacturing and the decline in engineering graduates mean many can’t be filled by qualified candidates. Proponents of the virtual factory scheme claim they can attract newcomers to the profession by training them on extended-reality tools.
Revealing AR’s Unintended Consequences on the Factory Floor
By Junko Yoshida
What’s at stake?
The novelty of AR and/or VR goggles tempts corporations to embrace the technology to bolster worker productivity. What many companies overlook is that short-term productivity gains achieved through technology may come at the cost of workers’ long-term ability to innovate.
Surely, technology can improve worker efficiency in manufacturing – it always has. This truism helps explain why so many corporations are eyeing the new tools of augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR) as the next big thing to streamline and improve their production lines. But equally significant is the impact of a given technology on human behavior.
Read More »Revealing AR’s Unintended Consequences on the Factory Floor
Intel Prepares to Break Ground on Ohio Fab
The ground-breaking ceremony near Columbus includes an impressive guest list.