Automotive: Industry Drowning in Tech
Many automotive OEMs are completely unsuited to harnessing the flood of technological innovation that their industry is now drowning in.
Opinion
The Moral Bankruptcy of the Tech Titans
Observed in Davos: How to bamboozle with BS
Synopsys-Ansys to Bridge Digital, Physical Worlds
What’s at stake?
Synopsys’ planned acquisition of Ansys will first tackle complex multi-die silicon design issues for data centers and automotive. But will it also address the tension growing between digital and physical worlds such as AI-driven autonomous vehicles and the real-world traffic?
I don’t pretend to know a lot when it comes to designing and engineering systems. I’m not an engineer. But as I write more and more about so-called “smart” digital systems–whether in highly automated vehicles, ChatGPT, software-defined vehicles or AI-augmented devices–I can’t help but wonder how the software, semiconductors and components inside these systems are tested and validated for real-world challenges.
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To Meet the STEM Crisis, We Need Less STEM
By Peter Norton
Depending on your source, the so-called “STEM crisis” is either a grave threat or fabricated hype. As a STEM educator, I think it’s both.
Everyone who cares enough to look into the subject knows that tech companies allege shortages in the quantity and quality of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields more to ensure a steady stream of employable graduates than to address any real national crisis.
But this does not mean that all is well in STEM education.
Read More »To Meet the STEM Crisis, We Need Less STEM
CES ’24: ‘I Feel Ya, Man.’
Sony-Honda’s “Afeela” might be a corporate appropriation of the bonding device, likely derived from hiphop culture: “I feel ya.”
War Over Taiwan Is Doubtful, and Unaffordable by China or Anyone
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Concerns about war over Taiwan have grown since Xi Jinping became president, insisting that China would reunite the island with the mainland – by force, if necessary. The stability of the global supply chain is at stake, but in the end a peaceful resolution is more likely. Too much is at stake for the opponents, including the US and its Western allies. Can the supply chain breathe easier?
Taiwan’s presidential and national legislative elections will take place Jan. 13. At stake is the independence, economy and political future of the island – and for many in the electronics industry, the future of its role in the semiconductor market and in the technology value chain.
Read More »War Over Taiwan Is Doubtful, and Unaffordable by China or Anyone
Generative AI at CES: Good, Bad and Ugly
What’s at stake:
The milling throng at CES this year is bombarded with generative AI marketing pitches. There are glowing promises galore, but the industry continues to cast about for credible applications spun from ChatGPT’s halo effect.
This year’s CES will be “all about generative AI and AI PCs,” said Justin Walker, Nvidia’s senior director of desktop GPUs during last week’s Nvidia’s pre-CES briefing.
He was, of course, spot on. Ahead of the show, most tech companies decided to AI-frame their CES announcements. Many touted their AI savvy by mentioning generative AI in press briefings and demonstrations, and in their booths.
Clearly, AI poses many shades and applications, from AI in PC and AI in cars to AI in robots. Vehicle AI alone encompasses myriad AI applications. It goes into digital cockpits, into ADAS (sensing and monitoring) and into self-driving vehicles (predictions and decision making)
Among all the AI presentations, Volkswagen’s demo won this year’s CES booby prize.
Read More »Generative AI at CES: Good, Bad and Ugly
TSMC’s Next Fab: The Case for India
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
No other company plays as critical a role in chip production as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and none is as sought after today by governments and customers seeking economic advantages and supply stability. For many reasons, India should be at the top of TSMC’s list for new fab locations.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd. (TSMC) prides itself on basing its capital expenditure decisions on anticipated or verifiable customer needs. Geopolitics and supply security have taken a hammer to that policy.
This explains why TSMC is today adding fabs in Germany, Japan and US. It is also why India, which had for long expressed a desire for local chip plants, is now likely to get its wish. Whether TSMC will be the first player to step into India’s apparent void remains to be seen, however.
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Japan Airlines’ ‘Miracle’ Spotlights Safety Culture
A deadly 1985 crash spawned a “responsibility culture” that helped the Japanese carrier avoid another disaster on the runway.
Tech is Redefining How Africa Works
By Fred Ohwahwa
What’s at stake?
Africa’s economy was playing catch-up on the technology front before Covid-19 hit, forcing a change in how enterprises engage with employees and further accelerating digitalization efforts by governments and institutions. Now, ordinary Africans are taking over and leveraging technology innovations to launch start-ups or secure international employments or contracts they can do anywhere.
Technology is changing everything in Africa.
Even the nature of how many people work throughout the continent is evolving. Technology innovators, enterprises and investors should be closely monitoring the new generation that never experienced the dynamics of the workplace that prevailed on the continent even as recently as 10 years ago.
To Westerners, some of the changes may have a whiff of catch-up. But that’s where the investment opportunities are springing up. In Africa, leapfrogging technology nodes has become the norm, so much so that young entrepreneurs on the continent are setting the pace for the rest of the world in finance, banking and communications.
Read More »Tech is Redefining How Africa Works