BROWSING: Semiconductors

Semiconductor firm Skyworks Solutions claims to have produced the world’s smallest dual-mode cellular IoT system-in-package (SiP) solution. The US outfit partnered with IoT chip and module maker Sequans Communications on the product, numbered SKY66431, to combine the France-based firm’s Monarch 2 modem with its...

A couple of interesting press notes about energy harvesting in IoT modules during the past week, all originating in the Low Countries; Dutch firm Nowi, a key supplier of energy harvesting circuits, has said Chinese IoT chip design company Telink Semiconductor is using its...

There is a temptation to view this deal as symbolic, somehow, suggests Enterprise IoT Insights; that with the purchase of cellular IoT champ Sierra Wireless, Semtech is stepping beyond the enduringly fragmented, slightly disjointed, vaguely dysfunctional unlicensed low-power end of the wide-area (LPWA) IoT...

Volkswagen-owned automotive software company CARIAD has appointed Franco-Italian semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics (ST) to develop a system-on-chip (SoC) for a new line of Volkswagen vehicles based on the CARIAD software platform. At the same time, the parties “are moving to agree” that silicon contract manufacturer...

Keysight Technologies CFO Neil Dougherty told an investor conference this week that a hoped-for improvement in semiconductor supply chain issues in the second half of the year doesn't seem to be materializing—though at this point, he added, Keysight's combination of in-house specialty chip fab...

Ultra-narrowband IoT technology firm Sigfox is working with semiconductor companies Nowi and HT Micron, based in the Netherlands and Brazil respectively, on a new energy harvesting IoT device. It is the French firm’s first time to develop an energy harvesting module for commercial release,...

Taiwan-based TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, reportedly plans to raise prices between 10-20%, impacting devices from smartphones to automobiles. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reported that TSMC expects to raise prices on its most advanced chips by...

The U.S. Senate has approved a sweeping measure aimed at countering China's technological strength, outlining $250 billion in spending designed to boost U.S. technology research and development and chip production. The bill also includes $1.5 billion in spending in support of "5G innovation", including...

Bosch has opened a new smart factory for silicon wafer production in Dresden, capital of the eastern German state of Saxony. The firm has invested around €1 billion in the new plant, unveiled today (June 7) and set to start production next month. It...

Dr. John Smee, Qualcomm’s VP of engineering, says that one of the things that differentiates Qualcomm from other tech companies is its “if you build it, they will come” research mentality: Trying to envision and build technologies that will support what future applications could...

China appears to have jitters that the newly announced $40 billion acquisition of Arm by U.S.-based NVIDIA could put its semiconductor industry in peril, and the deal could mean that Arm's traditional neutrality on the companies it works with could be undermined by the...

Huawei Technologies Rotating Chairman Guo Ping said that "survival" would be the company’s key objective for 2020 as the U.S. government recently moved to further restrict the Chinese telecom manufacturer’s access to semiconductors. “Huawei is capable of designing some products, but we are not able...

  The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans to restrict Chinese vendor Huawei’s ability to use U.S. chipmaking equipment and software to design and manufacture its semiconductors abroad. In a statement, BIS said that the move "cuts off...

Semiconductor company Qorvo has agreed to acquire radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF MEMS) company Cavendish Kinetics, saying that the purchase will add to its capabilities in antenna tuning and improving 4G and 5G system performance. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Qorvo is a...

German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies is investing €1.6 billion in a new, fully automated factory for producing 300-millimeter thin wafer chips in Villach, in Austria. It has recruited German data integration and analytics firm Software AG to underpin the new site’s manufacturing execution (MES)...

  The U.S. semiconductor industry urged President Donald Trump to ease the ban on sales to Chinese vendor Huawei through the approval of export licenses, according to Bloomberg. “We encourage prompt action to issue approvals for sales that do not implicate national security concerns, particularly where...

  U.S Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed that the U.S. government will issue licenses to local companies seeking to sell components to Chinese vendor Huawei where there is no threat to national security, Reuters reported. Speaking at a conference in Washington D.C, Ross affirmed that the...

What are the challenges for service assurance -- and visibility and observability -- as networks evolve toward virtualization, multi-cloud environments and edge computing? Network and service assurance needs are evolving rapidly, as more applications — both network functions that support telecom network operations, and enterprise...

In a tucked-away corner of a hangar-like exhibition space in Munich, US electronic design automation (EDA) company Mentor Graphics is reflecting on its recent status, as a small but notable function within German mega-corp Siemens. “It probably sounds like a plug but I’ve got to...

In a serious-minded classroom setting at Electronica 2018 earlier this month, up in the gods at Munich Messe, UK-based chip design company Arm presented to a handful of enthusiasts about the virtues of custom (system-on) chips for industrial IoT products. Enterprise IoT Insights was among...

Industry 4.0 enablement prompts NXP investment NXP Semiconductors has opened an Industry 4.0 development centre in Hamburg, in Germany, to support global manufacturing customers in pursuit of bespoke industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions. The new Industrial Competency Centre (ICC) will help manufacturers with machine learning, industrial communications,...

Bosch discusses automotive opportunity during Electronica 2018 In 2016, every newly registered vehicle globally had nine Bosch chips on board, on average, the German manufacturer told Electronica 2018 in Munich last week. The multiplicity and value of the chips in vehicles is only spiralling upwards,...

Semiconductor companies Analog Devices, Bosch and Infineon argued with automotive manufacturers Daimler and Audi this week at Electronica 2018 in Munich, in Germany, about who holds the keys, and who is taking the wheel, in the development of autonomous vehicles, and the disruption of...

Buy back comes after Qualcomm walks from NXP acquisition After dropping its $44 billion bid to purchase Dutch semiconductor firm NXP, Qualcomm, as promised, has started the process of buying back some $30 billion of its stock. According to the company, the initial round of...