The model FPA-1200NZ2C from Canon, a nanoscale imprinting machine, has been making headlines recently, although it first appeared in academic journals as early as 2015. The resurgence of an eight-year-old model in the news can be attributed to its imminent entry into broader semiconductor production applications.
South Korean electronic giant Samsung Electronics has made significant progress since its foray into the automotive device market in 2015. Recent launches of various automotive ICs showcased Samsung's effort to diversify business lines from the volatile consumer memory market and to create valid growth opportunities for its semiconductor foundry business. It aims to become the world's leading automotive memory company by 2025, surpassing Micron, the current champion with a 45% global market share.
Recently, the Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer Canon released the nanoimprint lithography (NIL) machine FPA-1200NZ2C, capable of achieving a 5-nanometer process node. Nanoimprint lithography is one of the methods in semiconductor manufacturing to transfer circuit design patterns onto wafers, with another well-known and widely used method being photolithography or optic lithography.
Moore Silicon, a chip subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned electronics company TCL, is the latest dissolved in-house IC design team of a technology conglomerate in China after Oppo's Zeku and Meizu disbanded theirs.
In less than 40 years since the inception of the first self-driving car, we have witnessed significant progress and changes in the automotive industry. However, the journey toward the widespread adoption of fully autonomous driving still has its last mile to cover. While the industry focuses on commercially viable, limited advanced driver-assistance systems, the ultimate goal is to achieve truly hands-free, fully autonomous driving.
Global opportunities in the generative AI (GenAI) application market have exploded with the rise of ChatGPT, leading to a substantial increase in demand for AI-related hardware and software. While the establishment of cloud data centers presents a lucrative opportunity, the long-term trajectory of the hardware and software industry remains uncertain. From hardware and software, who are the ones that are capable of reaping the largest benefits from the GenAI trend?
Reflecting on the history of the computer industry, it all began with a small transistor, evolving into integrated circuits and eventually transforming into powerful CPUs capable of processing billions of instructions per second. Intel dedicated decades to optimizing CPU for complex instructions and refining branch predictors to enhance computational speed. However, this focus on intricate processing was rendered historical with the rise of GPUs by Nvidia. Instead of relying on complicated branch predictors, GPUs use hundreds of thousands of small cores to achieve significant computation throughput, which is particularly useful in large-scale computer graphic processing. This shift has empowered us to recreate real-world environments in the digital realm, unlocking immense potential.
Following a November 15 decision from Germany's Federal Constitutional Court against the transferring of EUR60 billion - granted during the Covid-19 pandemic but unspent in fiscal 2021 - into its Climate and Transformation Fund (Klima- und Transformationsfonds, KTF), the three-way ruling coalition led by German Chancellor Scholz is left to confront a budget shortfall that potentially undermines Germany's long-term chip investment, along with the problem posed by so-called special funds (Sondervermögen) that have long functioned as a shadow budgetary source unconstrained by the country's constitutionally enshrined debt brake introduced in 2019.
Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers are luring experts to develop their extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to decrease reliance on ASML EUVs, which was blocked by the US and its allies from selling to China.
