Tong Hsing Electronic, a global leader in semiconductor assembly and testing services, today announced a strategic collaboration with Singapore-based AI solutions provider SixSense, following a comprehensive market evaluation. The partnership aims to advance Tong Hsing's smart factory initiatives, with an initial focus on AI-driven defect classification (ADC) in manufacturing processes.As semiconductor manufacturing becomes increasingly complex and high-volume, traditional manual defect inspection and classification methods face growing challenges in terms of labor cost, consistency, and efficiency. After evaluating multiple solutions, Tong Hsing Electronic selected SixSense for its strong performance in classification accuracy, deployment flexibility, and seamless integration with existing production systems - aligning closely with the company's long-term digital transformation and smart manufacturing strategy.By adopting SixSense's AI-powered ADC solution, Tong Hsing Electronic look forward to automatically analyzing and classifying large volumes of defect images generated across production lines. This significantly reduces reliance on manual inspection, improves classification consistency, accelerates cycle time, and enables engineering teams to identify and address process issues more effectively.Skid Chiu, Senior Assistant Vice President of Tong Hsing commented:"Reducing labor-intensive steps while maintaining quality is critical for sustainable growth. The adoption of SixSense's AI ADC solution is expected to enable us to optimize resources more effectively while keeping pace with increasing inspection demands."Akanksha Jagwani, Co-Founder & CEO of SixSense, added:"Our goal is to help semiconductor manufacturers scale operations without scaling complexity or cost. The results currently validated by Tong Hsing Electronic Industries also demonstrate how AI can simultaneously reduce labor dependency and improve cycle efficiency in high-volume manufacturing environments."Tong Hsing Electronic emphasized that this collaboration represents more than a system deployment - it marks a key milestone in its smart factory roadmap. Moving forward, both companies plan to deepen their collaboration by expanding AI applications across additional process stages and product lines, further strengthening manufacturing resilience and competitiveness.

QuiX Quantum, a leading provider of photonic quantum computing hardware, and Artilux, a developer of advanced semiconductor-based photonic detector technologies, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).This agreement builds on the companies' complementary strengths in photonic system design and their positions within the broader semiconductor ecosystem. The collaboration is aimed at strengthening hardware integration, improving manufacturability, and lowering operational energy requirements in photonic quantum computing systems.Building quantum hardware for practical environmentsAs quantum computing matures into real-world applications, operating efficiently beyond specialized laboratory environments is becoming increasingly critical. The collaboration focuses on integrating advanced detector components more closely within photonic quantum hardware, enabling meaningful reductions in infrastructure demands. This direction contributes to quantum computing hardware that is increasingly compatible with modern data-center environments and designed with deployability and total cost of ownership in mind.Integration, scalability, and energy efficiencyBy combining Artilux's expertise on germanium silicon (GeSi) photonic technology with QuiX Quantum's system-level photonic quantum computing development, the collaboration seeks to simplify system architecture and reduce detector-level cooling requirements and support infrastructure. This approach improves overall manufacturability and supports QuiX Quantum's objective of delivering high-performance photonic quantum computing hardware in Data Centers and HPC infrastructure, enabling scaling with industry needs.Executive Quotes:Dr.-Ing. Stefan Hengesbach, CEO, QuiX Quantum "We are thrilled to partner with Artilux as this collaboration supports our long-term strategy of building scalable and most energy-efficient photonic quantum computers. This allows us to improve manufacturability, uptime and reduce operational complexity while further expanding practical deployment."Erik Chen, CEO, Artilux "We are excited to collaborate with QuiX Quantum on leveraging our detector technologies to advance and support more energy-efficient and scalable quantum hardware. Partnerships like this help accelerate progress in next-generation photonic computing and underscores our growing role in global deep-tech innovation across multiple industrial sectors."Bas Pulles, Representative of Netherlands Office Taipei "We are pleased to witness the signing of this agreement between two technology pioneers; this agreement exemplifies how international cooperation can accelerate breakthrough technologies and create long-term economic and technological value for both regions."

DesignCon, the United States' premier annual gathering for chip, board, and systems design engineers, returns to the Santa Clara Convention Center from February 24-26, 2026. For over three decades, this flagship Silicon Valley event has served as the essential forum for industry professionals to discover innovative solutions to the most pressing signal and power integrity challenges.As a global leader in semiconductor test sockets, Smiths Interconnect is proud to announce its participation in this prestigious conference and exhibition. We will feature a comprehensive portfolio of our star test products, highlighting solutions engineered for the next generation of technology in AI PCs, Enterprise Data Centres (EDC), automotive electronics, and the Internet of Things (IoT).Spotlight on Innovation: DaVinci Gen V High-Speed Test SocketHeadlining the display will be the DaVinci Gen V High-Speed Test Socket, Smiths Interconnect's latest flagship product. Designed to meet the extreme demands of high-performance computing and AI data centres, the DaVinci Gen V test socket delivers breakthrough high-speed signal transmission and performance. It enables unprecedented digital signaling speeds of up to 224 Gbps PAM4 for AI accelerators and beyond 100 GHz for 6G communications. These speeds are crucial for supporting the growing demand for massive data transfer.The solution supports BGA, LGA, and other package variants, using spring probe technology with a homogeneous alloy and gold plating to ensure better grounding. It delivers RF bandwidth greater than 84 GHz at -1 dB insertion loss, with a short signal path and a 4.90 mm test height. The impedance is tuned to match the system, providing consistent and stable contact resistance of 55 mΩ on average.The design also accommodates high co-planarity and features a tri-temp socket structure capable of operating from -55 °C to +150 °C. The same socket is suitable for manual test, bench test, and high-volume manufacturing (HVM) production test, enabling greater efficiency and consistency across test stages.In addition to high-speed test solutions, Smiths Interconnect will also showcase its high-power burn-in socket, a specialised electromechanical interface designed to temporarily connect a semiconductor device—such as a CPU, GPU, AI accelerator, or high-power discrete component—to a test board during the burn-in and stress-testing phase of manufacturing.It is designed to support next-generation devices with up to 22,000 contacts and sizes up to 150 × 150 mm, while managing power levels of up to 2000 W through integrated liquid cooling. The socket is universally compatible with advanced burn-in chamber platforms and can deliver a 500 lb applied load with a maximum closing force of 15 lb. Flexible thermal options, including passive heatsinks and heat pipes, are also available to meet different testing requirements.This burn-in socket is built for durability and thermal/electrical stability under extreme stress conditions.Attendees are invited to visit Booth 508 to experience Smiths Interconnect's cutting-edge technologies firsthand and engage with technical experts.Credit: Smiths InterconnectCredit: Smiths Interconnect