Items tagged with manufacturing
The vast majority of Apple's product manufacturing takes place overseas, and mostly in China. Labor costs are cheaper in China than they are in the United States, and while Apple CEO Tim Cook contends that is not the reason why, we have to think it plays a role. Even if that was not the case, however, there are other challenges in bringing more of Apple's manufacturing to the US. Something as simple as a screw could stand in the way. More on that in a minute, but first let's discuss why this matters. There are increasing tensions between the US and China, primarily over cybersecurity—the US government strongly urges companies not to do business with Huawei and ZTE, for example. This is...
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Following the philosophy that it takes spending money to make money, Samsung Electronics announced plans to invest around 15.6 trillion won (around $14.7 billion in U.S. currency) to build a new chip manufacturing plant in South Korea. This qualifies as Samsung's biggest investment ever into a single semiconductor plant. Construction of the new facility will begin in the first half of next year in Pyeongtaek, located about 47 miles south of Seoul, and is expected to generate 150,000 jobs, according to Reuters. That's equivalent to around a third of the city's total population. If all goes to plan, the plant will open for business in 2017. Samsung is still deciding whether to use the upcoming...
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Perhaps the breakup between Apple and Samsung on the manufacturing side won't last all that long, after all. It was recently reported that Apple was reducing its reliance on Samsung by giving coveted chip orders to TSMC for its upcoming iPhone 6 and other mobile devices, but now there are mumblings in the media that TSMC is losing orders. In a note to clients, KGI Securities analyst Michael Liu said it's likely that both Apple and Qualcomm will buy a bigger portion of 14nm smartphone chips from Samsung than TSMC beginning in the second half of 2015, Reuters reports. Liu didn't say where he was getting his information from, or even why both companies would turn their back on TSMC next year. It's...
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It's no secret that companies like to outsource production to overseas markets where labor is cheap and labor laws are often lax, to put it nicely. That isn't about to change, though it's nice to see companies move at least some of their manufacturing operations to U.S. soil, such as Motorola did when it started building Moto X devices in the state of Texas. Motorola isn't the only one looking stateside. Apple in November of last year announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Arizona that it expects to create some 2,000 jobs, and now we've learned that Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision) is thinking about opening up a plant in the U.S. as well. Foxconn chairman Terry Gou told reporters at...
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Amazon isn't taking any chances with our future robotic overlords. To show that it's willing to play ball under a mechanical regime, Jeff Bezos recently went on "60 Minutes" and unveiled plans to use delivery drones to drop off packages to flesh and blood customers (or "servants," as robots will call them after the uprising). Of course, the logistics of drones is still a ways off, but in the interim, Amazon is turning to robot helpers in its warehouses. The e-commerce site is putting to use its acquisition of Kiva Systems, a company that builds these robot things that can zip shelves full of merchandise across the warehouse floor to workers as opposed to the other way around. It's already happened...
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It looks like Apple is trying to drum up some good will and earn brownie points as of late by expanding its manufacturing presence in the U.S. Following a recent announcement that its revamped Mac Pro will be assembled in the Texas, Apple now says it's planning to erect a manufacturing facility further west in Airzona. Mesa is the lucky destination within Arizona where the plant will go. It's expected to create at least 700 jobs during the first year alone, along with 1,300 openings for construction workers. That's 2,000 jobs, more than a third of which are long-term positions. "This new plant will make components for Apple products and it will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one,"...
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Boy, math sure can be a buzz kill sometimes. For example, what a boon to the U.S. economy it would be if Apple suddenly decided to start building its iPhones stateside rather than outsourcing production to China. Unfortunately, if you crunch the numbers, such a move is cost prohibitive, even for a company that makes as much money as Apple. Tim Worstall over at Forbes wore out his calculator adding up the various costs of moving production to the U.S. based on some rough and not so rough estimates, and the final figure is in the billions. Before we get there, let's have a look at some lower numbers. Using figures borrowed from Motorola's stateside production, it costs about $4 extra to produce...
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One of the greatest obstacles standing between chip manufacturers and the pursuit of smaller, faster, processors is the lack of a proper light source. Current chips are etched using a deep ultraviolet wavelength of 193nm, but at a 28nm semiconductor process geometry, we've reached the limits of what a 193nm wavelength is small enough to etch, even when using immersion lithography (in which the chip is immersed in water). Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) has been pegged as the most likely replacement for current 193nm technology, but repeated problems with ramping EUV have left it stalled on the runway. Now, for the first time, foundry technology developer ASML, which made headlines last...
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3D printing is an exciting technology to track, in large part because of the implications of a mature 3D printing ecosystem wherein 3D printers are inexpensive enough for the average household to have a good one and there are enough designs out there for people to print whatever they need. Small-scale manufacturing will be revolutionized. A researcher at Michigan Technological University did a study to determine the financial feasibility of at-home 3D printing versus purchasing products online. They looked at how much it cost to make 20 different products at home using a RepRap 3D printer and designs from Thingiverse, factoring in time spent printing, energy costs, and materials,...
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Apple may be closer than previously thought to using Liquidmetal’s technology to manufacture casings for its mobile devices. In a patent filing, a company called “Crucible Intellectual Properties, LLC” (which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liquidmetal dedicated to Apple work) laid claim to a manufacturing process for creating “bulk amorphous alloy sheets”, also known as bulk metallic glass (BMG). The process, called “float glass”, involves two layers of molten metal, and the result is a glass-like metal that allegedly would be strong, incredibly lightweight, corrosion-resistant--and low cost. Further, the manufacturing process would ostensibly make it...
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It's been awhile since we've heard about worker suicides taking place at Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision) and we hoped it would stay that way. Unfortunately, it appears that three more individuals may have decided to end their lives, something that has been an ongoing problem at Foxconn amid reports of poor working conditions. These are three separate incidents that occurred within the past four weeks, according to PCWorld. The first occured on April 27 when a worker employed at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou fell to his death. It happened again at the same plant on May 14. In between those two incidents, a worker at Foxconn's Chongqing facility was found dead on May 11. Police are investigating...
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There's a great deal of buzz surrounding the Google Nexus 7 tablet announced at Google I/O yesterday. At $199, the 7" tablet is a steal, given that it packs a quad-core CPU, 8GB of storage, a 1200x800 screen, and a front-facing camera. In a clear shot across Apple's bow, Google is prominently highlighting the fact that the tablet is "Designed and Manufactured in the USA" as opposed to Apple products, which are "Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China*." The Nexus 7 isn't entirely manufactured in the US, but most of its components are. Semiconductors and the tablet body are shipped to Asia for integration, then shipped back. This shift to bring manufacturing back to the United...
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To celebrate its third anniversary as a chip manufacturing foundry, Globalfoundries over the weekend announced an agreement with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to buy out all remaining shares to achieve full independence. Under the amended agreement, AMD will continue to be one of Globalfoundries' "primary and strategic customers," only without a stake in the foundry, which is now wholly owned by the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC). "Today marks the start of a new era for Globalfoundries as it becomes a truly independent foundry," said Globalfoundries CEO Ajit Manocha. "Globalfoundries has a clear vision to be the leading semiconductor foundry partner to AMD and one of the world's...
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Texas Instruments, maker of the popular OMAP processor line and those pricey calculators high school math teachers insist their students bring to class, announced fourth quarter revenue of $3.42 billion, net income of $298 billion, and earnings per share of 25 cents, all of which exceeded the company's expectations. "Revenue in the fourth quarter was higher than expected across all our major product lines, reinforcing our belief that we're at the bottom of this downturn. I'm pleased to say that despite the downturn and the lower factory utilization that came with it, cash flow from operations was strong and well above levels as compared with similar points in prior downturns. Our strategic focus...
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It takes money to make money, and it takes it a whole bunch of cash to make semiconductors. Case in point: Samsung is reportedly holding a massive debt sale in which it will sell about $1 billion in bonds to fund its chip plant operations in the U.S. It's the first major overseas debt sale for Samsung in over 10 years, Reuters reports. Among other things, Samsung supplies semiconductor chips to Apple for its iPhone and iPad tablet PC devices, and by selling 5-year bonds, the company could ensure it has enough funds to keep its Austin, Texas plant firing on all cylinders. Samsung is hoping to secure additional funds for operations in its manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. Samsung isn't exactly...
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Samsung's new Line-16 memory semiconductor fabrication facility is now fully operational, the chip maker announced at its Nano City Complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, where the fab is located. According to Samsung, Line-16 is the industry's largest memory fab in the world. Samsung wasted no time in putting its plant to use and has already started mass producing the industry's first 20nm-class DDR3 memory modules. "The global semiconductor industry is in a period of fierce cyclical volatility, so the opening of this new memory fab and the start of mass production of the world's first 20nm-class DRAM are important milestones to reinforce Samsung's industry leadership," said Kun-hee Lee, Chairman...
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It was only a year ago that Globalfoundries announced plans for a major global capacity expansion. And now? Globalfoundries today said it's ready to start moving 300mm semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment into its newly constructed cleanrooms in New York and Dresden. The technical term for this milestone is called "Ready for Equipment," which is just what it sounds like and signifies that these two plants are ready to move from the construction phase to the operations phase. "At Globalfoundries, we continue to invest aggressively in driving sustained growth on advanced technologies," said Globalfoundries CEO Ajit Manocha. "The build-out of our 300mm manufacturing campuses in New York and...
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Intel announced a major technology shift today in a move that fundamentally changes how the company will build transistors in the years to come. Starting with Ivy Bridge, Intel is adopting what it calls Tri-Gate (3D) transistors. Up to this point, Intel has relied on conventional bulk silicon, but its ability to scale this base technology is coming to an end. As processes shrink, it's become increasingly difficult to prevent current leakage. "For years we have seen limits to how small transistors can get," said Gordon E. Moore. "This change in the basic structure is a truly revolutionary approach, and one that should allow Moore's Law, and the historic pace of innovation, to continue."...
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It took longer than most power users would have liked for Nvidia's GF100 architecture to show up on retail shelves, and part of the reason for that can be traced back to manufacturing issues at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the chip maker producing Fermi parts for Nvidia. This isn't something Nvidia has wanted to talk a whole lot about, but according to recent statements made by David White, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Nvidia, things are starting to improve. "Supply constraints are finally easing," White explained during a quarterly conference call with financial analysts. Back around mid-April, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang described the manufacturing...
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ARM AND GLOBALFOUNDRIES ESTABLISH A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP TO ENABLE APPLICATION OPTIMIZED SOC PRODUCTS ON 28NM HIGHK METAL GATE (HKMG) PROCESSRelationship leverages synergies between ARM’s leading low power processor architecture, optimized physical IP and partner Eco-system with GLOBALFOUNDRIES advanced technology, design and manufacturing excellence. CAMBRIDGE, UK – October 6, 2009 – ARM [(LSE: ARM); (Nasdaq: ARMH)] and GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announces a long-term strategic relationship to provide their mutual customers with an innovative SoC enablement program. To support the long-term relationship, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and ARM have signed a broad agreement on processor implementation...
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During AMD's conference call last week, company CEO Dirk Meyer stated that he expected Global Foundries to announce its first customer "within 30 days." We now know that first customer will be STMicroelectronics, which is a major semiconductor player and manufacturer in its own right. Global Foundries has stated that it will partner with ST to produce products based on 40nm Low Power (LP) bulk silicon. Electronics built using LP silicon are typically used in devices where minimal power consumption is paramount, including cell phones, application processors, and other handheld devices. “With the addition of an industry-leader in low-power technology like STMicroelectronics we now begin to deliver...
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Global Foundries Calls for Renewed Focus on 300mm Manufacturing Innovation- At SEMICON West, the new leading-edge semiconductor foundry describes the need for increasing efficiency and minimizing waste in the 300mm manufacturing process - SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 14, 2009 – In its effort to meet the ever-increasing demands of consumer technology, the semiconductor industry has long been preoccupied with smaller transistors and larger silicon wafers. While these are important tactics, opportunities for increasing efficiency, becoming more agile, and minimizing waste are often overlooked in manufacturing processes, according to Thomas Sonderman, vice president of manufacturing systems and technology...
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