Items tagged with semiconductors
We tend to take for granted that our PCs will turn on and the silicon inside them will dutifully crunch through whatever tasks we ask, be it video encoding, playing games, or even just watching a YouTube video. The underlying technology has come a long way to make all this possible, and crucially it has taken decades...
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If there is one thing the past year has taught us in terms of supply and unprecedented demand, it's that semiconductor manufacturing capacity is painfully limited. It is paramount, then, that fabless firms spend big to secure their piece of the silicon pie in anticipation of upcoming product launches. As it applies to...
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Intel doesn't have a long history of fabricating other people's processors, but the company has made it clear that it seeks to make that a major part of its business going forward. In case you missed it, Intel's Foundry Services (IFS) is accepting customers from around the globe, and the company will make chips with...
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There's been a lot of moving and shaking in the silicon space over the past couple of weeks, the latest of which is Intel announcing it has agreed to acquired Tower Semiconductor for $53 per share in cash, which values the deal at approximately $5.4 billion. The hefty investment plays right into Intel's IDM 2.0...
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Intel is making a few key major foundry moves to bolster its IDM 2.0 strategy, such as setting up a massive $1 billion innovation fund to support both early-stage startups and established companies that are engineering disruptive technologies in the semiconductor space. However, what is most surprising amid today's...
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Finding a graphics card in stock from a first-party retailer could soon be a little bit easier than it has been in a very long time. That's not to say the shortage is about to end. However, those within the supply chain apparently feel confident that an uptick in ABF (Ajinomoto Build-up Film) substrate shipments will...
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It was always a possibility that NVIDIA's proposed deal to acquire Arm from Softbank for $40 billion would not pass regulatory scrutiny and ultimately fall through, and that now seems increasingly likely, according to what Bloomberg is hearing from people who are supposedly familiar with the matter. If that's the...
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You might not of known there exists a place called Licking County, which based on a quick peek on Wikipedia is named after the Licking River, itself believed to be coined for the area's salt licks. Going forward, however, that location in Ohio will be recognizable as the home of Intel's biggest fab site as...
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Intel is in the process of installing hardware at its Fab 34 manufacturing site in Ireland, and this week it took delivery of its "first huge chip making tool," the company said. Work actually began on the facility in 2019. If all goes to plan, it will be up and running in 2023, effectively doubling Intel's...
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We find ourselves in strange times from a consumer standpoint, whereby it's not just whatever is this generation's 'Tickle Me Elmo' that is in short supply, but a plethora of items. Electronics, mostly—game consoles and PC graphics cards, chips for automobiles, components that comprise DDR5 memory modules, and the...
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How cool would it be if your smartphone could last a week between charges instead of 15 hours? Thanks to a breakthrough announced by a joint effort between IBM and Samsung, that could be a reality soon.
In addition to bolstering its investment in the US, Korean-owned Samsung Electronics is working alongside IBM to...
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A couple months ago, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said he would exhaust the periodic table if necessary to keep Moore's Law relevant into the future. We'll see if the engineers at Intel have to actually do that or not. Either way, Intel is confident it can propel Moore's Law beyond 2025 by tapping advances in chip...
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If you're reading HotHardware, chances are we don't need to tell you about the ongoing chip shortage. Vendors worldwide have been struggling under an extreme shortage of etched silicon to power their products, and it's not just the tech industry that's feeling the crunch. Almost every industry has suffered, from...
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Samsung announced plans to build an advanced chip manufacturing plant in Taylor, Texas, which will create thousands of new jobs and expand its investment in the US. In fact, this will be Samsung's largest-ever investment in the US, with the total bill expected to be around $17 billion, including buildings, property...
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There are many factors that play into the chip shortage that continues to affect the market for all kinds of various electronics, from graphics cards and game consoles, to certain smart automobile features and everything in between. Some of the reasons include rabid demand for cutting edge hardware, manufacturing...
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In case you haven't heard, China is trying to puzzle out its pollution problem, and one way it's doing that is by rationing power. The Chinese government has started selectively requiring energy producers to cool off in an effort to reduce emissions, although those organizations are also dealing with rising coal and...
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While we are over here complaining about the lack of graphics cards and, at times, out-of-stock CPUs (AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X and Ryzen 9 5900 were difficult to obtain for a period of time), the auto industry is facing related challenges of its own. As in, automakers could miss out on a whopping $210 billion in revenues...
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It could still be a bit before the industry-wide shortage of silicon eases up and dissipates completely. While it is difficult to precisely anticipate exactly when the situation will improve, there are signs that indicate it could be another long year for consumers and manufacturers alike. Such as the rising costs of...
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Frustrated by the global shortage of silicon that is causing cutting edge electronics to almost always be out of stock? You know, things like the latest game consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S) and discrete graphics cards for gaming. Well, not only could the chip shortage linger through all of next year, but...
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Some of the world's leading chip makers have warned that the global shortage of silicon could linger into next year and perhaps even beyond, as unprecedented demand and disruptions in production from the pandemic (and other factors) have put the industry in a unique situation. Despite the warnings, at least one...
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Even though there is a shortage of silicon (relative to rabid demand), the pace of technology has now slowed. Just ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest players in the semiconductor space with clients such as Apple, AMD, Intel, and others. It's been producing 5-nanometer chips in...
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It times of crisis, it is often said that things will get worse before they get better. That does not always hold true, but it sure seems to apply to the global chip shortage, which may not see a full recovery for years. While there is light way at the end of the tunnel, lead times on chip orders have been increasing...
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