Author Archives: david manners

Q2 bookings surge, reports SEMI

SEMI_Book to Bill_Chart_Jul2015A surge in bookings for semiconductor manufacturing equipment in Q2 meant that bookings exceeded billings in the quarter, reports SEMI, although there were some erratic local variations.

Billings were $9.4bn; bookings were $10.2bn.

Billings were 1% down on Q1 and 2% down on Q2 2014.

Bookings were 6% up on Q1 and 2% up on Q2 2014.

Taiwan’s Q2 billings of $2.34bn were 29% up on Q1 and 6% down on Q2 2014.

Korea’s Q2 billings of $2bn were 25% down on Q1 and 16% up on Q2 2014.

North America’s Q2 billings of $1.55bn were 5% up on Q1 and 33% down on Q2 2014

Japan’s Q2 billings of $1.4bn were 12% up on Q1 and 40% up on Q2 2014

China’s billings of $1.04bn were 10% down on Q1 and 1% up on Q2 2014.

Europe’s billings of $520m were 24% down on Q1 and 7% down on Q2 2014.

RoW billings of $530m were 24% up on Q1 and 7% up on Q2 2014.

david manners

Wearable Winners

imageTen winners have emerged from the ARM, Unicef, Frog competition for wearable tech. They are:

· CommunicAID, U.S: a bracelet that tracks medication treatment
· Droplet, U.S: a wrist-worn wearable water purification device
· Guard Band, Vietnam: a wristband that helps protect children from abuse
· Khushi Baby, India and U.S: a necklace-type wearable to track child immunization in the first two years of life
· Raksh, India: a device worn in the ear to track a child’s respiration rate, heart rate, body temperature and relative breath humidity designed by a team of university students
· Soapen, India and U.S.: an interactive crayon-like device that encourages hand washing among young children
· Telescrypts, East Africa and U.S: a wearable device to take patients’ vitals and send the data to health care workers
· TermoTell, Nigeria and U.S: a bracelet used to monitor and analyze a child’s temperature in real-time in order to save the lives of children at risk of malaria
· Totem Open Health Patch, Netherlands: a small sensor-based device that is part of a wider Totem Open Health system for wearable health technology
· WAAA!, U.K.: A sensor-based neonatal health surveillance tool.

The ten go through to the final in October and the two winners, who receive $15,000, will be announced in November in Helsinki and at Arm’s TechCon in Santa Clara.

There were 250 entries from 46 countries.

david manners

Wearable Winners

imageTen winners have emerged from the ARM, Unicef, Frog competition for wearable tech. They are:

· CommunicAID, U.S: a bracelet that tracks medication treatment
· Droplet, U.S: a wrist-worn wearable water purification device
· Guard Band, Vietnam: a wristband that helps protect children from abuse
· Khushi Baby, India and U.S: a necklace-type wearable to track child immunization in the first two years of life
· Raksh, India: a device worn in the ear to track a child’s respiration rate, heart rate, body temperature and relative breath humidity designed by a team of university students
· Soapen, India and U.S.: an interactive crayon-like device that encourages hand washing among young children
· Telescrypts, East Africa and U.S: a wearable device to take patients’ vitals and send the data to health care workers
· TermoTell, Nigeria and U.S: a bracelet used to monitor and analyze a child’s temperature in real-time in order to save the lives of children at risk of malaria
· Totem Open Health Patch, Netherlands: a small sensor-based device that is part of a wider Totem Open Health system for wearable health technology
· WAAA!, U.K.: A sensor-based neonatal health surveillance tool.

The ten go through to the final in October and the two winners, who receive $15,000, will be announced in November in Helsinki and at Arm’s TechCon in Santa Clara.

There were 250 entries from 46 countries.

david manners

GloFo reported to be looking for 5000 lay-offs

GloFo is reported to be looking at 5000 voluntary lay-offs in the US mainly from the chip operations it acquired from IBM.ibm

In July GloFo was paid $1.5 billion to take over IBM’s plants in East Fishkill, New York and Burlington, Vermont. It is these operations, employing 5000 people, which are expected to take the brunt of the lay-offs.

GloFo’s Fab 8 at Malta, New York is not expected to be affected. A proposed extension to that fab, known as 8.2, has already been halted

The lay-offs don’t affect GloFo operations in Singapore and Germany.

GloFo is blaming the recent downturn in the chip industry which saw TSMC’s August revenues fall 17% compared to July. TSMC blamed increasing inventory in the smartphone supply chain.

When, a year ago, GloFo originally announced its plan to take over iBM’s chip operation it said it did not intend to lay off IBM people. The voluntary buy-out scheme adheres to that commitment.

david manners

GloFo reported to be looking for 5000 lay-offs

GloFo is reported to be looking at 5000 voluntary lay-offs in the US mainly from the chip operations it acquired from IBM.ibm

In July GloFo was paid $1.5 billion to take over IBM’s plants in East Fishkill, New York and Burlington, Vermont. It is these operations, employing 5000 people, which are expected to take the brunt of the lay-offs.

GloFo’s Fab 8 at Malta, New York is not expected to be affected. A proposed extension to that fab, known as 8.2, has already been halted

The lay-offs don’t affect GloFo operations in Singapore and Germany.

GloFo is blaming the recent downturn in the chip industry which saw TSMC’s August revenues fall 17% compared to July. TSMC blamed increasing inventory in the smartphone supply chain.

When, a year ago, GloFo originally announced its plan to take over iBM’s chip operation it said it did not intend to lay off IBM people. The voluntary buy-out scheme adheres to that commitment.

david manners

23 more 300mm fabs by 2019, says IC Insights

By 2019 there should be 110 volume production 300mm fabs in the world compared to 87 today, reports IC Insights. The number of 300mm fabs will likely peak between 115-120.image

By comparison, the greatest number of volume-production 200mm wafer fabs in operation was 210 (the number declined to 154 fabs at the end of 2014).

The list of companies with the most 300mm wafer capacity includes memory suppliers Samsung, Micron, SK Hynix, and Toshiba/SanDisk; Intel; and the two largest pure-play foundries TSMC and GlobalFoundries.

200mm fabs be used to fabricate a range of ICs including specialty memories, display drivers, microcontrollers, analogue products, and MEMS.

TSMC, TI, and UMC remain the three companies with the greatest amount of 200mm wafer fab capacity.

450mm is not now expected in production until 2020.

david manners

23 more 300mm fabs by 2019, says IC Insights

By 2019 there should be 110 volume production 300mm fabs in the world compared to 87 today, reports IC Insights. The number of 300mm fabs will likely peak between 115-120.image

By comparison, the greatest number of volume-production 200mm wafer fabs in operation was 210 (the number declined to 154 fabs at the end of 2014).

The list of companies with the most 300mm wafer capacity includes memory suppliers Samsung, Micron, SK Hynix, and Toshiba/SanDisk; Intel; and the two largest pure-play foundries TSMC and GlobalFoundries.

200mm fabs be used to fabricate a range of ICs including specialty memories, display drivers, microcontrollers, analogue products, and MEMS.

TSMC, TI, and UMC remain the three companies with the greatest amount of 200mm wafer fab capacity.

450mm is not now expected in production until 2020.

david manners

NASA to launch UHD TV channel

NASA to launch UHD TV channel

NASA to launch UHD TV channel

On Nov 1st, NASA is to launch an Ultra High Definition (UHD) or 4K TV channel in the US in partnership with Harmonic delivering 2,16g0p content at 60 frames per second.

The channel will show TV pictures taken from the international space station, pictures of launches, pictures from deep space probes and historical pictures.

The content will also be streamed on the internet though it will require a minimum connection speed of 13Mbps.

“Partnering with Harmonic gives NASA an outlet for its UHD content, which has four times the resolution of HD and is the next iteration of digital television,” says Robert Jacobs, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Office of Communications.

NASA is talking to pay TV operators about carrying the NASA TV channel on satellite, cable and optical networks.

Read more NASA stories on Electronics Weekly »

david manners

NASA to launch UHD TV channel

NASA to launch UHD TV channel

NASA to launch UHD TV channel

On Nov 1st, NASA is to launch an Ultra High Definition (UHD) or 4K TV channel in the US in partnership with Harmonic delivering 2,16g0p content at 60 frames per second.

The channel will show TV pictures taken from the international space station, pictures of launches, pictures from deep space probes and historical pictures.

The content will also be streamed on the internet though it will require a minimum connection speed of 13Mbps.

“Partnering with Harmonic gives NASA an outlet for its UHD content, which has four times the resolution of HD and is the next iteration of digital television,” says Robert Jacobs, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Office of Communications.

NASA is talking to pay TV operators about carrying the NASA TV channel on satellite, cable and optical networks.

Read more NASA stories on Electronics Weekly »

david manners

GCHQ says make passwords simpler

GCHQ

GCHQ

GCHQ, which knows a thing or two about passwords, has issued guidance on how to set passwords, saying that over-complex ones may not be particularly secure.

“Password guidance: simplifying your approach”, has been published by GCHQ. It recommends concocting a password from three random words or using a password manager.

“Complex passwords do not usually frustrate attackers, yet they make daily life much harder for users,” says Ciaran Martin, director general of cyber security for GCHQ.

The problem for users is simply remembering passwords, particularly if they are a complex mixture of letters figures and symbols. GCHQ’s advice is to aimed at making users’ lived simpler.

david manners