Latest Blogs and Commentary
Semiconductor Sales Are Expected to Surpass $0.6T in 2022 and on Track to Hit $1T by 2030
Informing the media, public, and investors about semiconductor manufacturing trends and semiconductor industry outlook in wafer fab equipment, ATE, and assembly tools throughout the week with data and summaries from VLSI's latest reports and data analytic programs.
Year in Review: PC Processors Adopt Hybrid CPUs
Desktop PCs had a big 2021, thanks to two new Intel releases and that company’s introduction of hybrid technology. Meanwhile, Apple converted most of its Mac lineup to hybrid Arm-compatible processors.
EdgeQ Enables 5G Small Cells
The startup is sampling an integrated base-station processor with a DSP that uses the RISC-V instruction set. The SoC is suited to 5G small cells and remote units.
Business Is in Full Bloom
Informing the media, public, and investors about semiconductor manufacturing trends and semiconductor industry outlook in wafer fab equipment, ATE, and assembly tools throughout the week with data and summaries from VLSI's latest reports and data analytic programs.
Editorial: Imagination Jumps on RISC-V
With its new Catapult CPUs, Imagination Technologies has become the largest IP vendor to announce RISC-V products, helping position the open-source instruction set as the leading alternative to Arm.
2021 Review. SEMICON West 2021. Maskless Lithography. Strategy Statics versus Dynamics.
Strategy and Tactics: 2021 Review. SEMICON West 2021. Maskless Lithography. Strategy Statics versus Dynamics.
The ducks are lining up for the New Year
Semiconductor WEEK: An overview of results and conclusions from recent reports at TechInsights.
Semiconductor Equipment Sales Projected to Hit $150B in 2022
Fueled by soaring demand, the semiconductor equipment market is on track to increase 35% in 2021, hitting an-all-time-high of $125B.
Year in Review: CPU-IP Vendors Chase High-End Wins
In the past year, new CPU cores from Arm and SiFive targeted high-performance applications in the data center and communications infrastructure. Many IP startups instead focused on edge AI.
WD Licenses RISC-V CPUs
Storage giant Western Digital added Linux and Android support to its Swerv line of RISC-V CPU in its new EHX3. The company is licensing the new CPU, which targets low-end application processing.
Marvell Bridges MIPI to Auto Ethernet
Marvell announced several products under its new Brightlane automotive brand. The 88QB5224 is a unique chip for bridging MIPI CSI-2 cameras to an Ethernet-based automotive network.
Year in Review: Edge AI Knows No Boundaries
In 2021, edge AI continued propagating far beyond the cloud; smart speakers alone were up 12% from last year. Increased demand attracted investors to edge-AI-chip startups, creating several new unicorns.
P650 Pumps Up Performance by 50%
SiFive added a new flagship CPU to its RISC-V “Performance” line that raises integer performance compared with its predecessor through additional execution resources, larger caches, and microarchitecture tweaks.
Kompanio 828 Tackles Chromebooks
For the holidays, MediaTek offers the Kompanio 820 and 828 to refresh its Chromebook line. These chips deliver multiday battery life, in part thanks to their 7nm manufacturing.
New Lab Investments Bringing us to the Future of Reverse Engineering
TechInsights’ unsurpassed technical abilities come from two important areas – our (amazing!) people, and our tools. To reverse engineer cutting edge technology, we require the equipment and the expertise that keep us at – or ahead of – the pace of the latest technology. And that requires continuous investment in our staff and our tools.
TechInsights' Experiences of the 2021 Chip Shortage
Our views on contributing factors, how it has impacted our semiconductor reverse engineering this year, and looking to the future.
Latest Revelations on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
Qualcomm recently officially released the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 which is using 5LPE process technology and is therefore likely based on the Snapdragon 888 made with the Samsung 5LPE process. Based on their announcement and previous analyses, we have reached some key findings.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Sports 18-Bit ISP
In delivering the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Qualcomm is upscaling smartphone cameras by adding native 18-bit processing. The new platform packs impressive upgrades across all sections, scoring double digit gains across each section.