Global Semiconductor Sales Up 14.7% YOY in February 

WASHINGTON—April 5, 2021—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced global semiconductor industry sales were $39.6 billion for the month of February 2021, an increase of 14.7% over the February 2020 total of $34.5 billion, but 1.0% less than the January 2021 total of $40.0 billion. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average. SIA represents 98% of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms.

Source: Global Semiconductor Sales Up 14.7% Year-to-Year in February – Semiconductor Industry Association

Intel Drops a Bomb, Not the Ball 

Intel rewarded the patient this week as Pat Gelsinger made some very big announcements about the formation of a standalone foundry business, increased partnerships with TSMC for manufacturing of Intel processor products, and a huge promised investment in new manufacturing plants in Arizona. EETimes editor Brian Santo provided an excellent synposis and analysis of Gelsinger’s web presentation.

Source: Intel Drops a Bomb, Not the Ball | EE Times

Chiplets: A Short History 

In another “rabbit hole moment,” I lost myself in a bout of reminiscence on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. A prehistoric SemiSerious blog post from 2009 attempted to provide updates from ISSCC 2009. TechInsights engineers Aaron Murray, James Bull, and Mohammad Ahmad provided the boots on the ground reports to HQ. I believe these three fine gentlemen all continue their yeoman’s work at the Ottawa company.

Source: Chiplets: A Short History | EE Times

SSDI Adds GaN FET with Enhanced Radiation Tolerance

La Mirada, CA – SSDI’s latest hermetic GaN FET device, SGR15E90M, utilizes a GaN FET in the place of a silicon MOSFET at the input stage to provide enhanced radiation tolerance. The SGR15E90M’s cascode device structure consists of a high voltage depletion mode GaN FET at the output stage and a low voltage enhancement mode GaN FET at the input stage. The GaN FET at the input stage offers a gate-source voltage of +6 to -4 V and since gallium nitride is inherently rad tolerant, it will improve radiation tolerance when compared to a silicon MOSFET.

Source: News 2021-02-15: SGR15E90M

Panthronics offers NFC Readers for POS & MPOS

The PTX100R marks a breakthrough in NFC system performance, power and size.The PTX100R is fully compliant with the specifications of the latest EMVCo 3.0 standard for contactless payments. It is supplied with an application-ready EMVCo 3.0 L1 interface. The Panthronics product includes a set of facilities which makes the integration of a third-party EMV L2 stack fast and easy. It also provides rich debugging capabilities allowing for rapid prototyping.

Source: Products – Panthronics

Semiconductor shortage halts auto factories 

Semiconductor executive Tom Caulfield knew a crisis was brewing when he started getting frantic calls from big automakers just before Christmas.“Tom, you’re killing me. You need to make more,” Caulfield, the chief executive of chipmaker GlobalFoundries, recalls the auto executives saying. “Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler-Benz, Fiat Chrysler, GM — every one of them became my new best friends.”

Source: Semiconductor shortage halts auto factories – The Washington Post

Biden to press for $37 billion to boost chip manufacturing amid shortfall 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he would seek $37 billion in funding for legislation to supercharge chip manufacturing in the United States as a shortfall of semiconductors has forced U.S. automakers and other manufacturers to cut production.

Source: Biden to press for $37 billion to boost chip manufacturing amid shortfall | Reuters

Biden to press for $37 billion to boost chip manufacturing amid shortfall 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he would seek $37 billion in funding for legislation to supercharge chip manufacturing in the United States as a shortfall of semiconductors has forced U.S. automakers and other manufacturers to cut production.

Source: Biden to press for $37 billion to boost chip manufacturing amid shortfall | Reuters

China Passes Americas And Japan In IC Capacity

Back in 2012, China ranked fifth among seven regions worldwide in IC wafer capacity but surged past the Americas and Japan in 2018 and 2019 to claim the number three position (figure 1). That’s a big deal given that ICs account for the largest share of wafer capacity excluding discrete, opto, MEMS and sensors.

Source: China Passes Americas And Japan In IC Capacity

Earthquake in Japan affects the electronic components supply chain 

On the evening of the 13th, an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale occurred in the northeastern region of Japan, which affected the production of manufacturers such as Murata, Renesas, and Shin-Etsu. Among them, Murata’s factories in Fukushima and Miyagi have suspended operations; Renesas estimates that it will take a week to resume normal production.

Source: Earthquake in Japan affects the electronic components supply chain – SemiMedia

The world is dangerously dependent on Taiwan for chips 

As China pushes the world to avoid official dealings with Taiwan, leaders across the globe are realizing just how dependent they have become on the democratic nation.Taiwan is being courted for its capacity to make leading-edge computer chips. That is mostly down to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest foundry and go-to producer of chips for Apple Inc smartphones, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

Source: The world is dangerously dependent on Taiwan for chips – Taipei Times

Fearless Chip Forecasts For 2021

It’s been a roller coaster ride in the semiconductor industry. In early 2020, the semiconductor business looked bright, but then the Covid-19 pandemic struck, causing a sudden downturn. By mid-2020, though, the market bounced back, as the stay-at-home economy drove demand for computers, tablets and TVs. The chip market ended on a high note in 2020, but the question is, what’s in store for 2021.

Source: Fearless Chip Forecasts For 2021