INTERNATIONAL news
EVs will be cheaper than combustion vehicles by 2027
A new study suggests that by 2027 electric cars will be cheaper than combustion vehicles across Europe and could represent 100% of new sales by 2035. The study, which was commissioned by clean transport campaign group Transport and Environment, predicts that small electric cars will cost similar to fossil fuel models by 2027. Light electric vans will be less expensive than diesel models from 2025, and heavy electric vans from 2026. Provided policies remain same, electric cars will represent 50% of new sales by 2030 and 85% by 2035.
Silicon wafer shipments are setting new records
Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased four percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, topping the previous historical high set in the third quarter of 2018. Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment had also surged 19 percent from $59.8 billion in 2019 to a new all-time high of $71.2 billion in 2020.
Bharti-backed OneWeb secures funding from Eutelsat
Global communications network OneWeb has secured $550 million in funding from Eutelsat Communications, bringing its total funding to $1.9 billion in fresh equity. The investment is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals. French geostationary satellite operator Eutelsat will receive 24 percent equity stake in OneWeb and similar governance rights to the UK government and Bharti Global.
TSMC planning to build five more fabs in Arizona
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is looking to expand its business in the US state of Arizona by building more manufacturing plants there apart from the one currently under development. TSMC had announced last year that it is planning to build a $12 billion dollar factory in Arizona. With a planned output of 20,000 wafers per month, this fab is relatively small. It utilises the company’s 5nm chip manufacturing technology for production.
Intel to manufacture advanced semiconductors at its New Mexico plant
Intel Corporation will invest $3.5 billion to equip its New Mexico operations for the manufacture of advanced semiconductor packaging technologies. This would include Foveros, Intel’s breakthrough 3D packaging technology. Since 1980, Intel has invested $16.3 billion in capital to support its New Mexico operations and currently employs more than 1,800 people at the site.
Volkswagen to design own chips for its autonomous vehicles
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess has revealed that the German auto giant is planning to design and develop its own high-powered chips for autonomous vehicles using the required software. Notably, this comes as electric automakers all over the world are ramping up efforts to increase their accessibility to chips, which can integrate the custom-designed chips to introduce new features faster.
Car owners in China can access data generated by Tesla vehicles
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla said that it is developing a platform in China that will allow car owners to access data generated by their vehicles. Tesla aims to launch the data platform this year. This is the first time a service like this is being provided in China by any automaker.
Taiwan’s UMC expanding capacity to meet chip demand
Taiwanese chip manufacturer United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) is expanding its capacity, for which it will spend $3.59 billion over the next few years. Amid a global chip crunch, UMC will guarantee supplies and prices to its clients as part of the plan. The expansion will take place at an existing UMC facility in the Tainan Science Park. Production is scheduled to start from the second quarter of 2023.
South Korea planning to build world’s biggest chip making base
South Korea has announced plans worth approximately $450 billion for building the biggest chip making base in the world. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will be investing more than 510 trillion won and, along with 151 more companies, will be fueling the project. The blueprint for making South Korea the biggest name in semiconductor manufacturing has been devised by an administration team led by the country’s president Moon Jae-in.
DXOMARK now giving ratings for smartphone batteries
The French hi-tech company DXOMARK has now announced a new score for smartphone battery experience. The proprietary battery test protocol covers a wide range of common real-life uses of smartphones including social media, communication, and multimedia applications. DXOMARK’s battery test protocol evaluates the entire battery experience and quantifies three main areas: autonomy (how long a charge lasts, for various intensities of use); charging (how long it takes to recharge or how much short recharges increase battery life); and efficiency (how much the phone consumes in charging or discharging).
STMicroelectronics joins mioty Alliance
STMicroelectronics has now become a part of the mioty Alliance, which maintains the specifications and promotes the technology. ST has announced availability of a protocol stack from ST authorised partner Stackforce that allows customers to create mioty devices using the STM32WL wireless SoC. mioty sends messages using an advanced telegram-splitting technique, which is recognised and standardised by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI).
Fisker and Sharp collaborate to create automotive screens and interfaces
Fisker Inc. announced it has serially nominated Sharp Corporation, part of the Hon Hai Technology Group, to develop technologies supporting next-generation in-vehicle screens and interfaces. The agreement would include co-creation of technologies and the subsequent manufacture of screens and components from Sharp to support the Ocean SUV, Project ‘Personal Electric Automotive Revolution,’ and potentially two additional Fisker vehicles.