I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Ever notice how the end of the calendar year creates a “tennis spectator” effect in our thinking? Let me explain. We’ve all seen the video of people watching a tennis match, with their gazes moving back and forth, left to right, as the ball moves between the contestants; that lazy head-shake led by the gaze of the eyes, right? Well, as we reach the end of a year, we seem to take stock in what’s happened behind us (reflectively gaze to the left), and what is coming in the future (expectantly gaze to the right.) Our thoughts bounce back and forth as if time were the tennis ball. 

In this week’s must-reads, however, we keep our gaze firmly affixed to the right, as it were, considering the future. If you only read five pieces of industry news this week, here are my suggestions.

China, U.S. Bolster Semiconductor Independence as Taiwan’s Foundry Capacity Share Projected to Decline to 41% by 2027
Published December 14

This report from TrendForce suggests that the redistribution of semiconductor foundries currently under way will indeed make a difference in supply chain resiliency. Read more here.

Cadence Partners with Antiviral Discovery Consortium to Spearhead Rapid Development of Treatments for Viral Pandemics
Published December 8

Medical devices have been a high growth sector for several years. Yet when an EDA software company like Cadence Design Systems invests in deep medical R&D with a dedicated business unit, that’s worth taking note of. This article provides some insight as to how an EDA company might contribute in other ways to technology development.

End-of-Life Li-ion Battery Sustainability: Its Crucial Role Over the Coming Years
Published December 8

From the article, “As the demand for Li-ion batteries increases, so does the need to manage their sustainability throughout their entire lifecycle, including raw material extraction and processing, battery use or reuse, and importantly, at end-of-life (EOL).”Learn more about how these sustainability tactics work in this PRNewswire article.

Intel Demonstrates Breakthroughs in Next-Generation Transistor Scaling for Future Nodes
Published December 11

There has been a lot of talk about advanced packaging techniques being crucial to the continuation of Moore’s Law. In my opinion, this line of thought has merit. That said, Intel is also sharing its R&D work in such topics as: 3D stacked CMOS transistors combined with backside power and direct backside contacts; R&D breakthroughs for backside power delivery, such as backside contacts; and demonstrating successful large-scale 3D monolithic integration of silicon transistors with gallium nitride (GaN) transistors on the same 300 millimeter (mm) wafer, rather than on package. Intel’s work shows that continuing Moore’s Law on-die still has life to it, though advanced packaging work offers resiliency. Learn more here.

Meet The IPS Workforce: Inoa Wahinehookae
Published December 11

As the workforce continues shifting to the next generation and the lack of appeal for manufacturing careers persists, we feel it’s important to share the voices of those who have chosen manufacturing as their career. Meet mechanical design engineer Inoa Wahinehookae, who graduated two years ago from Southern Utah University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in CAD/CAM. He started his career with IPS, and now, as project manager. Enjoy this video interview and Inoa’s insights.