MediaTek today unveiled its new Genio platform for AIoT devices and introduced the first chip in the Genio family, the Genio 1200 designed for premium AIoT products. MediaTek Genio is a complete platform stack for the AIoT with powerful and ultra- efficient chipsets, open platform software development kits (SDKs) and a developer portal with comprehensive resources and tools. This all-in-one platform makes it easy for brands to develop innovative consumer, enterprise and industrial smart applications at the premium, mid-range and entry levels, and bring these devices to market faster. With MediaTek Genio, customers have access to all the hardware, software and resources needed to go from concept to design and manufacturing.

Customers can choose from a range of Genio chips to suit their product needs, and then use MediaTek's developer resources and the Yocto Linux open platform SDK to customize their designs. MediaTek also makes it easy for customers to access its partners' system hardware and software, and leverage partners' networks and sales channels. By offering an integrated, easy-to-use platform, MediaTek Genio reduces development costs and speeds up time to market, while providing long-term support for operating system updates and security patches that extend the product lifecycle. "Today MediaTek powers the most popular AIoT devices on the market. As the industry enters the next era of innovation, MediaTek's Genio platform delivers flexibility, scalability and development support brands need to cater to the latest market demands," said Jerry Yu, MediaTek Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek's Computing, Connectivity and Metaverse Business Group. "We look forward to seeing the new user experiences brands bring to life with the Genio 1200 and its powerful AI capability, support for 4K displays and advanced imaging features."

M6 Pro elevates secure, mobile WiFi as the world's first mobile router to support WiFi 6E. Beginning April 22, AT&T customers will be able to access AT&T's 5G Network using the brand new NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 and Nighthawk M6 Pro mobile hotspots. Harnessing the revolutionary power of 5G, we're collaborating with AT&T again to transform the connected lives of people on the go and at home with excellent engineering and multi-gigabit Internet speeds. As the world continues to explore hybrid and mobile living, coupled with remote work and learning environments, the need for efficient and secure Internet access has become an integral part of daily life. In fact, 10.9 million Americans described themselves as digital nomads in 2020—an almost 50% increase from the previous year-- with another 19 million planning to become one in the next two to three years. Answering this critical demand, we've once again partnered with AT&T to provide two-tiered products in the M6 series, both of which are ideal for mobile or fixed wireless access in the home or office setting, even providing 4G LTE support when 5G is not available.

The best-in-class M6 Pro offers advanced features such as 5G mmWave-Sub-6 dual connectivity, 2.5 G Ethernet port, switchable WiFi 6 and 6E capability, and 8x the capacity and speed of 4G, so users always have the fastest connection no matter where they are. The first mobile hotspot with WiFi 6E, the M6 Pro makes the 6 GHz band available for the newest, fastest connected devices. mmWave will serve users for many years to come, as data usage grows and 5G mmWave becomes more sophisticated. More people and devices can connect simultaneously to enjoy fast downloads, lag-free gaming, 8K streaming, and more throughout the home or office.

Extending a strategic relationship that spans a decade, Intel and Lockheed Martin have entered a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) that harnesses innovative 5G software and hardware solutions to enable faster and more decisive actions for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Intel's proven 5G solutions are integrated into Lockheed Martin's 5G.MIL Hybrid Base Station, which acts as a multi-network gateway for ubiquitous communications between military personnel and current and emerging platforms including satellites, aircraft, ships and ground vehicles. Lockheed Martin also leverages Intel's advanced processor technologies and innovations on network as well as edge to bring cloud capabilities to the areas of tactical need.

ADATA Technology (Taiwan Stock Exchange: 3260.TWO), a global leading brand of industrial-grade memory, including flash storage products and DRAM modules, today announces that its in-house developed firmware for 112-Layer (BiCS5) 3D NAND PCIe solid state drives has become University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) NVMe 1.4 certified. The certification reaffirms ADATA's core competencies in R&D and commitment to offering high performance SSDs. UNH-IOL is an independent test facility that provides interoperability and standards conformance testing for networking, telecommunications, data storage, and consumer technology products.

The IM2P32A8 M.2 2280 and IM2P32A4 M.2 2242 industrial-grade solid state drives will benefit from the newly certified firmware. What's more, both SSDs feature 112-layer 3D TLC Flash memory developed by WD and KIOXIA, supports the PCIe Gen3x4 interface, and provides large capacities of up to 2 TB. With ADATA's firmware, they provide improved performance and interoperability. In addition to processing large volumes of data, the SSDs can also serve as storage devices or a boot disk, which can fulfill the needs of applications such as 5G, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), smart cities, and telemedicine.

MediaTek today launched the Dimensity 8100 and Dimensity 8000 system-on-chips (SoCs) to bring flagship level technology - connectivity, displays, gaming, multimedia and imaging features - to premium 5G smartphones. Both chips borrow the advanced technology from MediaTek's powerful flagship Dimensity 9000 platform and package it into the new Dimensity 8000 series which is built on the ultra-efficient TSMC 5 nm production process with an octa-core CPU. The Dimensity 8100 integrates four premium Arm Cortex-A78 cores with speeds reaching 2.85 GHz, and the Dimensity 8000 has four Cortex-A78 cores operating at up to 2.75 GHz.

"You could say the MediaTek Dimensity 8000 series is the little brother to our flagship Dimensity 9000 chip. Meaning it brings flagship grade features and next level energy efficiency to the premium smartphone market," said CH Chen, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. Both chips combine an Arm Mali-G610 MC6 GPU with MediaTek's HyperEngine 5.0 gaming technologies for exceptional power-efficiency that extends play time, and best-in-class frame rates - 170fps for the Dimensity 8100 and 140fps for the Dimensity 8000. Quad-channel LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage ensure ultra-fast data streams.

In 4Q21, NAND Flash bit shipments grew by only 3.3% QoQ, a significant decrease from the nearly 10% in 3Q21, according to TrendForce's investigations. ASP fell by nearly 5% and the overall industry posted revenue of US$18.5 billion, a QoQ decrease of 2.1%. This was primarily due to a decline in the purchase demand of various products and a market shift to oversupply causing a drop in contract prices. In 4Q21, with the exception of enterprise SSD, the supply of which was limited by insufficient upstream components, the prices of other NAND Flash products such as eMMC, UFS, and client SSD, all fell.

TrendForce's summary of NAND Flash market sales performance in 2021 is as follows: although there have been signs of weakening since 2H21, thanks to remote services and cloud demand driven by the pandemic, revenue performance still grew significantly compared to 2020. Revenue reached US$68.6 billion, up 21.1% YoY, the second-biggest increase since 2018.

From 2020 to 2025, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12-inch equivalent wafer capacity at the world's top ten foundries will be approximately 10% with the majority of these companies focusing on 12-inch capacity expansion, which will see a CAGR of approximately 13.2%, according to TrendForce's research. In terms of 8-inch wafers, due to factors such as difficult to obtain equipment and whether capacity expansion is cost-effective, most fabs can only expand production slightly by means of capacity optimization, equating to a CAGR of only 3.3%. In terms of demand, the products primarily derived from 8-inch wafers, PMIC and Power Discrete, are driven by demand for electric vehicles, 5G smartphones, and servers. Stocking momentum has not fallen off, resulting in a serious shortage of 8-inch wafer production capacity that has festered since 2H19. Therefore, in order to mitigate competition for 8-inch capacity, a trend of shifting certain products to 12-inch production has gradually emerged. However, if shortages in overall 8-inch capacity is to be effectively alleviated, it is still necessary to wait for a large number of mainstream products to migrate to 12-inch production. The timeframe for this migration is estimated to be close to 2H23 into 2024.

Exponential demand growth for remote and unmanned terminals in smart home, logistics, manufacturing and other end-user applications has driven iterative updates in Wi-Fi technology. Among the current generations of technologies, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) is mainstream while Wi-Fi 6 and 6E (802.11ax) are at promotional stages, according to TrendForce's investigations. In order to meet the connection requirements of industry concepts such as the Metaverse, many major manufacturers have trained their focus on the faster and more stable next generation 802.11be Wi-Fi standard amendment, commonly known as Wi-Fi 7. Considering technical characteristics, maturity, and product certification status, Wi-Fi 6 and 6E are expected to surpass Wi-Fi 5 to become mainstream technology in 2022, with global market share expected to reach 58%.

Worldwide semiconductor revenue increased 25.1% in 2021 to total $583.5 billion, crossing the $500 billion threshold for the first time, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

"As the global economy bounced back in 2021, shortages appeared throughout the semiconductor supply chain, particularly in the automotive industry," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "The resulting combination of strong demand as well as logistics and raw material price increases drove semiconductors' average selling price higher (ASP), contributing to overall revenue growth in 2021.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced its new premium mobile processor, the Exynos 2200. The Exynos 2200 is a freshly designed mobile processor with a powerful AMD RDNA 2 architecture based Samsung Xclipse graphics processing unit (GPU). With the most cutting-edge Arm -based CPU cores available in the market today and an upgraded neural processing unit (NPU), the Exynos 2200 will enable the ultimate mobile phone gaming experience, as well as enhancing the overall experience in social media apps and photography.

"Built on the most advanced 4-nanometer (nm) EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography) process, and combined with cutting-edge mobile, GPU, and NPU technology, Samsung has crafted the Exynos 2200 to provide the finest experience for smartphone users. With the Xclipse, our new mobile GPU built with RDNA 2 graphics technology from the industry leader AMD, the Exynos 2200 will redefine mobile gaming experience, aided by enhanced graphics and AI performance," said Yongin Park, President of System LSI Business at Samsung Electronics. "As well as bringing the best mobile experience to the users, Samsung will continue its efforts to lead the journey in logic chip innovation."

congatec - a leading vendor of embedded and edge computing technology - introduces the 12th Generation Intel Core mobile and desktop processors (formerly code named Alder Lake) on 10 new COM-HPC and COM Express Computer-on-Modules. Featuring the latest high performance cores from Intel, the new modules in COM-HPC Size A and C as well as COM Express Type 6 form factors offer major performance gains and improvements for the world of embedded and edge computing systems. Most impressive is the fact that engineers can now leverage Intel's innovative performance hybrid architecture. Offering of up to 14 cores/20 threads on BGA and 16 cores/24 threads on desktop variants (LGA mounted), 12th Gen Intel Core processors provide a quantum leap [1] in multitasking and scalability levels. Next-gen IoT and edge applications benefit from up to 6 or 8 (BGA/LGA) optimized Performance-cores (P-cores) plus up to 8 low power Efficient-cores (E-cores) and DDR5 memory support to accelerate multithreaded applications and execute background tasks more efficiently.

As the global vaccination rate rose, and border restrictions in Europe and North America eased, social activities also began to enter a period of recovery, with the consumer electronics market seemingly ready for the arrival of the traditional peak season in 2H21, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. At the same time, however, the global supply chain was affected by delays in maritime transport, skyrocketing shipping costs, and component shortages, in addition to already-prohibitive price hikes for certain components in 1H21. Given the parallel rise in both material and manufacturing costs, the market for end products has not undergone the expected cyclical upturn in 2H21. Even so, the overall demand for and shipment of smartphones, notebook computers, and monitors experienced QoQ increases in 3Q21, thereby driving up businesses for major OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) companies. For 3Q21, the revenues of the top 10 OSAT companies reached US$8.89 billion, a 31.6% YoY increase.

NETGEAR, Inc., the leading provider of award-winning connected products designed to simplify and improve people's lives, today introduced the first 5G Tri-band WiFi 6 mesh system for use in homes and businesses. The latest addition to the brand's high performance Orbi product line, the NETGEAR Orbi 5G WiFi 6 Mesh System (NBK752), provides high-speed 5G Internet, especially to those with limited or unreliable access to wired broadband services.

Today about 42 million Americans have no access to high speed wired Internet service. Many homes and home-based businesses in areas with limited or unreliable (DSL, satellite) access to Internet services may be using cell phone hotspots as the only way to connect to the Internet and share mobile broadband to all their devices. Modern households with dozens of smart devices need a more robust network than a hotspot can provide. Average LTE Internet speeds can be slow, especially during peak hours. For home-based businesses that depend on reliable Internet connectivity, limited broadband options can stifle productivity.

While the global electronics supply chain experienced a chip shortage, the corresponding shortage of foundry capacities also led various foundries to raise their quotes, resulting in an over 20% YoY increase in the total annual revenues of the top 10 foundries for both 2020 and 2021, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. The top 10 foundries' annual revenue for 2021 is now expected to surpass US$100 billion. As TSMC leads yet another round of price hikes across the industry, annual foundry revenue for 2022 will likely reach US$117.69 billion, a 13.3% YoY increase.

TrendForce indicates that the combined CAPEX of the top 10 foundries surpassed US$50 billion in 2021, a 43% YoY increase. As new fab constructions and equipment move-ins gradually conclude next year, their combined CAPEX for 2022 is expected to undergo a 15% YoY increase and fall within the US$50-60 billion range. In addition, now that TSMC has officially announced the establishment of a new fab in Japan, total foundry CAPEX will likely increase further next year. TrendForce expects the foundry industry's total 8-inch and 12-inch wafer capacities to increase by 6% YoY and 14% YoY next year, respectively.

Gigabyte, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, showcased a new concept 5G gaming PC, Project Cielo by AORUS. Combining 5G connectivity, modular design, and portability, Project Cielo, which stands for sky in Spanish, gives an intriguing depiction of the future of PC gaming with endless possibilities.

Project Cielo is a gaming PC with built-in 5G connectivity. Compared to the traditional wired or 4G wireless networks, 5G makes PC gaming on the go possible by offering greater bandwidth, ultra-low latency and near-instant access to cloud gaming. Project Cielo comes with an accommodating falcon-wing antenna that symbolizes AORUS. The design also cleverly integrates the 5G antenna into PC chassis. Players can save the expense of purchasing additional 5G antennas and the trouble of cable arrangement; at the same time they can enjoy the ultimate gaming experience on the go brought by 5G.

HTC VIVE today announced VIVE Flow, a compact, lightweight immersive glasses device that transports its wearers wherever they want or need to be - anytime, anywhere. "With VIVE Flow, HTC is taking technology in a new direction, focusing not on what we do, but on how we feel. Maintaining our wellness has come to the forefront in the last few years, with so many millions feeling stressed every day, so it has never been more important to take time out to calm our minds, and VIVE Flow provides the perfect opportunity to escape our four walls and immerse ourselves in our ideal ambience," said Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO of HTC. "Meditation, gentle stretches, brain training, streaming our favorite shows or even meeting friends or coworkers in VR with VIVE Sync can all be enhanced by a device light and compact enough to fit in our pocket. VIVE Flow represents the next evolution of technology, as we take a more holistic view of how we can make life better."

"Relaxation means different things to different people," said Nanea Reeves, CEO of leading XR wellness service TRIPP. "It's important to find your own version of zen, whether that means meditating, watching videos, or playing games. The fact that HTC gets it, that we can use VR in these ways that can benefit peoples' emotional and mental well-being is something that I personally am very excited about as is our entire team at TRIPP."

Marvell today announced the expansion of its industry-leading 5 nm data infrastructure platform with the launch of the industry's first 5 nm 50G PAM4 device for the carrier market, the Prestera DX 7321 Ethernet switch. The new switch builds on the success of the Prestera carrier-optimized portfolio and is ideal for 5G fronthaul and edge connectivity. In concert with this, Marvell's 5 nm OCTEON 10 DPU family, incorporating industry-leading hardware accelerators, is now sampling. By utilizing the industry's leading advanced process geometry, the Marvell Prestera switch and OCTEON DPU deliver 50% lower power than existing offerings, enabling new infrastructure solutions for next-generation carrier edge networks and RAN deployment models.

With the addition of the 5 nm Prestera device, the expanded carrier-optimized switch portfolio now comprises four cutting-edge Ethernet switches that scale port speeds from 1 Gbps to 400 Gbps with aggregate bandwidths ranging from 200 Gbps to 1.6 Tbps. The newest offering enhances Marvell's 5G solutions for Open RAN, vRAN and traditional RAN architectures, with Class D precision time protocol (PTP), which provides more timing headroom to enable larger cell coverage radius. The switch device incorporates integrated MACsec security and advanced telemetry to facilitate network visibility and automation.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today unveiled plans for continuous process technology migration to 3- and 2-nanometer (nm) based on the company's Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor structure at its 5th annual Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2021. With a theme of "Adding One More Dimension," the multi-day virtual event is expected to draw over 2,000 global customers and partners. At this year's event, Samsung will share its vision to bolster its leadership in the rapidly evolving foundry market by taking each respective part of foundry business to the next level: process technology, manufacturing operations, and foundry services.

"We will increase our overall production capacity and lead the most advanced technologies while taking silicon scaling a step further and continuing technological innovation by application," said Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. "Amid further digitalization prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our customers and partners will discover the limitless potential of silicon implementation for delivering the right technology at the right time."

There's no secret that Taiwan has been looking at expanding its chip production to other nations, with TSMC having agreed to build a plant in Arizona, while also discussing the subject with the EU. Now it looks like a deal is being worked out with India to build further chip plants there, although it's not clear who the intended manufacturer will be, as TSMC isn't mentioned in the report by Bloomberg.

However, the piece mentions 5G devices and components for electric cars, which suggests that it might not be a cutting edge node we're looking at here, but rather something a bit more conservative like 28 or 14 nm. India would make sense in many ways, but the obvious concern once again is water supply, although so far no exact location has been mentioned for the placement of the fab.

AAEON, an industry leader in embedded solutions, introduces the BOXER-6643-TGU compact industrial system. With rugged construction, the system delivers the performance and innovative technologies of the 11th Generation Intel Core U processors (formerly Tiger Lake) to applications in tough environments, providing wide operating temperature range and 5G support, to power embedded controller and Industrial IoT (IIoT) gateway applications.

The BOXER-6643-TGU is powered by the 11th Generation Intel Core U processors, delivering greater performance over previous generations, with innovative Intel technologies ensuring more accurate, secure data processing. With up to 64 GB of memory, the system allows users to utilize the full extent of the system's processing capabilities, and with the Intel Iris Xe embedded graphics, users can leverage more powerful GPU processing to power AI and Edge Computing industrial applications. With dual HDMI ports, the system can also support 4K high definition video on two monitors, perfect for powering digital signage.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that four of its System LSI products received product carbon footprint label certification from the Carbon Trust, the first of Samsung's logic chips to do so. Having received the semiconductor industry's first carbon footprint accreditation for memory chips from the Carbon Trust in 2019, Samsung has now broadened its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) spectrum with this global recognition of 'eco-friendly' logic chips. Samsung also grabbed the industry's first triple Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon, Water and Waste in June 2021.

The Carbon Trust is an independent and expert partner of organizations around the world that advises businesses on their opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world. The Carbon Trust also measures and certifies the environmental footprint of organizations, supply chains and products. Of the various certification categories of the Carbon Trust, Samsung's System LSI products received the CO2 Measured product carbon footprint label. The label certifies the chip's carbon footprint, which informs consumers of the impact that the product and its manufacturing process have on the environment. Receiving the CO₂ Measured label is a critical first step for carbon reduction, since it verifies the current carbon emissions of the product with globally recognized specifications (PAS 2050), which Samsung can use as a benchmark to measure future carbon reductions.

Despite the intensifying COVID-19 pandemic that swept Taiwan in 2Q21, the domestic OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) industry remained largely intact, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Global sales of large-sized TVs were brisk thanks to major sporting events such as the Tokyo Olympics and UEFA Euro 2020. Likewise, the proliferation of WFH and distance learning applications propelled the demand for IT products, while the automotive semiconductor and data center markets also showed upward trajectories. Taking into account the above factors, OSAT companies raised their quotes in response, resulting in a 26.4% YoY increase in the top 10 OSAT companies' revenue to US$7.88 billion for 2Q21.

TrendForce indicates that, in light of the ongoing global chip shortage and the growing production capacities of foundries/IDMs in the upstream semiconductor supply chain, OSAT companies gradually increased their CAPEX and expanded their fabs and equipment in order to meet the persistently growing client demand. However, the OSAT industry still faces an uncertain future in 2H21 due to the Delta variant's global surge and the health crisis taking place in Southeast Asia, home to a significant number of OSAT facilities.

The panic buying of chips persisted in 2Q21 owing to factors such as post-pandemic demand, industry-wide shift to 5G telecom technology, geopolitical tensions, and chronic chip shortages, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Chip demand from ODMs/OEMs remained high, as they were unable to meet shipment targets for various end-products due to the shortage of foundry capacities. In addition, wafers inputted in 1Q21 underwent a price hike and were subsequently outputted in 2Q21. Foundry revenue for the quarter reached US$24.407 billion, representing a 6.2% QoQ increase and yet another record high for the eighth consecutive quarter since 3Q19.

ASUS earlier today teased its upcoming premium home networking product, the ZenWiFi PRO router. Designed in a vertical, cuboidal body with an acrylic top that shows off its MU-MIMO antennas, the ZenWiFi PRO is designed to be space-saving on your desk, while not compromising on range or bandwidth. As an ASUS Zen product, it's likely to be high on the aesthetics, with its matte black body that resembles a skyscraper. The "penthouse" (if you can call it that), features the antennas resembling pillars, as well as an RGB-illuminated ASUS logo that probably serves other functions. The teaser already reveals that the router is designed for 6 GHz Wi-Fi 6E. It's also possible that ASUS throws in goodies such as 2.5 GbE wired LAN and WAN ports, USB 3.x type-C and type-A ports to plug in the next crop of 5G dongles, DAS, and much more. It also wouldn't surprise us if ASUS designs mesh repeaters with the same design scheme as optional accessories, or part of whole-home mesh kits.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today reported record revenue for the second quarter ended August 1, 2021, of $6.51 billion, up 68 percent from a year earlier and up 15 percent from the previous quarter, with record revenue from the company's Gaming, Data Center and Professional Visualization platforms. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.94, up 276 percent from a year ago and up 24 percent from the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.04, up 89 percent from a year ago and up 14 percent from the previous quarter.

"NVIDIA's pioneering work in accelerated computing continues to advance graphics, scientific computing and AI," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Enabled by the NVIDIA platform, developers are creating the most impactful technologies of our time - from natural language understanding and recommender systems, to autonomous vehicles and logistic centers, to digital biology and climate science, to metaverse worlds that obey the laws of physics.