GLOBALFOUNDRIES and the Chengdu municipality signed an amendment to their investment and cooperation agreement today. Based on market condition changes, GF's recently announced renewed focus on differentiated offerings, and discussions with potential clients, the partners have decided to bypass the original phase one investment in mainstream process technology (180/130nm). It is also agreed that the project timeline will be adapted to better align capacity to meet China-based demand for differentiated offerings including GF's industry leading 22FDX technology.

With more than $2 billion of design wins and more than 50 client designs, GF's 22FDX technology is demonstrating traction as the industry's leading platform for power-optimized chips across a broad range of high-growth applications such as automotive, 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT). GF's Chinese clients are beginning to adopt the technology at GF's advanced manufacturing site in Dresden, Germany, including seven customers and more than nine products in various stages of manufacturing ramp.

"We have a long-term relationship with GF and the 22FDX with its low power is very suitable for our various products, including AI and security," said Min Li, CEO of Rockchip. "Once we achieve the right level of readiness, we look forward to ramping our production closer to home in China."

Western Digital Corp. today expanded its portfolio of data storage devices purpose-built for the modern surveillance market, introducing three new offerings: the industry's first industrial-grade 3D NAND UFS embedded flash drive (EFD) for surveillance; an expanded WD Purple microSD card series to support up to 256 GB capacity; and Western Digital Device Analytics, the new device analytics technology enabling OEMs and system integrators to proactively manage their storage subsystems and maintain optimal operation.

The new devices and tools address the complex and dynamic data demands of a surveillance market in transformation, supporting the high performance, capacity and endurance required by networked and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled camera systems, as well as other smart video devices operating at the edge.

"As the adoption of higher resolution and AI-enabled cameras expands, and traditional centralized surveillance video systems become more distributed, fast and reliable storage with higher capacities are essential for enabling surveillance devices to capture, analyze and transform greater amounts of data, locally, and in real-time," said Oded Sagee, senior director, product marketing, Western Digital. "With the new devices and analytics capability introduced today, we are excited to enable the new era of smart video and AI-driven surveillance systems with the industry's most comprehensive offering for surveillance, from the edge to the core."

Intel today announced details on the expansion of its portfolio of 100G silicon photonics transceivers beyond the data center and into the network edge. At the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Rome, Intel unveiled specifics on new silicon photonics products that are optimized to accelerate the movement of massive amounts of data being generated by new 5G use cases and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The latest 100G silicon photonics transceivers are optimized to meet the bandwidth requirements of next-generation communications infrastructure while withstanding harsh environmental conditions.

"Our hyperscale cloud customers are currently using Intel's 100G silicon photonics transceivers to deliver high-performance data center infrastructure at scale. By extending this technology outside the data center and into 5G infrastructure at the edge of the network, we can provide the same benefits to communications service providers while supporting 5G fronthaul bandwidth needs," said Dr. Hong Hou, vice president and general manager of Intel's Silicon Photonics Product Division.

TP-Link , a leading global provider of consumer and business networking products, today announced the upcoming launch of the Archer C2700, a next level AC2600 Dual-Band WiFi Router that utilizes Intel technology to provide lightning-fast WiFi at speeds up to 1733 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and 800 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band.

As leaders in their respective industries of networking and computing, TP-Link worked closely with Intel to develop the Archer C2700, which is the first in a portfolio of TP-Link routers that will use Intel technology. "By relying on Intel's extensive processing expertise when building this router, we've managed to optimize the router signal so that multiple devices can receive a smooth uninterrupted signal without any loss of performance," said Louis Liu, CEO of TP-Link USA Corporation.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced an important step in its transformation, continuing the trajectory launched with the appointment of Tom Caulfield as CEO earlier this year. In line with the strategic direction Caulfield has articulated, GF is reshaping its technology portfolio to intensify its focus on delivering truly differentiated offerings for clients in high-growth markets.

GF is realigning its leading-edge FinFET roadmap to serve the next wave of clients that will adopt the technology in the coming years. The company will shift development resources to make its 14/12nm FinFET platform more relevant to these clients, delivering a range of innovative IP and features including RF, embedded memory, low power and more. To support this transition, GF is putting its 7nm FinFET program on hold indefinitely and restructuring its research and development teams to support its enhanced portfolio initiatives. This will require a workforce reduction, however a significant number of top technologists will be redeployed on 14/12nm FinFET derivatives and other differentiated offerings.

The SD Association announced today SD Express which adds the popular PCI Express and NVMe interfaces to the legacy SD interface. The PCIe interface delivering a 985 megabytes per second (MB/s) maximum data transfer rate and the NVMe upper layer protocol enables advanced memory access mechanism, enabling a new world of opportunities for the popular SD memory card. In addition, the maximum storage capacity in SD memory cards grows from 2 TB with SDXC to 128 TB with the new SD Ultra Capacity (SDUC) card. These innovations maintain the SDA's commitment to backward compatibility and are part of the new SD 7.0 specification.

"SD Express' use of popular PCIe and NVMe interfaces to deliver faster transfer speeds is a savvy choice since both protocols are widely used in the industry today and creates a compelling choice for devices of all types," said Mats Larsson, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource. "The SD Association has a robust ecosystem with a strong history of integrating SD innovations and has earned the trust of consumers around the world."

FSP, one of the world's leading manufacturers of power supplies, is pleased to announce an extensive range of products for the Computex 2018 show in Taipei, Taiwan, from June 5 to 9. In this event, FSP will be showing comprehensive power solutions, based on cooperation with many major brands, to cater for the new generation of 5G, blockchain and IoT products. For the highlight of the year, FSP has a full range of power supplies ready for the IEC/EN 62368 standards. The newly launched water cooling 850W PSU also offers a spectacular visual effect for gamers.

For today's power-hungry GPU, blockchain and cryptocurrency mining tasks, FSP's high wattage power supplies are ready with the reliability and efficiency required to support the demanding applications far into the future. FSP's outstanding features for this sector include simple GPU 12V output power, data center quality, PSUs for both ASICs and GPU, one to multiple output, 18pin and LED real-time signal to help users easily understand their device's power usage.

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Client Computing Limited announce the release of three new enterprise thin client models from three product series in the Fujitsu Thin Client FUTRO lineup. The new models will be steadily rolled out from the end of April in Japan. For its series of desktop-based systems, Fujitsu has added the FUTRO S740, an ultra-small model with an updated chassis design. In its notebook lineup, Fujitsu will offer the new FUTRO MU937 and the FUTRO MA576, which feature Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2016 LTSB, the latest OS. The Fujitsu Group remains committed to creating a secure working environment for customers with its security solutions and full lineup of devices, so users can select devices to suit various tasks and needs.

Global computer hardware manufacturer Logic Supply has unveiled their CL200 Ultra Small Form Factor computer (www.logicsupply.com/cl200), built to power innovation at the network's edge. Surrounded by an ultra-durable cast aluminum enclosure, and configurable with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G connectivity, the CL200 has been engineered to bring reliability to the Internet of Things.

"IoT and Edge projects require flexibility, connectivity and dependability," said Logic Supply Director of Engineering Michael Kleiner. "The CL200 is our smallest fanless system ever, and represents the next generation of IoT computing by combining connection flexibility and efficient performance in an affordable, highly-reliable platform."

Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended December 31, 2017:

• Revenue was $28.9 billion and increased 12%
• Operating income was $8.7 billion and increased 10%
• GAAP net loss was $(6.3) billion and non-GAAP net income was $7.5 billion
• GAAP diluted loss per share was $(0.82) and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.96
• GAAP results include a $13.8 billion net charge related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)

"This quarter's results speak to the differentiated value we are delivering to customers across our productivity solutions and as the hybrid cloud provider of choice," said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. "Our investments in IoT, data, and AI services across cloud and the edge position us to further accelerate growth."

D-Link this CES showed off its flagship 802.11ax Wi-Fi router, the DIR-X9000 (pictured below in silver), which meets the AX11000 standard (11 Gbps combined wireless throughput). The router takes in a 2.5 Gbps WAN port, has four downstream 1 GbE ports. Its wireless chops include 4x4 MU-MIMO over its eight antennae meeting 802.11ax specifications (dual-band plus MIMO and MU-MIMO). The company also showed off the DIR-6060 (pictured below, teal), with a combined wireless bandwidth of 6 Gbps.

Why would anyone need this much wireless bandwidth? The D-Link rep we spoke to said that D-Link understands that people don't upgrade their Wi-Fi routers for years, with a large population still on 801.11n (150-300 Mbps) routers, with the guiding logic being that Wi-Fi bandwidth being significantly higher than your Internet bandwidth comes with little benefit. The DIR-X9000 is a router you buy, install, and forget about for the greater part of a decade. It has sufficient bandwidth for multiple 4K UHD video streams flying around your house, while your appliances are increasingly IoT ready.

ASUS today announced Blue Cave, a stunningly designed high-performance AC2600 Wi-Fi router based on Intel's connected home technology that's built to meet the demanding needs of modern smart homes. Winner of a 2017 Computex Best Choice Golden Award, Blue Cave is an easy-to-use, innovatively designed router with stylish good looks and family-friendly features. It's built to cope easily with the increasingly complex and bandwidth-heavy demands of smart home networks, offering superb multi-device performance powered by the Intel Home Wi-Fi chipset, comprehensive commercial-grade security with ASUS AiProtection, and out-of-the-box IoT integration with Amazon Alexa and IFTTT.

"Combining years of ASUS experience in wireless innovation and Intel's connected home technology, Blue Cave delivers ultrafast Wi-Fi speeds throughout the home," said Tenlong Deng, General Manager, ASUS Networking and Wireless Devices Business Unit. "Not only powerful, its eye-catching design with no external antennas blends perfectly with any décor."

SolidRun, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance embedded solutions, and edge computing platforms, today announced support for the public beta of Google Cloud IoT Core, a fully managed service on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to securely connect and manage IoT devices at scale. Cloud IoT Core is now publicly available to all users in beta, including new features and pricing plan. With Cloud IoT Core, businesses can easily connect and centrally manage millions of globally dispersed IoT devices. When used as part of the broader Google Cloud IoT solution, it can ingest all IoT data and connect to Google Cloud's state of the art analytics services including Cloud Pub/Sub, Dataflow, Bigtable, BigQuery, and Machine Learning.

The MACCHIATObin ClearCloud 8K, is based on a Marvell ARMADA A8040 SoC, and features a quad core Arm Cortex A-72 1.6GHz processor, including 4GB DDR4 DIMM memory (16GB optional), dual 10GbE, microSD connectors, 3 x SATA 3.0, USB 3.0 and PCIe x4 3.0 slot. SolidRun's MACCHIATObin ClearCloud 8K with Google's Cloud IoT Core allows users to easily and securely connect to GCP. The solution has been developed in collaboration with Sartura Ltd., a leading specialized open source developer and integrator for embedded applications, in conjunction with Marvell.

Energous Corporation, the developer of WattUp, a revolutionary wire-free, power-at-a-distance charging technology, today announced Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification of its first-generation WattUp Mid Field transmitter, which sends focused, RF-based power to devices at a distance. As the first FCC certification for power-at-a-distance wireless charging under Part 18 of the FCC's rules, this development represents a new era of wireless charging, and opens up a tremendous opportunity for the electronics industry.

Energous' WattUp Mid Field transmitter underwent rigorous, multi-month testing to verify it met consumer safety and regulatory requirements. As the first Part 18 FCC approved power-at-a-distance wireless charging transmitter, the certification marks a significant milestone for the consumer electronics industry and paves the way for future wireless charging ubiquity for nearly any small electronic device, including smartphones, tablets, fitness trackers, smart watches, earbuds, wireless keyboards and mice, smart speakers and more.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today announced Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) 1.3 certification for the Samsung ARTIK 05x series of modules, the first system-on-module family to be certified using new OCF standards for trust and connectivity for IoT. With the ARTIK 05x series, companies can quickly build Wi-Fi enabled edge products that meet OCF standards for interoperability, and take advantage of the ARTIK platform's built-in hardware and software solutions to ensure reliability, safety and privacy for connected products.

The OCF certification program ensures companies can create products that work seamlessly with other OCF certified IoT devices regardless of their form factor, operating system or service providers. OCF 1.3 certification assures interoperability with OCF specific testing and certification, improving time-to-market, and enhancing the customer experience.

Toshiba Corporation, Toshiba Memory Corporation, and Western Digital Corporation have entered into a global settlement agreement to resolve their ongoing disputes in litigation and arbitration, strengthen and extend their relationship, and enhance the mutual commitment to their ongoing flash memory collaboration.

As part of this agreement, TMC and Western Digital will participate jointly in future rounds of investment in Fab 6, the state-of-the-art memory fabrication facility now under construction at Yokkaichi, including the upcoming investment round announced by Toshiba in October 2017. Fab 6 will be entirely devoted to the mass production of BiCS FLASH, the next-generation of 3D flash memory, starting next year. TMC and Western Digital similarly intend to enter into definitive agreements in due course under which Western Digital will participate in the new flash wafer fabrication facility which will be constructed in Iwate, Japan.

The parties will strengthen their flash memory collaboration by extending the terms of their joint ventures. Flash Alliance will be extended to December 31, 2029 and Flash Forward to December 31, 2027. Flash Partners was previously extended to December 31, 2029.

Axiomtek, one of the world's leading design and manufacturing companies of innovative, high performance and reliable PC-based industrial computer products, is proud to announce the launch of the eBOX560-512-FL, an embedded system powered by Intel Core i5-7300U or Celeron 3965U processors. The ultra-compact computer is packed with features in its small IP40 aluminum and steel enclosure. It offers scalable computing performance; rich graphical capabilities that support dual independent display of up to 4K resolution; flexible communication options; and thoughtful design that offers versatility and values for Industrial Internet of Things use. The system is made for smart factory automation, digital signage and smart retail applications or any applications that require a good balance of a high performance industrial-grade computer and a good price point - with space-serving design and rich features.

The eBOX560-512-FL comes with many communications options such as four USB 3.0 ports, two RS-232/422/485 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one PCI Express Mini Card slot and two antenna. This tiny embedded PC offers two HDMI ports, a lockable 12 VDC power input with power protection feature and a user-friendly AT/ATX DIP switch for adjustments between automatic and manual operation control. The eBOX560-512-FL has 2.5" SATA HDD and one mSATA for data storage, and one 260-pin DDR4-2133 SO-DIMM socket with up to 16 GB system memory. It is compatible with Windows 10 IoT and supports Axiomtek's exclusive AXView 2.0 software for smart device monitoring and remote management for IoT applications. For flexible mounting options, this fanless rugged embedded platform is compatible with a wall mount, a VESA mount and a DIN-rail mount.

VIA Technologies, Inc., today announced the launch of the VIA ARTiGO A630, an ultra-slim fanless gateway system with flexible customization options for a broad spectrum of commercial M2M and IoT applications. Featuring a high-performance 1.0GHz VIA Cortex-A9 dual-core SoC, multiple network connectivity options, and a rich combination of I/O, the VIA ARTiGO A630 adds a cost-effective solution to the growing range of VIA Enterprise IoT gateway devices designed to manage the connection and control for a wide spectrum of connected HMI and automation applications.

"The VIA ARTiGO A630 bolsters our already diverse range of ARTiGO Series M2M and IoT gateway systems," said Richard Brown, VP International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Providing a rich mix of connectivity and performance in an ultra-compact design that can be rapidly customized, will help customers speed time-to-market and unlock the full potential of their IoT deployments."

QNAP today launched the all-new QBoat Sunny, a small and powerful single-board Internet of Things (IoT) mini server for IoT developers. QBoat Sunny can connect to versatile IoT development boards, devices and applications, and be used as a server for small-scale/private IoT applications, or a fog computing node/gateway in large-scale/public IoT environments. The high-performance QBoat Sunny can save significant bandwidth fees and cloud computing costs for developers, and integrate into various usage scenarios.

QBoat Sunny provides unprecedented processing and storage performance with its Annapurna Labs AL-314 processor, 2 GB RAM and two M.2 SATA SSD slots (2260 and 2280 lengths). In addition, QBoat Sunny is equipped with three 1000BASE-T ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type A ports, and a M.2 slot for wireless module installation (2230 length). QBoat Sunny utilizes QTS Lite, a lightweight version of QNAP's award-winning QTS operating system. QTS Lite not only preserves core functionality of QTS (including File Station, Storage Manager, Network & Virtual Switch and App Center) but also provides Container Station and QIoT Suite Lite for IoT developers. QBoat Sunny offers great hardware/software performance and expandability for building versatile IoT scenarios to streamline development and make IoT more accessible and fun for everyone.

Today TDK Corporation (President: Shigenao Ishiguro) announced the gradual launch of SD Memory cards (MMRD4 series) and microSD Memory cards (MURD4 series) from January 2018. Both series support UHS-I for industrial application. The rapid progression of IoT has increased demand for smaller SD/microSD Memory cards with low power consumption for the storage of sensor information. However, as SD/microSD Memory cards for general use adopt TLC and MLC type flash memory to reduce costs, they are largely unsuitable for industrial application in terms of durability and reliability.

The MMRD4 and MURD4 series consist of highly reliable SD/microSD Memory cards equipped with very durable SLC/pSLC flash memory as well as the newly developed SD controller, TDK GBDriverRD4. In addition to data retention capacity and durability, the cards feature robust data security in the event of power interruption, ensuring safe usage in IoT devices that are often turned off to conserve power.

Compulab announces immediate availability of fitlet2. Based on Intel Atom x7-E3950 Processor (Apollo-Lake) with up to 16 GB RAM and storage options ranging from eMMC to 2.5" SSD, fitlet2 is one of the most versatile miniature PCs for IoT. fitlet2 functionality can be further extended with Compulab 2nd generation Function and Connectivity Extension T-Cards (FACET Cards). Like all other Compulab mini-PCs, fitlet2 is completely fanless, available at wide temperature range and is sold with 5 year warranty.

Miniature fanless design
fitlet2 measures only 112 mm by 84 mm, making it one of the smallest full-featured PCs on the market. An all-metal die-cast housing is used for fanless passive heat dissipation. There are several optional versions of the housing including low-profile 25mm and an industrial top cover for direct-mounting.