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A strong Intel is what the tech industry needs right now
Intel can now show that it has a plan. It hasn’t chosen the easiest route, but it’s one that, if executed properly, can lead it back to the top. And its vision will most likely be welcomed — let’s hope it can actually follow through.
Intel is officially slowing down the pace of CPU releases
To make consumers crave its next generation of CPUs, Intel has produced chips on a yearly tick-tock cycle for the last decade. Thanks to the shrinking die sizes, that process may permanently become a three-step, according to financial documents spotted by Motley Fool. The company has already had significant issues going from 22- to 14-nanometers, and it extended the latter to a third generation with "Kaby Lake" chips. That was the first break from tick-tock, but Intel has now confirmed that the longer rhythm, which it calls "process, architecture, optimization (PAO)" will continue for its upcoming 10-nanometer chips.
ARM and Globalfoundries hammer out deal to promote 20nm mobile chips
Sure it's British, but ARM's mobile empire is being built through careful alliances rather than conquest. The chip designer's latest deal with Globalfoundries, which mirrors a very similar agreement signed with rival foundry TSMC last month, is a case in point. It's designed to promote the adoption of fast, energy-efficient 20nm processors by making it easy for chip makers (like Samsung, perhaps) to knock on Globalfoundries' door for the grunt work of actually fabricating the silicon -- since the foundry will now be prepped to produce precisely that type of chip. As far as the regular gadget buyer is concerned, all this politicking amounts to one thing: further reassurance that mobile processor shrinkage isn't going to peter out after the new 32nm Exynos chips or the 28nm Snapdragon S4 -- it's going to push on past the 22nm benchmark that Ivy Bridge already established in the desktop sphere and hopefully deliver phones and tablets that do more with less juice.
Intel to buy 15 percent of silicon fab equipment maker ASML, wants manufacturing machines made faster
Chipzilla didn't get its position as the king of semiconductors by twiddling its thumbs, folks. It became a Valley behemoth by delivering us faster and better silicon, and its latest $4.1 billion purchase -- a 15 percent stake in silicon manufacturing equipment maker ASML Holding NV -- should help keep Intel atop the CPU heap. You see, Intel's in the process of retooling its chip manufacturing process to use bigger diameter silicon wafers, which'll make those Ivy Bridge, ValleyView and other future chips cheaper for all of us. Such retooling can take years to implement, which is likely why Intel was willing to plunk down so much cash to ensure nothing futzes with its manufacturing timetable. The company's investment will presumably give it the clout to get ASML's crucial lithography equipment on the fast track to completion. Hop to it, fellas, we want our CPUs at bargain-basement prices, and we want them now.
AMD Radeon HD 7970 could get 'GHz Edition', put the hurtz on NVIDIA
AMD's Radeon HD 7770 and 7870 reference cards already sport 1GHz clock speeds, but so far the high-end flagship 7970 has been stuck at 925MHz. That'd be no big deal, perhaps, were it not for rival NVIDIA's benchmark-stealing GeForce GTX 680, which autonomously adjusts its clock speed on the fly and easily hits 1.2GHz under the right conditions. But while NVIDIA has yet to roll out its full stack of 28nm cards, AMD is finding plenty of time to play catch-up. According to Australian site Atomic MPC, the company has revealed that the manufacturing process of its next-gen GPUs has improved to the point where the same average voltages can yield much higher clock speeds. Recent chips can reach 1.25GHz without struggling, which means a conservative "GHz Edition" of the 7970 can now safely be rolled out, of course with scope for much higher overclocking on third-party boards with more robust coolers. By the time the battle between Red and Green reaches full-swing, it might not be so easy to call a winner.
Marketplace reporter visits Foxconn factory in China
Marketplace's China correspondent Rob Schmitz is known as the man who uncovered the falsehoods about Foxconn factory conditions being told by Mike Daisey in his play, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. As a follow-up to the report, Schmitz got an inside look at a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen. You can watch his teaser video and visit Marketplace's website for additional details about his visit.
Foxconn won't sue This American Life, Daisey
Late last week, radio show This American Life retracted an episode published in January that showcased Mike Daisey's performance of The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (our review). The show was removed when TAL discovered inaccuracies in Daisey's account, one of which suggested Daisey himself met with workers who were poisoned by n-hexane. A report from Reuters confirms Foxconn will not sue This American Life or Daisey, even though these bogus claims were hurtful to the company. Foxconn spokesperson Simon Hsing told Reuters, "Our corporate image has been totally ruined. The point is whatever media that cited the programme should not have reported it without confirming (with us)." He added, "We have no plans to take legal action... We hope nothing similar will happen again."
Whoopsie Daisey: This American Life episode on Foxconn's iPad factories 'partially fabricated,' retracted
Last month, we reviewed Mike Daisey's "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs", a monologue in which the storyteller opines on his trip to China and his time with workers in a Foxconn iPad plant. Daisey's story was the basis of an episode of PRI's "This American Life," and now the show has retracted that episode when additional fact-checking revealed that a number of Daisey's claims were fabricated. This American Life host Ira Glass was understandably upset, saying that "Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast. That doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake." You can read the show's full transcript here. Daisey isn't as quite as repentant, claiming that his work was "not journalism" and therefore "operates under a different set of rules and expectations" from a journalistic endeavor like This American Life. This American Life noted two of the worst fabrications in Daisey's monologue -- first, where he claimed to have met a group of Foxconn employees who were poisoned by n-hexane in Shenzhen, China. Apple's factory audits have uncovered a similar occurrence, but it happened over a thousand miles away in Suzhou. The second, and much more egregious, fabrication was about one of the most dramatic sections of Daisey's work. In this section, Daisey talks about meeting a factory worker whose hand was mangled on an iPad production line, and showing the worker a finished product that he had allegedly never seen. The interpreter who accompanied Daisey told a fact checker that she never witnessed anything like that encounter. You can read Daisey's response to the retraction of the show here.
IBM and 3M join forces to fab 3D microchips, create mini-silicon skyscraper valley
3D hype is fast wearing out its welcome, but there's at least one area of industry where the buzzed about term could usher in true innovation. Announced today as a joint research project, IBM and 3M will work towards the creation of a new breed of microprocessors. Unlike similar three-dimensional semiconductor efforts by Intel, the two newly partnered outfits plan to stack up to 100 layers of chips atop one another resulting in a microchip "brick." Under the agreement, IBM will contribute its expertise on packaging the new processors, while 3M will get to work developing an adhesive that can not only be applied in batches, but'll also allow for heat transfer without crippling logic circuitry. If the companies' boasts are to be believed, these powerhouse computing towers would cram memory and networking into a "computer chip 1,000 times faster than today's fastest microprocessor enabling more powerful smartphones, tablets, computers and gaming devices." That's a heady claim for a tech that doesn't yet exist, but is already taking swings at current faux 3D transistors. Official presser and video await you after the break.
Sony eyes electric car future, wants to soon sell you Li-ion batteries
Sony must be smelling dolla dolla bills in the EV-charged streets because the company just announced its intentions to fab lithium-ion batteries for the cars mid-decade. The statement, made from its plant in Motomiya, hinges on a future market flush with consumer demand for the earth-friendly autos, and could see the construction of several dedicated factories. Given the Japanese company's recent history eating bits of competitor dust (hello Wii and iPod), we understand its forward-facing desire to become king of this Li-ion hill. But the mega-electronics maker isn't placing all of its batteries in one fuel-source just yet -- it's "also [considering] developing batteries for gasoline-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids" -- should they win the green energy popularity contest. While we applaud the company for encouraging adoption of the environmentally-friendlier tech, we'd much rather see them make batteries for this bad boy from tomorrowland.
MakerBot's Interface Board Kit does PC-less 3D printing, turns your superhero fantasies into reality
If you're like us -- that is to say, wildly popular and devastatingly good looking -- then you're probably wondering why someone hasn't produced an action figure in your likeness yet. Well wonder no longer, for the folks over at MakerBot just announced yet another handy tool to make at home 3D printing even easier. An addition to the aptly titled Thing-O-Matic, the Gen 4 Interface Board Kit v1.1 is billed as a DIY interface that lets you operate your thingy printer without having to attach it to a PC. The kit comes equipped with an SD card slot for easy independent operation, and because the board's fully hackable, you can use it to control your robots or homebrew CNC devices, too. It sports nine programmable buttons and an LCD screen for feedback, and allows you to set and read temperatures, view build progress, or start a new project stored on the SD card. So what are you waiting for? Your self-aggrandizing bobblehead isn't going to make itself.
Samsung starts baking 30nm 4Gb LPDDR2 chips, packaging 2GB mobile RAM in April
When it comes to mobile RAM, capacity is often what pops to mind first while we overlook speed and power consumption, but Samsung's latest delivery is worth the extra attention. Earlier this month, said Korean giant started producing 30nm 4Gb 1066Mbps LPDDR2 (or simply Mobile DDR2) chips, in order to phase out its 40nm ones that topped 2Gb at a 800Mbps transmission rate. To put it in perspective, a 40nm 1GB package consists of four 2Gb chips, whereas the new 30nm one will only need two 4Gb chips, thus reducing the package thickness by 20 percent (down to 0.8mm) and power consumption by 25 percent. It's hard to tell when we'll start seeing these bits of silicon entering the consumer market, but Samsung's already stamping out 1GB modules this month, with a 2GB version to follow next month. Oh yes, we're definitely liking the sound of 2GB RAM for mobile phones.
Intel to spend $5 billion on new 14nm fab in Arizona, create 4,000 new jobs this year
When Paul Otellini isn't too busy talking about being jilted by Nokia, he spends his time hosting presidents and splashing billions of dollars on new manufacturing facilities. Intel's CEO is wrapping his tumultuous week on a high note, having welcomed Barack Obama to Chipzilla's Oregon facility and treated the president to the happy news that Intel will invest $5 billion back into the US economy by building its most advanced fab yet -- which will introduce an impossibly small 14nm production process -- in Arizona, to begin operation in 2013. Construction starts in the middle of this year and is expected to create "thousands" of jobs, both temporary and permanent. Aside from that, Otellini has disclosed Intel's intention to create 4,000 new jobs in the US, mostly in R&D and product development. Music to Obama's ears, we're sure.
Sony buying back Cell chip fabrication facilities from Toshiba, it's official
It's official. Sony and Toshiba just issued a press release saying that the two companies have signed a binding memorandum of understanding to transfer Tosh's fabrication facilities, operated by Nagasaki Semiconductor Manufacturing, back to Sony. A deal that is rumored to cost Sony some 50 billion yen (about $835 million) -- a bargain considering that Sony sold the facilities that manufacture the Cell Broadband Engine, RSX graphics engine, and other SoCs to Toshiba for 90 billion Yen back in 2008. Unfortunately, Sony's being coy about its plans for the new facilities. The two hope to complete the transfer sometime in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012.
Intel announces plans to spend up to $8 billion on U.S. factory upgrades
Apple and Google may be sitting on their piles of cash, but Intel sure is dipping into its reserves in a big way these days -- the company has just announced that it's following up its nearly $8 billion acquisition of McAfee with a multi-billion dollar investment in upgrades to its factories in Arizona and Oregon. That investment will total between $6 billion and $8 billion, and include the development of an entirely new fabrication plant in Oregon, in addition to upgrades at the two existing facilities that will allow Intel to move forward with its 22-nanometer manufacturing process. As you can no doubt guess, the investment will also be quite a boon to both areas -- Intel says that the upgrades, which will take place over "several years," will create as many as 8,000 construction jobs and between 800 and 1,000 permanent jobs at the facilities. Head on past the break for the full press release.
MakerBot launches Thing-O-Matic 3D printer with greater automation, no 'wires dangling everywhere'
3D fabrication is getting closer and closer to the desktop of the everyman, and MakerBot's latest looks to be one of the most democratizing yet. It's called the Thing-O-Matic, an appropriate name given that it produces things and does so automatically. It's built around version 2.0 of the Automated Build Platform, enabling the endless creation of widget after whatsit, spitting results out the front before moving on to the next with no manual intervention required. The device connects via USB, like any self-respecting printer these days, and can be yours for a mere $1,225.
TSMC begins construction of new $9.3b foundry, wants to sate our constant hunger for chips
TSMC might not necessarily be a household name, but the product of its labors tends to be all over home electronics. Aiming to keep that trend going, the Taiwanese chipmaker has just broken ground on its third 300mm wafer plant, located in Taichung's Central Taiwan Science Park. The new Fab 15 will have a capacity of over 100,000 wafers per month -- earning it the prestige of being described as a Gigafab -- and once operational it'll create 8,000 new skilled jobs in the area. Semiconductors built there will also be suitably modern, with 40nm and 28nm production facilities being installed, and lest you worry about such trivial things as the environment, TSMC says it's doing a few things to minimize the foundry's energy usage and greenhouse gas emission. Then again, if you're going to spend nearly $10 billion on something, would you expect anything less?
Print your own circuit boards with an Inkjet (and a modicum of skill)
Remember yesterday, when one illustrious modder whipped up a head-mounted computer that featured a printed circuit board of his own design? The fabrication method he used was called direct-to-PCB Inkjet printing. An economical (if laborious) alternative to professional production, the process includes: designing your circuit, printing it out on a transparency, flickin' on some lightbulbs, washing things out in abrasive chemicals, and waving a magic wand. While it's not for the timid (nor simple enough to go through in great detail here) the kids over at Instructables have been kind enough to put together and post one of their award-winning step-by-step guides on this very subject. So, what are you waiting for? Hit the read link and get to work.
New fabrication technique uses amorphous metals for building computer chips and killing machines
Sure, the march toward the ridiculous in the nanometer scale has continued unabated, but silicon can (probably) take us only so far. Some scientist types at Yale have developed a new fabrication process using bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), which are "amorphous metals" that can avoid crystalizing when cooled in a specific way. The upshot is that the metal -- while seeming solid -- acts as a slow-flowing liquid, with no structure beyond the atomic level. The BMGs can therefore replace several steps in the chip-stamping process, since they're more durable than silicon, but are more pliable than normal metals. Right now the folks at Yale are making patterns as small as 13nm, with better processes to come.[Via Physorg]
Intel fires up Penryn production at new Arizona facility
We don't proclaim to be experts in chip making or anything, but it seems like everything at Intel's new Fab 32 production facility in Chandler, Arizona better function mighty smoothly in order to meet that November 12th street date the firm is still holding to. Yep, today marks the day that Intel starts production on its highly-anticipated Penryn at a $3 billion factory, which is being hailed as the company's "first plant dedicated to churning out 45-nanometer microprocessors." 'Course, Intel's only got six days left if it plans on being the first company to crank out the goods before ole Panasonic steals the thunder, and you can bet we'll be waiting in tense anticipation.[Via Reuters / Yahoo]
