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For the past few years, many manufacturers have been constrained by the shortage of passive components, particularly multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). Over the past year the supply has eased while demand is slightly down, reducing the pressure on manufacturers. In 2018 GoPro expected to manufacture 5 million units of their flagship action camera. In fact they manufactured 4.2 million. Was there less demand than expected? No, they ran into a classic supply chain problem - the demand for a key component, a multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) exceeded supply. Although an MLCC is a tiny component, it is a critical one...

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Global expenditure on new manufacturing sites and equipment for semiconductors is expected to attain $50 billion by 2020, with firms in China and Taiwan set to recover from a slump that started in late 2018. The projections, provided by US-based SEMI, an industry group representing the electronics manufacturing supply chain, show a 32% increase from the projected total for 2019. It sees 18 projects entering into construction in 2020, rising from 15 this year, although work may be delayed in the wake of a cooling economy and the ongoing US-China trade war. The forecast demonstrates how China is rapidly becoming...

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XC3S4000-5FG676C manufactured by Xilinx Inc is part of the Spartan®-3 family of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, specifically designed to meet the needs of high volume, cost-sensitive consumer electronic applications. The eight-member family offers densities ranging from 50,000 to 5,000,000 system gates. The Spartan-3 family builds on the success of the earlier Spartan-IIE family by increasing the amount of logic resources, the capacity of internal RAM, the total number of I/Os, and the overall level of performance as well as by improving clock management functions. Numerous enhancements derive from the Virtex®-II platform technology. These Spartan-3 FPGA enhancements, combined with advanced process technology,...

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South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics has started using domestically produced hydrogen fluoride, also known as etching gas, in its chipmaking process on a trial basis, with a view to becoming less dependent on Japanese suppliers in the wake of Japanese export curbs. Hydrogen Fluoride is among three chemicals currently restricted under Japan's fresh export regulations. Experts believe that Japan is enforcing the new rules in response to South Korean court rulings ordering compensation for forced Korean labour during World War II. According to industry sources, Samsung made the move on one line in late August, as South Korea ups...

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is featuring more and more in our lives, and the numbers back this up. According to a new report from Allied Market Research, the global AI chip market was valued at $6.64bn last year, and is expected to reach $91.18bn by 2025 with a robust CAGR of 45.2%. Rising demand for smart homes and smart cities, a surge of investment into AI chip start-ups, and the advent of quantum computing, have all contributed to the latest growth surge. Despite this, progress is hampered by a lack of qualified workers. However, rapid adoption of AI chips in developing...