Packaging approaches like chiplet tech can extend Moore’s Law. But what does that mean for chip design product developers and fabs?
By John Blyler – Moore’s Law may not be dead, but it certainly has been challenged significantly beyond the 28nm process node. Fortunately, there are ways to extend Moore’s Law’s cost, feature, and size benefits. One way is to use chiplets – or modular dies – that effectively bypass Moore’s Law by replacing single silicon die with multiple smaller dies that work together in a unified packaged solution.
This approach provides much more silicon to add transistors compared to a monolithic microchip. As a result, chiplets are expected to return to the two-year doubling cycle that has been the cornerstone economics of the semiconductor business since 1965.
The global market for processor microchips that utilize chiplets in their manufacturing process is set to expand to $5.8 billion in 2024, rising by a factor of nine from $645 million in 2018, according to Omdia. (Image Source: IEDM 2017, AMD Dr. Lisa Su keynote) more>
By Chris Daehnick and Jess Harrington – The space industry saw record-breaking growth in 2020 as investors, undeterred by the COVID-19 pandemic, poured almost $9 billion into private companies. While some of these businesses are simply providing parts and services to government agencies like NASA, others want to venture into space with their own crew and rockets. One ambitious goal, which several companies are now pursuing, involves space tourism for any private citizen willing to pay a hefty fee.
By Brian Wallheimer – Inflation chatter started heating up this spring, along with inflation itself. In April 2021, the US Consumer Price Index, which measures how fast prices change, rose at a 4.2 percent annual rate, more than double the usual target rate. Then in May, the inflation rate soared to 5 percent. With the worst of the pandemic seemingly easing, US consumers were apparently venturing out again and spending at a fast clip.
By Lisa Shalett – Major U.S. stock indices charged higher in August, regularly setting new highs, but more out of “climbing the wall of worry”—as in, the market’s tendency to move up even against a host of negative factors—than based on any economic or profit fundamentals.
By Sven Heiligtag, Katsuhiro Sato, Benjamin Sauer, and Koji Toyama – With the passage in late 2019 of a law that allows offshore turbines to operate for 30 years, Japan has begun in earnest its journey away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
By Jag Bhalla – DID GREED JUST save the day? That’s what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed recently. “The reason we have the vaccine success,” he said in a private call to Conservative members of Parliament, “is because of capitalism, 
By Tim O’Reilly – At one point early this year, Elon Musk briefly became the richest person in the world. After a 750% increase in Tesla’s stock market value added over $180 billion to his fortune, he briefly 
By Christopher Snowdon – Today sees the publication of the Nanny State Index, now in its fourth edition. Launched in 2016, it looks at the over-regulation of food, soft drinks, vaping, tobacco and alcohol in thirty European countries. Since the last edition was published in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has led governments around the world to impose coercive controls on an almost unprecedented scale.
By Michael Maiello – In theory, sovereign debt can be a healthy part of a growing economy. Governments can borrow from creditors to fund trade deficits, importing goods from other countries so their citizens can buy the products and enjoy the benefits.
By Brian Dinneen, Christine Johnson, and Alex Liu – You cannot judge a deal by the market’s response to its announcement. Neither can you predict its success based on investor reaction at closing. It is only after the first 12 to 18 months of integration and after companies have reported the performance of their first year that the markets can reliably predict the success of the deal.
