U.S. strikes at a Huawei prize: chip juggernaut HiSilicon - Yahoo News

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U.S. strikes at a Huawei prize: chip juggernaut HiSilicon – Yahoo News

Published

4 years ago

May 21, 2020

Harry Miller

FILE PHOTO: The U.S. flag and a smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo are seen on a PC motherboard in this illustratio

By Josh Horwitz

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The latest U.S. government action against China’s Huawei takes direct aim the company’s HiSilicon chip division–a business that in a few short years has become central to China’s ambitions in semiconductor technology but will now lose access to tools that are central to its success.

That could make it the most damaging U.S. attack yet against a Chinese company that U.S. officials told reporters Wednesday functioned as a “tool of strategic influence” for the Chinese Communist Party. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for its part denounced the U.S. allegations and called the new measures “arbitrary and pernicious.”

Established in 2004, HiSilicon develops chips mostly for Huawei, and for most of its existence has been an afterthought in a global chip business dominated by U.S., Korean and Japanese companies. Like most electronics firms, Huawei relied on others for the chips that powered its equipment.

But heavy investment in research and development helped drive rapid progress at HiSilicon, and in recent years the 7,000-employee unit has been central to Huawei’s rise as a dominant player in the global smartphone business and the emerging 5G telecom networking business.

HiSilicon’s Kirin smartphone processor is now considered to be on par with those created by Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and Qualcomm Inc <QCOM.O> –a rare example of an advanced Chinese semiconductor product that competes globally.

HiSilicon is also central to Huawei’s leadership in 5G, stepping into the breach when the United States cut off access to some U.S. chips last year.

In March, Huawei revealed that 8% of the 50,000 5G base stations it sold in 2019 came with no U.S. technology, using HiSilicon chipsets instead.

But the U.S. export control rule, first reported by Reuters last week, aims to block HiSilicon’s access to two crucial tools: chip design software from U.S. firms including Cadence Design Systems Inc <CDNS.O> and Synopsys Inc <SNPS.O>, and the manufacturing prowess of “foundries,” led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd <2330.TW>, that build chips for many of the world’s top semiconductor firms.

With the new restrictions，HiSilicon “will be in a situation where they’re not able to manufacture chips at all, or if they do, then they’re not leading edge anymore,” says Stewart Randall, who tracks China’s chip industry at Shanghai-based consultancy Intralink.

Without its own processors, Huawei will lose its edge over domestic smartphone rivals, analysts said. International sales had already been gutted by a ban on the use of key Google software.

Industry sources say Huawei has stockpiled chips, and the new U.S. rule will not go into full force for 120 days. U.S. officials also note that licenses could be granted for some technologies. HiSilicon can also keep using design software it has already acquired.

HILSILICON IN TOUGH SPOT

Still, analysts agree HiSilicon is in a tough spot. Nearly all chip factories globally — including China’s leading foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp <0981.HK> — buy gear from the same equipment makers, led by U.S. firms Applied Materials Inc <AMAT.O>, Lam Research Corp <LRCX.O> and KLA Corp <KLAC.O>.

The new U.S. rule requires licenses for companies using U.S. machinery to build Huawei-designed chips and delivered to the Chinese firm. To be sure, the new rule will not catch items shipped to a third party, allowing HiSilicon’s fabricators like TSMC the ability to ship chips to HiSilicon’s device manufacturers who can send them directly to a customer.

While there are alternatives to American machines – Japan’s Tokyo Electron Ltd <8035.T>, for example, makes gear that competes with Applied Materials – replacing U.S. technology is not as simple as swapping out a machine.

“You almost have to think about it like a heart transplant,” said VLSI Research Chief Executive Dan Hutcheson, noting that chip production lines are finely calibrated systems where everything has to work well together.

Doug Fuller of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said Huawei had a few options. It could slip around the rule by having suppliers ship directly to Huawei customers, though the U.S. officials said they would be vigilant about such workarounds.

Huawei and the Chinese government could re-double efforts to build production capabilities that did not require U.S. tools, by investing in nascent Chinese competitors and buying from Japanese and Korean firms, even if that required quality sacrifices.

Or Huawei could turn away from HiSilicon and revert to buying from overseas suppliers–just not American ones. “There’s talk of Huawei just turning to Samsung processors,” for its smartphone, said Fuller.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Additional reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Lisa Shumaker)

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For Practitioners, by Practitioners: Solve Your Software Challenges at InfoQ & QCon Software Events – InfoQ.com

Published

15 mins ago

April 25, 2024

Harry Miller

Behind every InfoQ Dev Summit and QCon software development conference is a collective of distinguished senior software practitioners who carefully curate the topics based on the crucial trends and essential best practices you need to know about. These architects and leaders are charged with creating THE conference they would want to attend.

While some conferences issue calls for papers, InfoQ Dev Summit and QCon hand-select all the speakers. Domain experts individually select each talk for fit and merit. We search for the talks and find the speakers you want to learn from. These are not always the most famous people, but they are often the most compelling voices you’ll find in software.

Once the speakers are found, they undergo multiple interviews (with committee members, track hosts, and the conference chair) and a mandated rehearsal process before speaking at InfoQ Dev Summit and QCon. We offer training webinars, mentorship, and slide/code reviews with past speakers to enhance our speakers’ presentations, so they are sharp by the time they get to you. We take your time and conference investment as seriously as you do. We value the trust you place in us.

If you’re curious to see what types of talks you’ll find at InfoQ Dev Summit and QCon, take a look at a few recent talks:

How Netflix Really Uses Java: At QCon San Francisco 2023, Paul Bakker, Java Platform @Netflix, Java Champion, and Co-Author of “Java 9 Modularity”, explored the current Netflix architecture(s). He provided a deep dive into how and why the architecture evolved the way it did and related this to the evolution of the Netflix Java tech stack.
Banking on Thousands of Microservices: Suhail Patel, Staff Engineer @Monzo, shared at QCon London 2023 the lessons he and his team learned from building an online bank. He discussed technological choices, such as using Cassandra and Kubernetes in the early days, and explored how @Monzo has maintained its speed of execution through a focus on platform engineering and developer experience.
Why Technical Experience Matters: How to Build a Lifelong Career in Software Development: At QCon London 2023, Sven Reimers, System Engineer @Airbus Defence & Space, shared how you can be a lifelong software developer. He discussed how to have your deep technical expertise valued by the industry and the role you can play in mentoring the next generation.

We believe InfoQ Dev Summit and QCon conferences are special experiences. If you’ve never been before, you owe it to yourself to understand why our conferences are so popular among developers and architects. Come find out why we’ve earned the reputation as a conference of “practitioners talking to practitioners.” You won’t forget the experience.

The upcoming software development conferences for 2024:

P.S. Teams as small as 3 attendees working for the same company are eligible for a group discount. For more details, email info@qconferences.com and mention the conference and size of the group to receive your discount code.

P.S.S. Due to popular demand, we’re extending the early bird dates for InfoQ Dev Summit Boston and Munich by two weeks for InfoQ readers. Save $100 for InfoQ Dev Summit Boston with code LIMITEDOFFERIDSBOSTON24 and €75 for InfoQ Dev Summit Munich with promo code LIMITEDOFFERIDSMUNICH24 when registering. Valid until May 6.

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The Ultimate Recap of Sea Otter 2024 – Pinkbike.com

Published

10 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Harry Miller

Tech

Vittoria Releases New Peyote & Mezcal XC Race Tires
Maxxis Team Spec Aspen ST Tire
New DT Swiss 240 DEG Hubs
Kali Protectives’ New Full Face Helmets
Industry Nine’s SOLiX M Hubs & Wheelsets
Michelin’s Aggressive New Wild Enduro Tires
Praxis’ New Flat Pedals, Stem, & Carbon Bottle Cage
Transmission Cage Upgrades from Kogel, Ceramicspeed, and Cascade Components
Randoms Round 1 – Sea Otter 2024
Madrone Cycles’ SRAM Eagle Repair Kits & Prototype Derailleur
Vorsprung’s New Telum Coil Shock
EXT’s Vaia Inverted DH Fork & Updated Coil Shocks
Randoms Round 2: New Tools, Goggles, Grips, Racks, & More – Sea Otter 2024
What’s New in Women’s MTB Apparel at Sea Otter 2024
Even More Randoms – Sea Otter 2024
Randoms Round 3: Dario’s Treasures
What’s New for the Kids at Sea Otter 2024
Deity Releases New Stems, Grips, & Pedals
Dario’s Final Sea Otter Randoms
Brian’s Randoms from Sea Otter 2024

Videos

With roots dating back to 1991, the Sea Otter Classic is one of the biggest biking events and tradeshows each year and brings together all sides of the biking industry from athletes to brands, spectators and consumers. Taking place in April in the sunny hills of Monterey, California, that means this event really feels like the official start to the biking season in North America. Christina Chappetta covers why it’s much different to an indoor European biking tradeshow, a World Cup racing weekend or even Crankworx mountain bike festival, in that it encompasses nearly ALL of the biking disciplines, including road cycling, enduro, downhill, dual slalom, XC, trials riding and more.

In the past fortnight, we have seen large amount of new tech releases. However, Sea Otter 2024 represents some of the first opportunities for many riders to see these things in the flesh, as well as take a deeper dive into what the product aims to do.
Welcome to a video summary from Day 2 of the Sea Otter Classic.
There are so many giveaways, interesting new products and colourful characters at Sea Otter Classic that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Ben Cathro takes a lap of the venue to find his favourites.

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Apple iPad Air 2024: Insider Makes Hasty U-Turn On New Feature – Forbes

Published

11 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Harry Miller

Well, that was quick. On May 18, a respected industry insider predicted a new display technology for the iPad Air that’s expected in the coming days—Apple just announced its latest special event.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Air, the report claimed, would have the same miniLED backlighting currently found on the larger iPad Pro, using the leftover inventory from the current Pro as that model switches to OLED. That was exciting news.

But now, Ross Young, the analyst who made the claim, has changed his mind. The new prediction, shared with paid subscribers only, is that the miniLED technology won’t be coming to the iPad Air, in either size.

While it made sense that the inventory could be maximized in this way, it now “makes sense” that it won’t.

Young says that while he’d heard from supply chain sources that it would, he’d now had contact from “even more supply chain sources” that it won’t.

And the reason this change of heart now makes sense is that this miniLED technology is expensive, so it would be surprising if it made it to the iPad Air, which is more affordable than the Pro.

That’s not quite all the analyst shared. He also said that there are now reports of a new iPad coming later in the year. This is a 12.9-inch iPad, with miniLED backlighting and it could arrive between October and December this year.

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This is intriguing. What could it be? Assuming that the iPad Pro and iPad Air are released in May, it’s extremely unlikely either will be updated later in the year. And if the iPad Air isn’t pricey enough for miniLED to be included, what tablet could Apple be introducing that is the same size as the bigger Pro, with a pricey screen tech, which would sit between the Air and the Pro, it seems?

Young is highly reliable, but this seems slightly preposterous to me. The only other iPad in the range due a refresh is the regular iPad (at 12.9-inches, the iPad mini is clearly out of the picture) and that doesn’t seem likely either.

It seems to me that any regular iPad will almost certainly have the same screen size as now, 10.9 inches. The regular iPad only grew to this size screen in the current generation, and Apple almost never changes designs after one iteration.

Perhaps things will become clearer as the year goes on.

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