Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) today announced results for its first quarter of fiscal 2021, which ended Dec. 3, 2020. "Micron delivered outstanding fiscal first quarter results, driven by focused execution and strong end-market demand," said Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "We are excited about the strengthening DRAM industry fundamentals. For the first time in our history, Micron is simultaneously leading on DRAM and NAND technologies, and we are in an excellent position to benefit from accelerating digital transformation of the global economy fueled by AI, 5G, cloud, and the intelligent edge."

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously selected Cristiano Amon to succeed Steve Mollenkopf as CEO, effective June 30, 2021. Mollenkopf informed the Board of his decision to retire as CEO following 26 years with the Company. Amon, who has worked at Qualcomm since 1995, is currently President of the Company. Mollenkopf will continue his employment with the Company as a strategic advisor for a period of time.

Mollenkopf, 52, became CEO in March of 2014. He began his career as an engineer and, for nearly three decades, has helped define and lead Qualcomm's strategy and technology roadmap. His work helped propel smartphones into the mainstream and made Qualcomm a leader in 3G, 4G and now 5G, and he also oversaw the expansion into new industry segments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), RF Front End and Automotive. He was also instrumental in the Company's rise as a smartphone technology supplier. In addition, Mollenkopf successfully guided the Company through a number of extraordinary circumstances and challenges and begins the CEO transition process with the Company stabilized and well-positioned to continue to grow and drive value.

Today, at Intel's Memory and Storage 2020 event, the company highlighted six new memory and storage products to help customers meet the challenges of digital transformation. Key to advancing innovation across memory and storage, Intel announced two new additions to its Intel Optane Solid State Drive (SSD) Series: the Intel Optane SSD P5800X, the world's fastest data center SSD, and the Intel Optane Memory H20 for client, which features performance and mainstream productivity for gaming and content creation. Optane helps meet the needs of modern computing by bringing the memory closer to the CPU. The company also revealed its intent to deliver its 3rd generation of Intel Optane persistent memory (code-named "Crow Pass") for cloud and enterprise customers.

"Today is a key moment for our memory and storage journey. With the release of these new Optane products, we continue our innovation, strengthen our memory and storage portfolio, and enable our customers to better navigate the complexity of digital transformation. Optane products and technologies are becoming a mainstream element of business compute. And as a part of Intel, these leadership products are advancing our long-term growth priorities, including AI, 5G networking and the intelligent, autonomous edge." -Alper Ilkbahar, Intel vice president in the Data Platforms Group and general manager of the Intel Optane Group.

In a bid to maximize utilization of its own semiconductor foundry for manufacturing larger, more profitable processors, Intel could be look at contracting TSMC to manufacture certain processors based on its low-power CPU microarchitectures, according to a new Intel job posting discovered by Komachi Ensaka. The job description for a position in Intel's Bengaluru facility, speaks of a "QAT Design Integration Engineer" who would play a role in the "development and integration of CPM into Atom and Xeon-based SoC on Intel and TSMC process."

QAT is a hardware feature that accelerates cryptography and data-compression workloads. Since the Xeon part in this sentence is referenced next to SoC, Intel could be referring to Xeon processors based on low-power cores, such as "Snow Ridge," which uses "Tremont" CPU cores. The decision to go with TSMC could also be driven by the 5G infrastructure hardware gold rush awaiting the likes of Intel across dozens of new markets, particularly those averse to buying hardware from Huawei.

During the first day of the Snapdragon Tech Summit Digital, Qualcomm Incorporated President, Cristiano Amon took the virtual stage with global industry leaders to highlight the critical role Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-Series mobile platforms have played to drive experiences forward for the next generation of devices. Qualcomm Technologies' innovation in the premium tier, coupled with the evolution of 5G, is accelerating and continuing to redefine immersive consumer experiences. The proliferation of these premium tier experiences has and will continue to enrich the lives of billions of smartphone users around the world.

"Creating premium experiences takes a relentless focus on innovation. It takes long term commitment, even in the face of immense uncertainty," said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated. "It takes an organization that's focused on tomorrow, to continue to deliver the technologies that redefine premium experiences."

During its Q3 earnings call, Samsung Electronics has provided everyone with an update on its foundry and node production development. In the past year or so, Samsung's foundry has been a producer of a 7 nm LPP (Low Power Performance) node as its smallest node. That is now changed as Samsung has started the production of the 5 nm LPE (Low Power Early) semiconductor manufacturing node. In the past, we have reported that the company struggled with yields of its 5 nm process, however, that seems to be ironed out and now the node is in full production. To contribute to the statement that the new node is doing well, we also recently reported that Samsung will be the sole manufacturer of Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 5G SoC.

The new 5 nm semiconductor node is a marginal improvement over the past 7 nm node. It features a 10% performance improvement that is taking the same power and chip complexity or a 20% power reduction of the same processor clocks and design. When it comes to density, the company advertises the node with x1.33 times increase in transistor density compared to the previous node. The 5LPE node is manufactured using the Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) methodology and its FinFET transistors feature new characteristics like Smart Difusion Break isolation, flexible contact placement, and single-fin devices for low power applications. The node is design-rule compatible with the previous 7 nm LPP node, so the existing IP can be used and manufactured on this new process. That means that this is not a brand new process but rather an enhancement. First products are set to arrive with the next generation of smartphone SoCs, like the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 875.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the launch of uMCP5, the industry's first universal flash storage (UFS) multichip package with low-power DDR5 (LPDDR5) DRAM. Now ready for mass production, Micron's uMCP5 combines high-performance, high-density and low-power memory and storage in one compact package, equipping smartphones to handle data-intensive 5G workloads with dramatically increased speed and power efficiency. The multichip package uses Micron's LPDDR5 memory, high-reliability NAND and leading-edge UFS 3.1 controller to power advanced mobile features previously only seen in costly flagship devices using discrete products, such as stand-alone memory and storage. Now available on other high-end phones, these emerging technologies—such as image recognition, advanced artificial intelligence (AI), multicamera support, augmented reality (AR) and high-resolution displays—are becoming accessible to more consumers.

"Moving 5G's potential from hype to reality will require smartphones that can support the immense volumes of data flowing through the network and next-gen applications," said Raj Talluri, senior vice president and general manager of Micron's Mobile Business Unit. "Our uMCP5 combines the fastest memory and storage in a single package, unleashing new possibilities for 5G's disruptive, data-rich technologies right at consumers' fingertips."

DIALOG SEMICONDUCTOR, a leading provider of battery and power management, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and Industrial edge computing solutions and GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF ), the world's leading specialty foundry, today announced that they have entered into an agreement in which Dialog licenses its Conductive Bridging RAM (CBRAM) technology to GLOBALFOUNDRIES. The resistive ram (ReRAM)-based technology was pioneered by Adesto Technologies which was recently acquired by Dialog Semiconductor in 2020. GLOBALFOUNDRIES will first offer Dialog's CBRAM as an embedded, non-volatile memory (NVM) option on its 22FDX platform, with the plan to extend to other platforms.

Dialog's proprietary and production proven CBRAM technology is a low power NVM solution designed to enable a range of applications from IoT and 5G connectivity to artificial intelligence (AI). Low power consumption, high read/write speeds, reduced manufacturing costs and tolerance for harsh environments make CBRAM particularly suitable for consumer, medical, and select industrial and automotive applications. Furthermore, CBRAM technology enables cost-effective embedded NVM for advanced technology nodes required for products in these markets.

Today, HP Inc. unveiled the HP Spectre x360 14, offering the viewability of a 15-inch device with the mobility of a 13.5-inch form factor for the ultimate browsing, reading, editing, and viewing experience. Also announced today is HP's expanded 11th Gen Intel Core Processor Spectre and ENVY line up, packed with incredible performance gains and increased battery life for the perfect work-at-home lifestyle.

The PC has become more essential than ever, with many doing more from home like work, school, and doctor's visits, for the foreseeable future. But the home is a place often filled with roommates and family members also working or learning, requiring work and personal devices to be as flexible as the user's environment. Less than one-third of users have an office where the door can be closed, making living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens the open office floorplan of 2020. HP is creating devices like the new HP Spectre x360 14 to be adaptive and smart, with the use of intelligent features - like performance management and new AI-based audio capabilities - to anticipate needs before the user does.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. today announced the grand opening of its 150 mm (6-inch) RF Gallium Nitride (GaN) fab in Chandler, Arizona, the most advanced fab dedicated to 5G RF power amplifiers in the United States. The new internal factory combines NXP's expertise as the industry leader in RF power and its high-volume manufacturing know-how, resulting in streamlined innovation that supports the expansion of 5G base stations and advanced communication infrastructure in the industrial, aerospace and defense markets.

Lenovo is very excited to unveil the latest addition to our premium X1 portfolio, ThinkPad X1 Nano. The lightest ThinkPad ever at just 1.99 pounds (907 g) breaks new ground for performance and functionality in an incredibly featherweight package. Lenovo's first ThinkPad based on Intel Evo platform and powered by 11th Gen Intel Core processors, the X1 Nano delivers supreme speed and intelligence while maintaining outstanding battery life. Stunning visuals are delivered through a narrow bezel 13-inch 2K display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and four speakers and four 360-degree microphones enhance the audio-visual capabilities. For a truly immersive user experience, the X1 Nano supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. State of the art connectivity is provided by WiFi 65 and optional 5G will deliver higher bandwidth capability and drive new levels of always on always connected efficiency and collaboration in a new hybrid working world.

Lenovo today is also delighted to announce that the world's first foldable PC, ThinkPad X1 Fold, is available to order and will ship in a few weeks. A pinnacle of engineering innovation, the X1 Fold offers a revolutionary mix of portability and versatility that defines a new computing category enabled by Intel Core processors with Intel Hybrid Technology and made possible by Intel's Project Athena innovation program. Blending familiar functionality that we all know from smartphones, tablets and laptops into a single foldable PC device that will forever reshape the way you work, play, create and connect. With optional 5G, you can trust that your connection speed is more secure and optimized where available and that you are better protected with ThinkShield security features. Find out more how ThinkPad X1 Fold is pioneering a new category: A Game Changing Category

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF ), the world's leading specialty foundry, announced today at its Global Technology Conference the next generation of its FDXTM platform, 22FDX+, to meet the ever-growing need for higher performance and ultra-low power requirements of connected devices. GF's industry-leading 22FDX (22 nm FD-SOI) platform has realized $4.5 billion in design wins, with more than 350 million chips shipped to customers around the world.

GF's new 22FDX+ builds on the company's 22FDX platform, offering a broader set of features that provide high performance, ultra-low power, and specialty features and capabilities for the newest generation of designs. The differentiated offering will further empower customers to create chips that are specifically optimized for Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, automotive, and satellite communications applications.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced a new 5G mobile platform in the 7-series, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G Mobile Platform, which enables truly global 5G with brilliant HDR gaming and amazing on-device AI. To date, there have been more than 275 designs announced or in development based on Snapdragon 7-series mobile platforms, including 140 5G designs.

"We continue to see great traction with our high-tier Snapdragon 7-series 5G mobile platforms," said Kedar Kondap, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "As we continue to build out this relatively new tier of our mobile roadmap, we're always looking for ways to support the growing needs of our OEM customers. Snapdragon 750G delivers a selection of premium mobile features to an even wider audience."

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced at Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) Berlin the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform, the company's most advanced and efficient compute platform. Users will benefit from superior performance and multi-day battery life*, 5G connectivity, enterprise-grade security and AI acceleration, as well as advanced camera and audio technology. These features will enable and support the digital transformation and mobility needs for remote productivity and learning experiences. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 is designed to enable industry leading 5G PC experiences and build on the innovative first-generation Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform, which powered the World's First 5G PC.

"Working remotely is the new reality, and more businesses are looking to quickly and securely connect their employee base, accelerating the need for always on, always connected PCs that are thin, light and truly mobile, equipped with blazing fast 5G cellular and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, and coupled with multi-day battery-life to boost productivity," said Miguel Nunes, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "We are excited to expand our customer reach with Acer, to continue bringing the best of the Smartphone to the PC. Together, we will deliver cutting-edge devices and experiences to consumers and businesses, enabling them to connect, create and collaborate anytime from virtually anywhere."

MediaTek today announced its T750 5G chipset to power next generation 5G CPE wireless products, like fixed wireless access routers (FWA) and mobile hotspots, to bring fast 5G connectivity into homes, businesses and anyone on the go. The highly integrated, 7 nm compact chip design comes with an integrated 5G radio and quad-core Arm CPU. It's full-featured with all the essential functions and peripherals for device makers to build high performance consumer premise equipment products in the smallest form factors possible. The T750 is sampling now with potential customers.

"Pervasive high-speed broadband connectivity is becoming more important with the increase in connected devices and the surge of people working from home, taking online classes and using services like tele-health and video calling," said JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek's wireless communications business unit. "We are extending our 5G leadership beyond the smartphone segment with the T750 chipset, opening up new markets for broadband operators and device makers, and helping consumers - no matter where they live - to experience all the advantages of 5G connectivity."

According to the latest DigiTimes Research report, it is said that Korean memory makers have experienced a surge in chip output value. Korean memory manufacturers are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which both have seen a massive growth of 22.1% on a yearly basis and 13.9% sequentially in the second quarter of 2020. This is no small feat as the demand for memory in the smartphone industry has been slowed in that period due to the COVID pandemic, however, it was offset by strong demand from servers and notebooks. When the output of Korean memory giants is fused, Samsung and SK Hynix had combined revenue of KRW22.9 trillion or about 20.8 billion USD. The demand for memory is expected to continue its growth due to the 5G headset market.

MediaTek today announced its newest 5G SoC, the Dimensity 800U, as the latest addition in MediaTek's Dimensity series family. The 7 nm Dimensity 800U chipset is designed for multi-core high performance and leading 5G+5G Dual Sim Dual Standby (DSDS) technology. With Dimensity 800U MediaTek continues to accelerate the rollout of 5G technology and deliver premium experiences on mid-tier 5G smartphones.

"MediaTek has always focused on enhancing the user experience with our leading semiconductor technology, whether consumers are streaming, gaming or taking photos," said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. "MediaTek's Dimensity 800U brings cutting-edge, next-gen technology to the Dimensity SoC series, bringing MediaTek's advanced 5G, imaging and multimedia technologies to high-performance 5G smartphones that deliver incredible 5G experiences."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced the immediate availability of its silicon-proven 3D IC packaging technology, eXtended-Cube (X-Cube), for today's most advanced process nodes. Leveraging Samsung's through-silicon via (TSV) technology, X-Cube enables significant leaps in speed and power efficiency to help address the rigorous performance demands of next-generation applications including 5G, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, as well as mobile and wearable.

"Samsung's new 3D integration technology ensures reliable TSV interconnections even at the cutting-edge EUV process nodes," said Moonsoo Kang, senior vice president of Foundry Market Strategy at Samsung Electronics. "We are committed to bringing more 3D IC innovation that can push the boundaries of semiconductors."

MediaTek and Intel have reached a milestone in the development and certification of 5G T700 modem solutions for next-generation PC experiences. As announced by MediaTek today, the project is on schedule and the team has conducted 5G calls with the chipset. Intel is also well under way developing platform optimizations for best-in-class 5G PC user experiences that include validation and system integration, and readying co-engineering support for further enablement of its OEM partners.

"A successful partnership is measured by execution, and we're excited to see the rapid progress we are making with MediaTek on our 5G modem solution with customer sampling starting later this quarter. Building on Intel's 4G/LTE leadership in PCs, 5G is poised to further transform the way we connect, compute and communicate. Intel is committed to enhancing those capabilities on the world's best PCs," said Chris Walker, corporate vice president and general manager of Mobile Client Platforms at Intel.

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) today announced its collaboration with Intel Corporation to create a flexible radio platform that addresses 5G network design challenges and will enable customers to scale their 5G networks more quickly and economically. The new radio platform combines the advanced technology of ADI's radio frequency (RF) transceivers with the high performance and low power of Intel Arria 10 Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) giving developers a new set of design tools for more easily creating optimized 5G solutions.

The communications market is moving at a rapid pace to keep up with the strains put on bandwidth and latency as more people transact business digitally and consume and transmit data from everywhere. A significant increase in traffic over existing wireless networks is occurring in both private networks and public spaces. As a result, wireless operators are looking to shorten development times and cost-effectively implement new solutions that increase the capacity, performance and reliability of 5G networks. Through a mix of open standards and existing communication links, mobile network operators are developing a broader set of specifications and supporting a growing span of use cases.

Marvell today announced a unique custom ASIC offering that addresses the stringent requirements of next generation 5G carriers, cloud data centers, enterprise and automotive applications. Marvell's comprehensive custom ASIC solution enables a multitude of customization options and a differentiated approach with best-in-class standard product IP including Arm -based processors, embedded memories, high-speed SerDes, networking, security and a wide range of storage controller and accelerators in 5 nm and beyond. By partnering with Marvell, customers gain enhanced performance, power and area resulting in accelerated time-to-market and providing optimal returns on investment.

Traditionally, data infrastructure manufacturers and cloud data center operators have had to choose between securing standard products or a full custom silicon solution designed in-house, while developing or licensing foundational IP as needed. Now, for the first time, Marvell is offering full access to its broad and growing portfolio of industry-leading data infrastructure standard product IP and technologies, which can be integrated and enabled in custom ASIC solutions at the most advanced technology nodes.

MediaTek today announced the Dimensity 720, its latest 5G SoC that will give consumers access to premium 5G experiences on mid-tier smartphones. The Dimensity 720, is part of MediaTek's 5G chipset family that includes range of chipsets from Dimensity 1000 for flagship 5G smartphones to the Dimensity 800 and 700 series for more accessible 5G mid-tier devices.

"The Dimensity 720 sets a new standard, delivering feature-packed 5G experiences and technology to devices that are more accessible to mass market consumers," said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager, Wireless Communications Business Unit, MediaTek. "This chip is highly power-efficient, has impressive performance and advanced display and imaging technologies. All of that combined will help brands usher in differentiated 5G devices for consumers around the globe."

Semiconductor manufacturing is a difficult process. Often when a new node is being developed, there are new materials introduced that may cause some yield issues. Or perhaps with 7 nm and below nodes, they are quite difficult to manufacture due to their size, as the transistor can get damaged by the smallest impurity in silicon. So manufacturers have to be extra careful and must spend more time on the development of new nodes. According to industry sources over at DigiTimes, we have information that Samsung is struggling with its 5 nm EUV node.

This unfortunate news comes after the industry sources of DigiTimes reported that Qualcomm's next-generation 5G chipsets could be affected if Samsung doesn't improve its yields. While there are no specific pieces of information on what is the main cause of bad yields, there could be a plethora of reasons. From anything related to manufacturing equipment to silicon impurities. We don't know yet. We hope that Samsung can sort out these issues in time, so Qualcomm wouldn't need to reserve its orders at rival foundries and port the design to a new process.

5G has been a trending topic in the recent times because of the big technological breakthrough and all the solutions that its major features will make a reality: Low latency, bigger bandwidth with higher frequency, and overall faster "real-time" connection.

With those features 5G will connect virtually everyone and everything together in a fast and reliable network through the air while protecting privacy and security issues, that will mean the era of real IoT: Smart cities and smart transportations; remote medical care and wirelessly connected Industrial devices, and high-quality video streaming, to say the least.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. unveiled the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform, a follow-on to the flagship Snapdragon 865 that has powered more than 140 devices (announced or in development) - the most individual premium-tier designs powered by a single mobile platform this year. The new Snapdragon 865 Plus is designed to deliver increased performance across the board for superior gameplay and insanely fast Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming experiences, truly global 5G, and ultra-intuitive AI.

"As we work to scale 5G, we continue to invest in our premium tier, 8-series mobile platforms, to push the envelope in terms of performance and power efficiency and deliver the next generation of camera, AI and gaming experiences," said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Building upon the success of Snapdragon 865, the new Snapdragon 865 Plus will deliver enhanced performance for the next wave of flagship smartphones."