[ad_1] Semiconductor capex will increase 2.9% in 2017, to $69.9 billion, says Gartner, after 5.1% growth in 2016. The forecast to 2020 with the y-o-y growth rate is: 2016 $67.9 5.1%,2017 $69.9 2.9%,2018 $73.6 5.3%,2019 $78.4 6.4%,2020 $75.8 -3.3%. “The stronger growth in 2016 was fuelled by Increased spending in late 2016 which can beRead more about 2017 slowdown in semiconductor capex growth[…]

[ad_1] The PS4 and PS4 Pro are very similar in some ways, but are completely different in others.  Although they both play the exact same games, the PS4 Pro offers resolutions of up to 4K, depending on whether individual games have received the all important Pro patch.  These patches are unfortunate, because as yet onlyRead more about PS4 Pro vs PS4: What's the difference?[…]

[ad_1] He sees the partly-resonant design as a competitor to hard-switched high ratio topologies – such as for 48V to 1V conversion, where on-time is so short that GaN switching transistors are being proposed. His uses a tapped inductor, two mosfets and a diode to get the same ratio without extreme on-times, or nasty ratingsRead more about ‘Cuk-buck 2’ dc-dc converter – more fine art from Slobodan’s pen[…]

[ad_1] When we saw Mario bouncing around the screen of the Nintendo Switch’s reveal back in October, the obvious gut reaction was, “Whoa, hold on, wait – is that the next Mario game?” Sure enough, that footage was not some mere placeholder designed to sell the idea of an upcoming Mario game – it actuallyRead more about 15 facts from the Nintendo Switch presentation you need to know[…]

[ad_1] Figure 1 shows the ranking of the top 10 pure-play foundries in 2016. In 2016, the “Big 4” pure-play foundries (i.e., TSMC, GlobalFoundries, UMC, and SMIC) held an 85% share of the total worldwide pure-play IC foundry market. As shown, TSMC held a 59% marketshare in 2016, the same as in 2015, and itsRead more about Foundry grew 11% in 2016 to $50bn, says IC Insights[…]

[ad_1] After addressing some wonky battery consumption with its latest laptop, Apple’s MacBook Pro has just earned a “Recommended” rating from watchdog reviewers at Consumer Reports. Despite high remarks in display and performance, Consumer Reports originally denied the MacBook Pro top marks following an “inconsistent” battery life – ranging as wide as 19.5 hours ofRead more about Apple MacBook Pro earns Consumer Reports recommendation after battery bug fix[…]

[ad_1] San Francisco-based Lily Robotics, a three year old crowd-funded startup, is the latest camera drone firm to fail. In a message on the company blog, Lily founders Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow said that “the adventure comes to an end.” Lily was a typical tech startup; it was inspired by young engineers with aRead more about Success and failure in the camera drone market[…]

[ad_1] Update: Huawei’s P10 may launch at MWC 2017, earlier than we first expected. A curved screen and a front-facing fingerprint scanner are looking ever more likely, while wireless charging has also been rumored. Huawei is the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, but you’d hardly know it in the West. That could all beRead more about Huawei P10 release date, news and rumors[…]

[ad_1] Zytronic is making a global reputation as a developer and supplier of ruggised capacitive sensors from its facility in Newcastle. The Newcastle-based manufacturer of capacitive touch sensors last year invested £1m to increase its manufacturing capacity for large format touch sensors used in digital signage and table surface applications. The firm has expanded theRead more about Touch display firm Zytronic signs global deal with Future[…]

[ad_1] HTC’s cryptic ‘U’ teasing of the last few weeks has led to two new handsets: the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play. These new phones feature a new glass design, but also come with a new artificial intelligence (AI) companion. The U Ultra is the most impressive of the two, coming withRead more about HTC U Ultra and U Play phones debut with new AI companion[…]