Obsolete Semiconductors: Sourcing, Replacement & Supply Solutions
Obsolete semiconductors are components no longer produced or supported, creating scarcity and price pressure for legacy products. Companies face production delays, counterfeit risk, and costly redesigns when critical ICs disappear. The article outlines three mitigation paths—sourcing existing stock, finding pin‑compatible replacements, or undertaking a full redesign/ASIC migration. Platforms like AnySilicon connect buyers with verified suppliers and offer rapid matching within 24‑48 hours, streamlining both short‑term sourcing and long‑term redesign initiatives.
Bluetti Launches EnergyPro 13K Home Storage System in US
Chinese battery maker Bluetti has introduced the EnergyPro 13K (EP13K) home storage system in the United States, marking its latest generation of whole‑home backup solutions. The EP13K delivers 13 kWh of usable capacity, higher output power, and a modular, semi‑portable design...
Europe at a Turning Point for PCB Base Materials
Europe’s PCB base‑material market has narrowed to a single supplier, Isola GmbH, and one copper‑foil producer, CircuitFoil, after the loss of woven electronic‑glass manufacturers. OEMs in space, aerospace and defence are now prioritising supply‑chain security and reliability over cost, shifting...
Walmart’s DC Fast Charging Network Already Has Hundreds Of Ports
Retail giant Walmart has expanded its EV fast‑charging network by 50% in just two months, now operating 31 DC fast‑charging stations with 224 high‑power connectors across the United States. The chargers are 400 kW units supplied by Alpitronic and ABB, each...
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Supplies Glass Substrate Samples to Apple
Samsung Electro-Mechanics has begun supplying glass substrate samples to Apple, expanding beyond its earlier collaboration with Broadcom. The glass core replaces organic material in flip‑chip BGA substrates, offering superior flatness and lower thermal expansion, which is critical as AI chips...
NVIDIA Bets Big on Industrial Revolution 4.0: Outlook Swells
NVIDIA is accelerating its push into the Industrial Revolution 4.0 by layering a series of strategic acquisitions and partnerships that target robotics, synthetic‑data generation, and edge AI. Recent deals—including Run:ai, Gretel Technology, Illumex, Skild, Deci AI and a joint venture with...
What Is ‘Ghost Murmur’? The Secret CIA Heartbeat Tracker Used to Find Downed American Pilot in Iran
The CIA employed a newly developed quantum‑magnetometry system called Ghost Murmur to locate a downed U.S. F‑15 weapons systems officer in southern Iran. Developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the device detects the faint electromagnetic field of a human heartbeat...
Hyperscaler Datacentres Set to Dominate by 2031
Hyperscale cloud providers are set to dominate the datacentre market, projected to hold 67% of global capacity by 2031—a fourteen‑fold increase from 2018. AI workloads are the primary catalyst, driving a near‑doubling of hyperscale capacity within three years. By Q4 2025,...
New SATCOM Tech Helps Downed Pilot Rescues
Israeli firm Commcrete unveiled palm‑sized low‑SWaP satellite‑communication devices for combat search and rescue. The units deliver continuous, on‑demand connectivity from ejection through ground movement, even under canopy, urban, maritime or parachute conditions. Featuring a 32 dB link budget, adaptive waveform and...
Stuffcool Made a 65W GaN Charger with a Retractable Cable, and It's Pretty Good
Stuffcool has launched the Zeno 65W GaN charger in India, featuring a built‑in retractable USB‑C cable and dual‑port charging for about $35. The charger delivers up to 65 W via USB‑PD 3.0, with a secondary port that shares the power budget when both...
Ultrasonic Wind Sensor Shows Strong Promise for Deep Mine Ventilation
A portable ultrasonic wind sensor with a reflective transducer layout was tested in a Chinese coal mine, showing dramatically higher accuracy than traditional mechanical anemometers. Laboratory wind‑tunnel trials (0.5‑5 m/s) and field validation at Gaojialiang Mine reduced average measurement error by...
How to Navigate the Storage Crunch in the AI Era
AI‑driven workloads are outpacing traditional storage planning, turning five‑year forecasts into a relic. Companies face stretched lead times and compressed project windows, forcing a shift from "buy‑and‑build" to on‑demand storage services. Everpure’s Evergreen architecture offers a service‑level‑backed, outcome‑focused model that...
GoPro’s New Camera Might Be Its Biggest Comeback Move
GoPro will unveil a new generation of cameras at the 2026 NAB Show, powered by its in‑house GP3 processor. The GP3 is a 5‑nm SoC that promises twice the pixel‑processing power, AI‑driven scene recognition, and markedly better low‑light and thermal...
Leopard Imaging Introduces 25 MP Global Shutter 10 GigE Camera
Leopard Imaging has launched the LI‑IMX530‑10GigE‑NL, a 25‑megapixel global‑shutter camera that pairs 10 GigE bandwidth with native NVIDIA Holoscan support. The sensor is engineered for edge AI platforms such as Jetson AGX Orin, IGX Orin and the Jetson AGX Thor developer...
Imec Receives World’s Most Advanced High NA EUV System
imec has installed ASML’s EXE:5200 High NA EUV lithography system, the most advanced tool of its kind, in its 300 mm cleanroom in Leuven. The machine enables research into sub‑2 nm logic and high‑density memory, positioning imec as a European hub for...
DTI Ramps up $110-B Semiconductor Export Plan
The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry unveiled a five‑year roadmap to lift semiconductor and electronics exports to $110 billion by 2030, more than twice today’s level. The plan targets $70 billion in semiconductor sales and $40 billion in broader electronics shipments, backed...
Vivo T5 Pro 5G India Launch Date Confirmed: Expected Price, Specifications and Features
Vivo has set the launch of its mid‑range Vivo T5 Pro 5G for 15 April at noon in India. The device will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset and pack a massive 9,020 mAh battery. It is expected to feature a 6.8‑inch...
Xcel Minnesota Is Building a First-of-Its Kind Virtual Power Plant
Xcel Energy announced Capacity*Connect, a $430 million initiative to install up to 200 MW of customer‑site batteries across Minnesota. The utility will own and operate the virtual power plant, a first in the United States, deploying 1‑ to 3‑MW units over the...
Puget Systems Expands Server Portfolio
Puget Systems has partnered with MSI Enterprise Platform Solutions to launch eleven new 1U and 2U servers aimed at dense CPU compute, GPU rendering, and AI workloads. The portfolio includes models with single or dual AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon...
Blog Review: Apr. 8
The April 8 blog roundup from Semiconductor Engineering spotlights a wave of technical breakthroughs across the semiconductor ecosystem. Cadence unveils LPDDR6 with built‑in metadata, row‑hammer mitigation and three‑rail DVFS, while Synopsys and Siemens champion multiphysics and simulation‑driven digital twins for automotive...
China’s Shenzhen Activates Huawei-Powered AI Cluster
Shenzhen has activated a new supercomputing cluster built with 10,000 Huawei Ascend 910C AI accelerator cards, delivering 11,000 petaflops of performance. Combined with a 3,000‑petaflop system launched in 2025, the facility now offers 14,000 petaflops, and 92 % of its capacity...
Planet Labs Tests AI-Powered Object Detection On Satellite
Planet Labs successfully demonstrated artificial intelligence running directly on a satellite in orbit, using an NVIDIA Jetson Orin module to detect airplanes in an image of an airport captured at 500 km altitude. The onboard model processed the photo moments after...
BenQ GW2490C Monitor Review: A Budget 24-Inch Monitor That's a USB-C Bargain
BenQ’s GW2490C is a 24‑inch IPS monitor priced around £100 (≈$125) that packs a 144 Hz refresh rate, 5 ms response time and 98 % sRGB coverage. It adds a USB‑C video input but only supplies 7.5 W, so it can’t charge a laptop...
ASUS Skips New Boards for Arrow Lake Refresh, Focuses on Next-Gen
ASUS confirmed it will not release new motherboards for Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 200S Plus refresh, opting to rely on the existing Intel 800 series boards built on the FCLGA1851 socket. The refresh offers only incremental performance gains, so manufacturers see little incentive...
Colorful Revives DDR3 H81 Motherboards Amid Rising Memory Costs
Colorful announced it will restart production of DDR3‑based motherboards built on Intel’s H81 chipset as DDR4 and DDR5 memory prices remain elevated. The H81 platform, tied to 4th‑generation Haswell CPUs and limited to 16 GB DDR3, will see limited volumes from...
Tennibot Launches AI-Powered Tennis-Playing Machine with Adaptive Training Features
Tennibot, an Alabama‑based sports tech firm, unveiled the Partner V2, an AI‑driven tennis ball machine priced at $2,245 (regular $3,500). The device is 13.6% lighter and 14.4% smaller than its predecessor while offering a 37% wider vertical feed range and...
Intel Serpent Lake Processors to Integrate NVIDIA RTX GPUs in 2028
Intel is planning a new processor family codenamed Serpent Lake, slated for a 2028 launch, that will integrate NVIDIA RTX graphics directly into the CPU package. The chips will combine Copper Shark performance cores with Golden Eagle efficiency cores, continuing...
Logic Introduces ‘Octopus’ Overhead Multi-Arm Robot to Boost Warehouse Throughput
Logic unveiled the Octopus, an overhead multi‑arm picking robot that mounts to ceiling structures and frees valuable aisle space. The system can simultaneously operate multiple arms equipped with interchangeable end effectors, eliminating mechanical changeovers and handling mixed SKUs in parallel....
Where Are They Now: Samphire Neuroscience
Samphire Neuroscience’s wearable Nettle, a headband delivering electrical pulses to the pre‑frontal and motor cortex to alleviate menstrual pain, launched in June 2024. The device sold out within a day to a wait‑list of over 15,000, each unit priced at...
400kW EV Charger Supports Denser Charging Sites
SK Signet has launched a 400 kW all‑in‑one ultra‑fast DC charger that integrates silicon‑carbide power modules and dispenser hardware in a single unit. The design achieves 96.5% power conversion efficiency while shrinking the installation footprint by 54% compared with its previous...
Orica Launches Next-Gen Groundprobe Geohazard Monitoring Platform
Orica has unveiled the next‑generation Groundprobe SSR‑XT, a geotechnical monitoring platform rebuilt from the ground up. The redesign focuses on operational continuity, with an updated engine‑mounting system that isolates vibrations and cuts noise. Enhanced sensor suites deliver real‑time geohazard data,...
Orica Digital Solutions Launches Next-Generation GroundProbe Solution for Safer, Faster Geotech Monitoring
Orica Digital Solutions has unveiled a next‑generation GroundProbe geotechnical monitoring suite aimed at improving safety and decision speed in mining operations. The offering combines three hardware models—SSR‑XT, SSR‑FX and SSR‑Omni—with the new MonitorIQ® Next software platform for streamlined, low‑touch deployment....
Network Giant Uses Contentious New Transmission Line to Boost Regional Mobile Coverage
Australian transmission operator Transgrid is attaching telecom equipment to its new 500 kV HumeLink line, creating a connectivity corridor across regional NSW. In partnership with Lumea, up to ten signal boosters will be mounted on existing and new towers along the...
First Quantum Diamond Microscopy System Lands in US for Advanced Chip Failure Analysis
QuantumDiamonds GmbH has installed its QD m.1 quantum‑diamond microscopy system at Eurofins EAG Laboratories in Sunnyvale, marking the first North‑American deployment of a commercial QDM tool. The QD m.1 uses nitrogen‑vacancy centers in synthetic diamond to produce three‑dimensional, micrometer‑scale magnetic current maps of...
Walmart's 'Excellent Quality' Wireless Earbuds Come in 5 Fun Colors, and They Start at Just $10
Walmart is offering the Cshidworld T8Max wireless earbuds at a steep discount, with the black and pink models now $10 (down from $13) and the remaining three colors at $11. The earbuds feature Bluetooth 5.0, an IPX8 waterproof rating, and...
Fortescue Adds Another Electric Excavator, Says It Is Saving a Million Litres of Diesel per Unit
Fortescue Metals Group has deployed its 15th electric excavator in the Pilbara, claiming each unit saves about one million litres of diesel per year. The company now reports moving 100 million tonnes of ore with electric equipment and plans to install...
Generative AI Improves a Wireless Vision System that Sees Through Obstructions
MIT researchers have combined generative AI with millimeter‑wave radar to reconstruct hidden 3D objects and entire indoor scenes. The new Wave‑Former model fills missing surfaces in partial mmWave scans, improving shape accuracy by roughly 20 %. A companion system, RISE, uses...
AI K-Pop Startup Galaxy Aims For IPO in Seoul, New York
Galaxy Corp., a Seoul‑based AI startup, is pioneering a new K‑pop model that replaces human idols with synchronized humanoid robots performing in elaborate, futuristic settings. Founder and CEO Choi Yong‑ho showcased a high‑tech show featuring black‑clad robots in luxury hip‑hop...
Turkey to Race Ahead of EU on Battery Storage Amid Fossil Fuel Crisis
Turkey has approved more than 33 GW of battery storage since 2022, outpacing the combined 12‑13 GW capacity of leading EU nations such as Germany and Italy. The surge is driven by a 2022 mandate that grants preferential grid access to renewables...
Microchip Hybrid MCU Targeted at Automotive, E-Mobility HMI Applications
Microchip Technology introduced the SAM9X75D5M, an AEC‑Q100 Grade 2‑qualified System‑in‑Package that combines an Arm926EJ‑S processor with 512 Mbit DDR2 SDRAM. The hybrid MCU targets automotive and e‑mobility human‑machine interfaces, supporting up to 10‑inch XGA displays via MIPI DSI, LVDS or parallel RGB....
Bain Data Center Unit Cuts Ties With Nvidia Buyer After US Probe
Bain Capital’s Bridge Data Centres has removed Megaspeed International from its Malaysian computing hub. The operator replaced the Southeast Asian firm with cloud provider Zenlayer Inc. The change was disclosed in a memo to lenders tied to a $2.8 billion loan...
Inside Taiwan’s Semiconductor Supremacy
Taiwan now supplies about 92% of the world’s most advanced logic chips (5 nm and below), cementing its role as the linchpin of the global tech supply chain. TSMC, the island’s pure‑play foundry, posted a 62.3% gross margin in Q4 2025 and...
Ixxat Introduces CAN@net Basic: Cost-Efficient CAN-FD-to-Ethernet-Gateway for Scalable Industrial Networking
Ixxat, a HMS Networks brand, launched CAN@net Basic, a streamlined CAN‑FD‑to‑Ethernet gateway aimed at industrial and automotive applications. The device offers a single CAN‑FD channel up to 8 Mbit/s, UDP/IP Ethernet connectivity, and robust isolation while keeping the list price at...
New V2 UALink Specification Aims to Catch up to NVLink
The UALink Consortium released version 2.0 of its open‑source interconnect specification, adding a 200 Gbps data link, separate physical‑layer spec, In‑Network Compute, manageability tools and a chiplet integration model. The new common spec is designed to accelerate adoption of UALink in...
Pebblebee Halo Vs. AirTag: One of These Trackers Has a 130dB Siren and Strobe Light
Pebblebee introduced the Halo tracker, a key‑chain device that combines standard Bluetooth locating with a 130 dB siren, 150‑lumen strobe, flashlight and live‑location alerts. It works with Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find Hub, offers up to 500 ft Bluetooth range and a rechargeable...
New Rail Tech to Cut Trackwork Disruptions
A new rail technology platform that leverages real‑time sensors and AI‑driven analytics is being rolled out across Australia’s rail network to anticipate track faults and streamline maintenance. The system promises to cut trackwork‑related service disruptions, lower maintenance costs and improve...
EV Fast Charging Queues Are Back. Could a Kerbside Charger Network Help?
Australian EV sales jumped 40‑50% in March, reigniting concerns over charging capacity, especially for the 60% of Sydney residents living in apartments or townhouses. Public fast‑charging queues have resurfaced, prompting calls for a robust kerbside charging network that offers slower,...
Protected Quantum Gates Using Qubit Doublons in Dynamical Optical Lattices
Researchers have demonstrated protected two‑qubit gates that exploit qubit doublons—paired fermionic atoms—in a dynamically driven optical lattice. By periodically modulating the lattice depth, the doublon states become immune to motional dephasing, delivering gate fidelities exceeding 99.9%. The technique integrates seamlessly...
China Turns to Offshore Wind Farms, Subsea Data Centres to Ease AI Computing Bottleneck
China has launched its first subsea data centre directly powered by an offshore wind farm off Shanghai’s coast. The 10‑metre‑deep facility, built by Shanghai HiCloud Technology, represents a 1.6 billion yuan investment and a planned 24 MW capacity. Designed to serve AI,...
Q-Free Unveils Next-Gen OBU1010
Q-Free introduced the OBU1010, a next‑generation DSRC on‑board unit designed for vehicle‑to‑everything communication. The transponder delivers ultra‑low power consumption, enhanced RF resilience and a compact, carbon‑light design while supporting all 5.8 GHz CEN DSRC protocols. It targets applications such as electronic...