IF / News

The foundry service of Nvidia’s next-generation Ada Lovelace GPU is rumored to be based on TSMC’s 5nm production process. Earlier news stated that TSMC’s 5nm process is currently mainly serving Apple and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), so Nvidia intended to transition its foundry services to Samsung. (CN Beta, WCCFTech, Tweak Town)

TSMC has confirmed that the shifted N3 (3nm) cadence is due to a delay. This reduces TSMC’s competitiveness against Samsung and Intel, which are bullish about the next-gen GaaFET. TSMC’s comments (and rumors) strongly suggest and confirm that N3 will miss the time window for Apple’s 2022 iPhone, which will use N4 (4nm)  instead. Intel will be a major and leading customer of TSMC’s N3 node. (Gizmo China, CN Beta, Seeking Alpha, WCCFtech)

The global chip shortage is still going on, and it is slamming sectors from gaming to dog-washing. Companies are beginning to shift around production to mitigate the shortfall. Some are pushing chip-light products over chip-heavy ones, or are trying to redesign products to reduce wafer demand. Richard Barnett, CMO of Supplyframe, an electronics industry analyst firm, has indicated that overall, however, none of these moves are enough to completely avoid the impact that is affecting everyone and will continue to affect everyone. He has further added that impacted firms are stuck with a thin playbook for navigating the chip shortage. Short-term maneuvers only buy so much running room, and long-term investments can require months or years to take effect. Supplyframe sees the chip shortage lasting well into 2023. Unlike a conventional shortage, he thinks this one will come in waves. (CN Beta, GizChina, Business Insider)

Samsung has unveiled a screen that can fold in a S-curve. It is a 17.3” OLED panel. Fold it in three, the user gets a candy bar, which is similar in size to a 7.2” smartphone. At the same time, the company says that in the unfolded state, the user can work with the screen both horizontally and vertically, based on the tasks that are being performed. (GizChina, World Today News)

Samsung will manufacture over 7M foldable smartphones in 2021, according to Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC). Samsung’s foldable smartphone production reached record volumes in Jul / Aug 2021. The company’s foldable smartphone production should exceed 1M units a month for 4 straight months. (Android Headlines, Twitter)

Xiaomi 12 generation allegedly to feature triple 50MP setup —— 50MP main, 50MP ultrawide and 50MP telephoto cameras. This last one will allegedly use a 5x periscope. (GSM Arena, Weibo, Weibo, Sparrow News)

SenseTime, which has applied to arrange an estimated USD2B stock sale in Hong Kong, has said its artificial intelligence (AI) platform may be used to power the smart-driving, intelligent cockpit and autonomous driving features in as many as 20M cars in the next several years. As many as 6.6M new vehicles, or one of every four new cars, entering China’s roads will be powered by battery by 2025, according to the forecast by UBS. (SCMP, Yahoo, Sohu)

Documents General Motors (GM) and Hyundai Motor filed with the US auto safety regulator show how the two automakers separately identified the same cause of battery fires in their latest electric vehicles, tracing them to similar manufacturing defects in battery cells made from at least two manufacturers powered by a unit of LG Chem. (CN Beta,Reuters, Knews)

The Australian National University (ANU) have produced a more efficient type of solar cell, using laser processing and setting a new world record in the process. The solar cells are dual sided, meaning both the front and back of the cell generate power. The so called bifacial solar cells easily beat the performance of single sided silicon solar cells. (CN Beta, ANU)

General Motors’s chief executive officer Mary Barra has signaled the automaker will continue its relationship with the battery supplier LG Energy Solution at the center of its USD1.8B vehicle recall while stressing it has “multiple pathways” to secure a leading position in the transition to electric vehicles. The defects are limited to the Bolt and will not affect GM’s new Ultium battery platform, which it developed with LG to power flagship electric vehicles due later 2021. (CN Beta, Bloomberg, Auto News)

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert has penned a letter to T-Mobile customers apologizing for the recent data breach that impacted more than 50M current, former, and prospective T-Mobile users. In an attempt to prevent future attacks, T-Mobile has entered long-term partnerships with cybersecurity experts at Mandiant and with consulting firm KPMG LLP. T-Mobile is planning a multi-year investment into beefing up its security. (GizChina, The Verge, MacRumors, T-Mobile)

SpaceX is adding laser terminals on all future Starlink satellites and is the reason behind a break in launches for the broadband megaconstellation, president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said. Shotwell has said that its decision to add laser crosslinks, enabling the satellites to communicate with each other to reduce their reliance on ground stations, is why they have been struggling to launch a Starlink mission since 30 Jun 2021. (CN Beta, Space News, Space.com)

According to TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 13 models to feature a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication mode. This would allow an iPhone 13 user to send messages and make phone calls, even when they are not within standard 4G/5G cell tower coverage. He predicts that the most likely to cooperate with Apple is Globalstar, and he also named SpaceX and Chinese satellite communication service provider China Satcom. He says that the iPhone 13 will use a customized version of the Qualcomm X60 baseband modem chip, which will support communications over satellite. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, TF Securities, GizChina, 9to5Mac)

An antitrust lawsuit filed against Google and its Play Store by several state attorneys general echoed the Epic vs. Apple battle, and a new document highlights how and why Google’s app store is so similar. Google has allegedly abused its monopoly power and of anti-competitive behavior. Perhaps most telling is a mention that popular subscription services like Spotify, Netflix, and Tinder have tried to find ways around Google Play Billing and that 30% cut. (CN Beta, Engadget, The Verge)

Honor has just officially announced that it has opened its global headquarters in Shenzhen, China. The new site will house high quality hardware facilities, along with sophisticated laboratory equipment. (Gizmo China, Weibo, Sina, Sohu, IT Home)

Vice President of realme and CEO realme India, Europe, Madhav Sheth has revealed that the company is targeting sales of around 20M-30M devices in 2021. For Diwali 2021 alone, the company is aiming at least 6M units sales.  (New Kerala, GizChina)

Application usage on HP devices increased to over 30% by the end of Aug 2021 while Lenovo dropped to 21%, according to Aternity. During the past 18 months, Aternity tracked the pandemic’s impact on the workplace and saw office reopening plans remain murky. (VentureBeat, Aternity)

According to Strategy Analytics, global smartwatch shipments soared 47% annually to reach 18M units in 2Q21. Apple Watch maintained first position with 52% global smartwatch market share, Samsung held second, while Garmin maintained third place. Strategy Analytics estimates Apple Watch shipped 9.5M units worldwide in 2Q21, rising 46% from 6.5M in 2Q20. (CN Beta, Strategy Analytics)

The Korea Intellectual Property Office has said that its analysis of U.S. patent applications related to washing machines and refrigerators has found that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics excel their competitors. In 2011-2020, LG Electronics applied for the largest number of patents in the U.S. with 1,102 applications in the washing machine sector. Samsung Electronics and WINIA Electronics came in fourth and sixth with 493 and 184 applications, respectively. During the same period, LG Electronics topped the list with 764 applications for refrigerator patents. Samsung Electronics ranked second with 355 applications. (Laoyaoba, IT Home, Business Korea)

Toyota Motor has suspended all self-driving e-Palette transportation pods at the Tokyo Paralympic Games village, a day after one of the vehicles collided with and injured a visually impaired pedestrian. Toyota has been operating dozens of its e-Palette shuttles during the Olympics as a demonstration of a far-out concept the company first showed off in 2018. (The Verge, Reuters)

Rivian, an electric vehicle startup backed by Amazon and Ford, has said that it has filed confidential paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO). Rivian is seeking a valuation of roughly USD80B. The company is founded in 2009 and has raised USD10.5B since 2019 amid increased interest in electric vehicles. (CN Beta, CN Beta, CNN, TechCrunch, Reuters)

Amazon.com backed electric vehicle (EV) company Rivian is in discussions to invest at least USD5B in a new vehicle plant near Fort Worth, Texas. The new Walsh development area factory plans, code-named “project Tero”, would be able to produce 200,000 vehicles per year and employ 7,500 workers by 2027. (My Drivers, Dallas News, Cars and Trucks, Reuters)

Great Wall Motors has disclosed that 90% of the company’s current models have realized the L2 level intelligent driving assistance function, and all new vehicles on the market have realized the Internet of Vehicles function. In addition, Great Wall Motors and Daimler Group have recently signed an agreement to acquire the Iracemapolis plant in Brazil, and the delivery is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. (CN Beta, Sina)

Unity, the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, today announced the acquisition of OTO, an AI-driven acoustic intelligence platform that can be leveraged to build and foster safer gaming environments with voice and text chat environments. OTO will be integrated into Unity’s industry leading Vivox platform as a cornerstone for solving one of gaming’s global challenges: the rise of toxic behavior that leads to poor player experience, and ultimately, lost revenue for game creators. (CN Beta, VentureBeat, Business Wire)

The Reserve Bank of India may launch its first digital currency trial programs by Dec 2021, according to the governor Shaktikanta Das. RBI is studying various aspects of a digital currency including its security, its impact on India’s financial sector as well as how it would affect monetary policy and currency in circulation. Central banks stepped up their efforts looking into digital currencies over the past year following a decline in cash usage and growing interest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. (Neowin, CNBC)