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Canon semiconductor manufacturing disruption
I started thinking about Canon semiconductor manufacturing disruption when I read this article: Canon looks to nanoimprint tech for 2nm lithography | EE News Europe. Canon semiconductor manufacturing disruption looked on the horizon with the announcement of its nano imprint technology. Nano imprint approach is something that has been explored for a a couple of decades, but had so far been rejected due to challenges of implementation.
Canon now claims that they have it ready for production on middle edge processes with a potential address current leading edge processes. Canon has stuck with nano imprint as a development approach because it is adjacent to Canon’s core technology expertise in inkjet printing.
Canon semiconductor disruption depends on whether it can change the technology roadmaps of memory chip makers and other fabs. This is going to be unlikely, but Canon semiconductor manufacturing disruption could disrupt the outlook for other vendors, notably Dutch equipment maker ASML.
Canon semiconductor disruption seems to be part of a wider movement to rethink how semiconductors and adjacent products are manufactured to better facilitate further scaling at reduced capital costs, but few if any will be successful: Dracula plans Europe’s largest OPV plant with inkjet printing | EE News Europe
China
The end of China’s economic miracle shows how China has followed a similar curve to Korea and Japan in terms of economic growth.
Design
A quote from Benedict Evans | Simon Willison – on the limitations of chat-based interfaces for LLMs
Huge entertainment ‘city’ in Tokyo transformed with variable typographic identity – expect this to be fashionable in design circles
Economics
Retail sales, Great Britain – Office for National Statistics – UK consumers spending power is relatively inelastic and inflation is eroding it.
Britain needs to take its sheds more seriously | FT – more attention needed for logistics and warehousing (I imagine that Brexit has added pressure)
Energy
Electric truck pioneer Volta Trucks files for bankruptcy | EE News Europe – supply chain collapse for its batteries caused the business to file for bankruptcy.
Ethics
Excerpt from ‘Career and Family’ by Claudia Goldin – Harvard Gazette – the idea of ‘greedy careers’ is very interesting.
Starbucks is trying to distance itself from union workers who have taken a pro-Palestinian stance | Quartz – brand purpose is complex.
Gadgets
Health
EMA looks into falsified Ozempic with German and Austrian origins – Endpoints News – it was inevitable that this was going to happen.
How neurodivergence became a subculture | Dazed
Hong Kong
Innovation
Japan trials wireless fast charging of moving vehicles | EE News Europe
Yamaha’s Self-Balancing Motorcycle Seeks to Push Human-Machine Interface – Core77
NEC develops 150 GHz Antenna-on-Chip transmitter IC | EE News Europe
Japan
Halloween Spooks Shibuya – Matt Alt’s Pure Invention – the impact of the western Hallowe’en festival on Japanese culture.
Luxury
A New Age Of Genderless Brands? – Branding Strategy Insider – Mikimoto pearls managing to attract men. I see this as an extension of century’s old ‘dandy’ culture from the pearly kings and queens, to 1970s African American style in Detroit and some of Dapper Dan’s work that looked to come up with ostentatious looks.
Marketing
WPP, Y&R, WTF? ‘Merging’ Away Storied And Expensive Agency Brands Doesn’t Add Up | The Drum
Brands lose by ignoring Gen X — here’s what the numbers say | Marketing Dive – the bit that these miss is that this cohort has always been missed out because of its size, this cohort has always been underrepresented in advertising. Secondly, half of your consumer life time spend is done by the time you are 35 and a lot of brand associations are built by then. More on the same theme which seems to have been provoked by a Wavemaker report – Myth-representation is mis-representation: What’s stopping brands targeting over 50s? | Creative Moment.
DDB on localising adidas Originals: “We Gave the World an Original, It Gives Us a Thousand Back” | LBBOnline – I think DDB Hong Kong’s ‘original spirit’ is better than the global campaign theme.
Media
Jon Stewart’s The Problem Canceled at Apple Amid Creative Differences – The Hollywood Reporter – “Mr. Stewart told members of his staff on Thursday that potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence were causing concern among Apple executives, a person with knowledge of the meeting said.”
Disney ads chief: TikTok is now our ‘programming extension’ – The Media Leader and TikTok moves into OOH and cinema – The Media Leader implies that TikTok represents an existential threat to media buying function of agency for some clients
Online
The Digital Town Square Doesn’t Exist Yet | The Atlantic
Chinese Bloggers Might Soon Be Required to Display Their Real Names on Social Media Platforms – the government already knows who they are, this seems to be an effort to expose them more to the general public – which can be volatile and vindictive. And so, this is likely to be an effort to use crowd pressure to reduce divergent or innovative opinions, so the party becomes the originator.
Security
Latest 23andMe data claim would take leaked records to 5M • The Register
Hamas-linked app offers window into cyber infrastructure, possible links to Iran | CyberScoop
Five Eyes spy chiefs warn Silicon Valley over Chinese threat | FT
Fearing China, South Korea targets firms building Taiwan navy submarines | Reuters
Israeli Cybersecurity Startups: Impact of a Growing Conflict | Dark Reading
Predator Files: Technical deep-dive into Intellexa Alliance’s surveillance products – Amnesty International Security Lab more on it here.
Software
Amazon is thinking about quantumcomputing | Patent Drop – Amazon’s tech essentially acts as a middleman between a quantum computer and the user interface. First, a user makes a request with this service through an “edge computing device” — their own device that isn’t connected to the quantum computer itself. Then the system will “automatically translate the quantum task, quantum algorithm, or quantum circuit” into a representation that a quantum computer can understand. This system will then pick the right quantum computer for a certain job, and work with it on the back end to complete the request
Taiwan
New space age collaboration: how Taiwan’s satellite supply chain is driving innovation | DigiTimes
Taiwan’s aging population | Taiwan Data Stories
Technology
Qualcomm, Google confirm RISC-V wearable chip | EE News Europe – something to think about if you were ARM Semiconductor. More here: Does Qualcomm’s new RISC V chip matter? | Digits to Dollars
Foxconn taps Nvidia for AI data centres and EV factories | EE News Europe
Chinese chip equipment makers grab market share as US tightens curbs | Reuters