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TSMC analysis by DigiTimes
Taiwanese technology industry publication DigiTimes has some some great ‘state of the industry’ analysis pieces. They have placed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. aka TSMC at the centre of this.
TSMC dossier (4): Technology contention among world-class leaders | DigiTimes – size of process is only part of the story. Interesting data on how TSMC, Samsung and Intel compare in terms of node transistor density by wafer foundry
TSMC dossier (6): Possible ways to defeat the world’s top foundry house – TSMC’s concern is not getting surpassed in process technology or losing key customers but being overtaken by someone figuring out how to combine quantum technology and IC design. In-memory computing becoming a reality might be another scenario where TSMC could lose its competitive edge. However, according to Yu-Chung Lin, a DIGITIMES consultant devoted to the study of quantum technology application trends for years, large-scale commercialization of quantum technology is unlikely to happen before 2025. In-memory computing comes with high costs. If Samsung with leading-edge memory technologies really makes a breakthrough, TSMC will have to brace for challenges
China
The EU’s unsustainable China strategy | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank – really good read from Chatham House
DiDi’s Troubles, Tweets of the Week (Corruption, Waluigi+Mao, Fish Hugging, Which Chinese Ministry Works the Hardest?) – by Jordan Schneider – ChinaTalk – interesting commentary on China’s regulatory environment, not so great news for western investors
Consumer behaviour
Mediatel: Mediatel News: Attention Revolution: a new column by Professor Karen Nelson-Field
Recommitting to Trust | Edelman
Economics
Germany
China-Konzern will deutsche Gaming-Firma kaufen: Wegen Kriegs-Simulationssoftware? – Politik Ausland – Bild.de – Tencent is planning to take over the German game developer Crytek – but Bild reports they hope to use the “CryEngine” developed by Crytek to produce war simulation programs for the Chinese army
Hong Kong
Fall of Hong Kong’s opposition camp: mass arrests in era of protests and national security law – really nice visualisation showing the 173 activists including 108 district councillors have been arrested since 2019
Leung Kin-fai and the question of condemning violence – by Kevin Carrico – so much in this essay to unpack
Hong Kong’s national security trial debates Malcolm X’s legacy — Quartz – Leung argued that forceful and peaceful resistance can play complementary roles in a social movement, invoking Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as representing the two different styles of resistance in the US civil rights movement. In that 2016 interview, Leung also advocated for protesters to use a level of force that’s equal to that of the police. It’s an idea that evokes another line in Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech: “I’m non-violent with those who are non-violent with me.” – so the Hong Kong government is not only oppressing its own people but suggesting that African Americans should have been jailed as national security risks?
Ireland
Irish language introduces new term for people of color | IrishCentral
Legal
Translation: Cybersecurity Review Measures (Revised, Draft for Comment) – July 2021 | DigiChina
Luxury
Defying conventions, Chinese millennials turn to watches | Vogue Business – “There are lots of common points among women who are enthusiastic about watches, including financial and intellectual independence, and having a refined attitude towards shopping luxury goods,”
Luxury is culture now. Here’s how | Vogue Business – Vetements has teased a rebrand as a platform for young talent. Gucci spotlighted 15 emerging brands including Collina Strada and Bianca Saunders at November’s GucciFest film festival. Saint Laurent recently teamed up with Bang & Olufsen, Baccarat and JL Coquet on a lifestyle product series. Luxury brands no longer sell just their brand. In a new era of consumer expectation for shared values, brands are curating platforms to function as tastemakers to extend their own brand halo into the wider cultural world
Marketing
Dunkin’ drives audio ad results by matching background music to listeners’ tastes | Marketing Dive – this did make me wonder about brand. In particular the role of audio branding and about the role of jingles in culture.
Splash and Dash; Ford Fragrance Shows Petrol Fans They Won’t Miss out with Mustang Mach-E GT | Ford of Europe | Ford Media Center – as a non-driver I miss the ritual of going to the petrol station and filling the tank. As a kid I loved accompanying my Dad to do it.
Till Jagla adidas Collab King Exclusive Interview: Why He Left – “Now Energy is a new hype creation unit that really puts storytelling at the heart of everything we do,” says Jagla. “It was literally starting a brand within a brand. It was all the bad and ugly of the startup brands.”
Media
Cannes Film Festival, Risking China’s Ire, to Screen Hong Kong Protest Documentary – WSJ – Hollywood has been trying to court China. This feels like they’ve given up the ghost on this.
GB News in crisis as exec quits and presenter is pulled for ‘taking the knee’ | The Guardian – GB News – set up on the basis that free and open debate is no longer possible in the mainstream media due to an all-pervasive “cancel culture”, was overwhelmed with complaints that after only a few weeks on air it had gone “woke” and its content was not sufficiently rightwing.
Online
How Vietnam’s ‘influencer’ army wages information warfare on Facebook | Reuters
Financial services advertisers in the UK must meet Google verification requirements by August 2021 – how on earth will YouTube survive? Unless Google sets the bar really low, or those ‘forex training courses’ count as education. But then, that’s how OneCoin managed to get around their problems as well. This might not be the panacea that Google would want it to be seen as.
Pluralistic: 15 Jul 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – interesting thread on how Facebook has disbursed its Crowdtangle analytics team. The reality is that social monitoring tools have been going dark for years. Most of them disproportionately rely on Twitter. Twitter has an outsized importance for its audience size due to it being favoured by journalists. Doctorow’s post however looks specifically at these Facebook moves
Security
We Got the Phone the FBI Secretly Sold to Criminals | Vice
Philippines calls claim China influenced 2016 election to favour Duterte ‘nonsense’ | South China Morning Post – Former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario made the claim at a forum on Monday, citing a ‘most reliable international entity’. He said senior Chinese officials were ‘bragging that they had been able to influence the 2016 Philippine elections so that Duterte would be president’ – I wouldn’t be surprised if China did try to influence the election result. However I am surprised that Chinese officials would be so indiscreet. The risks of that getting back to Beijing are too great, unless they wanted to be found out
Threat to UK from hostile states could be as bad as terrorism, says MI5 chief | The Guardian – while the threat from Russia, as demonstrated by the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, is familiar to the British public – the spy chief will argue that threats that typically come from China are not. McCallum will say that universities and researchers risk “having their discoveries stolen or copied” if they are not vigilant and that businesses could be “hollowed out by the loss of advantage they’ve worked painstakingly to build”.
Technology
Russia to Build 8-Core RISC-V CPUs for Laptops, Government Systems – ExtremeTech