Viewpoints

In the wake of Sony’s SmartWatch and Samsung’s Galaxy Gear watch – and Intel’s watch investment long before that – Apple is widely considered to be strapping on its own smart time piece, the iWatch. David Manners sets the context for the latest development in wrist based computing. Wearable technology was a hot topic at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, for ...

Steve Kelly, CEO of SmartKem, the North Wales-based supplier of organic semiconductor materials, talks to Electronics Weekly about the commercial potential for printed electronics in the next 12 months. Q1. Do you believe that the optimism in the UK economy is good news for the electronics sector? Steve Kelly: The optimism within the UK economy is without doubt good news from both a ...

Last Autumn I had the opportunity at a dinner to sit down next to my local MP and the Home Secretary Theresa May. I took the chance to engage them in candid chats about highly skilled immigration; this is an obvious concern in my line of business as for many years the HSMP, Tier 1 and 2 routes have been ...

Electronics Weekly talks to Joep van Beurden, CEO of wireless semiconductor firm CSR about his expectations for the year ahead. Do you believe that the optimism in the UK economy is good news for the electronics sector? Joep van Beurden: Optimism in the UK economy is a reflection of consumer confidence, which usually translates into growth for the electronics sector. ...

The importance of power electronic devices in controlling electrical systems is increasing as Governments introduce new standards and consumers demand lower power consumption and greater energy efficiency with ever rising energy costs, writes Reinhold Theurer, vice president EMEA, International Rectifier. In all areas, technology is driving these efficiencies through continuous R & D with developments such as Gallium Nitride (GaN), being quickly ...

With 2014 global outlook likely to be another slow growth year similar to 2013, it’s imperative that a company be in the right markets at the right time if it is going to outperform the market, writes Lothar Maier, CEO, Linear Technology. The effects of the past financial crisis, subsequent deep recession and now a subdued recovery continue to pose enormous ...

The European macro environment has been showing signs of uncertainty, and the continued pressure of this economic squeeze is challenging. Simultaneously, our customers continue to have a high degree of focus on aggressive design activity, writes Gabriel Lezmi, vice president of Synopsys sales in Europe. The result is a strong demand for advanced tools and silicon intellectual property (IP). For our customers, ...

Just as 2013 was an exceptional year of change and innovation for Silicon Labs and the electronics industry as a whole, we expect that 2014 will bring even more transformation, writes Dave Bresemann, senior vice president and chief product officer, Silicon Labs. Two major achievements in mid-2013 have positioned Silicon Labs for new growth opportunities in 2014 and beyond: the strategic ...

Looking back on 2013, writes Nimish Modi is Cadence’s senior vice-president, marketing & business development, we might say it was the “vertical” year. Consider: FinFETs emerged from foundries as test chips to help the industry keep up with Moore’s Law 3D-IC solutions with silicon interposer and through-silicon via (TSV) technologies matured to help performance, reduce power in lower small factors for ...

The deployment of hardware emulation has evolved rapidly in the past five years, and the market has grown in response to recent innovations, many of which are driven by the Mentor Graphics Veloce product group. Perhaps the most significant evolution for emulation is its transition from the engineering lab to the datacenter. As little as five years ago most hardware ...