Companies that belong to the microelectronics industry can be divided into three groups. Intel belongs to the first group. This company is to be an integrated device manufacturer. They design and manufacture their own semiconductor devices.

AMD belongs to the second group. Such companies do not have their own capacities. All production work is outsourced.

GlobalFoundries and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing belongs to the third group. They are pure play foundries. Their main task is not to design, but to produce custom solutions. This model has been widely distributed and accepted by the world community. The rapid development of microelectronics from a scientific point of view and the race of electronics manufacturers do not allow slowing down the renewal of the plant’s lines. Businesses buy ideas around the world or invest in their research centers. The main reason for this model is the incredible cost of the manufacturing plant. Modern-level factories cost as much as several annual budgets of a country.

We asked expert’s opinion about The Foundry Model

Mr. Risher Panir, will The Foundry Model continue to exist?

– I think definitely yes. There are a lot of design centers or companies that will never be able to afford a factory. They do not need it at all.

What awaits us in the future?

The construction of new factories with production must be carried out. This will be done in order to break up the share that the current leaders have. Perhaps the world of microelectronics will be divided into blocks. You see, the semiconductor industry is all about digital security and independence. Rich countries will have their own production factories at own loss.

Some companies have already begun distributing not only design centers around the world, but also production facilities.

Could you list the pros and cons of such a business model?

A big pron is the opportunity for design centers of various sizes to produce their products. After all, startups and small projects are the driver of progress. The disadvantages are clearly a strong localization of production, in other words, a strong dependence on geographical, political and natural factors of global microelectronics and the microelectronic industry of almost all countries in particular.

by Andiy Domane

CounselSenses

Carmakers had to shut down production lines for a while at the beginning of pandemic.
They cancelled orders for chips used in automotive electronics systems like driver assistance and navigation control, anticipating an industry slowdown that would last several months.

For the rest of 2020, chip foundries reassigned surplus manufacturing resources to companies that make smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles, which saw an increase in demand after the pandemic lockdowns.

As auto sales rebounded earlier than anticipated in the third quarter of last year, chip factories were unable to respond quickly enough due to the lengthy lead times needed to prepare orders.

The shortage of semiconductors soon spread to other markets, such as consumer electronics and home appliances, which saw a surge in revenue due to the pandemic’s “stay at home” effect, but were unable to satisfy the increased demand due to a lack of sufficient supplies.

The shortage of integrated circuits isn’t supposed to go away anytime soon.
According to experts, it could take another two years for the supply-demand balance to be recovered.

Multiple prominent figures have already spoke about it. For example, Bill Gates said that Bitcoin is such an energy-intensive transaction method that it already consumes more electricity than any other method. Since electicity en masse is being produced by burning of fossil fuels, such a grow in electricity consumption might have a negative impact on environment, especially since many countries don’t have an easy access to green energy – and even if they do, green energy isn’t as scalable as fossibles. Bitcoin’s carbon footprint is already comparable to the footprint of Peru, while energy consumption is similar with countries like Netherlands – and it’ll only become worse.

Earlier this year, Tesla made it possible to pay for cars with Bitcoin, and in order to do so they bought huge amount of Bitcoins. However, recently Elon Musk said that cryptocurrencies might be bad for ecology… Conveniently, Tesla may have sold their Bitcoins just before the statement of CEO. This might be a signal that Bitcoin is not there yet, and perhaps it will not ever be there since there’s also a problem with scalability.

Bitcoin is already slower than Visa by a factor of hundreds, so a single transaction might take days. There are multiple scenarios for a change in infrastructure of Bitcoin, but none of them are coming close to existing transaction methods, so it severely impacts usability of cryprocurrencies.

Another problem with cryptocurrensies is that they still not regulated by governments around the world. Some states want to suppress cryptos, some want to create their own currencies, but it’s pretty clear that the current freedom is not for decades to come.

With each year, a new problems with cryptocurrencies are appearing. Despite booming growth, they might not be the future of transactions.

The East Coast’s 5,500-mile (8,900-kilometer) pipeline typically transports up to 2.5 million barrels a day, or about half of the region’s fuel supply.

Oil and fuel markets tightened across the United States as a result of the shutdown, causing a few states to declare states of emergency.

According to the Automobile Association of America, the retail price per gallon reached $3.008 (£2.14), the highest since October 2014.

The oil sector is most often associated with images of tanks and pumps. However, Colonial Pipeline operates in an increasingly digital environment. Over hundreds of miles of piping, pressure meters, thermostats, switches, and pumps are used to track and maintain the fuel supply. The best way to keep operating machinery safe is to keep it off the Internet. But this is becoming more difficult as companies depend on smart devices to increase efficiency.
Cyber-attacks have been more frequent in recent years.

On Monday, DarkSide released a post on its website, claiming to be “apolitical”. According to their statements, they don’t partake in geopolitics and aren’t tied to a certain country. Their only goal is getting a ransom – and looks like they succeeded.

Cyber-attacks are becoming more common. In February, for example, a hacker gained access to a Florida city’s water system and tried to inject a “dangerous” amount of a chemical.
The worker, on the other hand, saw what was happening and intervened to stop the attack.