Miller notched an assist, two shots on goal and a plus-3 rating in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Jets.
Miller provided the secondary helper on Zack MacEwen's tally in the second period. Over his last three games, Miller has two goals and three assists. The 27-year-old forward is up to two tallies, eight helpers, 25 hits and 12 shots on net through eight appearances this season. He exceeded a point-per-game pace with 72 points in 69 outings last year, so there's evidence he can keep up his current production for the long run.
A worsening shortage in semiconductor chips is forcing automakers to further curb vehicle production, potentially short-circuiting the industry’s attempt to recover from the pandemic. The chip scarcity is even starting to impact other industries, with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics this week warning it is “closely watching the implications," warning it could hit production of its smart phones.
Ford said Thursday it would temporarily idle two of three shifts at its Chicago Assembly Plant next week, a move that will impact a sizable share of the factory’s 5,300 hourly employees. Ford also extended a plant closure in Louisville, Kentucky, for at least another week.
Today’s vehicles are essentially computers on wheels, using hundreds of microprocessors and other chips to regulate their powertrains, control infotainment systems and operate the latest digital safety systems.
As auto production and demand for chips slumped sharply during pandemic lockdowns, the need for microchips for the consumer electronics industry surged as millions of people were forced to work and shop from home, buying new smartphones, computers, web cameras and other digital devices.
Now, the auto industry is racing to recover, accelerating production to refill depleted vehicle inventories. But a report released this month by Bloomberg estimated that Detroit automakers alone could lose as much as $61 billion in revenues this year if the chip shortage continues.
The second-largest U.S. automaker will idle two of three shifts at the Chicago plant producing the popular — and highly profitable — Explorer SUV. Spokesperson Kelli Felker said the exact number of workers being affected has not been determined, but the factory employs 5,300 hourly workers and hundreds more on salary.
The closure is scheduled to last for a week but, in a letter sent to workers and obtained by the Detroit Free Press, local union leader Coby Millender said that he has been advised there is “a strong potential for additional weeks” of closure if Ford can’t come up with more chips quickly.
Ford has already extended the complete shutdown of the Louisville plant producing another popular SUV, the Escape.
“It is a really fluid situation and I couldn’t predict what’s ahead for us,” Felker said, quoting a separate company statement that said Ford is “working closely with suppliers” to resolve shortages.
Paul A. Eisenstein
Paul A. Eisenstein is an NBC News contributor who covers the auto industry.
For the next edition of Category Close-Up, Product Showcase, we’re taking a deep dive into the trends and news — as well as the innovative brands and products — that are currently shaping the fast paced chips category.
During yesterday’s Expert Analysis, our panel of industry authorities discussed the consumer behaviors, investment activity and retailer attitudes that are impacting the set. Now, we’re hearing from the brands. In this episode NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg and reporter Erin Cabrey will interview executives and brand leaders from both emerging and established chip companies to discuss company strategy, category evolution and new product information.
During the Product Showcase you’ll hear about the latest innovations and updates from brands including:
Beanfields
The Good Crisp
Real Food From the Ground Up
Mozaics
Snacklins
Wilde Chips
Chips List 2021: These are the top 100 football recruits in Washington state
Published January 29, 2021
The Seattle Times' annual Chips List reveals the top 100 football prospects in Washington state, as determined by High School Sports Coordinator Nathan Joyce with input from recruiting experts. Use the searchable list below to meet our picks for 2021.
A blue-chip player is considered the cream of the recruiting crop — an athlete who could start and star at the Division I level in college. A red chipper is someone who could start in a major conference like the Pac-12. And the rest of our top prospects are white chippers.
With the inauguration of US President Joe Biden on Wednesday last week, the people and government of Taiwan can breathe a sigh of relief. For the next four years, they will not have to worry about being used as a “bargaining chip” in US-China relations.
Immediately after former US president Donald Trump took office in January 2017, there was a flurry of worry and debate about whether Trump would somehow use Taiwan as a bargaining chip for a better “deal” in his administration’s dealings and negotiations with Beijing. Four years later, the Biden administration has much to achieve when it comes to Taiwan-US relations, but the bargaining chip fears can go away.
Would Trump use Taiwan as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations? Would Trump give China a free pass over military escalation? These questions and others undoubtedly kept government officials in Taipei up at night.
The pages of the Taipei Times and other newspapers consistently had articles wondering whether and how Taiwan could be used as bargaining chip. Whenever there was a development over the US-China trade dispute, the next conversation was almost always about how Taiwan might be used as a bargaining chip.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) is “expediting” auto-related products through its wafer fabs and reallocating wafer capacity, the company said on Thursday, amid a global shortage of auto chips.
FILE PHOTO: A man sits in front of the logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) during an investors' conference in Taipei April 18, 2013. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines due to the shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former U.S. administration’s actions against Chinese chip factories.
Taiwan’s economy minister said on Wednesday major Taiwanese chipmakers were willing to prioritise supplies for automakers, after she met senior company executives including from TSMC.
In a statement, TSMC said it was addressing the chip supply “challenges” as their top priority.
“The automotive supply chain is long and complex and we have worked with our automotive customers and identified their critical needs,” the world’s largest contract chipmaker said.
“TSMC is currently expediting these critical automotive products through our wafer fabs. While our capacity is fully utilised with demand from every sector, TSMC is reallocating our wafer capacity to support the worldwide automotive industry.”
In 2020, auto chips accounted only for 3% of TSMC’s sales, lagging smartphones’ 48% and 33% for high-performance chips.
In the fourth quarter, sales for TSMC’s auto chips jumped 27% from the previous quarter, but still only accounted for 3% of overall sales.
The issue has become a diplomatic one, with German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier writing to his Taiwanese counterpart Wang Mei-hua to ask her for help in addressing it.
Wang said the other companies whose executives she met were from United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp.
UMC Co-President Jason Wang, speaking on an investor call late Wednesday, said their fabs were also operating at a 100% utilisation rate and that they were trying to address the auto chip shortage.
“It’s hard to increase the capacity. It’s more about re-prioritising. Prioritising the automotive market, so hopefully we can relieve some of the pressure,” he said.
“Some of the capacity increase will come from productivity improvement and for those the priority will probably be allocated to automotive at the current time.”
UMC Chief Financial Officer Chitung Liu added that the company’s commitment to their non-auto customers “will not change”.
UMC does not break down details for auto chips in terms of how much they contribute to revenue or their share of production.
The company declined to comment on the meeting with minister Wang.
Taipei-based research group TrendForce said in a research note this week that integrated chips for auto use need to be highly reliable and have a long lifespan as they are generally used in high-temperature and high-pressure operating environments.
“So it is usually not easy to switch over production lines and supply chains,” it said.
The shortage has affected Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and other car makers.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Stephen Coates and Jacqueline Wong
My interest in technology began after I was presented with an Atari 800XL home computer in the mid-1980s. I especially enjoy writing about technological advances, compelling rumors, and intriguing tech-related leaks. I have a degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies and count my family, reading, writing, and travel as the main passions of my life. I have been with Notebookcheck since 2012.
January 29, 2021 at 02:07PM
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Two 32-core AMD EPYC 7513 Milan chips working in tandem gain +8% over Ryzen Threadripper 3990X on Geekbench without even breaking into a sweat - Notebookcheck.net
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Mister Bee Potato Chips recently donated 1,000 bags of assorted chips to the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore.
The company donated the chips to help support the National Guard troops that were sent to the nation’s capital.
Officials with the company say they are committed to supporting the needs of our nation’s military.
“Well I mean its great,” says Rob Graham Sales Manager, Mister Bee Potato Chips. “We try to do everything we can for the military and for our veterans. You know, we are big on the veterans and our military and we try to support them in any and every way that we can possible. So, anytime we can do something for them, we are going to be the first ones there to try to help out as much as we can.”
Mister Bee Potato Chips and the Ketelsen family previously donated $100,000 to USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore to support the needs of military personnel, veterans and their families.
PRAGUE -- Skoda has temporarily cut 16 shifts this week as its parent Volkswagen Group deals with global chip shortages.
"Due to the lack of semiconductors in the supply chain of the whole VW Group, the company... also faces shortage of this particular component," Skoda said on Thursday. "Based on this, some adjustment of the car production flow can't be excluded."
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines due to the shortages of chips caused by the coronavirus crisis and competition from companies making electronic consumer goods.
VW Group has said chip supply bottlenecks will impact production at some of it's German plants in February.
The automaker said on Wednesday that it had applied for short-time work at its Wolfsburg car factory on some days of the month. It has also planned reduced working hours at its components factories in Kassel and Brunswick in February as a precautionary measure. Production at Emden, however, will not be affected, the company said.
Samsung Electronics said a global semiconductor shortage that has hit global carmakers could also disrupt orders for the memory chips used in smartphones, as manufacturers rushed to respond to the crisis.
The warning from the world’s biggest memory chipmaker comes as companies and governments grow concerned that constrained chip manufacturing capacity could derail countries’ economic recoveries from the coronavirus pandemic.
The rush by semiconductor foundries to meet demand for auto chips means many are now operating at full capacity, limiting their ability to take on new orders, which could in turn slow deliveries of chips designed for mobile devices.
Samsung said on Thursday that this squeeze on foundries, and any subsequent slowdown in mobile device orders, could affect demand for its Dram and Nand memory chips, which enable smartphones and tablets to perform multiple tasks at once.
“Because of the foundry supply shortages that have become an issue globally, the supply issue of other semiconductor parts could affect mobile demand, so we are closely watching the implications,” said Han Jinman, executive vice-president of Samsung’s memory chip business.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s biggest contract maker of processor chips, said on Thursday that it was “expediting” automotive-related products in an attempt to meet automakers’ needs.
“While our capacity is fully utilised with demand from every sector, TSMC is reallocating our wafer capacity to support the worldwide automotive industry,” the company said.
CC Wei, TSMC’s chief executive, told investors last week that it had converted some manufacturing capacity to respond to the sudden resurgence of demand for automotive chips at the end of last year.
The Taiwanese group’s increased attention came after automakers pushed governments to campaign on their behalf.
Car companies in Europe, Japan and the US have engaged in direct talks with the chipmaker as well as lobbied via industry associations’ diplomatic channels to Taiwan’s government, economy minister Wang Mei-Hua and TSMC have said.
People directly familiar with those communications said such lobbying efforts were unusual.
“We believe that as economies are struggling due to the pandemic, governments, especially in the countries hit worst by the virus, see car demand as a rare growth impulse important for their overall economies,” said a Taiwanese government official. “We would not normally see this kind of approach if it were only about a few individual companies.”
Samsung is also considering urgently expanding foundry capacity.
The company’s foundry business posted record quarterly revenues in the three months to December, it said on Thursday, led by strong demand for the chips used in 5G mobile technology and high-performance computers.
Samsung said that a stronger South Korean won and higher production costs would hit the group’s first-quarter earnings, but its full-year outlook remained bright.
Semiconductors, which accounted for nearly half of Samsung’s operating profits last year, are likely to drive an earnings increase in 2021 as chip prices rise.
“The chip price increase this year won’t be as rapid as 2017-18 but we will see a steady rise with a prolonged upcycle, which will be healthier,” said Daniel Kim, an analyst at Macquarie.
The company’s net profits in the fourth quarter rose by 26.4 per cent year-on-year to Won6.45tn ($5.78bn). The profits were below the Won7.3tn forecast by analysts polled by Bloomberg.
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Vision Sensor Chip, and Radar/LiDAR chip, who are doing it? Automated Driving Sensor Chip Industry Report, 2020, published by ResearchInChina, analyzes market size, technologies, competitive landscape, development trend, etc of vision sensor chip, Radar and LiDAR chip for automated driving.
Vision sensor Chip: features with function integration and product diversification
Automotive vision sensor chips mainly cover CMOS image sensor (CIS) and image signal processor (ISP) chip. Currently CMOS chips are challenged by high expansion barrier, while the growth rate of CMOS demand is far higher than the expansion speed, especially under the background that automated driving ushers in rapid development in recent years, automotive camera demand skyrockets, pre-installed 960P and 1080P camera CMOS chips are in tight supply.
In terms of market pattern, although SONY, Samsung and other traditional mobile phone CIS vendors have successively launched several CMOS sensors for self-driving, ON Semiconductor still occupies a leading position in the market. It has more than 50 automotive ecological partners, involving businesses like optical lens, signal processors, I/O, Interface, SoC processors and software systems, etc.
In terms of image processing chip, independent ISP chips have strong performance but high cost, the main suppliers include Texas Instruments (TI), Moileye, Huawei HiSilicon, etc, among which TI outstands with the deepest accumulation of technology and the largest market share. In recent years, CIS suppliers like Aptina and OmniVision have also launched the latest CIS integration products with built-in ISP, which have low cost, small area and low power consumption, but is just capable of simple algorithms and is weak in processing power. Under the background of increased requirements for automotive intelligence, independent ISP chip in automotive camera is still the focus.
With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated driving, image processing and calculation are facing more and more challenges. The integration of vision sensor chips has become a trend. In addition to ISP chips, vision processors (VP) chips with AI capabilities are gradually added.
In May 2020, Sony unveiled two models of intelligent vision sensors with AI processing functionality-- IMX500 and IMX50, which feature a stacked configuration consisting of a pixel chip (photosensitive function) and a logic chip (calculation and memory function). They are the world’s first CMOS image sensors to be equipped with AI image analysis and processing functionality on the logic chip.
In Jan. 2021, OmniVision released new sensor OAX8000, which uses a stacked-die architecture and integrates a neural processing unit (NPU) and ISP. OAX8000 ASIC samples are provided by BGA196 package now and already passed automotive AEC- Q100 2 certification.
Due to different application positions of vision camera in the car, it can be subdivided into surround view, front view, rear view, side view, drive monitoring, cockpit monitoring, etc. From the perspective of chip, there are also image sensor products dedicated to surround view, front view, rear view and driving monitoring. For example, OmniVision’s vehicle image sensor products include driver monitoring sensors (OV10652, OV2311, OV2312, OV2778, OV4690, etc), sensors for automated driving systems (OV10625, OV10640, OV10642, OV10650, OV10652, etc.), rear view and electronic mirror sensors (OV10626, OV10635, OV10640, OV10650, OV10652, etc), surround view sensors (OV10635, OV10640, OV10652, OV2312, OV2775, etc.?, 8-megapixel forward camera OX08A and OX08B, and DMS sensor OAX8000, etc.
Increase in usage and industrial M&As
The number of vehicle cameras for mainstream models will increase from 1.7 in 2018 to more than 3 in 2022 per vehicle, while the number for high-end models even be more than 10. For example, Leapmotor C11 unveiled a the end of 2020 carries 10 cameras, and NIO ET7, which will be launched in 2022, carries 11 8-megapixel high-definition cameras. Also, the first model of IM (Zhiji Auto) just released in early 2021 comes standard with 15 high-definition vision cameras, 5 radars and 12 ultrasonic radars.
As the incremental application of image sensors in the next few years will be mainly in automotive market, leading players in the industry begin to deploy and a number of image sensor companies are acquired in 2020:
SmartSens Technology acquired Allchip
Goodix acquired Dreamchip
TE Connectivity acquired First Sensor
AMS acquired Osram
Nuvoton acquired Semiconductor Business from Panasonic (including image sensor)
Jenoptik acquired Trioptics(test equipment for optical components and sensors)
Sony acquired Insightness(event-based vision sensor)
Radar chip: 4D imaging radar enters mass-production and radar SoC solution arouses much concern.
Radar-used chips cover master chips (MCU, DSP, FPGA), radar chip (e.g., MMIC, ASIC) and other auxiliary ones (like PMI, ADC). The radar vendors are championing 77GHz and chip providers deliver new products, mainly 77GHz chips.
The 4D imaging radar market is already fiercely contested, and the players such as Huawei and Oculii have rolled out 4D imaging radar systems. In early 2021, Continental AG announced it would spawn the first 4D imaging radar – ARS540 within 2021, a solution based on chip cascade plus Xilinx FPGA.
Continental’s 4D imaging radar will be first available to BMW production cars; and SUV Ocean with 4D imaging radar, as an outcome of joint efforts between Magna and Fisker, made its debut in early 2021 and plans to be launched on the market at the end of 2022. Besides, there are also signs of Tesla to deploy 4D imaging radar (the 4D radar Phoenix offered by Arbe Robotics).
In addition to 4D radar, startups prefer to develop radar SoC (radar-on-a-chip) products. Vayyar, with the already raised funds of $188 million has the automotive radar chips enabling 77-81GHz imaging and radar band, incorporating a total of 48 transceivers in a SoC system able to accommodate 2,000-plus virtual channels. Vayyar’s radar SoC contains an internal DSP as well, enabling real-time signal processing. Vayyar’s sensors are enhanced through the integrated powerful DSP and large internal memory to administer complex imaging algorithms and application without a need for external tackling capability. Vayyar’s radar SoC is able to output post-processing data and original 3D images or point-cloud formats.
In December 2020, Uhnder, a start-up in the development of radar-on-a-chip secured its C-round series funding of $45 million, with a plan to unveil its first automotive-grade 4D imaging radar – Voxel within 2021, containing chips and 4D imaging software algorithms. The successful financing will serve as a stimulus to the company’s ambitious production plan in 2021.
Lidar chip: SoC solution becomes the apple of vendors’ eyes, and hopefully FMCW solution is gaining ground
Despite a varied focus of vendors on chip technologies, LiDAR on chip grows a key trend as those are beneficial to automated driving such as high reliability coming of no mechanical motion mechanisms as well as conforming to vehicle requirements, miniature and being easy to integrate, among others. Moreover, the semiconductor process (like CMOS) truly brings a cut in vehicle lidar costs, from the tens of thousands of yuan to less than ten thousand yuan in readiness for massive use.
Lidar SoC solution is the dream of many a vendor. In August 2016, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) together with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) offered such a solution like this: to encapsulate lidar sensors onto a single chip with a footprint just 0.5mm×6mm, for the commercialization of which MIT set up a company named Kyber Photonic in early 2020.
In June 2020, Xilight Technology joined forces with Xidian University to develop dToF SPAD lidar sensor chip -- XHS301 on which the core photosensitive element SPAD is integrated. The solution enables the miniature and cost reduction of LiDAR and is well placed for mass production with proprietary control technologies.
In January 2021, Mobileye announced a partnership with Intel to develop silicon photonics lidar SoC system with which the lidar sensors are produced for availability onto Mobileye self-driving fleets in 2025. Such chip enjoys significant superiority in the lidar sector thanks to Intel’s professional silicon photonics workshops.
The lidar SoC developed by Mobileye and Intel employs FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) technology, featuring a high signal-to-noise ratio, low power consumption, irrelevance to both the distance away from objects (compared with the farther TOF lidar detects, the lower accuracy of detection will be) and the motion velocity of objects, but with the demerits including great difficulty, high costs and low yield. ToF-based pulse laser has long been dominant in the industry, and only about ten out of more than 100 lidar developers worldwide dedicate themselves to the development of FMCW lidars. It is over the recent years that FMCW technology is increasingly favored by ever more companies.
Being bullish about FMCW lidar, the optics giant Carl Zeiss AG invested and founded Bridger Photonics, an American lidar developer in November 2018 and made investments in August 2020 in Scantinel Photonics, a German FMCW lidar startup.
Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06011287/?utm_source=GNW
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SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday its operating profit for last quarter rose by more than 26% as it capped off a robust business year where its dual strength in parts and finished products allowed it to thrive amid the pandemic.
But the South Korean tech giant expected its profit to weaken in the current quarter with a weak dollar and costs associated with expanded production lines likely affecting its bread-and-butter computer memory chip business.
Samsung 005930, -2.22% has also dealt with legal issues surrounding its vice chairman and de facto chief, Lee Jae-yong, who last week was sentenced by the Seoul High Court to two and a half years in prison for his involvement in a 2016 corruption scandal that spurred massive protests and ousted South Korea’s then-president.
“For 2021, the company expects a recovery in overall global demand but uncertainties persist over the possibility of recurring COVID-19 waves,” Samsung said in an emailed statement.
Samsung’s operating profit of 9.05 trillion won ($8.13 billion) for the October-December quarter represented a 26.35% increase from the same period a year before, while its revenue rose by 2.78% to 61.55 trillion won ($55.28 billion). The company’s operating profit for the full year of 2020 was at 35.99 trillion won ($32.32 billion), rising by more than 29% from 2019, according to a regulatory filing.
Samsung saw its semiconductor business rebounded sharply last year after a sluggish 2019, driven by robust demand for PCs and servers as virus outbreaks forced millions of people to stay and work at home. The Trump administration’s sanctions against China’s Huawei Technologies have meanwhile hindered one of Samsung’s biggest rivals in smartphones, smartphone chips and telecommunications equipment.
Samsung said it continued to see a strong overall demand for its memory chips in the fourth quarter as major clients launched new smartphone models and cloud computing companies increased their investment in data centers. PC demand remained strong, driven by Chromebooks, gaming notebooks and the release of new graphics cards and gaming consoles, the company said.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Major Taiwanese chipmakers are willing to prioritise supplies for auto makers amid a global shortage of chips for the industry, the island’s economics minister said after meeting with company executives.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is pictured at its headquarters, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, January 19, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines due to the shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former U.S. administration’s actions against Chinese chip factories.
“Chipmakers are willing to follow the government’s request and try to support auto chips as much as they can to support production in the U.S., Europe and Japan,” Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua told reporters.
The issue has become a diplomatic one, with German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier writing to Wang to ask her for help in addressing it. Wang also said the United States, European Union and Japan had also been in contact.
The chipmakers are prepared to negotiate with clients of other products to see which clients are willing to delay or cut orders and will try to boost production, Wang said.
“For example, if their capacity is at 100% now, they will try to raise it to 102% or 103%, with the extra capacity going to make auto chips,” she added.
She met executives from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp.
Vanguard declined comment ahead of quarterly earnings next week but noted the company’s chairman had said this month he expects a 15% increase in demand for auto chips this year.
UMC Co-president Jason Wang told an investor’s call after the minister spoke that they would try their best to help ease the auto chip shortage by prioritising supply.
“Hopefully we can relieve some of the pressure,” he said.
The other two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The chip firms told Wang that they were at working at full capacity. Business is booming for Taiwan’s tech firms as the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote work drive demand for laptops, tablets and smartphones.
She added chipmakers had said they had warned automakers early last year that they were taking a risky approach if they cut orders at time of strong growth in demand for chips for electronics.
The shortage has affected Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and other car makers.
“This appears to be long-term demand so it will take some time to solve the problem,” Wang added.
Reporting by Jeanny Kao and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel, Edwina Gibbs and Louise Heavens
Two US companies have embraced the uniqueness of 2021 with the launch of a lager brewed using tortilla chips…just in time for the Superbowl.
Superbowl Sunday is usually a great get-together for Americans, with food at the centre of proceedings (aside from the football)
Next month the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Tampa Bay Bucaneers in Tampa, Florida, in Superbowl LV. What is usually a festival of food and drink will be somewhat subdued this year, yet two enterprising businesses have come together to marry two Superbowl staples: tortilla chips and beer.
California chip company Taco Works and Tio Rodrigo Craft Beer Micheladas (which uses Californian brewery Slo Brew’s beer in its Micheladas) have teamed up to turn highly fermentable corn tortilla chips into a lager.
“Everyone’s been going a bit stir-crazy lately, so we wanted to have some fun and shake things up,” said Slo Brew head brewer Steve Courier. “Why not have your chips and drink them too?”
Slo Brew said it used chips that had been freshly baked using a corn and masa dough mix, as oil-fried chips can adversely affect the brewing process. After that, the brewery said incorporating the tasty snack into its brewing process was relatively easy.
Brewers shovelled over 400lbs of tortilla chips fresh from the oven to craft what Slo Brew calls a light, refreshing beer with hints of lime zest. On a day when Americans consume a reported 326 million gallons of beer (enough to fill nearly 500 Olympic swimming pools) and 28 million lbs of potato chips, it seems apt that football fans in California will be able to halve their eating responsibilities with a convenient can of beer.
“Taco Works is a legacy on the Central Coast of California and our line of Tio Rodrigo craft beer Micheladas will be pairing as the salsa to their chips in store displays across California,” said Dylan Grant, Consumer Marketing Manager at Slo Brew.
“Our brewers were incredibly excited to set the partnership off on the right foot with a beer that combines the best of two, classic party staples; chips and beer.”
The limited-edition Tortilla Chip Lager will be available in select California retailers and online for California home delivery – complete with a complimentary bag of chips.
(Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday beat quarterly revenue estimates and forecast robust 2021 sales on strong demand for its chips used in PCs, data centers and gaming consoles from companies and customers adapting to remote working.
FILE PHOTO: Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD, holds up a 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processor during a keynote address at the 2019 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 9, 2019. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo
The company has been prying away central processor market share from rival Intel Corp, whose manufacturing operations have stumbled in recent years while contract factories used by AMD such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co grabbed a lead in making faster chips.
The company also supplies chips for gaming consoles, which boosted its fourth-quarter sales as new devices from Microsoft and Sony debuted during the holiday season quarter. But the consoles were in persistently short supply at retail outlets because of a global chip shortage that affected AMD and other players.
The company projected first-quarter revenue to be about $3.2 billion, plus or minus $100 million, compared to analysts’ average estimate of $2.74 billion, according to Refinitiv.
AMD forecast 2021 sales of $13.37 billion, above analysts’ estimates of $12.28 billion.
The company’s shares, which had doubled last year, were down about 2% in extended trading.
Analysts pinned the decline to AMD’s gross margin forecast. AMD said it expects first-quarter and full-year gross margins of 46% and 47% respectively, which were in line with Wall Street estimates but “a little underwhelming” given AMD’s booming revenue growth, Kinngai Chan of Summit Insights Group said.
In an interview with Reuters, AMD Chief Executive Su said the company’s margin outlook was higher that 2019 and 2020 and largely reflected how many server chips it expects to sell. She said that the company’s console chips tend to be below the 45% gross margin mark the company hit for the full year of 2020, while server chips tend to be above it.
“It’s how much server do we sell versus consoles,” she said. “Depending on the quarter, you’ll have a bit of mix change in the business, but overall we’re actually pleased with the margin progression.”
On a conference call with investors, Su also said that AMD thinks console chip sales will be above normal levels in the first quarter, when they typically decline after the holiday shopping season in many parts of the world. She said she expects the tightness of overall AMD chip supplies to ease somewhat in the second half of the year.
AMD’s fourth-quarter revenue rose to $3.24 billion, beating analysts’ estimate of $3.03 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Excluding items, the company earned 52 cents per share, topping estimates of 47 cents.
Revenue in the computing and graphics unit, where it supplies processors and graphics chips for PCs, was $1.96 billion versus analysts’ estimates of $1.8 billion, according to data from FactSet.
In the company’s enterprise and semi-custom segment, which includes data center processor chips and gaming console chips, revenue was $1.28 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $1.24 billion.
AMD’s graphics chips have also seen a surge in demand from cryptocurrency miners.
Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Stephen Coates
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Major Taiwanese chipmakers are willing to prioritise supplies for auto makers amid a global shortage of chips for the industry, the island’s economics minister said after meeting with company executives.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is pictured at its headquarters, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, January 19, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines due to the shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former U.S. administration’s actions against Chinese chip factories.
“Chipmakers are willing to follow the government’s request and try to support auto chips as much as they can to support production in the U.S., Europe and Japan,” Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua told reporters.
The issue has become a diplomatic one, with German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier writing to Wang to ask her for help in addressing it. Wang also said the United States, European Union and Japan had also been in contact.
The chipmakers are prepared to negotiate with clients of other products to see which clients are willing to delay or cut orders and will try to boost production, Wang said.
“For example, if their capacity is at 100% now, they will try to raise it to 102% or 103%, with the extra capacity going to make auto chips,” she added.
She met executives from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp.
Vanguard declined comment ahead of quarterly earnings next week but noted the company’s chairman had said this month he expects a 15% increase in demand for auto chips this year.
UMC Co-president Jason Wang told an investor’s call after the minister spoke that they would try their best to help ease the auto chip shortage by prioritising supply.
“Hopefully we can relieve some of the pressure,” he said.
The other two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The chip firms told Wang that they were at working at full capacity. Business is booming for Taiwan’s tech firms as the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote work drive demand for laptops, tablets and smartphones.
She added chipmakers had said they had warned automakers early last year that they were taking a risky approach if they cut orders at time of strong growth in demand for chips for electronics.
The shortage has affected Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and other car makers.
“This appears to be long-term demand so it will take some time to solve the problem,” Wang added.
Reporting by Jeanny Kao and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel, Edwina Gibbs and Louise Heavens
The internet is full of aspiring at home chefs showing off their unique kitchen skills and custom made dishes. While some are worthy of going viral, others spread throughout the internet for being less than restaurant quality. The latest example of this comes from a man who attempted to turn potato chips into mashed potatoes, and the internet is letting him know that isn’t okay.
In the now viral TikTok video, the user starts by pouring a bag of Lay’s potato chips into a pot of boiling water. While many were grossed out enough by that, the chef then takes a shot of the potato water after straining the mashed up chips. After adding cheese and seasoning, the man gives his potatoes a try, claiming them to be “delicious.”
Many online disagreed, including a Michelin-starred chef Brad Carter, who said “It looks like sludge and it’s obviously not good mashing all that frying oil into your food!” While some claimed they’d be willing to try, most said they would stick to the normal recipe. Luckily, this dish won’t be turning up in restaurants any time soon.
While the shortage of automobile chips is continuing, with a rise in chip prices, the situation is expected to ease in the middle of the year, according to industry insiders.
Chip supply in the automotive industry has been affected globally amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem began last year and was widely discussed due to concern that the lack of chips could affect car production in China.
Automakers are making preparations, including communicating with chip suppliers, optimizing production schedules, coordinating resources and strengthening technology research and development to tackle the shortage.
Chen Shihua, deputy secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that based on feedback from car manufacturers in China, the shortage had impacted production and sales and may continue to affect them in the second quarter of this year.
The association pointed out three reasons for the shortage. First, increasing demand in the consumer electronics market in the second half of 2020 squeezed the production capacity of automotive chips. Second, production suspension of chip assembly plants in Japan and Southeast Asia due to a fire and the pandemic. Third, companies predicted a future shortage of chips and increased their inventory.
Stephan Wollenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China, said that the shortage of chips will continue in the first half of 2021 and affect all automakers. He hoped the situation would be clearer by April when the Shanghai auto show is being held and would give updated information at that time.
A research report from Great Wall Securities pointed out that it is expected there will still be certain pressure on the supply of automotive chips in the first half of 2021. It noted that semiconductor chip manufacturers had begun to expand production capacity to cope with the sudden increase in demand, but considering delivery times in the semiconductor industry, the supply shortage is expected to improve in six to nine months.
Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, said the production capacity of automotive chips must be planned 12 months in advance and the entire supply chain is expected to recover in mid-2021.
Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said impact of the chips shortage is mainly in mid and high-end cars, which use a higher proportion of semiconductor chips.
Auto companies realized the importance of chips and manufacturers such as BAIC, SAIC and Geely established joint ventures with semiconductor manufacturers.
Many companies have made breakthroughs in the localization of chips. BYD has already produced automotive chips. Horizon Robotics launched a computing platform and collaborated with car companies such as Changan and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Huawei has launched intelligent autonomous driving solutions that integrate self-developed chip and real-time operating systems.
Wanlian Securities said that in the medium and long term, the shortage of chips will benefit the accelerated development of domestic chip companies.
(Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday said it will supply a range of chips for General Motors Co’s next generation of vehicles.
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The San Diego company has long been known for making modem chips that connected Apple Inc’s iPhones and many vehicles to cellular data networks. In recent years, Qualcomm has moved into automotive chips.
Qualcomm and GM said in statements the automaker will use Qualcomm’s “cockpit” chips, which can run an automotive-grade operating system for functions such as the vehicle’s speedometer and also the in-dashboard infotainment (information and entertainment) system.
The companies also said GM will start integrating Qualcomm’s automated driver assistance system chips for features such as adaptive cruise control and lane-change assistance.
Qualcomm has rolled out multiple tiers of chips with different features and pricing, positioning itself as GM’s single provider for budget and luxury vehicles.
“We look at this partnership as a very important foundation for what we would like to repeat really across various parts of the industry,” Nakul Duggal, senior vice president & general manager of automotive for Qualcomm Technologies, said in an interview with Reuters.
Qualcomm also said its driver-assistance computer, called Snapdragon Ride, would hit the roads in a production vehicle in 2022, though it did not specify the automaker or vehicle.
The system is designed to have enough computing power to scale up to self-driving functions in some vehicles. Qualcomm has not given a timeline for such a car.
Qualcomm earlier on Tuesday said it was pairing with Veoneer Inc’s software unit Arriver to provide a full system of self-driving hardware and software to automakers, although Qualcomm will also offer its computer as a standalone for automakers that want to write their own code.
Qualcomm said that its next generation of automotive chips will have the ability to integrate Amazon.com’s Alexa voice assistant into vehicles if automakers chose to enable the feature.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; editing by Barbara Lewis
