1. Samsung followed China's anti-monopoly agency to talk about Micron or suspected of monopoly;
Report on May 25th by Micronet (Reporter/Zhang Yiqun) After Samsung was interviewed by the NDRC at the end of last year, according to a microblog reporter, the Chinese antitrust agency recently interviewed the world’s third-largest storage vendor, Micron. May involve DRAM prices and abuse of market dominance last year to suppress Chinese companies.
In the past two years, as DRAM prices have remained high, the company’s revenue has increased dramatically. In addition to Samsung’s revenue and record profits, Micron’s financial report in the second quarter of 2018, released on the 22nd, also surpassed the best record in history. The financial report showed that Micron’s revenue for the second quarter of 2018 reached US$7.35 billion, an increase of 58% year-on-year.
While the storage industry is being dominated by Samsung, Hynix, and Micron, the industry is increasingly questioning the three major manufacturers for allegedly tacit understanding and manipulation of market prices.
Last month, Samsung, Hynix and Micron faced litigation in the United States. The three companies were accused of colluding with each other in 2016-2017 to limit the supply of various DRAM products on the market, artificially driving up DRAM prices. As of mid-2017, Samsung, Hynix, and Micron all occupied a total of 96% of the global DRAM chip market share. In the period of litigation accusation, the price of DRAM rose by 130%.
2018 is a key node for China's storage industry. Currently, China's memory industry has formed a Yangtze River storage for the NAND Flash market, Hefei Changxin, which focuses on mobile memory, and Jinhua III, a company that focuses on niche memory. From the perspective of the current progress of the three vendors, the trial production time is expected to be in the second half of 2018. The production time may be concentrated in the first half of 2019. This also means that 2019 will become the first year of China's memory production.
Although in the short term, Chinese storage companies will not pose a threat to Samsung Micron, but the storage giant apparently jealous of the rapid rise of the Chinese storage industry under the support of national policies and financial support. Price wars, patent litigation and other methods have also become a semiconductor industry. To suppress the usual means of obstructing new entrants.
According to the micro-network reporter, Micron has restrictions on equipment suppliers to supply Jinhua in Fujian, which is undoubtedly a major pressure and challenge for Fujian Jinhua, which is in the trial production stage.
A practitioner in the legal profession told reporters that according to the provisions of China’s anti-monopoly law, market share accounts for more than 50% of market share and can be presumed to have a dominant market position. However, whether it is suspected of monopoly cannot rely solely on market share as the basis for judgment, but It is based on whether or not antimonopoly law provides for specific monopolistic behavior. If the investigation proves that the three major manufacturers jointly raise prices, it constitutes a monopoly agreement prohibited by China’s anti-monopoly law. At the same time, Micron’s move to restrict suppliers of equipment is a restricted transaction. Contrary to the relevant provisions of China's anti-monopoly law. (Proofreading / Fan Rong)
2. No one is there, is the chip maker ready?
Gathering micro-messages, Since the end of 2016, Amazon’s offline “Unmanned Supermarket” Amazon GO has made a high profile appearance, 'No cash, no need to wait in line, something took away' new shopping model allows us to glimpse the 'future store' The same time, well-known domestic companies have also entered the bureau, unmanned supermarkets are being the darling of capital, becoming the next new outlet.
After Amazon, everything from Wal-Mart, JD.com to Alibaba has started the unsupervised supermarket program. What kind of charm does the unmanned supermarket have? What technology does it rely on?
No one convenience store can be said to have emerged. On the one hand, rising labor costs and outrageous rents have made the convenience store profitable, especially for convenience stores located in business districts. It is even more difficult to make profits. On the other hand, the iterative Internet of Things, face recognition, and mobile payment technologies provide technical support for unmanned convenience stores, and coincides with new retail emphasis on technology.
Unmanned supermarkets generate chip demand
IC design company in Taiwan of China pointed out that unmanned supermarkets cover many technologies such as big data, biometrics, and artificial intelligence. With the rise of unsupervised supermarkets, the demand for related chips will quickly emerge. Some companies have begun to enter the market. For example, Haochuang and Jinghong have already started shipping to Amazon.
Due to the current design of unmanned supermarkets, the 3D sensing technology is used for in-depth detection through the camera installed in the store, and then face recognition and item movement detection are performed. Finally, the electronic tag is used to identify the user's purchase behavior. Checkout is not difficult. Out of this series of processes, technologies used by unmanned supermarkets include 3D sensing chips, face recognition chips, RFID, wireless/wired network chips, MCUs, etc.
At present, China's emerging unlicensed supermarkets mostly use similar designs. IC design companies in Taiwan, China, said that although unsupermarkets currently have certain limitations, innovative applications have affected traditional physical stores. The IC design company responded that related chip orders are gradually increasing. From the second quarter, shipments of related chips are expected to continue to increase.
Since unmanned supermarkets can not only save labor costs, but also avoid unnecessary external costs, the industry is generally optimistic about the future market development of unmanned supermarkets. In view of this, under the hot conditions of unmanned supermarkets, it will boost relevant chips. With the growth of solutions, this trend is even multiples.
At present, Jinghong and Yuchuang, such as the Taiwan region of China, have begun to lay out in advance. Other manufacturers involved in these chip areas will face a new blue ocean.
What technologies do supermarkets need
In general, the shopping process of unsupervised supermarkets is divided into three steps. The first is the camera biometrically identifies the consumer when entering the market. Second, when shopping, the unmanned supermarket uses RFID technology to generate digital orders. Finally, when leaving the store, , Complete payment withdrawal through machine vision, sensor sensing and biometrics.
RFID technology
For the identification of goods, unmanned supermarkets currently use RFID tags.
Each item is affixed with an RFID tag that identifies the customer’s purchase and settlement in the 'Payment Tunnel'. RFID is a mature and inexpensive solution, and Walmart uses similar technologies to improve the supply chain. Management efficiency.
When the customer leaves the store, the sensor scans the RFID tag and reconfirms the consumer's purchase, automatically billing the consumer's account.
Computer Vision Technology
In the dining area and lounge area of the convenience store, computer vision technology is applied. There is no doubt that computer vision technology can be said to be the strength of security companies.
On the other hand, in order to accurately identify consumers and their selected products, Amazon Go stores a wide range of cameras, capturing the user's actions through video surveillance intellisense technology, such as selecting what to put into the shopping cart, and then accurately finding users through image analysis. Hand, to determine the actual product purchased by the user.
Face recognition technology
Face recognition is one of the common technologies used by most unsupervised supermarkets. For example, in the process of Amazon Go's consumption, consumers use mobile phones to enter stores as if they were swiping cards in subways. At the same time, cameras located at the entrance will carry out face recognition. The technology is mainly Amazon's self-developed face recognition system called Amazon Rekognition.
For the current unmanned supermarkets, these chips have already formed a relatively mature solution. As domestic and foreign companies accelerate the deployment of unmanned supermarkets, the market demand for chips will usher in yet another round of outbreaks. It can be said that Unmanned supermarkets are another measure for the implementation of the Internet of Things into the terminal market, and will bring another round of new wave of demand for chips!
3. Keep the high carrier mobility at room temperature, or you can become an efficient chip recipe;
Researchers at Purdue University in the United States have discovered a very thin two-dimensional material derived from the tellurium of rare elements, which can significantly increase the operating efficiency of chip transistors, thereby increasing the speed of processing information in electronic devices (such as mobile phones and computers) and enhancing Technology such as infrared sensors.
80% of niobium is used in the metallurgical industry. The addition of small amounts of niobium to steels and copper alloys can improve the machinability and increase the hardness. In cast iron, niobium is used as a carbide stabilizer to make the surface strong and wear-resistant; The lead in antimony enhances the corrosion resistance, wear resistance and strength of the material and is used as a sheath for submarine cables.
High-purity germanium can be used as an alloy composition for thermoelectric materials. In addition, like most metals, germanium and some germanium compounds are semiconductor materials, ultra-pure germanium single crystals are new infrared materials, and as technology advances (especially the photovoltaic industry ), Our demand for hydrazine is increasing. For example, the main raw material for cadmium telluride solar thin-film batteries is also helium.
In regards to semiconductor materials, Purdue University pointed out that two-dimensional materials such as graphene, black phosphorus, or silicon are not deficient in stability at room temperature, but are high-frequency and high-power. Equipment has not yet found a way to produce high-efficiency transistors, but the team led by Mary Jo Schwartz, a professor of electronics and information engineering at Purdue University, can create a stable sheet at room temperature from a two-dimensional film made from germanium. The transistor structure allows fast carrier movement.
The use of other transistor materials usually requires good stability at lower temperatures or in a vacuum environment. Therefore, a germanium transistor that can maintain a high carrier mobility at room temperature is more cost-effective, and a sheet structure represents an obstacle to electron mobility. Less, like a piece of paper, allows fast-moving carriers to carry more current over a larger surface area.
However, the distribution of antimony ore resources is sparse and the content of the earth's crust is not high. Coupled with the increase in demand for antimony, another type of environmental pollution problem (some forms of antimony poisoning) will occur. The new transistor material will be born smoothly and will continue to wait and see. technews
4.PTC: IIoT and AR are key corporate investments in 2018
PTC has published a series of research reports on the status of industrial innovation in the biannual report. This series of reports is based on data from PTC customers and addresses the current development and future plans for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies. Provide a data-driven, objective analysis that includes deployment motivations, cases and functions that apply to the overall value chain, and the types of business value that are created.
Industrial IoT status.
Mike Campbell, Executive Vice President of PTC ThingWorx Platform, stated: “As the industrial IoT and AR technologies and business models continue to mature, the degree of technology penetration will certainly continue to rise. PTC combines a wealth of market experience and a large number of penetration data. Can truly analyze the rapidly evolving market from a comprehensive and comprehensive perspective."
As described in the “Status of Industrial Internet of Things” and “Industrial Reality Augmentation Status” reports, industrial Internet of Things and AR technologies are no longer just emerging technologies on paper, but also become investment strategies for many organizations in 2018. Especially in industries involving complex manufacturing and operational processes. Up to 83% of industrial IoT users and 85% of AR users in PTC customers who currently use industrial IoT or AR technology have expanded their deployments to include The overall production environment or plan to complete the transformation in the next 12 months.
The report on the status of industrial Internet of Things pointed out that the current industrial IoT products are mainly industrial products (25%), electronics and high-tech (22%), automotive (13%), and aerospace and defense (11%) industries. Manufacturers; Most current solutions are used in manufacturing and operations (48%), and the data collected can be used to optimize processes, predict maintenance needs, and improve overall operational efficiency.
The economic potential of industrial IoT has attracted the attention of the international community and launched a global initiative to “promote the development of global industrial IoT.” Industrial IoT is no longer an emerging technology – it is already mature and widely recognized. Phase. Industrial IoT is being deployed in large numbers, covering many areas from product development, manufacturing to services.
The status report on industrial augmentation reality states that AR technology is at the early stage of application, with leading positions in industrial products (21%), automotive (11%), aerospace and defense (8%), but the application of AR technology. Extensive, applicable to all aspects of the value chain, especially services (19%) and manufacturing (18%).
AR technology is a powerful operation instruction and guidance tool, and at the same time provides an entry point for many enterprise organizations, especially for industries that involve hundreds of key processes, such as real-time monitoring and improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE); Excessive investment in AR software, the basic technology of the hardware, enables pilot, small-scale deployments to be quickly extended to the overall production environment. CTIMES