Electronics News Daily: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite released, Intel Samsung Seeks Cooperation...

2024-10-22

Today's electronics industry news covers various aspects, from chip manufacturing partnerships to new chip releases and innovations in autonomous driving technology for electric vehicles, showcasing the rapid development and intense competition in the industry. With continuous technological advancements, we have reason to anticipate more innovations and breakthroughs in the future.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite releases: Oryon CPU performance surges 40%

At today's Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm officially unveiled its flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Elite (SM8750-AB). This chip features Qualcomm's self-developed second-generation custom Oryon CPU architecture, with performance improved by up to 40% compared to its predecessor. At the same time, energy efficiency has also been enhanced by 40%, and overall power consumption has been reduced by 27%, thanks to its manufacturing based on 3nm process technology. Qualcomm announced that multiple manufacturers, including ASUS, Honor, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Samsung, vivo, Xiaomi, ZTE, Motorola, and Nubia, are preparing to launch smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in the coming weeks.

Intel Seeks Partnership with Samsung to Compete with TSMC

According to South Korean media reports, Intel is actively seeking to establish a manufacturing alliance with Samsung Electronics to narrow the gap with TSMC in the manufacturing sector. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger hopes to meet personally with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong to discuss comprehensive cooperation measures in the manufacturing field. Although Intel has secured clients such as Cisco and AWS since the establishment of its Intel Foundry Services (IFS) in 2021, its share of the manufacturing market is still far below TSMC's. TSMC held a 62.3% share of the manufacturing market in the second quarter, while Samsung Electronics accounted for only 11.5%. Especially in advanced process nodes such as 3nm and 5nm, TSMC holds a 92% market share.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Fully Manufactured by TSMC, Samsung Faces Challenges

Tech media SamMobile reported that Qualcomm has confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Elite is fully manufactured by TSMC, marking a significant setback for Samsung in the competition for flagship smartphone chip manufacturing. Earlier rumors suggested that Qualcomm would allocate part of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip manufacturing to Samsung, but it was ultimately confirmed that this was not the case. It is speculated that the main reason is Samsung's production yield issues at the 3nm process node, which also affected the production of its own Exynos 2500 chip, leading to the possibility that the Galaxy S25 and S25+ smartphones may adopt the Snapdragon 8 Elite or MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chip.

Mass Exodus of Samsung Engineers to SK Hynix

Recently, SK Hynix's job postings for etch engineers attracted a large number of applications from Samsung engineers, with approximately 200 engineers working at Samsung applying for the position. This phenomenon, which covers almost all eligible engineers on Samsung's production lines, has been widely circulated in the industry and is considered highly unusual. Furthermore, SK Hynix has implemented a program called Junior Talent to recruit chip engineers with less than five years of experience, expanding the scope from the original three years to five and counting master's and doctoral degrees as experience, further exacerbating Samsung's talent loss.

Sony-Honda Mobility Collaborates on AI-Powered Autonomous Electric Vehicles

Sony Group and Honda Motor announced that they will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the autonomous driving capabilities of electric vehicles developed through their collaboration, aiming to catch up with industry leader Tesla. The joint venture, Sony-Honda Mobility, will introduce AI autonomous driving functionality in the luxury model Afeela, which is expected to debut in Japan and the United States in 2026. The AI will use an operating system being developed by both companies and continuously improve autonomous driving functions through updates once or twice a year. The initial system is expected to have L3-level capabilities, enabling autonomous driving on highways and certain other conditions.

Apple iPad mini 7 Charging Speed Limited to 20W

Apple made minor changes to the newly released iPad mini 7, but unfortunately, its maximum charging speed has not been improved and remains limited to 20W. According to a 3C certification report, despite the iPad mini 7 being equipped with a 45W A2940 adapter rated at 15V/3A, the new tablet's power is limited to 20W. This may suggest that Apple has retained the same circuitry as the previous model, meaning the device cannot support more than 20W of power.

Daily Electronic Circuit Parts, Find in Semicone Store

The AD9739ABBCZ is a 14-bit, 2.5 GSPS RF Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) designed for high-performance signal synthesis and processing in various applications such as broadband communications systems, DOCSIS CMTS systems, military jammers, instrumentation, and radar and avionics. It features direct RF synthesis at a 2.5 GSPS update rate, with the ability to cover frequencies from DC to 1.25 GHz in baseband mode and up to 3.0 GHz in mix-mode.

The VNH5019A is a high-performance motor driver designed for brushless DC motors, capable of delivering up to 30A continuous current, featuring advanced protection circuits and a robust design suitable for automotive applications. It integrates dual high-side and dual low-side switches with overvoltage and short circuit protection, offering precise motor control and diagnostics.

The EPM240T100I5N is a Flash Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) from Altera (now part of Intel), featuring 240 logic elements based on the MAX® II 0.18µm, 6-layer-metal-flash process technology. It includes 192 macrocells, supports up to 80 user I/O pins, and offers an instant-on, non-volatile architecture with a standby current as low as 25µA. This CPLD is designed for bus-friendly applications, featuring programmable slew rate, drive strength, bus-hold, and programmable pull-up resistors.

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