Qualcomm Inc’s processors have seized up to a 90 percent share of the market for Wi-Fi mesh, a networking technology used in smart homes, the firm said at Computex Taipei yesterday.
Wi-Fi mesh uses multiple connection nodes in the home to extend a router’s range and connect devices ranging from mobile phones and voice-controlled assistants to tablets and televisions.
Today, Wi-Fi mesh accounts for nearly 40 percent of the market for Wi-Fi networking in US homes — up from just 5 percent 18 months ago — of which Qualcomm Technologies Inc maintains a dominant position, research firm NPD Group said.
Qualcomm Technologies is a fully owned subsidiary of the US mobile chipmaker.
The company’s hardware partners started shipping devices equipped with its mesh processors two-and-a-half years ago, Qualcomm Technologies vice president Gopi Sirineni said.
The company’s customers include Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), D-Link Corp (友訊), Samsung Electronics Co, Netgear Inc and Google, Sirineni said.
Qualcomm is optimistic regarding mesh networking, as AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless Inc, Comecast Corp and Bell Canada have also joined the market, Sirineni said.
In January, AT&T introduced the first Wi-Fi mesh system to boost subscriber’s coverage by up to 93m2.
The system automatically selects the best and fastest available connection for each in-home device, it said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks