GlobalFoundries signs Qualcomm for FinFET fab in New York

by James E. Carroll

GlobalFoundries and Qualcomm Technologies announced a semiconductor manufacturing deal that extends through 2028.

Specifically, the manufacturing agreement extends QGT's U.S. based collaboration with GF in FinFET for 5G transceivers, Wi-Fi, Automotive and IoT connectivity.

The companies said their partnership secures wafer supply and commitments to support U.S.-based manufacturing through capacity expansion at GF's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility, in Malta, New York.

"With accelerating demand for 5G, Automotive and IoT applications, a robust supply chain is critical for ensuring innovation in these areas remains uninterrupted," said Dr. Roawen Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Our continued collaboration with GF helps us to expand the next generation of wireless innovation as we move toward a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected."

"GF's global manufacturing footprint enables us to partner with our customers to meet their capacity needs, where they need it," said Dr. Thomas Caulfield, president and CEO of GF. "Our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies delivers differentiation and innovation in mobile and IoT spanning three continents, and this long-term agreement extension provides Qualcomm Technologies with additional U.S. based manufacturing for a more resilient supply chain."

GF has been manufacturing Qualcomm Technologies' feature rich, high-performance chips for many years, reaching across its global footprint. In 2021, Qualcomm Global Trading Pte. Ltd (QGT), a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, was one of GF's first customers to secure their supply with a long-term agreement covering multiple geographies and technologies. That agreement secured 22FDX capacity at GF's Dresden facility and will now include capacity at GF's recently announced facility in Crolles, France, making QGT an anchor customer in GF's leading European proprietary technology. QGT has also secured capacity in GF's market leading 8SW radio-frequency silicon-on-insulator (RFSOI) technologies for Sub 6GHz 5G front-end module (FEM) which will be primarily manufactured in GF's Singapore facilities, where site expansion plans are well underway with full ramp expected in early 2023.

https://www.investors.gf.com

ST and GlobalFoundries target 300mm fab in France

Monday, July 11, 2022  France, GlobalFoundries, Silicon, ST  

STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries agreed to create a new, jointly-operated 300mm semiconductor manufacturing facility adjacent to ST’s existing 300mm facility in Crolles, France. This facility is targeted to ramp at full capacity by 2026, with up to 620,000 300mm wafer per year production at full build-out (~42% ST and ~58% GF).The new facility will support several technologies, in particular FD-SOI-based technologies, and will cover multiple...

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Motorola Solutions signs GlobalFoundries to secure radio chip supply

Thursday, May 19, 2022  GlobalFoundries, Motorola Solutions  

Motorola Solutions, which supplies two-way radios for public safety, critical infrastructure and enterprise organizations, signed a long-term agreement with GlobalFoundries to supply chip solutions.The companies point out that several critical chips the company designs for its public safety, professional and commercial radios are manufactured by GF in Vermont. GF's SiGe process technology enables the highly reliable, long-range, secure and clear...

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BT tests 5G carrier aggregation with Nokia

by James E. Carroll

BT is testing the aggregation of four carrier components (4CC) in a 5G Standalone (SA) live network in collaboration with Nokia. 

BT’s Networks team have successfully combined four low-band and mid-band radio channels, (2.1, 2.6, 3.4, 3.6 GHz), using Nokia’s 5G Radio Access Network technology in EE’s live network spectrum.

The trial was conducted in two stages; it was first performed in BT’s Radio Lab in Bristol, and then moved outdoors, onto a radio mast at BT’s Adastral Park in Suffolk, where the team successfully achieved 4CC on 5G SA radiating in EE’s regular radio spectrum. Not only is it the first time in Europe that a network operator has achieved 4CC on 5G SA using commercial spectrum, but it is also the first time it has been achieved outside of a lab in Europe.

Greg McCall, Managing Director Service Platforms BT, commented: “Our trial with Nokia is another demonstration of building the most advanced network for our customers. 5G Standalone, coupled with edge compute, will unlock new opportunities for customers looking to develop new services. Furthermore, this technology showcases what’s possible for devices in the future in terms of supporting carrier aggregation, which is an important part of customer experience.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-and-nokia-claim-european-first-by-combining-four-channels-of-spectrum-on-a-5g-standalone-network/

BT conducts Open RAN trial with Nokia

Wednesday, January 26, 2022  BT, Nokia, O-RAN  

BT will install Nokia’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) for Open RAN, across a number of sites, to optimise network performance for customers of its mobile network, EE. The Open RAN trial is taking place in the city of Hull. BT said it is supporting Open RAN, with its vendor partners, to ensure it becomes a viable, mature, scale option for network optimisation as soon as possible. In addition to this trial, BT will also open a dedicated Open...

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BT trials new hyper-sensitive quantum radio receiver

Sunday, May 22, 2022  BT  

BT is testing a new hyper-sensitive quantum antenna technology uses ‘excited atoms’ to deliver over 100x greater sensitivity than traditional receivers.BT says Atomic Radio Frequency (RF) receiver technology represents a revolutionary new way of detecting radio waves that could find much weaker signals than conventional receivers. The receiver works by using a quantum effect called “electromagnetically induced transparency” to form a highly sensitive...

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VMware observes a big uptake in cyberattacks

 In the past few months, there has been a significant uptick in cyberattacks, such as deepfakes, attacks on APIs, and cybercriminals targeting incident responders, according to VMware's newly released its eighth annual Global Incident Response Threat Report

“Cybercriminals are now incorporating deepfakes into their attack methods to evade security controls,” said Rick McElroy, principal cybersecurity strategist at VMware. “Two out of three respondents in our report saw malicious deepfakes used as part of an attack, a 13% increase from last year, with email as the top delivery method. Cybercriminals have evolved beyond using synthetic video and audio simply for influence operations or disinformation campaigns. Their new goal is to use deepfake technology to compromise organizations and gain access to their environment.”

Additional key findings from the report include:

• Cyber pro burnout remains a critical issue. Forty-seven percent of incident responders said they experienced burnout or extreme stress in the past 12 months, down slightly from 51% last year. Of this group, 69% (versus 65% in 2021) of respondents have considered leaving their job as a result. Organizations are working to combat this, however, with more than two-thirds of respondents stating their workplaces have implemented wellness programs to address burnout.
• Ransomware actors incorporate cyber extortion strategies. The predominance of ransomware attacks, often buttressed by e-crime groups’ collaborations on the dark web, has yet to let up. Fifty-seven percent of respondents have encountered such attacks in the past 12 months, and two-thirds (66%) have encountered affiliate programs and/or partnerships between ransomware groups as prominent cyber cartels continue to extort organizations through double extortion techniques, data auctions, and blackmail.
• APIs are the new endpoint, representing the next frontier for attackers. As workloads and applications proliferate, 23% of attacks now compromise API security. The top types of API attacks include data exposure (encountered by 42% of respondents in the past year), SQL and API injection attacks (37% and 34%, respectively), and distributed Denial-of-Service attacks (33%).
• Lateral movement is the new battleground. Lateral movement was seen in 25% of all attacks, with cybercriminals leveraging everything from script hosts (49%) and file storage (46%) to PowerShell (45%), business communications platforms (41%), and .NET (39%) to rummage around inside networks. An analysis of the telemetry within VMware Contexa, a full-fidelity threat intelligence cloud that’s built into VMware security products, discovered that in April and May of 2022 alone, nearly half of intrusions contained a lateral movement event.

https://www.vmware.com/content/microsites/learn/en/1553238_REG.html

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NVIDIA trims outlook on lower gaming sales and supply disruptions

Citing macroeconomic headwins and lower gaming sales, NVIDIA trimmed its financial outlook for the second quarter ended July 31, 2022.

Second quarter revenue is expected to be approximately $6.70 billion, down 19% sequentially and up 3% from the prior year, primarily reflecting weaker than forecasted Gaming revenue. Gaming revenue was $2.04 billion, down 44% sequentially and down 33% from the prior year. Data Center revenue was $3.81 billion, up 1% sequentially and up 61% from the prior year.

The shortfall relative to the May revenue outlook of $8.10 billion was primarily attributable to lower sell-in of Gaming products reflecting a reduction in channel partner sales likely due to macdroeconomic headwinds. In addition to reducing sell-in, the company implemented pricing programs with channel partners to reflect challenging market conditions that are expected to persist into the third quarter.

Data Center revenue, though a record, was somewhat short of the company’s expectations, as it was impacted by supply chain disruptions.

Second quarter results are expected to include approximately $1.32 billion of charges, primarily for inventory and related reserves, based on revised expectations of future demand.

“Our gaming product sell-through projections declined significantly as the quarter progressed,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “As we expect the macroeconomic conditions affecting sell-through to continue, we took actions with our Gaming partners to adjust channel prices and inventory.

https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-preliminary-financial-resultsfor-second-quarter-fiscal-2023

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Nokia supplies private wireless and IP/MPLS to Western Australia

 The Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA) selected Nokia to design, build and maintain a next generation railway communications system over the next decade in Perth.

METRONET infrastructure and public transport program is the long-term blueprint for Perth's future. As a critical element of the METRONET program and as part of the agreement, more than 160 LTE/4.9G radio sites will be built to modernize the railway communication system that includes additional METRONET track and tunnels with a total of 250km of railway. The solution will be based on Nokia private 4.9G/LTE mission-critical IP/MPLS, Data Center Fabric and microwave backhaul solutions, to support a Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) High Capacity Signalling system for greater accuracy and efficiency compared to traditional signalling systems.

Rob McCabe, Head of Enterprise for Oceania at Nokia, said: “We are thrilled to partner with PTA for this prestigious project to design, build and maintain the next-generation railway communications network. Powered by Nokia’s private wireless network solution, the new railway communication system will help enhance the accuracy of the system leading to improved experience and safety. Nokia is at the forefront of supporting railway networks accelerate digital transformation for more efficient operations while delivering greater value to the passengers.”

Nokia has deployed mission-critical networks to more than 2,200 leading enterprise customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe. It has also extended its expertise to more than 485 large private wireless customers worldwide across an array of sectors.

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Arm partners shipped 7.4 billion chips in latest quarter, up 7% yoy

Arm reported record revenue of $719 million for the first quarter of its fiscal 2022, up 6% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $414 million, up 31% year-over-year and with a 58% margin.

“Arm continues to enable our ecosystem with compute performance and efficiency leadership through a transformed strategy. Together, we are meeting the insatiable demand for compute and defining the future of computing that will power the next great technology revolutions on Arm,” states Rene Haas, CEO, Arm.

https://www.arm.com/company/news/2022/08/arm-achieves-record-revenue-and-shipments-in-q1-fy-2022

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Pakistan's Jazz picks Juniper for data center

Jazz, Pakistan’s number one 4G operator and the largest internet and leading digital service provider, has selected Juniper Networks to create a transformative, expanded and upgraded data center network to underpin Jazz’s services delivery platform for its 74.9 million subscribers.

The new network will support a wide range of customer-facing service, including cloud-based enterprise data services, mobile banking, music and video download/streaming services, as well as professional services such as an agricultural application for four million farmers who rely on it for information, advice and guidance in remote areas. Jazz will also use the network to power key internal workloads such as CRM and billing.

Jazz will deploy the Juniper Apstra System to deliver true intent-based networking (IBN) capabilities. This enables Jazz to design and operate its data center network based on outcomes, with the entire data center lifecycle automated, from Day 0 (design) through Day 1 (configuration and deployment) to Day 2+ (ongoing operations). The network’s initial design is tied to day-to-day operations, enabling a single source of truth throughout its lifecycle. Automation provides a continuous feedback loop of real-time data insights, validation and root cause identification to minimize mean-time-to-repair (MTTR).

This approach will enable Jazz to operate a much more efficient, reliable and agile network. It will help to deploy new service features, optimizing user experience for both network teams and customers. The new data center infrastructure includes a spine-and-leaf architecture built with the Juniper Networks QFX Series Switches and fully integrated with the Juniper Apstra System.

Jazz has previously deployed MX Series Universal Routing Platforms from Juniper for 400G-ready connectivity for its metro and internet gateway infrastructure. The new QFXs leverage the same Junos OS operating system, providing a consistent networking estate for Jazz to manage and operate.

“The power of automation, bound within a single operational framework thanks to intent-based networking, enables Jazz to address the relevant operational questions, find the right answers quickly and make the best decisions” states Mike Bushong, Vice President, Cloud Ready Data Center at Juniper Networks.

https://newsroom.juniper.net/news/news-details/2022/Juniper-Networks-Chosen-by-Jazz-to-Build-Fully-Automated-Data-Center-Infrastructure-to-Support-Data-Music-and-Video-Services/default.aspx

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