News

EU signs off on €8.1bn for communications and microchip R&D

Source: Total Telecom, June 12, 2023 [1]
The latest Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) will focus on microelectronics and communication technologies, providing support for 68 projects in 14 countries.

Interact Analysis predicts robotic picking market to grow to $6.8 billion by 2030

Source: The Robot Report, June 6, 2023 [2]
The robotic picking market is experiencing early growth, with a potential $6.8 billion by 2030. Rising labor costs and supply chain constraints are driving the market, as companies turn to automation to alleviate operational pressures. The growth of e-commerce and warehouse automation will also impact the market.

With $1.4 billion investment, Texas hopes to sprint to the front of the microchip manufacturing race

Source: The Texas Tribune, June 12, 2023 [3]
Microchips are increasingly present in every day life, from phones and laptops to cars and washing machines. Gov. Greg Abbott approved last week a stimulus package in an effort to shore up the supply chain after the pandemic’s disruptions.

Open-standard, open-source tech body defies US sanctions

Source: Asia Times, June 8, 2023 [4]
The launch of a new RISC-V software association makes open-standard integrated circuit design and open-source software even more of a challenge for the US government’s efforts to stop the development of Chinese high-tech and bend Europe to its geopolitical will.

Q1 2023 global semiconductor equipment billings grow 9% year-over-year, SEMI reports

Source: semi, June 6, 2023 [5]
Global semiconductor equipment billings increased 9% year-over-year to $26.8 billion in Q1 2023, according to SEMI's Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report.

Intel to anchor rival chip designer arm’s IPO?

Source: Tech Monitor, June 13, 2023 [6]
As Arm designs become more popular with enterprise, Intel could be eyeing an investment in its erstwhile rival.

MosChip's strategic initiatives in India's rising semiconductor market: acquisitions, collaborations, and innovations

Source: Digitimes Asia, June 13, 2023 [7]
India's semiconductor production push attracts design service companies, including MosChip, who plans to focus on embedded software and AI/ML domains.

Programming processors in heterogeneous architectures

Source: Semiconductor Engineering, June 8, 2023 [8]
Optimizing PPA for different processor types requires very different approaches, and all of them are now included in the same design.

Papers

Data processing with FPGAs on modern architectures

Source: ACM Conferences, June 5, 2023 [9]
The rise of cloud computing and demanding applications has led to a specialization in data processing at scale. New technologies like smart NICs, storage, memory, disaggregated storage, and specialized accelerators are being adopted and deployed, including FPGAs. These technologies offer architectural flexibility and line rate processing, making them increasingly used in cloud data processing tasks. The tutorial covers FPGAs, their characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, and deployments in industry.

EigenEdge: Real-time software execution at the edge with RISC-V and hardware accelerators

Source: ACM Conferences, May 9, 2023 [10]
Achieving low-latency and low-power constraints in real-time computation at the edge requires a balance between simple APIs and lightweight hardware architectures. A hardware/software co-design approach combines Eigen software with real-time execution on heterogeneous SoC architectures, using ESP for SoC design. This approach provides significant performance and energy efficiency gains while maintaining high-level software development simplification.

Previous Hardware Acceleration in Robotics Newsletters

Past ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group meetings

  1. Baldock, H. (2023, June 12). EU signs off on €8.1bn for communications and microchip R&D. Total Telecom | News, analysis and events for global telecoms. https://totaltele.com/eu-signs-off-on-e8-1bn-for-communications-and-microchip-rd/ ↩︎

  2. Zhang, I. (2023, June 6). Interact analysis predicts robotic picking market to grow to $6.8 billion by 2030. The Robot Report. https://www.therobotreport.com/interact-analysis-predicts-robotic-picking-market-to-grow-to-6-8-billion-by-2030/?spMailingID=91367&puid=2502618&E=2502618&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=91367 ↩︎

  3. Uranga, F. (2023, June 13). With $1.4 billion investment, Texas hopes to sprint to the front of the microchip manufacturing race. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/12/texas-microchips-semiconductors/ ↩︎

  4. Foster, S. (2023, June 8). Open-standard, open-source tech body defies US sanctions. Asia Times. https://asiatimes.com/2023/06/open-standard-open-source-tech-body-defies-us-sanctions/ ↩︎

  5. Q1 2023 global semiconductor equipment billings grow 9% year-over-year, SEMI reports. (2023, June 6). semi. https://www.semi.org/en/news-media-press-releases/semi-press-releases/q1-2023-global-semiconductor-equipment-billings-grow-9%25-year-over-year-semi-reports ↩︎

  6. Gooding, M. (2023, June 13). Intel to anchor rival chip designer arm’s IPO? Tech Monitor. https://techmonitor.ai/technology/silicon/intel-arm-ipo-datacentre-x86 ↩︎

  7. Thomas, P. A. (2023, June 13). MosChip's strategic initiatives in India's rising semiconductor market: acquisitions, collaborations, and innovations. Digitimes Asia. https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20230613VL203/india-moschip-semiconductor-ic-design-distribution-innovations.html ↩︎

  8. Mutschler, A. (2023, June 8). Programming processors in heterogeneous architectures. Semiconductor Engineering. https://semiengineering.com/programming-processors-in-heterogeneous-architectures/?cmid=dae16a84-de0e-4b18-86eb-fa35a3a97750 ↩︎

  9. Jiang, W., Korolija, D., & Alonso, G. (2023, June 5). Data processing with FPGAs on modern architectures. ACM Conferences. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555041.3589410 ↩︎

  10. Kuan-Lin, C., Eichler, G., Seyoum, B., & Carloni, L. (2023, May 9). EigenEdge: Real-time software execution at the edge with RISC-V and hardware accelerators. ACM Conferences. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3576914.3587510 ↩︎