India Poised for Growth in Semiconductor Research as Manufacturing Lags Says MediaTek

India Poised for Growth in Semiconductor Research as Manufacturing Lags Says MediaTek

David Ku, MediaTek's Co-Chief Operations Officer, acknowledges India’s growth in semiconductor research and development while cautioning that the nation is still years from becoming a prominent semiconductor manufacturing hub. Speaking during a media interaction in Taipei, Ku drew attention to the steep learning curve and extended timelines tied to semiconductor fabrication.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 23 May 06:34

TSMC Declines India’s Factory Proposal as Nation Launches 3nm Chip Design Centers

TSMC Declines India’s Factory Proposal as Nation Launches 3nm Chip Design Centers

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the global leader in semiconductor fabrication, rejected invitations to set up foundries in India, Singapore, and Qatar. Although the company did not share reasons, analysts point to the lack of a mature semiconductor supply chain. Historically, TSMC has leaned towards locations with a strong existing ecosystem and infrastructure.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 22 May 08:07

TSMC Declines India’s Factory Proposal as Nation Launches 3nm Chip Design Centers

TSMC Declines India’s Factory Proposal as Nation Launches 3nm Chip Design Centers

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the global leader in semiconductor fabrication, rejected invitations to set up foundries in India, Singapore, and Qatar. Although the company did not share reasons, analysts point to the lack of a mature semiconductor supply chain. Historically, TSMC has leaned towards locations with a strong existing ecosystem and infrastructure.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 22 May 08:07

ROHM Expands NIR LED Lineup with Miniature Models for VR, Industrial, and Medical Use

ROHM Expands NIR LED Lineup with Miniature Models for VR, Industrial, and Medical Use

ROHM announced the launch of a new series of compact surface-mount near-infrared (NIR) LEDs, designed to meet the surging demand for precise, power-efficient sensing in contemporary applications such as VR, AR, automation systems, and biosensors.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 22 May 07:32

DigiKey Introduces Digital Technology Portals to Drive Education and Innovation in APAC Region

DigiKey Introduces Digital Technology Portals to Drive Education and Innovation in APAC Region

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minnesota, USA DigiKey, a leading global commerce distributor offering the largest selection of technical components and automation products in stock for immediate shipment, introduces dedicated Application & Technology Portals in the AP

Staff
Circuit Digest 21 May 06:29

The Mouse Language, Running on Arduino

Although plenty of us have our preferred language for coding, whether it’s C for its hardware access, Python for its usability, or Fortran for its mathematic prowess, not every language is specifically built for problem solving of a particular nature. Some are built as thought experiments or challenges, like Whitespace or Chicken but aren’t used for serious programming. There are a few languages that fit in the gray area between these regions, and one example of this is the language MOUSE which can now be run on an Arduino.

Although MOUSE was originally meant to be a minimalist language for computers of the late 70s and early 80s with limited memory (even for the era), its syntax looks more like a more modern esoteric language, and indeed it arguably would take a Python developer a bit of time to get used to it in a similar way. It’s stack-based, for a start, and also uses Reverse Polish notation for performing operations. The major difference though is that programs process single letters at a time, with each letter corresponding to a specific instruction. There have been some changes in the computing world since the 80s, though, so [Ivan]’s version of MOUSE includes a few changes that make it slightly different than the original language, but in the end he fits an interpreter, a line editor, graphics primitives, and peripheral drivers into just 2KB of SRAM and 32KB Flash so it can run on an ATmega328P.

There are some other features here as well, including support for PS/2 devices, video output, and the ability to save programs to the internal EEPROM. It’s an impressive setup for a language that doesn’t get much attention at all, but certainly one that threads the needle between usefulness and interesting in its own right. Of course if a language where “Hello world” is human-readable is not esoteric enough, there are others that may offer more of a challenge.

New Doors Open for Indian AI Startups as US Eases Chip Export Rules

New Doors Open for Indian AI Startups as US Eases Chip Export Rules

Thanks to a major policy change in the United States, Indian startups and researchers may soon find it easier to access cutting-edge AI hardware. The US government has officially scrapped the controversial AI diffusion rule introduced under the Biden administration.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 20 May 07:32

Xiaomi to Pour $6.9 Billion into Semiconductor Chip Production Over the Next 10 Years

Xiaomi to Pour $6.9 Billion into Semiconductor Chip Production Over the Next 10 Years

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has announced its plans to invest at least $6.9 billion over the next decade to develop its own semiconductor chips, making a decisive push towards autonomy. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun revealed the ambitious plan on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, acknowledging the challenging road ahead while emphasizing its strategic importance.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 20 May 07:11

Renesas Introduces RZ/A3M MPU for Advanced and Affordable HMI Systems

Renesas Introduces RZ/A3M MPU for Advanced and Affordable HMI Systems

Renesas Electronics Corporation has unveiled the RZ/A3M high-performance microprocessor (MPU) designed to power next-generation human-machine interface (HMI) systems across various industries.

Abhishek
Circuit Digest 19 May 10:33

Speed Up Arduino with Clever Coding

We love Arduino here at Hackaday; they’ve probably done more to make embedded programming accessible to more people than anything else in the history of the field. One thing the Arduino ecosystem is rarely praised for is its speed. That’s where [Playduino]  comes in, with his video (embedded below) that promises to make everyone’s favourite microcontroller run 50x faster.

You might be expecting an unstable overclocking setup, with swapped crystals, tweaked voltages and a hefty heat sink, but no! This is stock hardware. The 50x speedup comes from one simple hack: don’t use digitalWrite();

If you aren’t familiar, the digitalWrite() function is one of the key functions Arduino gives you to operate its boards– specify the pin and the value (high or low) to drive it. It’s very easy, but it’s also very slow. [Playduino] takes a moment to show just how much is going on under the hood when you call digitalWrite(), and shows you what you can do instead if you have a need for speed. (Hint: there’s no Arduino-provided code involved; hardware registers and the __asm keyword show up.)

If you learned embedded programming in an earlier era, this will probably seem glaringly obvious. If you, like so many of us, got started inside of the Arduino ecosystem, these closer-to-the-metal programming techniques could prove useful tools in your quiver. Big thanks to [Stephan Walters] for the tip.

Of course if you prefer to speed things up by hardware rather than software, you can overclock an Arduino– with liquid nitrogen, even.