Quantum teleportation is a technique for transferring quantum information from a sender at one location to a receiver some distance away. While teleportation is portrayed in science fiction as a means to transfer physical objects from one location to the next, quantum teleportation only transfers quantum information. [1]… Read More
Quantum Internet Explained
Building a quantum internet is a key ambition for many countries around the world, such a breakthrough will give them competitive advantage in a promising disruptive technology, and opens a new world of innovations and unlimited possibilities.
Recently the US Department of Energy (DoE) published the first blueprint of its… Read More
The Tell-Tale Entrepreneur, An Easy New Year’s Resolution
Wondering what you might do to up your game this year? What about improving your communication skills? Soothing an angry client, trying to find appeal for a product that’s not exciting customers, or finding the right investor? Working through a growth challenge you under-estimated, or generating excitement in an audience you… Read More
How to multiply currents: Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier
A recent Twitter thread about a counterfeit analog multiplier chip attracted my attention since I’m interested in both counterfeit integrated circuits and how analog computers multiply. In the thread, John McMaster decapped a suspicious AD633 analog multiplier chip and found an entirely different Rockwell RC4200… Read More
Innovating to Survive
The global COVID-19 pandemic has almost shut down entire industries, forcing companies of all sizes to adapt and evolve. It has also done incredible things for a pivot to innovation.
Safety has had to come first. And for many, that meant changing how they worked, using technology to power a shift to remote work and servicing of customers.… Read More
Inside the HP Nanoprocessor: A High-speed Processor That Can’t Even Add
The Nanoprocessor is a mostly-forgotten processor developed by Hewlett-Packard in 19741 as a microcontroller2 for their products. Strangely, this processor couldn’t even add or subtract,3 probably why it was called a nanoprocessor and not a microprocessor. Despite this limitation, the Nanoprocessor powered numerous… Read More
Appraising the Health of Early-stage Startups
Investors of capital, whether financial or human, utilize numerous methods to decide to participate with an early-stage / seed-stage technology company. The risks are, by definition, much higher than later stage companies pursuing investment in their Series B/C or beyond rounds. It is helpful to establish consistent “health… Read More
I Cancelled My Flight
Three weeks in to the current period of COVID-19 “social distancing” guidelines I have cancelled already-booked flights to Barcelona (cancellation of Mobile World Congress), Austin, Tex. (cancellation of SXSW), and London (cancelled company meeting). So it seemed logical that I’d cancel my flight to … Read More
Where have all the Leaders gone – a profile of T.J. Rodgers
Silicon Valley has morphed from the days of semiconductor fabs interspersed between strawberry farms, and 3:00 pm rush-hour traffic during the shift change for the fabrication facility engineers and technicians. The leadership of technology companies has also arguably devolved from people who inspired employees and stewarded… Read More
Rest in Peace Randy Smith (1959-2020)
The semiconductor industry lost another good one last week, my friend, co-worker, and longtime SemiWiki contributor, Randy Smith. Randy published sixty blogs on SemiWiki over the last eight years that have been viewed more than a half million times. That is quite a digital legacy, absolutely.
Like myself, and many other semiconductor… Read More
Unlocking the cloud: A new era for post-tapeout flow for semiconductor manufacturing