Industry Insights

Wireless chip complexity challenges the supply chain

Author: Ole-Fredrik Morken, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain, Nordic Semiconductor Wireless connectivity underpins everything, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). But advanced wireless devices demand an equally advanced supply chain, one that may be forced to use AI itself.  Compare a modern Bluetooth chip today to one from just over

Read More
Regulation

A Look at China’s IC Expansion

China is expanding its IC capabilities at all costs, and the “game” is playing out internationally. The stakes are high for all involved, especially China and the U.S. Addressing what it views as a significant threat, the U.S. government established export control regulations specifically aimed at China’s artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industries on October

Read More
Supply Chain Management

5 Positive Signs of Stability in the Electronics Supply Chain

Doom, gloom, weather, war, and pandemics. Supply chain instability is the new norm. However, it’s important to recognize signs that not all is terrible, hopeless, or unpredictable. Here are five supply chain bits of better news. Of course, you might have to read it fast…things could change. #1 Electronic Components Find Stability Although we may

Read More
Supply Chain Management

Can We Really Offset High Materials Costs?

The primary elements that make up a finished product are direct raw materials. They can be any mined materials, like minerals, metals, crude oil, coal, etc. There are also indirect raw materials – anything that supplements the making of finished products from direct materials. The challenges represented by accessing these materials promptly and at a

Read More
Regulation

China Tech Ban May Include Quantum Computing and AI—Will China Care?

Okay, so it’s still early in the discussion phase. Still, it looks like the US is trying to expand the restrictions on semiconductors to include other emerging technologies, such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence. The goal is to stifle China’s military and surveillance capabilities. This information is based so far on unnamed sources. The

Read More
Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain-gers

For supply chains, it’s often knee-jerk reactions to the disaster-du-jour that point out the need for rapid, tangible change. But, as we’ve recently seen, disruption in the form of pandemics, natural disasters, and transportation woes are becoming the impetus for examining what the future has in store. Here we’ll discuss a few areas where change

Read More
Digitalisation

Machine Learning Already Optimizes Supply Chains

Doesn’t it seem that on some level machine learning is still “out there,” somewhere in the future like quantum computing? AI-based applications, machine-learning being one of them, are flooding in and supply chain is a beneficiary. Given the vast amounts of complex data supply chains create, machine learning is adept at analyzing the information, enhancing

Read More
Industry Insights

Labor Shortage—Robots, Millennials, Government Interference and Rethinking Work

I started researching this article on labor shortages to find out why they are an increasing and dangerous thorn in the side of supply chains. What I found was a ton of contradictions. Opinions ran the gamut from political ones along party lines, others involving an “us vs. them” view of age-related approaches to work,

Read More
Supply Chain Management

Supply Chains—From Henry Ford to Artificial Intelligence

There is no recognizable similarity between the first supply chain in history and today’s complex and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven counterpart. One hundred years ago, assembly lines enabling mass production were implemented by Henry Ford, supporting the production of consistent products on a large scale. Today’s global supply chains are based on multiple organizations, processes, and

Read More
Industry Insights

Elon Musk and the Three Little Pigs Preview Neuralink

Amidst much anticipation, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk presented a live demonstration of NeuraLink technology.  Neuralink launched in 2016 with the goal of creating implantable brain-machine interfaces. Such technology could ultimately help humans obtain symbiosis with Artificial Intelligence (AI) but, could have many practical applications even before it reaches that level. Neuralink implants, theoretically,

Read More