Chill & Learn
Hardware of the Information Era
In the previous part on the global shortage of chip supply, we have had a look at how extremely difficult it is to build a chip factory. Today let’s have a view on a bigger picture, a geopolitical one. On Friday, Dec 18, 2020, the United States government placed harsh restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC …
In late 2020, when the whole world is still struggling in the worst pandemic ever since the Spanish flu, another storm is churning up in the semiconductor industry and would be quick to spread over the globe just like the way COVID-19 did. The world is now facing a global chip shortage, a phenomenon that …
Global Chip Crisis: Part 1 – Rome wasn’t built in a day Read More »
November 10th, 2020. Despite the ongoing storm of the global pandemic COVID-19, one of the biggest moments in computing history was happening. From Apple’s headquarter, Apple Park at Cupertino, California, came the announcement of the M1 processor, the most powerful chip this company has ever created. For those who haven’t known, Apple had only designed …
In the hustle and bustle of our daily life, smartphones have been the center of many activities, drastically changing the way we live. Such a small device but has the capability to compress all the conveniences of a mobile phone, a computer, a camera, an alarm clock, a flashlight, and much other uncountable stuff. How …
Friday, July 24th, 2020. A day that will probably be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of Intel, the legendary tech giant of Silicon Valley. The previous night the company reported an EPS and revenue beat, but it had been of no meaning when Intel told investors that its 7-nanometer chip …
Chip Memory: Part 1 – Hippocampus Around 7 million years ago, there were no humans and there were no chimpanzees. There were only CHLCAs, an acronym that stands for Chimpanzees Humans Last Common Ancestor. For some reasons that are still unknown today, several CHLCAs decided to leave the safety of the forest, venture down into …
Chip Memory: Part 2 – The Chimpanzee’s Memory “What happens when you lose your memories? Well, you’d think that you would want to regain them, but in the process of doing so, you realize that some things are best left forgotten for a reason. Here, you are given a choice. You can either reclaim your …
A new computer is on the market. You eagerly go buy this innovation of latest technology, bring it home, unbox it and plug it in. By the time your device has been working nicely, you see an advertisement on the Internet for a new computer that makes yours obsolete. Although obviously exaggerated, this joke expresses …
Microchip is undeniably the greatest invention of humankind since the end of the Atomic Era. It has been the fuel for the current Information Era, the backbone of modern technology, and is now everywhere in the daily life of people. Most of us have seen the image of a microchip: a little black square with …