What are the topics covered? There’s safety-enhanced RISC-V CPU intellectual property, Apple dropping plans to buy NAND from Yangtze memory, automotive GPS in the US, the returning issue of Nukes, and ASML’s sparkling financial results…
5. ‘First’ RISC-V CPU certified compliant with ISO 26262
Andes Technology has introduced safety-enhanced RISC-V CPU intellectual property, claiming it to be “the first to certified to be fully compliant with ISO 26262 functional safety standards for the development of automotive applications”. SGS-TÜV Saar audited the core, called N25F-SE, and certified it to ASIL B according to ISO 26262 including Parts 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9, said Andes. It is a 32bit RISC-V core that supports standard IMACFD extensions, integer, single precision floating point and double precision floating point instructions, as well as Andes V5 extensions, intended to boost performance and reduce code size.
4. Apple drops plan to buy Yangtze NAND
Apple is dropping plans to buy NAND from Yangtze memory, reports the Nikkei. In September, US Senator Marco Rubio wrote to Tim Cook warning him not to buy NAND flash from Yangtze Memory on pain of being subjected to a congressional investigation. In October Yangtze was placed on the US Department of Commerce’s ‘unverifiable’ list which means it has 60 days to satisfy US investigations into its business practices or risk being put on the Entity List which will stop US companies supplying it with hardware and software.
3. GPS in the US [Mannerisms]
Until a couple of weeks ago I’d never had a car with GPS in the US. Rand McNally’s excellent maps and road signs had always done the job for me. Two weeks ago, rather against my better judgement, I said Yes when the Avis lady at Houston airport asked if I wanted GPS. The cost was $10 a day and my fears were aroused when, at the end of the hire process, she handed over a cloth bag saying, “Here’s your GPS”.
2. Nukes [Mannerisms]
Back in January, the US, Russia, China, the UK and France jointly agreed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. Now though, with increasingly threatening rhetoric from Russia, U.S. President Biden has said that Putin is “not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons”.
1. ASML sparkles
ASML forecasts Q4 sales of €6.1 billion to €6.6 billion compared to Q3 sales of €5.8 billion. For the full year it expects revenue of €21.1 billion with gross margin of about 50%. Although sales to China contributed 15% of its revenues last year, ASML reckons that the latest US restrictions on sales to China will not have any direct effect on financial results “Based on our initial assessment, the new restrictions do not amend the rules governing lithography equipment shipped by ASML out of the Netherlands and we expect the direct impact on ASML’s overall 2023 shipment plan to be limited,” said CEO Peter Wennink.
