What are the topics covered this week? There’s a contract to deliver variable speed motor controllers, Chinese companies being put on the US Department of Commerce’s ‘unverifiable’ list, EnOcean buying the assets of the edge computing solutions business of Renesas Electronics, the University of Nottingham creating a business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems and an embargo on so-called “Sea Turtles”…
5. Iconsys wins contract to supply ‘around 30’ motor controllers to MW-scale marine project
Telford-based iconsys has a contract to deliver variable speed motor controllers and other equipment to an un-named company for an un-named marine application. Described as “around 30 variable speed drives” by ABB, whose drive cabinets are being supplied, they are to be joined by drive-trains, programmable controllers, sub-sea connection boxes, sub-sea motors and gearboxes, said ABB. It includes the installation of six water-cooled ACS880 controllers totalling 1.2MW on a common dc link “as a drive system using an active front end to ensure low harmonic distortion on a vessel’s power supply”.
4. Yangtze threatened by ban
Yangtze Memory is among 31 Chinese companies put on the US Department of Commerce’s ‘unverifiable’ list meaning it has 60 days to permit a US investigation into whether it breached US trade regulations before it gets added to the Entity List which prohibits US companies from supplying the company with their products. It is thought that Yangtze sold NAND to Huawei which, under a US embargo, cannot be supplied with chips made using US manufacturing equipment or EDA. The move follows the recent departure of Yangtze’s CEO for ‘personal reasons’. Whether or not it had anything to do with the US being unable to verify Yangtze’s customer list is unknown.
3. EnOcean buys Renesas’ edge computing solutions business
EnOcean, which provides energy-harvesting sensors and cloud-based software for building management, has bought the assets of the edge computing solutions business of Renesas Electronics, including personnel, hardware products and software products. Integration of the edge computing solution, according to EnOcean, will additionally provide access to data from the existing building infrastructure such as heating, cooling and lighting systems.
2. University of Nottingham starts electric motor consultancy
The University of Nottingham has creates a business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems, claiming that it is the first UK institution to create an independent business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems. Nottingham Drive Specialist Services (NDSS) will provide “bespoke development, manufacturing and testing of electrical motors and drives to support the industrialisation of power electronic converters, electrical machines and drives from design through to manufacture and testing”, according to the university.
1. US restricts Sea Turtles in chip industry
The US has extended its embargo on the supply to technology to China by restricting the involvement of individuals in the chip industry, reports the Nikkei. As from yesterday, US citizens and permanent US residents have been blocked from supporting Chinese development and production of high-end ICs for certain applications. Many of China’s semiconductor entrepreneurs are Chinese Americans who have U.S. citizenship, while hundreds of chip execs and engineers in the China chip industry have studied or worked in the US chip industry and hold US citizenship and have returned to work in the China chip industry.
