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China remains the top challenge to U.S. national security interests, according to a recently-released National Defense Strategy report from the Pentagon. As a result, the U.S. government is taking steps to reduce or limit commerce with China. Germany and several other EU countries are similarly concerned about China’s dominance and are changing their policies on doing business with China-based companies. 

Reports of lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe considering and implementing strategies to contain the situation have been coming in for the past few months. Here is a roundup of some of the recent efforts (from newest to oldest):

Today’s job marketplace is more competitive than ever — not for employees, but for employers. Nearly every industry is struggling to fill in-demand positions. In fact, in 2022, there have been an average of 11 million U.S. job openings every month, but only about six million candidates looking for work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) monthly reports.

Rather than seeing the glass as half empty, some experts advise employers to view the current environment as an opportunity to improve their hiring processes; for example, by promoting their company’s positive attributes and realigning its priorities with what today’s workforce wants from an employer.

Attendees at the U.N. climate conference, COP27 Summit, which will be held on November 6 to 18 in Egypt have many topics to discuss, from financing the transition to clean energy to protecting the world's forests and future-proofing its cities. Another important topic is achieving sustainability in the semiconductor industry. 

At a time when there is a push to expand semiconductor production, there is also a focus on making the industry greener. A 2020 study by Harvard researchers on the energy costs of computing found that chip manufacturing “accounts for most of the carbon output attributable to hardware systems.”

At the 1939 World’s Fair, General Motors demonstrated the world’s first self-driving car. It was an electric vehicle guided by radio-controlled electromagnetic fields and operated from magnetized metal spikes embedded in the roadway.

Just over 80 years later, the concept has evolved, although not to the point of filling our highways with autonomous vehicles— yet, at least. In 2018, ABI Research predicted that could change by 2025. It stated that, there will be approximately eight million autonomous vehicles on the roads by then. But we’re likely still a long way from that number. First, the technology must catch up.

The CHIPS for America Act and FABS Act represents a much-anticipated boon for the U.S. semiconductor industry, providing $52.7 billion for investment. 

In August 2022, the U.S. Congress approved the funds for semiconductor manufacturing and research, plus a 25% investment tax credit for chip plants (an estimated additional $24 billion). That credit applies to projects that start construction after January 1, 2023.

The third quarter of 2022 experienced major global semiconductor news. The U.S., along with Germany, have placed major new restrictions on China’s semiconductor sector. Four new chip factories broke ground from Boise, Idaho, to Chatham County, North Carolina, all with the benefit of funding from the CHIPS Act. 

Also, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it will be accepting proposals for CHIPS Act funds by early 2023. All this activity took place on the back of a global semiconductor sales increase of 13.3% from Q2 2022 to Q2 2021.

As we approach the tail end of 2022, forward-looking predictions for cybersecurity threats companies will face in 2023 are coming in. Trends in threats include cybercriminals finding workarounds to some of the newest defense solutions, and, in some cases, fewer incidents but an increase in attack severity. 

Interest in photonic chips is expanding at lightning speed. The market for silicon photonics is expected to quintuple from 2020 ($516 million) to 2025 — reaching $2.6 billion, according to Gartner. In fact, speed is one of the three factors driving this accelerated growth. 

Photonic chips transmit signals with light instead of electricity. The advantage of photonics over electronics is that light is faster and more functional over large bandwidths. The most common method of deploying photonics in chip design currently is silicon photonics, which pairs photonic architecture with traditional circuits in a single chip.

When it comes to the global race in the semiconductor industry, it’s an ongoing competition among the three biggest players — Japan, China, and the United States. Here’s an overview of where they stand today:

Japan struggles to maintain its position

In August of 2021, news outlets reported that Japan was worried it could be left behind as the U.S. chip industry spent billions to gain an edge in an ongoing trade war with China. Japan, which once dominated in the semiconductor industry, worried it would be squeezed out. Its share of global chip manufacturing had fallen from a half to a tenth as it lost customers to less expensive rivals and lost ground with a lack of cutting-edge processes in the production of silicon wafers, chemical films, and machinery, according to Japan’s industry ministry.

On July 1^st, Kelley Blue Book asked the question on everyone’s mind: Is the end of the chip shortage in sight? Then it answered its own question with cautious optimism: yes, automotive chip production is catching up— slowly but surely. 

After months of dire reports predicting that the automotive chip crises could extend through 2022 and even into early 2023, there is now good news for automakers and their customers. Several automakers have reported that they are starting to feel the shortages easing up and their chip supply stabilizing.