Summer is over, and fall festivities are in full force. While you’re ramping up for the fourth quarter, it’s important to take a moment to reflect on the peaks and valleys of this past season. Read on to explore the latest semiconductor news and technology breakthroughs in the third quarter of 2018.

New China tariffs hit semiconductor industry again, escalating trade war

President Trump announced additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, including parts used in semiconductor manufacturing. The latest round of tariffs will affect thousands of consumer goods, from electronics and industrial items to housewares and food.

Among the list of 5,745 types of Chinese imports, raw silicon, circuit boards, and other computer chip components took a 10 percent tariff hit last month—and is set to climb to 25 percent on January 1.

Semiconductor organizations have expressed concerns about the proposed tariffs. During a six-day public hearing in August and comment period that followed, both the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and SEMI testified that imposing tariffs on the semiconductor industry would put American companies at a competitive disadvantage, harm the United States’ role in the global economy, and raise the cost of consumer goods.

Quantum Computing Act makes it to U.S. Congress

On September 13, the House of Representatives passed the National Quantum Initiative Act. This ruling would create a 10-year federal program to advance quantum research and development (R&D).

The bill includes spending of up to $1.275 billion dollars to fund R&D programs at the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. Members from national research labs and private sectors would also coordinate research, programs, and education. To scale the field, scientists hope to foster a “quantum-smart” workforce through academic programs.

Quantum computing can increase the computing power of even the fastest supercomputer on the market today. It can help model molecules better, discover new drugs, advance artificial intelligence, and crack the best encryptions. The potential impact is huge, but today’s quantum technology falls short. With this federal support, R&D in quantum technology can put the U.S. in the forefront of this frontier.

Technology breakthroughs and trends

Facebook rolls out Glow compiler and plans a new chip design

At Facebook’s 2018 @Scale conference, the company announced the release of Glow, their open-source compiler that speeds the performance of deep learning frameworks. Glow is the latest feat to fill the gap between software and hardware. Chip giants like Cadence, Esperanto, Intel, Marvell, and Qualcomm will support Glow in future silicon products.

In addition, Facebook aims to design at least one ASIC— and will build out a full-fledged chip team to do it. Read more about Facebook’s chip endeavors here.

UT Austin engineers discover the first method for controlling nanobots

Innovating isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. But engineers at the University of Texas at Austin can tell you otherwise.

A team of engineers has discovered the first-ever method for controlling the motion of nanodevices by changing light intensity. Like an “on-off” switch, variations in light intensity can shift the rotations of silicon nanomotors in an electric field. While scientists tested this approach for drug delivery, this discovery opens the door for autonomous and intelligent machines designs at nanoscale. Read more about this nanotechnology discovery here.

MIT’s machine learning model identifies objects from speech and image

Imagine training technology as something like walking a child through the world and narrating what you’re seeing. In a new breakthrough, scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) used this human approach to tackle speech recognition.

MIT computer scientists developed a machine learning model to identify objects within a picture based on an audio caption and an image. By using spoken descriptions, the model would highlight the relevant regions in the picture as described in real-time. Learn more about MIT’s speech recognition technology here.

Get ready to prep for a busy Q4

To stay in the know about the latest semiconductor news, industry trends, and emerging issues, subscribe to our blog.