Manufacturing

Yesterday, Q5D revealed the five-axis automated wire harness fabrication cell that it will be manufacturing for sale, which can also terminate wires into connectors and 3D print structures in engineering polymers. Electronics weekly contacted the Bristol, UK, company to find out more. Called CY1000, it “automatically and securely adds components, connections and conductors into products or components made of metal, ...

Sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased 5% from $102.6 billion in 2021 to an all-time record of $107.6 billion last year, says SEMI. For the third consecutive year, China remained the largest semiconductor equipment market in 2022 despite a 5% slowdown in the pace of investments in the region year over year, accounting for $28.3 billion in billings. Taiwan, the ...

Open-source licencing needs a re-think in the face of intellectual property abuse, according to open-source advocate Josef Prusa, founder of 3D printer maker Prusa Research (pictured), which publishes full design files for its products. While Prusa concentrates on the stifling effect of open-source leeches on innovation in the 3D printer world, his comments are applicable more broadly. In an open ...

300mm fab capacity will reach 9.6 million wpm in 2026, says SEMI’s  300mm Fab Outlook to 2026 report. “While the pace of the global 300mm fab capacity expansion is moderating, the industry remains squarely focused on growing capacity to meet robust secular demand for semiconductors,” says Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO, “the foundry, memory and power sectors will be ...

Harwin has upped custom cable assembly capacity at its US facility in Salem New Hampshire. “Growing customer demand has led to the need for ramping up cable assembly,” the company told Electronics Weekly. “More capacity has been added to address this through additional jigs, and electrical testing capabilities have been doubled, while wire cutting and stripping procedures are being made ...

Earlier today Rapidus, the Japanese government-backed chip company, said it will build a $36.7 billion  2nm logic fab at Chitose City in Hokkaido Prefecture. The decision was announced by Rapidus President Koike Atsuyoshi (pictured) and the Governor  of Hokkaido, Suzuki Naomichi. The fab will  mass-produce 2nm ICs starting in 2027. Rapidus will develop the chips with IBM. “We aim to ...

Microchip is to invest $880m in silicon carbide and silicon device manufacture at its Colorado Springs fab. “One significant phase of the expansion is for increased SiC manufacturing for use in automotive, e-mobility, grid infrastructure, aerospace and defence applications,” according to the company. The 850 person Colorado Springs campus currently runs six inch wafers, and is to get eight inch ...

Texas Instruments is to build its next 300mm wafer analogue and embedded processor fab in Utah, next to its existing 300mm fab in the town of Lehi. Once completed, the Lehi fabs will operate as a single unit. “This new fab is part of our long-term, 300mm manufacturing roadmap,” TI COO Haviv Ilan. “With the anticipated growth of semiconductors in ...

NanoAvionics – a satellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator based in Lithuania – has doubled its satellite production capability by opening a manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing (MAIT) facility in Vilnius. After a gradual occupancy the site is now fully operational, says the company. Putting all the production, testing and mission operations infrastructure under one roof, it represents an expansion ...

Fire door automation company Fireco has consolidated its PCB manufacturing with Guernsey-based Offshore Electronics (right). “I’ve worked with many CEMs throughout my career, but the team at Offshore have consistently outperformed their competitors,” said Fireco purchasing manager Mark Challacombe. “I was unable to appoint the company in a previous role and really noticed the difference, so it made sense to ...