Thierry’s Connectivity Newsletter #212
Semiconductors, IP & Standards
Qualcomm scores key legal win, yet unlikely a total loss for Arm - link
Syntiant closes acquisition of Knowles consumer mic business, gets new funding from Malaisia sovereign fund – link
Synaptics will integrate Google’s MLIR-compliant ML core on the Synaptics Astra Edge AI for the IoT - link
GlobalFoundries and IBM resolve long-running legal battles - link
Mature-Node Foundries Face Overcapacity from China - link
TSMC begins mass production at 1st Japan chip plant in Kumamoto - link
Airoha Technology Launches Flagship Wireless AI Audio SoC AB1595, first products expected Q1’25 - link
PIMIC and ZillTek Launch Integrated Edge AI and Microphone Noise Cancellation Solution - link
SonicEdge Presents Integrated MEMS Speaker and Microphone Solution at CES 2025 - link
New MEMS Microspeakers Company Getting Ready to Take Off - link
Ceva Unveils Ceva-Waves Links200 - A Breakthrough Multi-Protocol Wireless Connectivity Platform IP Featuring Next generation Bluetooth High Data Throughput (HDT) and IEEE 802.15.4 on TSMC 12nm FFC+ process - link
Imagination Technologies CEO plans 2025 retirement amidst speculation over links to China technology transfers - link
Weebit Nano signs onsemi for ReRAM license for Treo platform using BCD process from DB Hitek - link
Arm China reportedly lays off employees from the CPU department ahead of year-end - link
AONDevices Unveils Edge AI Sensor Module in Collaboration with P-Logic Consulting - link
OEMs & Ecosystems
EU’s USB-C charger mandate comes into effect for all new devices link
Inside Apple labs testing and calibrating iPhone 16 series' audio and video features, including new Audio Mix editing tools and 4K slow motion - link
With Apple & Nvidia collaboration on ReDrafter, Drafting Isn’t Just for Race Cars—It’s for LLMs Too - link
A prototype Izanagi AI processor from SoftBank (likely based on ARM / Graphcore). could be available as early as the summer of 2025 - link
LG’s “Hybrid AI” gram Laptops Offer the Best Of Both Worlds With On-Device and Cloud AI, with Gram Link 2.0 for seamless device connectivity - link
Major Apple ODM Luxshare to acquire nine Wingtech ODM subsidiaries - link
Honor preps for IPO with corporate restructuring and rebranding - link
EssilorLuxottica strengthens its presence in the hearing space with the acquisition of French AI-based speech enhancement start up Pulse Audition - link
Samsung Brings ‘Eclipsa Audio,’ 3D Technology Developed With Google, to 2025 TVs and Soundbars - link
Audio
Cear Pave: a tiny wireless speaker promises to sound like a big beefy stereo system using psychoacoustic tricks - link
Onkyo Announces Logo Refresh to Signal Rebirth of an Iconic Brand - link
XMOS powers open source voice-enabled Home Assistant - link
A New Era of Sound with UWB Audio: Lossless Quality and Great Possibilities - link
Alango Unveils Hearing Augmentation Technology on Snapdragon S7 at CES 2025 - link
Fasetto to Promote Sound Over Power Lines Audio Solutions at CES 2025 - link
WiSA Technologies Changes Name to Datavault and Acquires Company That Manages Registration for CES, InfoComm, and NAB Trade Shows - link
Auricle Debuts Groundbreaking awareONE Open-Ears at CES 2025 - link
Noise to showcase Made-in-India products at CES 2025 - link
AceFast T9 : Unbelievably, I've fallen in love with these sub-$20 wireless earbuds, for two big reasons - link
Legato is driving an effort to add Wi-Fi-powered speakers to Matter smart home standard - link
Wearables and XR
Meta plans to add a display to its Ray-Ban glasses by H2’25 to show notifications or AI responses- link
Android XR Aims to Unify a Fragmented Market, but needs developers’ suport & a strong HW Portfolio - link
OnePlus Watch 3: New health features surface ahead of launch - link
Global VR Market Slips 4% YoY in Q3 2024, AR Glasses Set to Grow in 2025 - link
Apple reportedly halts Vision Pro production - link
Smart Home & Smart Cities
This new Z-Wave smart plug coming in 2025 has a crazy-long range of over a mile - link
Samsung Expands ‘AI Home’ Across Multiple Home Appliances, Bringing ‘Screens Everywhere’ Vision to Life - link
Apple is working on a smart doorbell with advanced facial recognition able to unlock 3rd-party smart locks - link
Humanoid robots race heats up as Tesla, Huawei eye 2025 production - link
LG Reveals Multifunctional 3-in-1 Projector Combining Lighting and Speaker at CES 2025 - link
Auto
Apple promised us CarPlay 2.0 in 2024 – but it hasn't arrived yet - link
As Beijing pushes for self-sufficiency in the $80B+ per year car chip business, use of homemade chips in Chinese cars has risen to around 15% - link
Inventec Announces a Laboratory for Developing Ultra-Wideband Solutions Powered by NXP's Trimension UWB Portfolio - link
LG Presents Vision for Expanding Its “AI Home Solutions” Into Mobility Spaces at CES 2025 - link
Massive VW Data Leak Exposed 800,000 EV Owners’ Movements - link
LG Introduces Integrated Controller Platform for Vehicles at CES 2025 using Snapdragon Ride Flex - link
BYD Achieves Record 2024 Sales, Challenging Tesla’s Lead in EV - link