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| Strong sales on second half keeps BMW profitable |
3/12/2021 |
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Operating profits for the second half of last year were 9.8% higher than the second half of 2019. The Munich-based company's sales were boosted by the early and strong economic recovery in China, where 2020 sales topped the year before by 7.4%.
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| U.S. unemployment to ease off |
3/12/2021 |
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Fewer employers are cutting jobs amid a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases and signs of an improving economy.
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| China and Russia joint venture to build a lunar research station |
3/11/2021 |
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The station would be “built on the lunar surface and/or on the lunar orbit that will carry out ... scientific research activities such as the lunar exploration and utilization, lunar-based observation, basic scientific experiment and technical verification."
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| FireEye chief blames China on radical hacking |
3/11/2021 |
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Mandia said his company assesses based on the forensics that two groups of Chinese state-backed hackers — in an explosion of automated seeding — installed backdoors known as “web shells” on an as-yet undetermined number of systems.
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| More reliable memories needed for space flights |
3/10/2021 |
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Even today, however, it’s not always the most advanced technology that solves the problem. Older DRAM and SRAM are still commonly used, although emerging memories such as magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) and resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) may offer solutions.
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| Biden promised to double offshore wind energy development |
3/10/2021 |
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President Joe Biden has vowed to double offshore wind production by 2030 as part of his administration's efforts to slow climate change. The likely approval of Vineyard Wind — one of two dozen offshore wind projects along the East Coast in varying stages of development — marks a sharp turnaround from the Trump administration, which stymied wind power both onshore and in the ocean.
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| IC shortage reviews that our U.S. semiconductor capacity are dwindling |
3/10/2021 |
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It might not seem important that 88% of the semiconductor chips used by U.S. industries, including the automotive and defense industries, are fabricated outside the U.S. However, three issues make where they are made critical to the U.S. as the global leader in electronics: lower capability, high global demand and limited investment.
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| Virus vaccine adds hope to world economy recovery |
3/10/2021 |
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The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday raised its expectations for global GDP growth to 5.5% this year and 4% next year. That is up from a December forecast of 4.2% growth in 2021 and 3.7% for 2022.
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| Growth in Chinese export resumes |
3/9/2021 |
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Exports rose to $468.9 billion, customs data showed Sunday, accelerating from December’s 18.1% gain and nearly double the growth expected by forecasters. Imports jumped 22.2% to $365.6 billion, up from December’s 6.5% increase.
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| Amazon opens first cashier-free supermarket in London |
3/5/2021 |
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Shoppers use a smartphone app to scan a QR code so they can enter the store. They can fill their shopping bags with milk, eggs or other groceries while cameras and sensors track what’s taken off shelves.
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| Automated sewage sampling predicts CIVID-19 outbreaks |
3/5/2021 |
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Researchers have automated wastewater concentration with the help of liquid-handling robots. They demonstrated their system's robustness by comparing it to existing methods and showing that they can predict COVID-19 cases in San Diego by a week with excellent accuracy, and three weeks with fair accuracy, just using city sewage.
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| U.S. productivity declined by 4.2% |
3/5/2021 |
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Some economists believe that once the country emerges from the pandemic, there may be a sustained and elevated levels of productivity, in part from workplace efficiencies gained from businesses finding ways to deal with the a year of related restrictions.
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| Samsung planned to spend $17 billion on new Austin fab. |
3/4/2021 |
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The South Korean company plans to invest about $17 billion in its Project Silicon Silver and create about 1,800 jobs over the first ten years, according to an economic impact study prepared by a local consultant. Some $5.1 billion would go into buildings and property improvements, while $9.9 billion would be spent on machinery and equipment.
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| Strong growth seen in automotive memory |
3/4/2021 |
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Companies including Micron Technology, Nanya Technology, Winbond Electronics, Phison Electronics and Silicon Motion Technology have all made forays into the automotive memory market, which is expected to see extraordinary growth over the next several years.
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