Longer life with good transparency will need to be achieved if solar facades are to become common on buildings, according to a report by market research company IDTechEx. ‘Smart glass and windows 2018-2028: Electronic shading and semi-transparent PV‘ identifies gigawatt hour potential from glass building cladding and windows that include photovoltaic layers, but identifies multiple factors holding back deployment. Thinned crystalline ...
Market Research
The Five Laws of Robotics – House of Lords looks at the future of AI
Five ethical principles at the heart of artificial intelligence development and use will be the best way for the UK to benefit from AI, concludes a report by the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence. According to the report, ‘AI in the UK: Ready, Willing and Able?’, done ethically, the UK is in a strong position to be a world ...
LED lighting drives boom in vertical farms in China
LED lighting is having a major impact on the way plants are grown commercially in greenhouses. As a result the horticultural lighting market reached almost $3.8bn in 2017, according to market data from Yole Développement. But changes to the horticultural LED lighting market indicate that greenhouse applications may only be the tip of the iceberg. Emerging applications, including urban farming, ...
5G set to adopt GaN, but military protectionism may hit supply
Gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology looks like being a key element of future wireless infrastructure deployments including 5G. GaN is used in RF power devices that boost the power levels for wireless transceivers. By the end of 2017, the total RF GaN market was just $380m, but according to a new report by Yole Développement, the penetration rate in various ...
Juniper, Cisco, Huawei and Nokia lead Ethernet router market
The leading router and carrier Ethernet switch (CES) manufacturers continue to be Juniper Cisco, Huawei and Nokia, according the latest service provider survey from IHS Markit. For providing next-generation routing technologies, Cisco topped the ranking for 100GE, followed by Juniper and Nokia. “Juniper, Cisco, Huawei and Nokia form the top tier of service provider router and CES manufacturers,” said Heidi ...
Brits don’t want smart homes to snoop
More than 70% of Britons are ‘fearful’ of the smart homes concept, despite the possibility of cost savings
DRAM supply to remain tight in 2018, says DRAMeXchange
Global DRAM supply is forecast to grow by less than 20% next year, according to DRAMeXchange. DRAMeXchange points out that the big three DRAM suppliers – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron – have opted to slow down their capacity expansions and technology migrations. This is likely to keep prices at high levels as during this year’s second half. While overall ...
Where is Europe’s chip market booming?
Europe’s semiconductor market hit a record high in the second quarter of the year. The quarter ended at €2.13bn, which was 10.5% higher than the last record quarter, Q1 in 2016, according to DMASS, Germany-based the distributor and manufacturer association. However, the UK chip market was still off the pace. UK growth was just 3.3% in Q2 which ended at ...
AI expected to benefit engineering most
Could this be the year we start to see artificial intelligence (AI) starting to make an impact on businesses and our lives? According to a recent market survey by online marketplace OnBuy.com, the market expects AI to have its largest impact in engineering, administration and customer service. Cas Paton, managing director, OnBuy.com writes: “It’s interesting to see how consumers feel ...
Britons spend an hour looking at screens before sleeping
The average British adult spends an average of 57 minutes on their gadgets in bed before going to sleep, according to LaptopsDirect, which surveyed 1,012 UK adults. 68% used smartphones in bed, 32% watched television in 19% use tablet computers, 14% listened to music and 8% played on games consoles. Those aged 18-24 were most likely to use technology in bed, ...
Electronics Weekly