Chris Laughlin, ex-Kelley Drye, says he joined the FCC as attorney adviser-Wireline Bureau Competition Division … Morgan Lewis announces David Plotinsky, ex-DOJ, as partner focusing on “trade, information communications technology and services, and critical and emerging technology” … Vizio promotes Platform+ business head Michael O’Donnell to chief revenue/strategic growth officer (see 2202150002).
Carriers worldwide will have to change their focus as 5G evolves, putting more reliance on partnerships with other companies, speakers said during the virtual 5G Monetization Forum Tuesday. Other speakers warned chip shortages could slow deployment of 5G.
Utilities Technology Council hires Teesa Banks, joining from a mental health services organization, as chief of staff; government IT consultant Menen Fantay as vice president-operations, rejoining UTC; PR professional Peter Wilson as communications director; and FCC licensing professional Dana Daberko as frequency coordinator; it promotes Christopher Brent to manager-membership and meetings.
GlobalFoundries estimates the current “shortfall” in semiconductor industry supply is in the mid- to high-single digits, based on industry-wide capacity of about 15 million wafers a year, said CEO Tom Caulfield on a Q4 earnings call Tuesday. GF completed its initial public offering in early November (see 2111020003). Industry supply capacity is projected to grow about 4% globally in the next five years, based on “announced fab expansions,” including fabs being tooled or those under construction, said Caulfield. Excluding China-based foundries, the five-year growth projection drops to 2.5%, he said.
Public Knowledge urged the FCC to consider delaying AT&T’s Feb. 22 3G shutdown because alarm companies faced delays replacing equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and chip shortages that were beyond anyone's control (see 2202030042), in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC should be prepared to issue an order halting the sunset, unless “AT&T can demonstrate either: (a) that it has made arrangements with the alarm industry to prevent disruption of critical services identified in the record, such as home medical alert systems, DUI monitoring systems, home confinement alarms, and other systems necessary to protect life and safety; or, (b) AT&T is capable of immediately restoring service in the event of a significant disruption to these systems critical to protecting safety of life and property,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-304. Unlike flight safety concerns that led to the C-band delay “here, the alarm industry has been delayed by circumstances genuinely beyond their control,” PK said. PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld emailed that he’s not sure whether the FCC will act. “It is clear the Republican offices do not feel the need to act, which makes it more difficult for the Chair in a 2-2 Commission,” he said. A delay would “force us to devote scarce spectrum resources to support relatively few, obsolete 3G-only devices rather than repurposing the spectrum to enhance 5G capacity,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed: “Forcing a delay would needlessly waste valuable spectrum resources and degrade network performance for millions of our customers.”
The proposed EU Chips Act will boost European digital sovereignty and technological leadership, the European Commission said Tuesday. It announced several measures to ensure a secure, resilient supply of semiconductors for the digital and green transition. Chip shortages forced factory closures in many sectors, and made "more evident the extreme global dependency of the semiconductor value chain on a very limited number of actors in a complex geopolitical context," it said. The legislation will make more than 43 billion euros ($49 billion) in public and private investment available and create mechanisms to prevent, anticipate and respond quickly to future supply chain disruptions. The EU wants to double its market share of chips to 20% in 2030. The Chips for Europe Initiative will pool resources from EU members, the EU, third countries and the private sector to boost research, development and deployment of advanced semiconductor tools. A new framework will ensure supply security and more funding for startups. Under a "coordination mechanism," governments and the EC will monitor the supply of semiconductors to estimate demand and anticipate shortages, and keep track of the value chain to chart weakness and bottlenecks. The EC proposed allowing that coordination between member countries and the EC to start immediately. European Parliament Internal Market Committee Chair Anna Cavazzini, of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Germany, welcomed the legislation but said it "falls short in addressing the need for circular economy by design, the reuse of chips and its raw materials" to meet the EU Green Deal's goals with diverse and short supply chains. The proposals need parliament and the EU Council approval.
Speakers at the Incompas Policy Summit expressed hope Tuesday that the FCC will act soon to allow use of the 12 GHz band for 5G. Incompas has been a leading member of the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition, which seeks new rules for the band (see 2107080055).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s December decision upholding the FCC’s 6 GHz order firms up the agency’s authority as “the expert agency” on spectrum, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks during the Fierce Wireless virtual Wi-Fi summit Monday. Other speakers said use of 6 GHz is growing and will be critical to better Wi-Fi.
Demand "far outpaced" the capacity improvements and increased shipments that Microchip Technology achieved in fiscal Q3 ended Dec. 31, said CEO Ganesh Moorthy on a quarterly call Thursday. Microchip draws most of its revenue from sales of microcontrollers for a wide range of consumer and industrial tech applications. Its “unsupported backlog,” defined as undeliverable orders from customers unprotected by long-term supply agreements climbed significantly, compared with the unsupported backlog exiting the September quarter, he said. Despite 30% year-over-year revenue growth to $1.76 billion, “we exited the December quarter with the highest unsupported backlog ever,” said Moorthy: “We continue to experience constraints in all our internal and external factories and their related manufacturing supply chains. ... We continue to ramp our internal factories as fast as possible, and we are working closely with our supply chain partners to provide wafer foundry, assembly, test and materials to secure additional capacity wherever possible.” But judging from the magnitude of the current demand-supply imbalance, plus “the rate at which we are able to bring on new capacity, we continue to expect that we will remain supply-constrained throughout 2022 and possibly beyond that,” said the CEO. After five quarters of the semiconductor crunch and now into the sixth, “there is really no line of sight to having demand/supply coming back into some form of equilibrium,” he said.
The House passed semiconductor-funding legislation 222-210 on a largely party-line vote Friday. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and lawmakers are looking ahead to conference talks to combine elements of the newly House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) (see 2202010001).