Industry praised Congress for overriding President Donald Trump's veto of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395), which includes several telecom and tech provisions (see 2012040043). The Senate voted 81-13 New Year's Day to override Trump's veto, an action he took partly because the measure lacked Section 230 language (see 2012230081). The House overrode the veto last week (see 2012290049). The Semiconductor Industry Association welcomed NDAA enactment of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. HR-7178/S-3933 authorizes federal incentives to promote semiconductor manufacturing and public-sector investments in semiconductor R&D (see 2012170061). It “will help propel U.S. economic growth and cement America’s position at the forefront of semiconductor innovation,” said Qorvo CEO Bob Bruggeworth, who chairs SIA. The NDAA hinders Ligado’s L-band plan, which the Satellite Safety Alliance called a "win for all." This "will enable" DOD to "take much-needed steps to bolster the U.S. government and industrial base cybersecurity defenses, modernize its technology, and enhance U.S. leadership in innovation," said Information Technology Industry Council Senior Vice President-Public Sector Policy Gordon Bitko. Repealing Section 230 would be better than rewriting the tech industry’s liability shield because the latter option would further encourage Big Tech censorship, Parler said in a statement Monday. “A politically viable re-write of Section 230 would transform Orwell’s 1984 from a dystopian novel into an instruction manual, requiring all platforms to adopt Twitter/Facebook/Google’s terms of service,” said Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff.

Global semiconductor sales increased 7% in November from a year earlier, up 1.1% sequentially, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association. It was the largest year-on-year monthly increase since March, said CEO John Neuffer. Sales for 2020 were tracking “well ahead of the total from 2019, despite substantial headwinds caused by the pandemic and other macroeconomic factors,” he said. Sales into the Americas jumped 12.5% from a year earlier in November, the 11th-straight month of double-digit increases, he said.

That U.S.-based semiconductor fabs cost 40%-70% more than foreign counterparts due to low federal incentives helps explain why American companies account for 48% of the world’s chip sales, but U.S.-based fabs do 12% of such manufacturing, blogged Jeff Rittener, Intel chief government affairs officer. Intel backs the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act, passed by Congress last Friday with bipartisan support as part of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), said Rittener Thursday. It establishes a Commerce Department program to provide up to $3 billion “to companies to invest in facilities and equipment in the U.S. for semiconductor fabrication, assembly, testing, advanced packaging” or R&D, he said. This positions the U.S. “to regain our leadership in the semiconductor manufacturing industry and significantly contribute to the nation’s economic and technological success,” he said. “We need federal investment to do so.” Intel urges President Donald Trump to sign the NDAA and the act into law. Trump is threatening an NDAA veto. The White House didn’t respond to questions.

Qualcomm and Google extended Project Treble to enable more Snapdragon-based platforms to run the latest Android operating system with fewer resources and a “predictable software lifecycle,” said the companies Wednesday. OEMs can upgrade mobile devices without modifying Qualcomm software, and use a common Android software branch to upgrade Snapdragon-based devices, they said. Android users “will have the latest OS upgrades and greater security on their devices,” said David Burke, Google vice president-Android engineering.

Qualcomm’s 678 mobile entertainment platform, which follows the 675, offers a 460 CPU core clock speed up to 2.2 GHz, improved graphics processor performance and support for triple camera photos with up to 48 megapixels and zero shutter lag, said the company Tuesday. Its artificial intelligence engine features bokeh, low-light capture and laser autofocus, allowing users to enhance photos, it said. It enables 4K video capture, slow motion, 5x optical zoom and dual-camera support up to 16 megapixels. The platform supports advanced carrier aggregation with downloads up to 600 Mbps and uploads up to 150 Mbps.

Printed flexible electronics materials already used in smartphones and sensors are forecast to become a $6.9 billion business by 2031, with wider adoption in applications such as medical devices and smart packaging, reported IDTechEx Wednesday. It cited “extensive opportunities for innovative materials,” including novel OLED emitters and conductive inks and adhesives.

Apple announced the M1 chip, its most powerful ever, designed specifically for the Mac. The SoC, with 16 billion transistors, is the first personal computer chip built using a 5-nanometer process, Apple said Tuesday. The SoC delivers 3.5 times faster central processing unit performance, six times faster graphics performance and 15 times faster machine learning, said the company, with twice the battery life.

Q3 semiconductor sales increased 11% globally from Q2 and 5.8% from the 2019 quarter to $113.6 billion, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Friday evening. The “solid” Q3 gains reflected “normal seasonal trends and increased demand for semiconductor-enabled products, but significant market uncertainty remains due to the pandemic and other macroeconomic factors,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. September sales to the Americas rose 20.1%.

August semiconductor revenue reached $36.2 billion globally, up 4.9% from a year earlier and 3.6% higher than July, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. It was the seventh straight monthly year-over-year increase, “demonstrating the global market so far has remained largely insulated from ongoing global macroeconomic headwinds,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. He cautioned there’s “still substantial uncertainty for the months ahead.” August sales into the Americas “stood out,” he said, rising 23.6% from August 2019.

Amazon Sidewalk will bring connected devices together for a “seamless user experience,” blogged Texas Instruments Product Marketing Manager Casey O’Grady, after Amazon’s Sidewalk announcement (see 2009210032). The sub-1GHz long-range, low-power network will enable a sensor “that lets you know when it’s time to water" the backyard garden. TI devices for Sidewalk include wireless controllers supporting sub-1 GHz and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and a wireless microcontroller with an integrated power amplifier for extended range. Developers can use the TI devices to build apps supporting the Sidewalk protocol; BLE allows “easy commissioning or over-the-air firmware updates,” she said. Semtech’s LoRa supports a long-range, low-power wide area network to connect a range of home devices or sensors, said CEO Mohan Maheswaran.