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• US demand for chip firm data aimed at benefitting Intel: claim
  in Government Tech Policy
  By Sam Varghese

  ANALYSIS An American demand that semiconductor manufacturers provide internal information about chip inventories, orders and sales data appears to be aimed at helping Intel which has fallen well behind.

  The demand was made last month by US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, during a semiconductor summit hosted by the White House.

  The rationale for seeking this information was to identify the bottlenecks causing the current semiconductor shortage and help ease kinks, if any, in the supply chain.

  Chipmakers were given 45 days from 23 September to respond. Raimondo hinted at strong-arming the companies if they did not obey, telling Reuters the US had "other tools in our tool box that require them to give us data. I hope we don’t get there. But if we have to we will".

  {loadposition sam08{George Koo, a long-time adviser on China strategies and business operations for a global advisory services firm, said in an op-ed in Asia Times, that such data was a corporate secret.

  He pointed out that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung, the leaders when it came to chip fabrication, were very likely to yield to US pressure.

  TSMC has kept pace with development, investing the huge sums needed to bring in the latest manufacturing equipment and has served as a designer of proprietary chips for companies like Apple, Nvidia and Huawei.

  "TSMC’s strategy was to serve as everybody’s foundry and offer semiconductor fabrication as a service for a fee," said Koo. "To be credible, it promised strict confidentiality, to protect the client’s trade secrets and never to make its own devices to compete with its customers."

  He said this was an arrangement that suited everyone until the US imposed restrictions on Huawei, preventing it from getting its chips fabricated by TSMC.

  "[Donald] Trump’s successor Joe Biden has gone a step further by becoming the Godfather of the worldwide semiconductor industry and made an offer the foundries cannot refuse: Turn over your confidential files to the US Department of Commerce or else we will stop you from operating," Koo wrote.

  Complying with what he described as "strong-armed unethical outrage" would diminish TSMC's position in the industry, he claimed.

  "If TSMC relocates some of its facilities to the US to please Washington, it will face the same set of comparative disadvantages of having to operate in America that caused Intel to fall generations behind," Koo explained.

  He said cutting off China would force it to accelerate the development of indigenous semiconductor technology. "It will be stymied for an interim period but in the end, China will have its own semiconductor production and market," Koo added.

  As TSMC's standing was diminished, staff would leave and go elsewhere: some to the US, but most would end up in China "where they will not be penalised for language or cultural disconnect".

  Koo said there was no certainty that Intel could catch up with TSMC even with Washington’s assistance. "Besides policy and financial subsidy, doing so will also require people with motivation and skillsets. In that respect, China far outnumbers the US," he pointed out.

  Morris Chang, the man behind TSMC, has said it may be impossible to replicate what has been done in Taiwan in other parts of the world, including the US.

  "Washington seems to think it is playing a win-lose game. It doesn’t seem to appreciate that by cutting China off, American companies will be deprived of access to the largest market in the world," said Koo.

  "When the world’s semiconductor market is split into two, the halves will be less than the whole. Thus a virtuous circle will become dysfunctional, and everybody will lose."
• Qualcomm announces new RF filter technology to enable next generation 5G and Wi-Fi solutions
  in 5G
  By Chris Coughlan

  Qualcomm ultraBAW filter technology extends radio-frequency portfolio for 5G and Wi-Fi Segments up to 7 GHz.

  Qualcomm Technologies announced the Qualcomm® ultraBAW RF filter technology for bands up to 7 GHz, another innovation that builds on the company’s modem-to-antenna solution that is driving high-performance 5G and connectivity systems across wireless product segments.

  Radio frequency (RF) filters isolate radio signals from the different spectrum bands that phones use to receive and transmit information. The new Qualcomm ultraBAW RF filter technology will enable both 5G and Wi-Fi solutions to access spectrum up to 7 GHz, delivering high performance at higher frequencies. Access to sub-7 GHz spectrum will enable next-generation mobile devices, laptops, as well as numerous solutions for Automotive, IoT, and industrial applications to benefit from 5G and Wi-Fi co-existence, leading to enhanced performance and power efficiency indoors and outdoors, the company says.

  Qualcomm says its new ultraBAW RF filter extends and expands the leading edge performance of our previously announced Qualcomm® ultraSAW technology. While Qualcomm ultraSAW covers low-band frequencies from 600 MHz to 2.7 GHz, the Qualcomm ultraBAW covers the range from 2.7 to 7.2 GHz, expanding mid-band connectivity up to sub-7 GHz. Qualcomm ultraBAW also supports ultra-wide channels of up to 300 MHz, and co-existence for 5G and/or Wi-Fi networks, enabling faster downloads and uploads.

  {loadposition chris08}

  By increasing frequency support from 2.7GHz to 7.2GHz, Qualcomm ultraBAW now provides support for critical Wi-Fi bands including 5 GHz and the newly adopted 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi 6E and future Wi-Fi standards. Devices with Qualcomm ultraBAW technology will be able to enjoy enhanced transmission rates and location services, among other benefits.

  Qualcomm added that it is using thin-film piezo material micro-acoustic technology, Qualcomm ultraBAW filters combine a small footprint with innovative thermal module technology improvements for high power efficiency and long battery life.

  Additionally, as the latest addition to Qualcomm Technologies’ industry-leading suite of modem-to-antenna solutions, Qualcomm ultraBAW will allow OEMs to bring high-performance 5G and Wi-Fi to multiple product verticals including mobile, automotive, laptops, tablets, customer premises equipment (CPE), small cells, fixed wireless access (FWA), and IoT, Qualcomm continued.

  “Our new generation RF filter solutions are crucial in the expansion of 5G beyond mobile. We’ve seen tremendous success with our Qualcomm ultraSAW technology for sub-3 GHz, and now with Qualcomm ultraBAW we’re able to offer superior performance up to 7 GHz,” says QUALCOMM Germany RFFE GmbH senior vice president and general manager RFFE Christian Block.

  “Qualcomm Technologies is working with industry-leading OEMs to develop the next generation of connected devices, allowing consumers to seamlessly enjoy peak performance from 5G NR and Wi-Fi networks, wherever they’re streaming videos, downloading files, or enjoying extended reality experiences.”

  The company said that products enabled with Qualcomm ultraBAW filter technology are currently sampling to customers. Commercial devices featuring the technology are expected to launch in the second half of 2022.

  This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 21 October 2021.
• What exactly is 5G security and why is it essential?
  in Guest Opinion
  By George Tsoukas, Gigamon

  GUEST OPINION by George Tsoukas, ANZ Manager, Gigamon: New technology always brings a host of worries about its negative potential, and 5G is no different. Although there are many legitimate 5G security concerns to address and discuss, it’s worth first clarifying the false claim that 5G causes health problems.

  It doesn’t — 5G technology is not harmful to humans. With that out of the way, we’ll discuss what 5G is, what security risks it faces, and how experts are working to ensure 5G security.

  What Is 5G? The term 5G stands for the fifth generation of cellular mobile network. In terms of architecture and protocols, the 5G radio access network (RAN) and 5G core are quite different from 4G LTE. The 5G RAN uses new radio frequency (RF) protocols, offers broader and higher frequency band spectrum, and has an open distributed architecture.

  The 5G core differences include SDN with control and user-plane separation (CUPS); disaggregation offering many more discrete control and orchestration functions, virtualisation, and microservices (that is, containers); HTTP/2 (not GTP-C) control plane; TLS 1.3 encrypted control plane; and multi-access edge compute (MEC).

  These all represent significant changes, and while in some cases they look to help with security, in other cases they open up a potential for more vulnerabilities and even lack of visibility. The new 5G core is required to help fulfill the expectations that 5G promises; the high-band spectrum alone is not sufficient to fulfill this.

  5G is expected to be roughly 100 times faster than the current 4G network, in part because the networks are built on a high-band spectrum, rather than mid-band. This speed boost will bring upgrades to everything from cloud robotics to healthcare.

  One major downside of this lower latency network, however, is the range and penetration. The lower power and higher frequency signals don’t travel as far and have a harder time getting through walls, which is why it might take a little longer for 5G to become a standard feature of most mobile device services.

  There is a major advantage to this high-band adoption lag, though: experts have more time to find solutions to 5G security concerns.

  Many of the things that make 5G so appealing, like the decreased latency and increased bandwidth, are also threats to security. Security threats include:

  # New technology – New advances in technology often mean new problems. And given that 5G is not only new but also very different from 4G, this means that while experts can predict some security weaknesses, others may not become apparent until a breach has already occurred.

  # Increased points of access – 5G allows for more access points. Every additional hardware point of contact creates another potential opening for attackers to access the network. That means all access points will need to be monitored on a physical and digital level.

  # Internet of Things (IoT) – The speed of 5G lends itself well to use with IoT devices. That said, an increase in connected machines can also mean an increase in 5G security risks. Smaller IoT devices like thermostats often have weaker security, and a breach in one of these devices can mean the entire system is compromised.

  # Speed – 5G is fast enough to be considered for use in remote surgery and self-driving cars, but that also means it could be harder to track and prevent attacks. At the same time, this critical and sensitive data transmission will require even higher levels of security to prevent breakage in communication, malicious behaviour or snooping/stealing information.

  # Disaggregated architecture – As mentioned, 5G’s disaggregated architecture means that network functions are able to operate freely from the underlying system hardware, allowing for improved control and visualisation. However, the downside is that rather than relying on a single, overarching security approach, each of these components will need to have its own security measures ‘baked in’.

  Of course, these are just some of the risks to 5G security. Keeping services and connected devices secure is rarely, if ever, a 100 percent guarantee.

  Solutions for 5G security

  Although the 5G network poses new and unique threats, there are already ways to help ensure better 5G security:

  # Increased defence for individual mobile and IoT devices

  # Zero Trust combined with a foundation of software security

  # End-to-end visibility

  # Threat analytics

  For optimal 5G security, networks should be treated as a Zero-Trust environment, where it cannot be taken for granted that connected devices will have sufficient security or vulnerability protection. So the first step should be ensuring adequate visibility across the network with appropriate security monitoring, threat detection, and mitigation processes in place even before devices are connected to the 5G network.

  Keeping 5G networks secure will be a group effort, involving network providers, cyber security experts, and customers themselves. As a second line of defence in conjunction with Zero Trust, a foundation of software security for mobile and IoT devices will need to be developed in tandem with network providers and cybersecurity firms.

  Even innocuous IoT devices like smart fridges should be equipped with high-level security. What’s more, precautions should be in place to ensure a breach in lesser IoT machines won’t lead to unauthorised access of sensitive information.

  Next, end-to-end visibility is vital for monitoring any system, but it’s especially necessary in 5G security, where there are so many points of access for malicious actors to target.

  This monitoring should extend across all layers of the network, including the physical network cells and data planes. Effective monitoring will also provide vital information for understanding new attacks. Combined with mitigation procedures, this will provide a more effective defence against potential incursions.

  Threat analytics is a useful way to track and even predict attacks. Ideally, these analytics systems would be able to enact preventative measures to stop a breach from occurring. These programs offer vital information in the ongoing process of defending devices on a 5G network.
• News Corp reporter uses weasel words to push tired claims about Huawei
  in Open Sauce
  By Sam Varghese

  A News Corp reporter has resorted to weasel words in a bid to again push the falsehood that the Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies is pulling out of Australia.

  David Swan, the technology editor for The Australian, wrote: "It follows revelations that Huawei is effectively pulling out of Australia, with its local workforce down to just 145 from a peak of about 1200." [Emphasis mine].

  The "It" referred to was a marketing push by Michael Dell, the owner of the computer firm of the same name, to advocate for OpenRAN, a technology that aims to be a substitute for the end-to-end 5G network equipment that is supplied by Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson and Nokia.

  Swan quoted Dell as saying Australia was right to ban the use of Huawei gear because of security concerns. However, he did not provide any proof to back up this claim.

  {loadposition sam08}As to the OpenRAN coalition, Dr Henry Kressel, a pioneer of the modern semiconductor laser device that enables modern communications systems, has dismissed any notion that it could produce anything in the short term to replace products from existing companies.

  American economist David P. Goldman, writing under the pen name Spengler in the same publication, said it would take about five years for anything that could be tested to emerge. "...the debugging and testing of billions of lines of code probably would take another two years," he added.

  Swan wrote there were "new claims the China tech giant poses a national security risk", but again did not say when these claims surfaced.

  As iTWire pointed out, when another News Corp reporter, Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson, made similar absurd claims, the last time any allegations were levelled at Huawei was in September.

  Those claims were made by Lithuanian officials – after a tiff with Beijing. According to The Guardian: "China demanded last month [August] that Lithuania withdraw its ambassador in Beijing and said it would recall its envoy to Vilnius, after Taiwan announced that its mission in Lithuania would be called the Taiwanese Representative Office."

  Swan made a reference to an European defence agency — presumably the same Lithuanian claims — having said the Huawei P40 5G smartphone poses unspecified security risks, "including the potential for malware".

  He forgot that every smartphone has the potential to be infected with malware. Or maybe it would not have served his argument had he mentioned it. Or maybe he is simply ignorant about it.

  Swan said Huawei had "closed research labs and retrenched hundreds of employees after its revenue plunged following bans on its involvement in the country’s broadband and 5G networks".

  All this is old hat and every time Huawei has made major staff cuts in Australia it has been nothing but open about it.

  Swan also had the chutzpah to write: "Huawei was contacted for comment." But which company would react to a request for comment when the same falsehoods are repeated ad infinitum?
• OPPO reported to be planning own SoCs for top-end smartphones
  in Mobility
  By Sam Varghese

  Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO, part of the giant B.B.K. Electronics group, is set to start designing its own chips for its high-end smartphones, the Nikkei Asia website claims, adding that this was understood to be a bid to rid itself of dependence on suppliers like Qualcomm and MediaTek.

  The report said the first fruits of this venture would emerge in either 2023 of 2024, citing two unnamed people as sources.

  OPPO was the fifth biggest manufacturer in terms of shipments in the third quarter of this year, according to figures from tech analyst firm Canalys, accounting for 10% of the market, behind Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi and its stablemate vivo.

  Apple, Samsung, Google, Xiaomi and Huawei already design their own SoCs. But Xiaomi has yet to use an in-house designed SoC in any of its devices.

  {loadposition sam08}The report said OPPO planned to use semiconductors used with 3nm production technology, and get the SoCs made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the only fab that makes chips using this technology apart from Samsung.

  The Nikkei Asia report quoted Brady Wang, an analyst with Counterpoint Research, as saying: "If everyone is using Qualcomm's chipsets for flagship phones, then it's very hard to claim that you have unique performance and products.

  "Meanwhile, you have to compete for allocations of chips and resources with your competitors during a time of shortage, and do not have direct visibility of your chip supply chain."

  Huawei has been unable to manufacture any of its Kirin processors for a while, due to American sanctions. Its share of the smartphone has fallen to a fraction of what it enjoyed earlier.

  Added Wang: "We still don't see very successful cases following Apple, Huawei and Samsung.

  "After all, there are entry barriers, and the continuous effort of a large team is needed, as are complicated system integrations. Costs are also increasing as chip manufacturing technology advances."