Most Read articles – Apple silicon, AI investment, Coronavirus

Time to look once again at the five most read articles on ElectronicsWeekly.com that were written in the last week, via the powers of Google Analytics. See what your peers have been reading this last seven days.

What are the topics covered? There’s the impact of the Coronavirus on both MWC and Embedded World, US spending on AI and quantum computing and Apple’s appetite for buying chips…

5. €6.2m for europrocessor
SiPearl, which is designing the europrocessor, has received €6.2 million from the Horizon 2020 R&D programme. The company is now going to try and raise more money to get its processor on the market by 2022. The europrocessor is being created under the European Processor Initiative consortium of 27 members.

4. Coronavirus hits MWC
Ericsson, Sony, Amazon, Intel, ZTE, TCL, LG, DoCoMo and Nvidia pulled out of exhibiting at MWC because of the coronavirus. Samsung says it will still exhibit but may not send senior execs. The GSMA laid down rules for attendees.

3. Trump set to double AI and quantum computing R&D investment
Later today, the White House is expected to announce a doubling of US government expenditure on R&D into AI and quantum computing, reports Reuters. The budget for AI R&D will be increased from $973 billion to $2 billion and the budget for quantum computing R&D will be doubled to $860 million. The figures do not include DARPA projects.

2. Apple is biggest buyer of silicon
Apple reclaimed its position as the biggest buyer of chips last year, overtaking Samsung. Apple bought 8.6% of the market, says Gartner, Samsung dropped to the second spot with 8% market share. Leading OEMs reduced their semiconductor spend in 2019, influenced by declining memory prices.

1. Coronavirus fears spur high-profile cancellations at Embedded World
STMicroelectronics and Microchip have pulled out of Embedded World 2020 amid ongoing concerns over the coronavirus. In a press release published on 12 February, ST said it “has taken the decision to withdraw from exhibiting at MWC 2020 in Barcelona and at Embedded World in Nuremberg later this month”.