Amid global headwinds facing the smartphone market, iPhone has been able to buck the trend. However, Apple’s hopes for better iPhone sales may be negatively impacted by the COVID restrictions in Zhengzhou, China.

Experts spoke on the first day of the 2022 US-Taiwan High-tech Forum (UTHF) and gave reasons for optimism for the semiconductor industry outlook in the next 10 years. However, they also cautioned that the biggest threats and roadblocks for the next decade are not in semiconductor technology itself but in non-technical factors.

US-based foundry SkyWater Technology has completed the first phase of its program to establish silicon interposer manufacturing, according to an announcement on November 3. The program, named Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS), is funded by the US Department of Defense, and sees SkyWater cooperating with the BRIDG, a not-for-profit public-private partnership based in Florida, US with 200mm wafer fab capabilities, and the the Belgium-based microelectronics research center IMEC. Under the IBAS program, ongoing at SkyWater’s facility in Florida, the foundry seeks to develop a fabrication flow for silicon bridge interposers used in heterogeneous integration,