According to Forrester Research -- "Unless mainstream consumers can take a device out of the box and immediately begin enjoying its benefits, they'll leave the box on the retail shelf. Standards are critical to bringing that promise to life, and Intel has long been a standards bearer: first in the PC industry and now in the digital home. The reason is simple: Intel knows that its support for communication, interoperability, and content protection standards will help launch new markets, hence demand for its silicon products. But standards aren't enough; consumers also need reassurance that the product will work in their home. To accomplish this interoperability feat, Intel should donate its internal certification process to a works together certification coalition funded by industry leaders like Best Buy, Intel, Microsoft, and Sony."
Few technology sectors sit as close to the center of gravity in today's artificial intelligence (AI) economy as semiconductor manufacturing. Every AI chip that trains a frontier model, every GPU that powers a data center inference workload, and every power management IC that keeps hyperscaler facilities running traces its origins back to the global Foundry ecosystem. IDC's latest market study throws that reality into sharp relief, projecting that the broadly defined Foundry 2.0 market will surpass $360 billion in 2026, a 17 percent year-over-year gain that would have seemed optimistic even two years ago. For anyone advising boards or investment committees on technology and AI infrastructure strategy, this growth trajectory demands careful consideration. Foundry 2.0 Market Development The umbrella term covers four distinct verticals: pure-play foundry, non-memory integrated device manufacturer (IDM) production, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT), and photomask fab...