Internet-based telephone services are slowly replacing traditional landline phone services, according to a new study by Telephia. Of households already subscribing to Internet telephony services, 53 percent of those considered "high-tech" -- subscribing to at least three emerging services such as satellite radio, video-on-demand and broadband -- have now disconnected their landline phones. Those surveyed identified savings on phone calls as the main factor in making the switch. "Cost savings and seamless integration of different communication services provide a compelling one-two punch for Internet telephony," said Kanishka Agarwal, the vice president of new products at Telephia. Of the households surveyed who have not yet disconnected their landlines, most cited their availability during a power outage as the main reason. More than a third also cited the importance of keeping their current phone numbers.
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...