The rafts of legislation pertinent to energy supply chains cover issues like greenwashing, First Nation considerations, carbon emissions targets, health and safety, employment practices, and many more, depending on the geography of operations and the extent of supply chains.

But it’s important to note that, state-driven geopolitical measures aside, the majority of the strictures and governance in place are driven by public opinion. The fact that trade strictures and legislation emerge and change slowly in relation to public mood gives companies in the energy sector a significant opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors proactively.

Source: Achilles Information Ltd

In addition to a competitive edge, of course, compliance with mandatory measures and mature reporting processes mean that operating costs will be significantly lower in the longer term than those organizations still reacting to laws and strictures as they appear.

Establishing forward-looking due diligence concerning an organization’s supply chain makes abiding by the terms of and reporting on current and likely legislation an intelligent investment in existing operations and the company’s future. As the energy sector transitions towards renewables and the size of the sector grows accordingly, hot topics like green metal extraction and forced labor will be reflected more in legislation. The ability to plan, mitigate, and change now presents opportunities.

The key to taking a proactive approach is transparency. The energy sector’s historical basis in fossil fuels means that process opacity must be avoided to ensure public and governmental confidence. That’s not to avoid financial penalties for greenwashing or poor practice but to create an industry with less need for onerous legislation.

Developing a process for due diligence in supply chains in the sector need not require enormous resources. Smaller players in the vertical are as affected by the need for regulatory compliance as the giant multinationals. But, risk reduction can be done without enterprise-scale budgets. TechHQ spoke recently to Adam Whitfield, Head of ESG at Achilles Information Ltd., to talk about how the company’s offering combines technology and human expertise to ensure the veracity of data gathered during due diligence processes.

Adam Whitfield, Head of ESG. Source: Achilles Information Ltd

“In the way supply chain risk management has evolved over the last few years, I think we are unique in the amount of resources that we use to carry out human evaluation of documentation that’s uploaded. A lot more evaluation is done through collection of public information through [web] scraping, for instance. We take that information and then use [human] readers to check it,” said Mr Whitfield.

The human element helps companies ensure that publicly available information in the digital domain is accurate. The nature of the internet means that data may not be complete or up to date, or may skewed by its very volume. A minor yet highly public incident – whether with negative or positive connotations – can be quickly amplified online and obscure the real picture.

“We have around 200 auditors around the world that we’re able to deploy to actually go and visit companies. We visit [and] audit around six and a half thousand companies a year, and so we’re taking information that’s being collected and verified remotely, and then, potentially, we’re going to [the] source to see if a company has policies and procedures in place to look after their staff or to protect the environment and so on. We go and visit the factory, the workshop, the site [and] actually see what’s going on,” Mr Whitfield said.

Using the Achilles platform, suppliers for a company in the sector register and upload relevant information: policies, documents, accreditations, licenses, and certifications. When these expire or are due for renewal, the system will flag the case and surface any contradictions needing manual clarification. That’s an essential feature in making due diligence a constant – it has been considered a process enacted just once, early in a relationship. Continually evaluating the supply chain’s elements ensures long-term compliance and transparency.

With accurate and verified data, companies can monitor their supply chain partners over time, evaluate the bigger picture of the effects of their total operations, and report to stakeholders and, where relevant, to governmental bodies and the public. Ensuring continuous compliance prevents the need for reactive measures and rushed supplier evaluation, increasing the value of partner relationships and allowing for better long-term strategies.

Transparency of supply chain operations means energy and distribution companies insulate themselves from penalties from extant legislation and can better plan and change strategy to comply with new measures coming down the road.

In highly regulated industries such as power generation with stringent targets around resource extraction and carbon emissions, for example, long-term change in operations needs to be reflected by the operations of all supply chain partners. Failure to ensure that third parties comply and adhere to best practices can jeopardize progress towards a company’s own targets.

Source: Achilles Information Ltd

Public perceptions of an energy sector operator can be created by even a tiny cog in the larger machinery of its supply chain. The Achilles solution helps reduce that risk, added Mr Whitfield.

He said: “[Companies are] able to present actual demonstrable evidence and data that they use to report. The public is less concerned because, actually, they’re receiving information that’s been independently validated or verified. […] In the past, companies have produced sustainability reports that have been like wish lists or fictional pieces of work without any kind of evidence to back them up. That’s where you’ve had issues around greenwashing. Whereas actually if you’ve got an organization that’s carrying out an independent verification of their carbon footprint to an ISO standard, and then actually they’re able to report on that.”

An ethical and sustainable supply chain can only be achieved with transparency, accurate data, and verifiable practice. The opportunities that come from a better and more efficient way of managing a supply chain in the sector are an integral part of the change the energy industry is experiencing. To ensure that the systems to achieve that are in place does not need to be a massive resource drain. Its modest costs bring multiple benefits: in compliance, future compliance, public relations, reporting, long-term strategy formulation, and a dozen ancillary areas.

In our next article in this series, we’ll focus on the business benefits accruing directly and indirectly from a proactive and continuous process of due diligence for the sector’s supply chain. But if what you’ve read so far has piqued your interest, head over to the Achilles website to read more.

The post Bring clarity to supply chain risk management with Achilles appeared first on TechHQ.

• Repurposed content – more, but shorter – is the rationale behind TikTok mrketing.
• TikTok marketing has proven to be successful, and so is rewriting the rules for all marketing.
• Attention spans are going – wait, what were we saying?

In an era increasingly defined by how we interact with emerging social media trends, most prominently TikTok, marketing has had to adapt to fit our short-form attention spans.

Wendy’s combines memes with an oh so relatable voice.

Be it company Tweets that take on a startlingly relatable voice or your local pub promoting drinks deals via Instagram Reels, brand marketing has shifted out of print. That’s all well and good for companies with huge departments dedicated to TikTok marketing clips and keeping up with viral hashtags, but for small business owners, keeping up can be tough.

Adobe Express surveyed 517 small business owners to see how they’re engaging with an emerging technique for content production: repurposing content. That just means taking already published content and re-jigging it for reuse.

The results show how small businesses repurpose content to boost brand visibility, engagement, and sales.

Repurposed content is increasingly prolific, with 70% of small business owners using the technique in their marketing. On average, content is repurposed seven and a half months after the original post.

Gone are the days of running a magazine ad for months at a time; the trendcycle spins almost too fast to keep up with, and we’ve become conditioned to expect New Stuff almost daily.

“Wait, I think I’ve seen the long version of this…”

The root of the issue but also, apparently, the answer to it, is TikTok, which 83% of small business owners found most effective for engaging target audiences with repurposed content. Instagram followed with 78% and websites or blogs close behind at 75%.

Small business owners reported that the biggest challenges they face are not enough time (46%), lack of technical skills (27%), strategic direction (26%) and resources (21%).

“We got it rehashed, We got it half-assed, We’re digging up all the graves and we’re spitting on the past…” Credit: Ani DiFranco.

One way to level the playing field is by using AI to help: one in six small business owners reported that they use AI to repurpose content. Nearly two-thirds of those who use AI report increased marketing effectiveness and productivity, while 56% of small business owners who use AI to repurpose content save 1-5 hours/week.

Over half of those using AI say it increases sales and that it also funnels buyers into the sales route more quickly.

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Success was measured by small business owners through increased website traffic (62%) and engagement metrics (50%) – one-third also looked at conversion rates and revenue increase.

All of this shines a light on the fact that TikTok marketing has become the style guide for all advertising. In and of itself, that isn’t necessarily damning – but the effect it has on all media forms is.

TikTok marketing strategy – more, shorter, next!

The top strategy for repurposing content was taking existing videos and making shorter clips. Taking content and repurposing video content for Instagram Reels was also popular.

Indicative of the way we all engage with content online was the success small business owners had in creating video from written content, transforming blog posts into infographics, and making increasingly short clips for TikTok.

Apparently, we are all averse to reading, waiting for any kind of story arc to develop, stopping scrolling for more than thirty seconds.

For small business owners, this is a trend that has to be bought into for survival. Creative tools like Adobe Express can help turn old videos and images into fresh and engaging content.

Still, at some point we’ll need to examine why such a fast turnaround is necessary – is it possible to get back to a place where content lasts long enough that small business owners and content creators have time to create something new every time they post?

Welcome to the age of “TikTok Brain.”

The post Small business owners regenerate old content to keep up appeared first on TechHQ.

• For Apple, right to repair means losing the monopoly on device repairs.
• Other tech giants have made their peace with the Oregonian bill, but Apple is lobbying against it. 
• Is there more to Apple’s objection that commercial self-interest?

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Six months ago, Apple surprised everyone by supporting a right to repair bill in California. It had spent millions of dollars trying to maintain its monopoly on repair but its landmark move to formally support the legislation made it look like consumers had won.

In California, SB 244 would require manufacturers, including Apple, “to make available, on fair and reasonable terms, to product owners, service and repair facilities, and service dealers, the means, as described, to effect the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of the product.”

However, the illusion that Apple was relaxing its monopolistic hold on product repairs has been shattered as executives lobbied against a stronger right to repair bill in Oregon. For the first time, Apple had an employee actively outline its stance on the issue at a hearing: an executive from the company testified at a hearing for the bill on Thursday.

Via 404 media.

Apple vs right to repair

It’s clear that the company has no intention of loosening control over its repair ecosystem. What makes Oregon’s bill different from the Californian one Apple supported is that it includes a critical provision that is crucial to Apple maintaining dominance over the repair market: “parts pairing.”

The parts pairing system allows Apple to maintain its monopoly by ensuring replacement parts are linked to a specific device and can only be unlocked by Apple or an authorized Apple repair shop.

Authorized repair providers have to pay to join the program, which limits the types of repair companies can do.

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The Oregonian bill, SB 1597, stipulates:

“An original equipment manufacturer may not use parts pairing to:

(A) Prevent or inhibit an independent repair provider or owner from installing or enabling the function of a replacement part or component of consumer electronic equipment, including a replacement part or component that the original equipment manufacturer has not approved;

(B) Reduce the functionality or performance of consumer electronic equipment; or

(C) Cause consumer electronic equipment to display unnecessary or misleading alerts or warnings about unidentified parts, particularly if the alerts or warnings cannot be dismissed.

As well as preventing aftermarket screens and batteries being used as replacements, part pairing stops even Apple-made parts being swapped across devices. A battery or screen from one iPhone 15 couldn’t be moved onto another because the parts are cryptographically paired using internal hardware and software, all of which is controlled by Apple.

“It is our belief that the bill’s current language around parts pairing will undermine the security, safety, and privacy of Oregonians by forcing device manufacturers to allow the use of parts of unknown origin in consumer devices,” John Perry, Apple’s principal secure repair architect, told the legislature.

He went on to say that “regulation must not compromise consumer protection” and that actually Apple’s parts pairing system isn’t about repair monopoly. It’s really about making “access to repair easier while also making sure that your device and the data stored on it remains secure.”

If the legislation is passed in Oregon, Perry said it would be an “incredible disservice to consumers.” The issue, he says, would be worldwide, “as we have no ability to restrict provisions regionally.”

That means that if the change happens in Orgeon, Apple will be powerless to maintain its monopoly anywhere else, too.

One huge issue with the parts pairing regime is the huge volume of e-waste it creates, something right to repair legislation has sought to fix for years. At the hearing, Juan Muro, executive director of Free Geek, a nonprofit that securely refurbishes donated electronics for low income communities, shared that of 15,000 donated iPhones in the last year, only 300 were refurbished.

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The rest “had to be sent to be shredded and recycled. This is largely in part because of the issue of parts pairing.” The hearing was also told that 4,800 phones are thrown away per day in Oregon.

Despite the direct implications of parts pairing that were laid out, when Apple had been asked how the parts pairing provision of the bill might be revised for easier compliance “the only thing [Apple] said was ‘delete this section,’” State Sen. Jeff Golden revealed.

Perry repeatedly told the court, when asked how Oregon could reword the bill to Apple’s liking, that he isn’t a legislative expert and although he “can kind of speak lawyer” he wouldn’t be comfortable to offer revisions.

Other manufacturers were invited to appraise the bill, and their revisions were made. Most notably, the Oregon bill is backed by Google – a big competitor for Apple.

One lawmaker said “I’m not trying to pit Apple against Google. But the fact of the matter is Google is coming in here and has said that this parts pairing language is not something that bothers it, and that it can manage through the security and issues with safety. Why is Apple different? Why is Apple different than what Google is doing?”

Google turns on “Smug Mode”

Google has formally supported the bill and will lobby for it to be passed.

Tarah Wheeler.

Although she didn’t get the chance to speak at the hearing, Tarah Wheeler – Oregonian, cybersecurity expert and CEO of Red Queen Dynamics – told 404 media “as someone who is a certified mobile device analyst and forensic specialist […] there is no security implication to switching the battery or glass screen out on a phone in meaningful terms.”

“Apple does a good job of making sure people’s data is secure, and it’s done such a good job of this that it’s a little bit stupid to now try to claim that swapping the glass out is going to stop it from being secure.”

With error messages notifying users that a part isn’t genuine and some features refusing to work as a result, Apple ensures that parts pairing keeps the money it its pocket. To Wheeler’s point, if its hardware and software is so superior, Apple devices shouldn’t be so compromised by small repairs with illegitimate equipment.

For now, it remains to be seen whether Oregon’s right of repair bill passes in spite of the insistence that the sky is falling from Apple. Either way, as more people are made aware of Apple’s monopolistic practice, the time it has to keep getting away with them gets shorter – especially given the ecological implications that its insistence on a monopoly has.

Apple has history of appeasing the right to repair.

The post Apple won’t end parts pairing without a fight appeared first on TechHQ.

• A mainframe computer on a limited budget.
• Transactional processing at scale.
• ROI in months compared to hyperscale cloud.

Say the word mainframe to many IT professionals, and they immediately think of legacy computing, systems being replaced with more modern technologies to better cope with the demands on computing common in 2024. Some will have used mainframe systems in the past, perhaps in environments where computer access was via a mainframe and thin client. In those situations, the client was a dumb terminal, and the computing work was done elsewhere by a central mainframe facility.

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But mainframes are still in everyday production in some industries, and the market for new mainframe hardware and compatible software continues to grow where “transactional” computing is central to effective operations.

The new IBM LinuxONE 4 Express is a piece of hardware designed for smaller organizations, and it represents the baby of the breed, offering a low-cost of entry with pre-configured hardware options. The company also emphasizes its cyber-resilience, with hardware security systems it terms “Secure Execution.” The hardware has some high security clearance standards, including Common Criteria EAL 4 and DISA STIG certifications, and FIPS 140-3 compliance.

Users can choose their preferred software platform, with SUSE now offering its Linux Enterprise Server for IBM Z as part of a bundle that can also come with SLE Live Patching, SUSE Manager Lifecycle Management Plus, SLE High Availability, and a long-term service package. The Secure Execution hardware means multiple containerized applications can be run simultaneously in isolation. That makes the system ideal for multi-tenancy operations or parallel application spaces that are effectively separated from each other.

IBM LinuxONE Express. Image: IBM.

Mainframe computer benefits

While similar secure and powerful environments can be created using several x86 servers, mainframes represent a more sustainable approach to hardware and power use. Expansion of storage, memory, and processing capacity over time makes this style of hardware a more attractive long-term prospect: the use of fewer components obviously reduces environmental impact and makes hardware maintenance plans simpler to budget.

While the initial cost (from $135,000) may seem high as a line item on a CAPEX sheet, enterprises with large cloud provider bills may see an effective return on investment sooner than they think. Depending on use cases, third-party clouds’ abilities to scale and provide agility are often seldom used. That means large organizations pay for capabilities they may rarely make use of.

Transactional computing

The continuing existence of a thriving market in mainframe computing stems from the need for accurate transactional computing in a growing number of verticals. Transactional computing can be best described as a way that canonical records of all aspects of a single transaction can be kept, with each element of one transaction being required to be successful for a record to be made, changed, or deleted.

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For example, in an e-commerce business, a transaction would comprise of moving funds from a bank account to a vendor via a payment provider. If one of those steps fails (and each comprises several sub-steps), the transaction has not occurred, so the only record made is one flagged as a failure. Therefore, the emphasis in computing terms is not on raw processing power (the main requirement for supercomputing, for example) but on the integrity of database entries. That emphasis doesn’t necessarily require a different computing architecture, but it’s one that comes built into the design specifications of mainframes.

For that reason, banking and financial services, for example, still rely on mainframe technologies. But as the scale of internet use grows, more industries rely on the type of security, reliability, and data veracity that mainframe methodologies (still) excel at. Other use cases may be found in high-volume e-commerce marketplaces, engineering facilities that rely on multiple IIoT nodes, and power distribution networks, to name just three examples.

“Mainframe computer” by scriptingnews is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Business case for mainframe computers

Software optimized for transactional computing, whether monolithic or based on microservices, is available from several vendors: LinuxONE hardware will run Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu. The LinuxONE Express hardware range contains (at base version) 16 IBM IFL systems (Integrated Facility for Linux), expandable to 68 IFL instances. The Emperor LinuxONE range supports over 200 for those looking for more grunt.

The size and power of mainframes make them ideal for placing data and applications in the same place. IBM quotes an example of medical data and medical claims software sharing the same hardware tenancy, allowing for faster claim assessment. Similarly, for businesses looking to consolidate their server fleets, either in-house or leased from cloud providers, an Express instance can replace up to 2,000 x86 instances (manufacturer’s claim: YMMV).

Many IT decision-makers are coming to the conclusion that hyperscale cloud providers are not offering their services with end-user advantage front of mind. To grab a single example, Microsoft’s Q4 net income was $21.9 billion in 2023. While cloud computing still suits many, financial decision-makers might question the value for money their organization gets from their existing agreements with hyperscalers. That element of doubt and an increased need for reliable transactional processing will make the capital expenditure option look increasingly attractive to many.

The Express mainframe range can be sourced directly from IBM or approved partners.

The Express is not your meemaw’s mainframe.

The post IBM’s mainframe for the masses appeared first on TechHQ.

• Japan used to be a giant in the semiconductor industry.
• The competition for semiconductor dominance has hotted up alongside the chip war between the US and China.
• Government subsidies alone won’t be enough for Japan to reclaim its old industry status. 

The semiconductor market is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030 and governments around the world are implementing initiatives to secure access to chips – the fight between China and the US proving the necessity of insulating supply chains from geopolitical tensions.

In 2023, Japan went all in. The government backed new plans and rolled out extensive support: the cherry on the cake of Japan’s efforts is government-backed Rapidus, pushing to create a rival to Silicon Valley away from California, a “Hokkaido Valley.”

Atsuyoshi Koike, president of Rapidus, breaks ground during a ceremony in Chitose, Hokkaido, on Sept. 1, 2023. Image via KYODO.

The Japanese government is trying to attract big players like ASML Holding; already piling in are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Samsung Electronics and Mitsubishi Chemical Group. Successfully drawing in these semiconductor giants has cost tens of billions, even trillions, of yen.

And that value, coupled with the strategic importance of semiconductor self-sufficiency, means big challenges face Japan. Of course, every country aiming for the same goal has those problems too. While for many, this is expansion into new waters, Japan’s situation is unique: it’s trying to return to a former glory, the semiconductor dominance it once had.

In the 1980s and 90s, Japan was one of the biggest semiconductor players globally, maintained by government and private sector investment. In 1988, Japanese firms accounted for 51% of semiconductor sales worldwide.

TSMC in Kikuyo, May 2023. Image via Bloomberg.

The successes of Japan became the blueprint for countries like Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea, which also needed economic development but lacked natural resources, according to Pierre Cambou, the principal analyst for semiconductor market analysis firm Yole Group.

Its downfall sounds somewhat familiar: tensions with the US, officials accusing Japanese firms of flooding the market and pushing out players, America using its geopolitical sway to cut off access to the Japanese market, making room for competitors – including South Korea – to make gains.

In 1986, the US-Japan Semiconductor Agreement gave American officials price-setting oversight and enabled access to Japan’s semiconductor market. Everything shifted, Japanese firms lost their competitive edge and by 2021, Japan was estimated to account for only 7% of semiconductor production.

China’s current reluctance to cut a deal with the US makes a bit more sense now.

In fact, the tensions between America and China have played a role in Japan’s effort to return to its former glory. American efforts to constrain China’s chipmaking capabilities have led to a range of restrictions on related exports by Washington and its allies, and caused a shakeup of industry supply chains.

“Considering the ongoing geopolitical risks, such as the US-China issue, it is likely that the Japanese government has made the decision to secure a strategically significant semiconductor production base in the region, partly in response to industry demands,” said Jun Okamoto, KPMG Japan’s industrial manufacturing lead.

Japan reclaims semiconductor industry relevancy

To boost Japan’s position in the semiconductor industry, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made an effort to communicate with the heads of top firms and associations in the industry to further coax investment and bolster Japan’s position.

The government is also handing out major subsidies: in December, it was revealed that Samsung would receive subsidies to open a chip packaging facility in Yokohama. The government will contribute around ¥20 billion ($135 million) — around half of the lab’s cost.

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Okamoto said that while the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry “aims to attract cutting-edge technologies such as edge AI, power semiconductors and photonics systems,” Japan will have to develop its own capabilities in these areas first.

In 2022, the country launched the Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center to serve as an R&D hub. The goal for officials is an increase in annual semiconductor revenue to more than ¥13 trillion by 2030.

Challenges to Japan’s journey

A key concern in Japan achieving a place as a globally compelling semiconductor hub is private investment. While government support – which comes in the form of land grants, tax exemptions, subsidies and import restrictions – is key, profitable companies will have to follow suit.

Beyond achieving the necessary funds, a qualified workforce is crucial to the process. Okamoto believes this can be done “through collaborative efforts between industry, government and academia.”

Human capital (or “People” for all the non-economists in the room), including engineers and technicians, is something that countries looking to become chipmaking hubs should focus on. To do so, schools would prioritize science, technology, engineering and math.

Once a capable workforce has been built, wither by education or upskilling, constant R&D and investment will also be required.

There’s a reality to establishing semiconductor hubs that will also have to be dealt with. TSMC’s Kumamoto plant is struggling with water and staffing shortages. Closely linked with this, as plants descend on towns across Japan, are sustainability targets.

Sustainability is another area in wich Japan has fallen behind; securing interest from large overseas companies is dependent on proven commitment to reaching sustainability targets. Big names like Apple, Meta and Google are all striving to meet environmental goals, so the expectation is that semiconductor manufacturers will too.

Being green is a huge selling point for semiconductor manufacturers because chipmaking is often the biggest portion of a company’s carbon footprint.

And a competitive edge is needed.

Facing down competition

Where Japan once stood as a chip giant, other Asian countries have risen to the competition. While Taiwan maintains a strong grip on the market, places like Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia – having used Japan’s blueprint, perhaps – are placing significant emphasis on the industry, too.

Singapore’s logistical prowess has helped it entice US-based GlobalFoundries and French Soitec to open up or expand there in 2023. The semiconductor industry in Singapore has also benefitted from the diversification of chip supply chains, as Statista estimates revenue from the emerging industry there will reach $45.36bn.

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Over in Vietnam, already home to Intel’s biggest semiconductor testing and packaging facility, efforts to encourage investment were ramped up last year as talks opened on the possibility of opening the country’s first fabrication plant.

Indicating the appeal of Vietnam, US firm Amkor opening a packaging and testing plant there in October.

Of course, despite the export restrictions it’s under, China must also be considered a leader in the space.

“In the future, it is not impossible that China may emerge as a leader, as they tick almost all the boxes for championing the semiconductor space,” said Cambou, noting that aggressive measures taken by the US to impose technology export bans on Chinese companies such as Huawei had accelerated domestic substitution, “creating a semiconductor hub that could ultimately dominate the world,” he said.

TSMC’s factory in e Jumamoto Prefecture in May 2023. Image via Bloomberg.

Still, Willem Thorbecke, a senior fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan, said that unless there’s a major war in Asia, “Taiwanese companies should maintain their lead in logic chips.”

“Companies like TSMC have an excellent business model as a pure-play company that does not compete with their customers. They are also technologically more advanced than their competitors. Their workers are skilled and disciplined and have decades of experience in the industry,” he said.

A dramatic hike in investment in chip gear is expected from Japan to the tune of $7 billion this year. That 82% increase on last year would, however, still leave Japan far behind Taiwan’s anticipated $23 billion in investments.

That doesn’t mean that change isn’t possible. Semiconductors are scientific in nature, and the industry has multidimensional and cooperative qualities at its core; “fortunately, or not, nobody can own science,” said Cambou.

That’s what Asian countries have relied on for the last handful of decades. Western powers might finally have some competition – or even be surpassed.

The post Just a sleeping giant? Japan ready to reclaim semiconductor superstardom appeared first on TechHQ.

• 5G networks may suit your organization.
• Some physical and technological problems exist.
• Don’t believe the marketing hype.

5G is one of those buzzwords that tend to be mentioned as part of a longer string whenever ‘next generation’ technologies are mentioned: AI, Web 3, the metaverse, and 5G. But unlike the elusive Web 3, the non-existent metaverse, and the disappointingly average ‘AI,’ 5G is a technology with practical use cases for businesses and private organizations today.

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As the next step in cellular technology, 5G gets a great deal of airtime in the mainstream media, with cell networks proudly offering new phones, tablets, and hotspots equipped and ready for the very latest in interconnectivity. But short of upgrading your business fleet of cellphones to 5G, what are the practical effects of 5G in operational terms for businesses?

The headline features of 5G are its speed of data transfer and, sometimes more importantly, its low latency – the time taken, measured in milliseconds, for data flows to begin between devices and the nearest tower or access point. Low latency means that 5G-equipped devices can react more quickly to incoming data (there’s less waiting time between the sides of digital conversations) and have their outbound messages more quickly sent and acted on.

That’s why autonomous vehicles, for example, usually have a 5G element in their technological arsenals: fast updates to a real-time situation don’t suffer from delays in communication that would otherwise affect operations. If the car in front of you brakes sharply, and your autonomous vehicle is in a digitally controlled convoy of similar vehicles, your vehicle will know to brake an instant sooner and so avoid running into the car in front. The same could be said of fast-moving production lines comprising multiple machines: fast, low-latency comms between each would be advantageous in the event of a speed-up or sudden stop in throughput. The same situation might benefit from fine, real-time control over machinery, where one device’s performance can attenuate another’s speed.

“Worker in an industrial factory” by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

5G networks explained

One of the downsides to 5G networks though is that to achieve faster communications, they use a higher frequency band of radio waves to communicate. And if your high school physics lessons stuck, you’ll know that the higher the frequency of a radio wave, the more susceptible it is to being blocked by an object, like a building or insensitively-placed hill between sender and receiver.

As a result, high-frequency radio waves effectively don’t travel as far due to their tendency to be absorbed by obstacles (that’s why you mostly hear the thumping, low-frequency bass in music from a noisy neighbor’s party and not so much of the higher-frequency vocals).

Data interchange on 5G happens on three frequency bands, low, mid, and high (the latter sometimes termed mmWave), to help ensure the best balance between distance, reliability, and speed.

In private settings and the right environments, therefore, 5G offers the types of speed and low latency equal to or in excess of cabled networks, but with all the advantages of wireless communications. Public, private, and hybrid (combining the first two) networks comprise cell points, a RAN (radio access network), a core that manages traffic, physical SIMs (the transmit/receive mechanism analogous to an old-school modem) and various mechanisms to prioritize or otherwise slice a network according to priorities or need. A large company with many manufacturing plants may use a hybrid 5G network, with the different facilities bridged by public 5G, yet operate a series of private 5G networks at each of the premises.

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Notably, the frequency bands licensed for 5G vary from country to country, so sourcing equipment must be done carefully. Cheap imports may or may not work as desired and operate on unlicensed frequencies. The latter means that users may not actually be liable for prosecution – although this is probably worth some research – but could be subject to interference from others using the same frequency bands, whether accidentally or deliberately.

Private 5G networks offer several advantages, whether local to a single site or more widely spread over a hospital complex or college campus. The first is the ability to limit access to the network and isolate users from third parties. High-security installations will find this advantageous, as will environments where IIoT or IoT devices need to be separated from other networks.

5G in the workplace

The speed of 5G, especially if nodes are within direct line-of-sight, means disparate and widely-spread buildings or groups of buildings can be connected to one another easily, making a LAN (local area network) into a WAN (wide area network) with little overhead in terms of speed and responsiveness encountered by users. In the past, such connections were made by microwave radio links, which used even higher frequency connections that could be susceptible to interruptions caused by, for instance, heavy rain or wind blowing roof-mounted aerials slightly out of line.

Practical uses of 5G internal to an organization, therefore, depend very much on the type of business. In controlled and known areas, where high-speed comms and low latency are important, 5G offers some significant advantages. The costs of hardware and associated technology have dropped in price significantly in some markets over the last two or three years, especially where consumer uptake of 5G has been healthy. In the same way, few businesses would undertake upgrading their ethernet infrastructure from 5 to 6 wiring – using an outside contractor with appropriate experience and skills is likely the best way forward.

Unlike the consumer segment for 5G, which is driven almost entirely by marketing creating demand that need not exist (4G provides enough speed and bandwidth for high-quality video streams to most modern smartphones), there is no need to deploy 5G with a private network or public network subscription without just cause. But in some situations, this next generation of cell technology can be a game-changer for the early adopter.

“A candid shot from the iPhone production line.” by followthethings.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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• The data center will be the first to be operated by Google in the UK.
• Google’s 2022 deal with ENGIE adds 100MW wind energy.
• The aim is for 90% carbon-free UK operations by 2025.

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In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, Google Cloud is a formidable player, shaping the global data center market with its leading solutions and heavyweight presence. Google Cloud’s commitment to expanding its global footprint is exemplified by its recent announcement of a US$1 billion investment in a new data center in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK. 

The move not only underscores the company’s dedication to meeting the needs of its European customer base, but also aligns with the UK government’s vision of fostering technological leadership on the global stage. As it is, one of the critical pillars of Google Cloud’s presence in the UK is its substantial investment in cutting-edge data infrastructure. That said, the upcoming data center would be Google’s first in the country.

Illustration of Google’s new UK data Centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. Source: Google.

“As more individuals embrace the opportunities of the digital economy and AI-driven technologies enhance productivity, creativity, health, and scientific advancements, investing in the necessary technical infrastructure becomes crucial,” Debbie Weinstein, VP of Google and managing director of Google UK & Ireland, said in a statement last week.

In short, this investment will provide vital computing capacity, supporting AI innovation and ensuring dependable digital services for Google Cloud customers and users in the UK and beyond.

Google already operates data centers in various European locations, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, and Ireland, where its European headquarters are situated. The company already has a workforce of over 7,000 people in Britain.

Google Cloud’s impact extends far beyond physical infrastructure, though. The company’s cloud services have become integral to businesses across various sectors in the UK. From startups to enterprises, organizations are using Google Cloud’s scalable and flexible solutions to drive efficiency, enhance collaboration, and accelerate innovation. 

The comprehensive nature of Google Cloud’s offerings, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS), ensures that it caters to the diverse needs of the UK’s business landscape.

That said, the investment in Google’s Waltham Cross data center is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to the UK. It follows other significant assets, such as the US$1 billion acquisition of a Central Saint Giles office in 2022, a development in King’s Cross, and the launch of the Accessibility Discovery Centre, fostering accessible tech across the UK.

“Looking beyond our office spaces, we’re connecting nations through projects like the Grace Hopper subsea cable, linking the UK with the United States and Spain,” Weinstein noted.

“In 2021, we expanded the Google Digital Garage training program with a new AI-focused curriculum, ensuring more Brits can harness the opportunities presented by this transformative technology,” Weinstein concluded. 

Google is investing US$1 billion in a new UK data center to meet rising service demand, supporting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s tech leadership ambitions. Source: Google.

24/7 Carbon-free energy by 2030

Google Cloud’s commitment to sustainability also aligns seamlessly with the UK’s environmental goals. The company has been at the forefront of implementing green practices in its data centers, emphasizing energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. “As a pioneer in computing infrastructure, Google’s data centers are some of the most efficient in the world. We’ve set out our ambitious goal to run all of our data centers and campuses on carbon-free energy (CFE), every hour of every day by 2030,” it said.

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This aligns with the UK’s ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions, creating a synergy beyond technological innovation. Google forged a partnership with ENGIE for offshore wind energy from the Moray West wind farm in Scotland, adding 100 MW to the grid and propelling its UK operations towards 90% carbon-free energy by 2025. 

Beyond that, the tech giant said it is delving into groundbreaking solutions, exploring the potential of harnessing data center heat for off-site recovery and benefiting local communities by sharing warmth with nearby homes and businesses.

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• The pandemic’s Great Resignation has slowed.
• Employees stay put for the Big Stay.
• Economic outlook means the risks are too high to jump ship. 

The Covid-19 pandemic changed all aspects of life for the vast majority, but one of the most profound impacts was on how we work. While many had to adopt a remote routine, the pandemic marked a pivot point for the careers of millions. Remote and hybrid work became, if not normal, then at least a possibility, and the ‘Great Resignation’ saw an unprecedented number of workers leaving their jobs to pursue other avenues. 

This trend continued through 2022, albeit at a reduced level, and it seems the tide is changing further. Economists are witnessing a shift as workers with itchy feet are more prepared to bide their time for better roles, instead of resigning with no concrete plans.

It seems it’s time for the Great Resignation to give way to the ‘Big Stay.’

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The Great Resignation slows

The Great Resignation forced many organizations to adjust their work environments to retain employees, ensuring they became healthier, more positive places to work. After a mass migration of talent, workplace satisfaction and stability became a priority for all businesses. Many viewed the period as an evolution fuelled by economic uncertainty and a latent need for more flexible working arrangements. Now, companies strive to create people-first cultures, partly as a result of the cost of staff turnover, and the ensuing better places to work seem to be a significant factor contributing to the Big Stay.

Yet despite this apparent trend, 2023 saw large swathes of resignations, too. It is estimated that workers resigned from around 50 million jobs last year. While this is the highest number since tracking began in 2000, the overall quit rate has been falling since the height of the pandemic. The percentage of workers quitting their jobs was 5% lower in the first three months of 2023 compared to the last three months of 2022. Compared to the quit rate of the first three months of 2022, the percentage of employees leaving a job was down 10%. 

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One reason why we could be entering an era of employee retention is that labor markets are slowly getting back to their pre-pandemic levels. Many workers who switched jobs during the pandemic enjoyed large increases in pay, with the peak of pay increases at 16.4% in June 2022. In April 2023, pay gains for those switching jobs decreased to 13.2%, marking the lowest growth since November 2021.

Currently, there seems to be a trend of workers biding their time for better opportunities to arise or deciding on staying with the same employer. Employees who were previously a part of the Great Resignation have since settled into new roles and are looking for long-term benefits. Perhaps the regular job changes we have witnessed for three years are coming to an end. Over the last year, workers have been prioritizing work-life balance, job stability, and meaningful employment instead of pursuing higher salaries and fresh opportunities.

Economic instability

Throughout this discussion, the elephant in the room, and a fact that simply can’t be ignored when considering employment trends, is economic instability. Rising interest rates lead to higher costs, so workers are increasingly reluctant to risk their current employment for the unknown. Not only that, but various conflicts and geopolitical tensions have resulted in increased wariness, with economists predicting instability to continue for some time. And instability means less risk-taking by company owners and boards of directors, so fewer new roles are on the table.

“Matching jobseekers with employers in Lao PDR” by ILO in Asia and the Pacific is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

While the global outlook is unpredictable, workers are playing it safe and maintaining stable positions. For both employers and employees, it’s a matter of choosing certainty over risk in an unpredictable future.

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The disgruntled worker

A recent EY survey found that 34% of workers would like to leave their jobs in the next three months. That seemingly high figure should be taken in context: in 2022, the percentage unhappy enough to want to leave was 43%. 

The Great Resignation made it clear what employees want from their careers. The Big Stay may be caused by employers improving conditions to keep workers on board. Or have things changed so little that it’s the economic downturn that’s keeping people at their desks? Companies have certainly been listening to their employees’ wants and needs, but if they want to avoid another surge of mass resignations in the rosier times we hope are around the corner, organizations will have to persist in addressing their workers’ expectations.

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• Low prices on solar panels are set to continue.
• Subsidies on fossil fuels make renewables more expensive.
• Invest now before green taxes land in the EU and elsewehere.

Stockpiles of solar panels in the US and EU have grown sharply, with capacity held nearly twice that of expected demand for the panels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has reported.

The oversupply has caused a price cut, reducing wholesale rates by nearly half. The IEA says that the mismatch between manufacturing and sales will continue until 2028. Rather than further price drops, the agency predicts that manufacturers will “focus on cost-cutting and innovation,” edging out smaller manufacturers that cannot compete due to their smaller economies of scale.

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For businesses looking to decrease their carbon footprint, using solar energy sources can offer tax incentives, a more sustainable investment profile, and highly marketable CSR wins.

Solar panels to reduce fossil fuel reliance

As part of the European Green Deal, the EU is aiming for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases across the continent by 55%, and to become entirely carbon-neutral by 2050. The Green Deal will likely be backed by so-called green taxation, penalizing high-emissions organizations. The EU also plans to use subsidies, what it describes as ‘pricing instruments,’ and public infrastructure investment to achieve its goals of a more sustainable Europe-wide economy.

“Northeast Solar Energy Research Center” by Brookhaven National Laboratory is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Currently, many countries, including most member states, subsidize fossil fuel consumption, a legacy policy intended to promote production and economic growth. The Energy Taxation Directive, last updated in 2003, does not link CO2 emissions to tax rates applied to energy sources.

Furthermore, the ETD exempts aviation and maritime fuel from tax, a mandate clearly out of sync with the European Green Deal. Significant legislative and fiscal changes are clearly afoot.

Joe Biden’s agenda in 2021 proposed removing or reducing the tax breaks on domestic fossil fuels, which account for around $20bn per year of effective subsidy, most of which goes to oil and gas producers. Across the EU, 55 billion Euros annually were similarly granted as of 2019.

So the current oversupply of solar panels offers a prime opportunity for organizations to invest in green energy, with market prices due to stay low for the next four years – at least, according to the International Energy Agency. The higher cost at the point of consumption of renewable energy is due to electricity suppliers passing on the extra costs associated with its storage and distribution, according to The Economist. In a market for electricity, suppliers competing on price will favor the lower cost of fossil fuels.

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Meanwhile, the capacity for solar power generation will remain underutilized, with the manufacturing pipeline set to produce panels capable of 1,300GW output by 2028, the IEA stated. That figure assumes no particular changes in technology to develop more efficient panels.

While the climate crisis remains a bogey-man many choose to ignore, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) predicted in 2021 that the planet would warm by 1.5 degrees Centigrade by 2040. By 2100, according to research by University College, London, the economic cost of climate change will be between 37 and 51% of world GDP.

The choices made by individuals, governments, organizations and business have created a situation that will have massive impact on quality of life of the next generation. By the same means, individual decisions made this year can alter this outcome. Investing in solar energy now, when market conditions are attractive to even the most short-term thinking, is an unmissable opportunity.

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• McDonald’s China has entereed into a new tech partnership.
• RFID tags will help the company speed its stocktaking process – and close any loopholes.
• McDonald’s China plans a further collaboration – this time with Huawei.

McDonald’s China has paired up with Cainiao to use RFID chips to improve supply chain efficiency. The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) was found during trials to reduce the time it took for staff to do a stocktake from one hour to 15 minutes.

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A third-generation identification technology, coming after barcodes and QR codes, RFID has been widely adopted in supply chain tracking. With a built-in microchip, data from the product is transmitted through radio frequency signals.

The trial further showed that RFID technology improved the accuracy of inventory data by 30%. Deploying the tech will improve inventory and logistics efficiency, alongside which McDonald’s and Cainiao will explore digitization and automation for the supply chain.

So who is McDonald’s China partnering with?

Cainiao is the logistics business owned by Alibaba Group Holdings. Established in 2013, it’s the logistical backbone of the Alibaba empire and handled more than four million cross-border parcels daily in 2023.

Amid increased competition across its businesses, Alibaba sought to free up decision-making by restructuring the group; in March, Cainiao was ‘spun off.’ As part of this, it submitted its A1 filing to Hong Kong’s stock exchange last September.

Cainiao aims to raise at least US$1 billion according to sources cited in the South China Morning Post from September. The deal with McDonald’s (which will no doubt help achieve that goal) comes as Cainiao prepares an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.

McDonald’s isn’t doing the company a small favor, though: Cainiao moved into the RFID field in 2021 with the launch of its own tags which it said could achieve 99.9% accuracy. Just two years later, in April 2023, the company announced it had produced and sold over 100 million RFID tags.

What’s the deal?

Under the deal, McDonald’s China will deploy RFID tech on its supply chain with built-in tags on food packages, allowing the company to track products from factories to restaurants. The extra cash will certainly help Cainiao’s standing as it prepares for its Hong Kong IPO, and the move comes as McDonald’s ramps up its digitization efforts in China.

Besides the knee-jerk negativity about two huge corporations forming an alliance to generate and hoard more wealth, the deal represents two companies that don’t seem to have any issues with breaking humanitarian practices formulating a way to ensure not one chicken nugget goes unaccounted for.

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Further, the decision from McDonald’s China to strengthen its links to the country by using chips produced domestically will doubtless have repercussions for the US-China chip war.

McDonald’s China has a network of over 5,500 restaurants and over 200,000 employees serve more than one billion customers annually. China is McDonald’s second-largest market globally – no points for guessing who comes in at number one.

Last month, the fast food chain also said it would work with Huawei to build a native app based on the next iteration of HarmonyOS, the Chinese giant’s self-developed mobile platform.

In November of 2023, McDonald’s acquired investment firm Carlyle’s minority stake in the company, leaving the remaining 52% to be held by CITIC Capital. Shockingly, the huge company that pulls in billions across the world isn’t picky about who or where its money comes from – and it certainly won’t take sides in a silly chip war.

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