Xilinx just released one honking huge field-programmable gate array. We’ll discuss why anyone would need an FPGA more than one-and-a-half times bigger than the previous biggest.

The political protests in Hong Kong have repercussions for the nearby technology hub of Shenzhen – and for the electronics industry at large.

Netflix just debuted a documentary called “American Factory” that examines what happened when a Chinese manufacturer of glass products for the automotive market tried to open a plant in the US. The goals of the Chinese and the Americans were clearly aligned, but both groups held expectations they never discussed with each other, much to everyone’s sorrow.

Homomorphic encryption. It’s… well, it’s really complicated. Just stick around and we’ll explain it all.

Chinese memory chip supplier GigaDevices just make a huge splash in China introducing a line of RISC-V microcontrollers – the company claims they’re the first general purpose RISC-V MCUs ever. We’ll discuss why this MCUs are significant.

Ultra WideBand is back, this time with some brand new capabilities. NXP and Volkswagen collaborated on a clever anti-theft technique for cars that makes use of the new Ultra Wideband. Today we’ve got a discussion with NXP CTO Lars Reger and Maik Rohde of Volkswagen as they discuss the new anti-theft approach, and also where they plan to take Ultra Wideband next.

AMS decided to purchase Osram. The former specializes in sensors, the latter in photonics; together they’ll chart an intriguing technological roadmap. We’ll find out what the combination will mean for the market.

The Hot Chips conference was held this week. We’ve got a rundown of one of the hottest, an unconventional wafer-scale AI processor from secretive startup Cerebras.

Also today: smart water bottles. These are computerized water bottles complete with display screens and WiFI connectivity. The bottles run apps designed to entice your children to drink more water. You might be asking yourself: How smart is a smart water bottle? Well, at the moment, they are being bamboozled by six-year-olds.

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 16th.

Photonics – it’s not just for fiber optics anymore. In this episode, we’ve got a discussion about photonics, quantum sensors, and the potential for an all-optical computer.

Broadcom bought Symantec last week. We ask editor Rick Merritt, Why on Earth a chip company would want to get into the market for business software?

Over the years, the EDA industry has developed some marvelously sophisticated tools for testing and verifying the designs of highly complex integrated circuits. This week we have an interview with the CEO of a startup – a company that has its roots in EDA – about the tools it has developed to improve the testing process for autonomous vehicles. The tools will help AV companies determine if they’re testing what they think they’re testing.

Are you one of the hundreds of millions of people who can't wait to get a 5G cell phone? Your wait is almost over. Almost.

Do you remember ultra-wideband? It was proposed a few years ago. Didn't catch on. But now it's back. The new ultra-wideband is based on a different technology, has new capabilities and is aimed at completely different applications. You'd think they'd come up with a new name, yeah?

Also this week, Dylan McGrath got a rare one-on-one interview with Bob Swan, the CEO of Intel. In an industry that has seen its share of massive egos over the years, Bob Swan stands out by not standing out. When Intel's previous CEO left the company, Swan-- then the company's chief financial officer-- agreed to lead the company... but only on an interim basis until Intel's board could find the right person to give the job to.

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 2nd.

We want the Internet of things to be smart, but being smart requires processing power – which will be lacking in millions of IoT devices. It’s what we call in the business “a conundrum.” But – there may be an answer! You’ll hear what that is.

As we reported last week, the biggest companies in the world are beginning to compete with their own chip suppliers. The latest example is Alibaba, which just released a high-performance processor of its own design. Alibaba’s move is significant for technological, financial, and political reasons. We’ll look into that.

Also, you’d think that the people building autonomous vehicles are using sound design principles.

This week we’re mixing it up a bit. In this episode, we’re going to focus on a single topic. It’s how the world’s biggest companies are doing business in ways no company has before – and what that might mean for everybody – not just the technology industry.

This week…

Artificial intelligence is a vastly complex market. There’s a fierce competition among hardware vendors to be the best platform for AI applications. But first, you have to know what it means to be “the best.” This week, analyst Karl Freund from Moor Insights talks to us about the latest AI benchmarks.

Researchers are re-imagining what – fundamentally – a vehicle is. One company just put everything other than the chassis – literally everything – entirely inside the wheels. We’ll explore that and other proposals.

And it’s the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission – the first time people set foot on the moon. This week we look back – and also look forward to going back to the moon.

Our stories this week:

You might recall pilot Chesley Sullenberger. He became a hero a few years back for crash landing a disabled passenger airliner into New York's Hudson River with no loss of life. He recently appeared in front of Congress to testify about the crashes of the Boeing 737. We discuss his testimony and what it means for Boeing and for other engineering companies.

We've got an on-site report from Semicon West, including a revised estimate of growth in the chip market in 2019.

And guest commentators John Petty and Kathleen Ma have just concluded a major report on the workstation market, which has seen some profound changes over the years.