Technology

The Smart Home of Tomorrow

Published

7 years ago

September 14, 2016

Jeff Desjardins

Today, people want everything to be “smart”.

Smart phones, smart appliances, smart autos, smart cities, smart grids, and even smart trash cans are either already in our lives today, or will be in our near future.

In some cases the “smart” moniker may be applied loosely to new products, but the trend is real and overarching. It all stems from spreading adoption of the internet of things. With smart technology, many objects that were once quite simple are now automated, controlled by a phone, or optimized based on your personal preferences – and over time, this is going to change many aspects of our personal and professional lives.

One “smart” trend that is on a trajectory to impact almost everyone is one that concerns the most basic rung of our hierarchy of needs: our shelter.

Introducing The Smart Home of Tomorrow

Today’s infographic from Vibrant Doors shows how the new smart home will change everyday living for most people. It also shows consumer preferences, expected demand, and the obstacles to widespread adoption of this new “smart” technology.

The Smart Home of Tomorrow

The biggest obstacle for adoption of smart home technology is an interesting one: choice.

It’s expected that the smart home market will be worth $122 billion by 2022, and every company wants a piece of that pie. As a result, there is a multitude of brands trying to solve the smart home equation in order to break through as market leaders for this technology. The names in this battle range from giant tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Samsung, and Alphabet, to upstart competitors focusing on small niches within the home.

Consumers, for the most part, are willing to wait until the timing is right. Currently there is intense competition in the early stages of the smart home market and consumers are willing to watch brands duke it out. After all, adopting smart home devices and infrastructure is not cheap, and consumers only want to buy brands that are going to stand the test of time.

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Technology

Ranked: America’s Largest Semiconductor Companies

This graphic visualizes the market capitalizations of America’s 15 largest semiconductor companies.

Published

4 days ago

June 5, 2023

Marcus Lu

Ranking America’s Largest Semiconductor Companies

As our world moves further into an era of widespread digitization, few industries can be considered as important as semiconductors.

These components are found in almost everything we use on a daily basis, and the ability to produce them domestically has become a topic of national security. For example, in 2022 the Biden administration announced the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to strengthen America’s position in everything from clean energy to artificial intelligence.

With this in mind, we’ve ranked the top 15 U.S. semiconductor companies by their market capitalizations.

Data and Highlights

The data we used to create this infographic is listed in the table below. Year-to-date (YTD) returns were included for additional context. Both metrics are as of May 30, 2023.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD billions)	YTD Return
1	Nvidia	NVDA	$992	180.2%
2	Broadcom	AVGO	$335	45.1%
3	AMD	AMD	$202	95.7%
4	Texas Instruments	TXN	$160	8.2%
5	Qualcomm	QCOM	$129	8.2%
6	Intel	INTC	$125	12.2%
7	Applied Materials	AMAT	$115	41.2%
8	Analog Devices	ADI	$89	9.2%
9	Lam Research	LRCX	$85	52.1%
10	Micron Technology	MU	$78	42.3%
11	Snyopsys	SNPS	$71	45.4%
12	KLA	KLAC	$63	21.8%
13	Marvell Technology Group	MRVL	$54	76.2%
14	Microchip Technology	MCHP	$42	11.2%
15	ON Semiconductor	ON	$36	36.3%

At the top is Nvidia, which became America’s newest $1 trillion company on Tuesday, May 30th. Shares pulled back slightly over the day and Nvidia closed at $992 billion. Over the past decade, Nvidia has transformed from a gaming-focused graphics card producer to a global leader in AI and data center chips.

In third and sixth place are two of America’s most well known chipmakers, AMD and Intel. These longtime rivals are moving in opposite trajectories, with AMD shares climbing 770% over the past five years, and Intel shares falling 47%. One reason for this is the data center segment, in which AMD appears to be stealing market share from Intel.

Further down the list we see Applied Materials in seventh, and Lam Research in ninth. Both firms specialize in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and thus play an important role in the industry’s supply chain.

Trade War Impacts

As tensions between the U.S. and China escalate, chipmakers are becoming increasingly entangled in geopolitical conflict.

In October 2022, the Biden administration introduced new export controls aimed at blocking China’s access to semiconductors produced with U.S. equipment. This impacted several companies in our top 15 list, including Lam Research and Applied Materials.

Shortly after the export controls were announced, Lam Research said it expected to lose upwards of $2.5 billion in annual revenues.

We lost some very profitable customers in the China region, and that’s going to persist, obviously.
– Doug Bettinger, CFO, Lam Research

In response, China announced in May 2023 that it would no longer allow America’s largest memory chipmaker, Micron, to sell its products to “critical national infrastructure operators”.

This is not the first time Micron has been involved in a controversy with China. In 2018, the firm alleged that Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, a Chinese state-owned company, had solicited a Micron employee to steal specifications for memory chips. The U.S. Department of Commerce imposed export restrictions on Fujian Jinhua as a result.

Chipmakers on both sides of the Pacific will be closely watching as competition between these two countries heats up.