Technology

Video: An Illustrated History of Drones

Published

9 years ago

November 24, 2014

Jeff Desjardins

We recently stumbled across this motion graphic on the history of drones by Mashable, and had to share it. This video helps bring anyone up to speed on the emergence of drones and some of the questions they have raised on foreign policy.

The era of drones has started, but the real question is on the coming implications and ethic dilemmas of this sea change.

Drones are now ubiquitous. They can be found in many places: killing hundreds of people overseas, spying on your neighbour, taking pictures or video of events, delivering medicine to remote locations, spraying and watering crops, and helping monitor animal conservation efforts. Soon, they will also be delivering packages to your doorstep.

As with any big shift in technology, the drone era has been met with no shortage of skepticism. Human Rights Watch issued an unequivocal report on the ban of autonomous drones with weapons systems that are not piloted or controlled by any human. This happened as the culmination of an eight-year, $1.4 billion military project, a new autonomous weapons drone prototype, executed a flawless landing on the USS Bush aircraft carrier.

Piloted remotely from the US, unmanned aerial vehicles are already flying missions abroad and executing kill orders. Here is the current inventory of drones currently held by the US military:

Drones in the United States held by the military

While there are questions raised in both domestic and foreign policy arenas, one thing is for certain: drone technology is not going anywhere and the debate is just beginning. What do you think the future holds for drone use?

Original Graphic by: Mashable

Related Topics:history of drones drone warfare unmanned aerial vehicles

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Ranked: Largest Semiconductor Foundry Companies by Revenue

Most of the 10 largest semiconductor foundries in the world, are headquartered in just three Asian countries, accounting for 90% of the entire industry’s revenue.

Published

1 week ago

November 20, 2023

Marcus Lu

A cropped chart showing the largest semiconductor foundry companies by their percentage of global revenues in Q1 2023.

Ranked: Largest Semiconductor Foundry Companies by Revenue

They’re in our phones, cars, planes, and even fridges.

Semiconductor chips have become critical for the modern way of life, and the biggest semiconductor foundry companies rake in billions of dollars from widespread demand.

This chart shows the largest semiconductor foundry companies by their percentage of global revenues in Q1 2023, using data sourced from Trendforce.

ℹ️ We highlight data for companies that only operate foundries (fabrication plants) that manufacture chips for clients, also known as a “pure-play” foundries, as well as companies that design and manufacture their own chips, known as integrated device manufacturers. “Fabless” manufacturers that only design and don’t manufacture their own chips are not included.

Semiconductor Foundry Companies by Revenue

At the top of the list and dwarfing every other company by revenue share is TSMC which earned 60% (or nearly $17 billion) of the entire industry’s revenue in Q1 2023.

Founded in 1987, TSMC is a pure-play foundry that has become Taiwan’s largest company and manufactures products for a host of clients including Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD.

Rank	Company	Country	Revenue (Q1 2023, USD)
1	TSMC	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$16,735M
2	Samsung	🇰🇷 South Korea	$3,446M
3	GlobalFoundries	🇺🇸 US	$1,841M
4	UMC	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$1,784M
5	SMIC	🇨🇳 China	$1,462M
6	HuaHong Group	🇨🇳 China	$845M
7	Tower Semiconductor	🇮🇱 Israel	$356M
8	PSMC	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$332M
9	VIS	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$269M
10	DB Hitek	🇰🇷 South Korea	$234M
	Other		$556M
	Global Total		$27,860M

Note: Revenue based on the following conversion rates: USD 1 = WON 1,276; USD 1 = NTD 30.4.

Well behind TSMC in foundry revenues is integrated device manufacturer Samsung, the biggest company in South Korea, which made $3.4 billion (12.4% of the industry’s revenue) from its semiconductor manufacturing business.

GlobalFoundries from the U.S., UMC from Taiwan and SMIC from China round out the top five, with each taking home around 6% of industry’s revenue share in Q1 2023. The former spun out from AMD’s manufacturing arm when the company went fabless in 2009.

Industry concentration is apparent in semiconductors. For example, the top 10 semiconductor foundry companies account for 98% of the entire industry’s revenue. Furthermore, 90% of the market is dominated by companies in just three Asian countries: Taiwan, South Korea, and China.