With the 2011 CES now safely behind us, and we’ve been able to wade through all the writeups of amazing new tech toys that may never be enjoyed on a mass scale, or perhaps more appropriately, why the CES is ultimately doomed(according to Slate columnist Farhad Manjoo), there is a common theme we can take away from it all. It’s certainly not a new idea, but one that was far more apparent than in the past few years.
As EE Times alluded to, the rapidly-expanding market of tablet computers akin to the iPad, along with smartphones of every shape and size imaginable, the demand for wireless transmitters and receivers, especially ones that can handle high-bandwidth media and allow seamless interaction with other devices, is where the real future for consumer electronics lays. As with any consumer, or for that matter, industrial, product, the race is on for the fastest, smallest, and cheapest wireless chips.
It’ll be exciting to see how that market grows, and how different companies tackle the challenges, and in turn, how we’ll grow to meet any new challenges in semiconductor testing. Who knows – our probe cards may never be wireless themselves, but we know some of our customers are already using tablets to review their test results in their laboratories.
