President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday meant to address a global chip shortage impacting industries ranging from medical supplies to electric vehicles. From a report: The order includes a 100-day review of key products including semiconductors and advanced batteries used in electric vehicles, followed by a broader, long-term review of six sectors of the economy. The long-term review will…
Tag: manufacturing
Verizon Leads 5G Airwave Bidding With Record $45 Billion Splurge
Verizon Communications committed $45 billion for 5G wireless airwaves in a government auction that attracted record bidding as the largest U.S. mobile carriers race to build faster networks. From a report: At $23 billion, AT&T was the second-highest bidder, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which ran the auction. Participants also included T-Mobile US Inc. and pay-TV providers such as Dish…
Vaccines Adapted for Variants Will Not Need Lengthy Testing, FDA Says
The Food and Drug Administration said this week that vaccine developers would not need to conduct lengthy randomized controlled trials for vaccines that have been adapted to protect against concerning coronavirus variants. From a report: The recommendations, which call for small trials more like those required for annual flu vaccines, would greatly accelerate the review process at a time when scientists…
America Has Vaccinated More People Than Any Other Country in the World
Despite America’s vast population of nearly 330 million people, 42.8 million Americans have already received one or both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. Axios writes: The U.S. has carried out more vaccinations than any country in the world, and given a first dose to a higher percentage of its population (12%) than all but five countries: Israel, the Seychelles, the UAE,…
New Version of Microsoft Office Won’t Require You To Pay For a Subscription
In a company blog post Thursday, Microsoft released more details about the new, flat-price version of its Office productivity software coming later this year. The company emphasized that while its main focus remains in its subscription offering, Microsoft 365, it will release the one-time purchase Office 2021 for those who aren’t ready to move to the cloud. From a report: Office…
Biden To Order Review of US Reliance on Overseas Supply Chains For Semiconductors, Rare Earths
President Joe Biden will direct his administration to conduct a review of key U.S. supply chains including semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, medical supplies and rare earth metals. From a report: The assessment, which will be led by members of both Biden’s economic and national security teams, will analyze the “resiliency and capacity of the American manufacturing supply chains and defense industrial base…
How Bill Gates Is Funding the Fight Against Climate Change
Bill Gates was interviewed tonight on the CBS News show 60 Minutes about his efforts to combat climate change: The good news is Gates believes it’s possible to prevent a catastrophic rise in temperatures. The bad news? He says in the next 30 years we need scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations and global cooperation on a scale the world has never seen….
Biden Team Pledges Aggressive Steps To Address Chip Shortage
The Biden administration is working to address the global semiconductor shortage that has caused production halts in U.S. industries including autos, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. From a report: The administration is identifying choke points in supply chains and discussing an immediate path forward with businesses and trading partners, Psaki told reporters at the White House on Thursday. In…
Pfizer Is Doubling Its Output of Covid-19 Vaccines
31.9 million Americans have already received one or both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine — including more than 9.3 million people who have been fully vaccinated. And now USA Today reports: Pfizer expects to nearly cut in half the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of COVID-19 vaccine from 110 days to an average of 60 as it…
Biden Commerce Pick Sees ‘No Reason’ To Lift Huawei Curbs
President Joe Biden’s nominee for Commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, said she knows of “no reason” why Huawei and other Chinese companies shouldn’t remain on a restricted trade list. From a report: Raimondo, in written questions from Senate Republicans, was asked about the company, as well as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and others. They are on a…