The coronavirus crisis continues to have widespread ramifications for both electronics manufacturers and consumers. With this week’s electronics news round-up, we cover important industry happenings (e.g., a call for COBOL!) and update you about how the coronavirus crisis is affecting the electronics industry.   

News: COBOL in Demand and More

  • Call for COBOL Programmers (Yes, COBOL): The ramifications of the coronavirus crisis are getting stranger each day. It turns out that while millions of workers around the globe have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, there is a high demand for programmers skilled Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL), which was first developed in 1959. But why COBOL? Apparently, several US states — including New Jersey, Connecticut, and Kansas — still use COBOL-based unemployment insurance systems. And due to the overwhelming demand on the systems, the states are in dire need for COBOL coders. Last week, IBM and the Open Mainframe project announced a call for COBOL programmers.
 
  • Global PC Shipments Fall in Q1: IT industry research firm Canalys reported last week that global PC shipments decreased 8% (year on year) in the first quarter of 2020, despite an increase in demand. Lenovo led the market with 12.8 million units shipped. It was followed by HP with 11.7 million units shipped and Dell with 10.5 million units shipped. Apple shipped 3.2 million units, which was a drop of 20%, the firm reported.
 
  • FCC Proposes Opening of 6-GHz Band to Wi-Fi 6: United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai has proposed new rules for the 6-GHz band in a move to increase the available spectrum for Wi-Fi by nearly 5x. If adopted, the rules would make 1,200 MHz available for unlicensed use. "This would be a huge benefit to consumers and innovators across the nation," Pai stated in a release. "It would be another step toward increasing the capacity of our country’s networks. And it would help advance even further our leadership in next generation wireless technologies, including 5G.” A vote on the proposal is slated for April 23, 2020.
 
  • Bright Future for Light-Emitting Silicon: Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) researchers have developed light-emitting Si-Ge alloys, and they will begin "creating a silicon laser to be integrated into current chips." The team believes combining optics and electronics could reduce chip cost while increasing speeds dramatically. Learn More
 
  • Qoitec’s CEO on Helping Developers to Extend Battery Life: At Embedded World 2020, Elektor interviewed Vanja Samuelsson, Founder & CEO of Sweden-based Qoitech, which works to help hardware and software developers achieve long battery life in their IoT products. At the event, she gave us a short pitch about her company, its technology, and its solutions. Learn More
 
  • M&A News: British chip designer Imagination Technologies announced last Friday that its CEO, Ron Black, was stepping down. "Ron Black is to step down as CEO of the company and from the Board with immediate effect to be replaced by Ray Bingham, currently Executive Chairman and a Partner at Canyon Bridge." Black's departure came soon after a failed attempt by a state-owned Chinese VC investor, China Reform Holdings, to take control of the company. In April, it was reported that the United States Committee on Foreign Investment was launching a probe into China Reform Holdings's interest in taking control of the company.

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