LEICA

Leica Cine Play 1 premium 4K projector now available

Leica has launched a new home cinema projector, the Cine Play 1, worldwide. The compact 4K model has an RGB laser light source and can project images up to 300 inches wide. Other features of the premium device include a gaming mode, a pair of built-in speakers and support for Dolby Vision.

The Leica Cine Play 1 home cinema projector has been released. The new model is described as a mini-projector, measuring 242 x 261 x 229 mm (10.3 x 9.5 x 9.0 inches), with a Bauhaus-inspired design. The device sits on a tilting base, allowing you to adjust the projection angle as needed.

The Cine Play 1 is marketed as a 4K projector, though it has a 3,840 x 2,160 px resolution achieved by pixel-shifting. The DLP model has an RGB laser light source for up to 3,000 lumens brightness and can throw images up to 300 inches wide. Plus, the device has a 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, over 100% coverage of the BT.2020 color space and support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG. The VIDAA U7.6 OS allows you to use popular streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+ or screencast via Apple AirPlay.

You can control the device with voice commands and connect external devices via HDMI 2.1, USB 3.0 and S/PDIF ports. Other features include a gaming mode with an under 12 ms latency at 1080px@120Hz and two built-in 10W speakers. The Leica Cine Play 1 home cinema projector is now available for $3,795/£2,950/€3,500. The company also offers a Floor Stand accessory, priced at $495/£335/€395.

HUAWEI

Huawei continues to try to attract TSMC engineers by offering triple their salaries

Huawei has been dealing with the consequences of US sanctions for years now. To try and stay competitive, the Chinese giant has been poaching employees from other companies, with those within the Taiwanese semiconductor industry being a particularly enticing target. Huawei is certainly making offers that are difficult to refute, including salaries said to be over three times higher than those at TSMC.

With its 61.7% share of the global semiconductor foundry market, TSMC is the world's most valuable semiconductor company and the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry. It got to this position thanks to its advanced manufacturing capabilities.

It's not surprising, then, that Huawei is desperate to poach some of TSMC's top engineers. The Chinese company was sanctioned by the US, having been placed on the Entity List in 2019, restricting its access to US technology and components without a special license. It is also limited in its ability to acquire semiconductors made with U.S. technology, even from foreign manufacturers like TSMC.

According to French publication Le Monde, Huawei has been trying to hire TSMC engineers every month, a way of not only protecting this employee experience, but also hoping to acquire some of TSMC's trade secrets. As noted by Tom's Hardware, TSMC enforces strict project compartmentalization, thereby ensuring no single employee has wide access to its sensitive information. So Huawei and SMIC – China's leading chipmaker, which is also on the Entity List – have merged their recruiting networks broadly over TSMC in hopes of learning everything they can about its trusted technology.

Taiwan's Justice Investigation Bureau is cracking down on this practice, which sometimes involves Chinese companies posing as data analytics firms and offering up to three times the local rates as salaries. Taiwan sees this as a way for companies to steal the island's semiconductor development trade secrets for the benefit of China.

A lot of TSMC workers turn down these offers. They may be lucrative, but they come with a potential risk to their careers: it's hard to get another job after switching sides to a sanctioned Chinese firm. "I never respond," said one engineer, 43-year-old Chloe Chen, who added that she would risk never being hired by American or Taiwanese semiconductor companies again if she went across the Taiwan Strait.

Last month, semiconductor research firm Tech Insights conducted the disruption of Huawei's Ascend 910B AI processor and identified core circuitry produced by TSMC within the chip. TSMC suspects its technology could reach Huawei through intermediaries such as Chinese companies Sophgo and Bitmain. In response, TSMC lifted shipments to certain customers and canceled suspended orders.

mundophone