Volume 1 Issue 1, January 2024

The governments of nearly every major economy are pouring tens of billions of dollars into semiconductor industries every year. This Comment explores why governments see semiconductors as a strategic technology, and the tactics governments are using to shape the semiconductor industry.

Imagine a future in which your garments are intelligent, expressive and transform the way you perceive and communicate with your environment. This is the promise of e-textiles. E-textiles could revolutionize healthcare, communication and our relationship with technology. However, their sustainable commercialization requires a comprehensive approach that involves scientific advancements and ethical and societal evaluation.

In the process of memristive chip design, the intricate aspects of peripherals, programming, stability compensation and control logic are often neglected. Yet, the ultimate goal for commercial success hinges on new functionalities paired with a reliable chip that markedly surpasses CMOS in hardware performance and cost-efficiency.

Emerging memory electronics is leading to exciting possibilities for radiofrequency switching, which could be important for meeting the requirements of modern communication systems. This Review outlines current RF switch technologies, proposes 2D memristors, and discusses their potential applications.

Data-intensive and computation-intensive artificial intelligence (AI) workloads require fast and efficient AI hardware accelerators. This Review surveys emerging high-speed memory technologies with the potential to be used as global buffer memories in digital systolic-array architectures.

The sustainable integration of electric vehicles into power systems rests upon advances in battery technology, charging infrastructures, power grids and their interaction with the renewables. This Review provides a forward-looking road map and discusses the requirements to address these aspects.

Increasing grid penetration of renewables coupled with intensifying climate extremes under climate change presents superimposed risks to future power systems. This Perspective analyses the critical factors influencing the resilience of renewable power systems under climate risks and proposes climate-resilient solutions towards a net-zero future.