Notes From All Over -- The Early Expedited Edition -- July 15, 2021

Oh, really? It seems we're seeing more and more articles that confirm what "we" already knew. First, the "global vaccine burnout" article. Now, this one: renewables growth cannot keep up with surging electricity demand.   

Link to Tsvetana Paraskova. Anyone paying attention knew this to be the case -- and they've known this for at least ... like forever. From the linked article:

Global power demand is rising so fast this year after the 2020 slump that even the continued strong growth of renewable electricity generation will not be enough to meet it, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, warning that coal power generation will jump and threaten efforts of emissions reduction.

This year, global electricity demand is expected to surge by 5 percent from the levels of 2020, when power consumption fell by around 1 percent due to the effects of the pandemic, the IEA said in its semi-annual Electricity Market Report published on Thursday.

Thanks to the global economic recovery, electricity demand worldwide is also expected to rise by another four percent in 2022.

Electricity market report, IEA, July 2021: report here.

Apple, Inc, future:

• it was recently reported that Apple is going to ramp up production; internal analysis already suggests Apple won't be able to keep up demand; this may be one of the reasons:
• the iPhone 13 set to launch later this year will feature the improved WiFi 6E protocol
• Apple introduced WiFi 6 with the iPhone 11 in 2019, and compared to the previous WiFi 5 framework, WiFi 6 offers significantly improved speeds and security. WiFi 6E adds minimal changes compared to WiFi 6 except for an added 6GHz band, which will result in increased bandwidth and less interference for devices that support Wi-Fi 6E.

Apple, Inc, history:

• The latest research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) shows that all four iPhone 12 models accounted for 63% of total iPhone sales in the United States in the quarter ending June 2021; link here;
• the highest-end iPhone 12 Pro Max tied with the year-old iPhone 11 for the largest share of any single model at 23%, while the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone XR had the smallest share, each at 5%, according to CIRP. As pandemic-related restrictions ease in the United States, the Chicago-based research firm said increased consumer spending correlated with consumers shifting to more expensive iPhone models.

Apple, Inc.,  more chips:

• Apple chip supplier TSMC has confirmed that it will begin mass production operations at its new factory in Arizona in 2024. From the article:

TSMC Chairman Mark Liu announced that the company's $12 billion factory in Phoenix, Arizona, which is currently under construction, will begin mass production in the first quarter of 2024. While the 2024 timeframe had previously been rumored by Bloomberg, TSMC's announcement serves as a confirmation and indicates that the project is on track.

The first batch of engineers hired to staff the new U.S. factory arrived in Taiwan in late April this year for training, and the company is looking to accelerate its schedule for the facility as much as possible.

The facility will mass-produce chips fabricated with a 5nm process. TSMC has been gradually miniaturizing its process over the years, going from a 16nm A10 chip in iPhone 7 models, to a 7nm A13 chip in iPhone 11 models, and most recently a 5nm process for the iPhone 12's A14 chip. Likely clients for the chips made in the Arizona factory include Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Apple. The new Arizona plant will make it theoretically possible for Apple's 5nm custom silicon chips, such as the A14 or M1 chip, to be manufactured within the United States.

TSMC's main factories are located in Taiwan, but it already operates a factory in Camas, Washington, as well as design centers in Austin, Texas and San Jose, California, meaning that the Arizona facility will be its second manufacturing site in the United States. 

Passports: backlog has gotten significantly worse. Links everywhere. Houston Chronicle: "a complete nightmare: US passport wait times double for post-Covid summer travel." From the passport office just down the hallway from the USPS: 

Due to increased demand, a shortage of appointments and delays with the U.S. Post Service, the State Department now says that those applying for a new or renewed passport should expect to wait up to 18 weeks for their document. That wait time drops to 12 weeks if you pay $60 extra for expedited processing.

Only the US government would consider "twelve weeks" expedited. LOL.

Disney: to relocate 2,000 California jobs to Florida. Link here.

"In addition to Florida's business-friendly climate, this new regional campus gives us the opportunity to consolidate our teams and be more collaborative and impactful both from a creative and operational standpoint." 

California's virus lockdowns shuttered Disneyland there for months while Disney World (Florida) were shut down for four months and opened to limited capacity a year ago. 

Masks are back in Los Angeles, as of July 16, 2021.

Los Angeles: just announced that masks are back.