Daily Business Report-Feb. 8, 2021
The first ITER Central Solenoid module is ready for shipment to the ITER site in France. (Courtesy General Atomics)
General Atomics completes fabrication
and testing of first ITER Central Solenoid
After nearly five years of fabrication and a battery of rigorous testing and troubleshooting, General Atomics (GA) has completed the first major milestone in one of the United States’ largest contributions to the ITER fusion project in France. The first module of the ITER Central Solenoid will join six others still in fabrication to make up the largest pulsed superconducting magnet in the world.
The Central Solenoid will play a critical role in ITER’s mission to establish fusion as a practical, safe and nearly inexhaustible source of clean, abundant and carbon-free electricity.
The first module of the Central Solenoid was built at GA’s Magnet Technologies Center in Poway, under the direction of the US ITER project, managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). It will be shipped to France later this year, where ITER construction is more than 70 percent complete. When completed, the 1,000-ton, 59-foot-tall Central Solenoid will sit in the heart of the fusion device, driving 15 million amperes of current through ITER’s plasma to heat and stabilize the fusion reaction. ITER is on schedule to begin first plasma operations in 2025.
“The Central Solenoid ranks among the largest, most complex and demanding magnet programs ever undertaken,” said John Smith, GA’s director of engineering and projects. “I think I speak for the entire team when I say this is the most important and significant project of our careers. We have all felt the responsibility of working on a job that has the potential to literally change the world. This is a significant achievement for the GA team and US ITER.”
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Engineers and scientist work
to lighten data center energy load
Jacobs School of Engineering gets $7.5 million grant for this effort
Electrical engineers and computer scientists at UC San Diego are on the front lines of global efforts to reduce the energy used by data centers. The potential impact is great: the US government estimates that data centers currently consume more than 2.5 percent of U.S. electricity. This figure is projected to double in about eight years due to the expected growth in data traffic.
The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering team has been awarded a total of $7.5 million from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the California Energy Commission to advance nationwide efforts to double data center energy efficiency in the next decade through deployment of new photonic— light based—network topologies.
In particular, the UC San Diego team is focused on developing solutions to enable the thousands of computer servers within a data center to communicate with each other over advanced light and laser-based networks that replace existing electrical switches with optical switches developed within the ARPA-E program.
Despite global chip shortage, Qualcomm up
63 percent in year-over-year revenues
Qualcomm’s fiscal 2021 is off to a strong start with company executives reporting last week that first quarter revenues are up 63 percent year-over-year to $8.2 billion. The company has seen its 5G strategy play out “largely as expected,” according to CEO Steven Mollenkopf, with strong performance in smartphones modem-to-antenna systems, automotive, IoT, and good indicators related to 5G moving into high-value vertical industries.
All this despite an ongoing capacity crunch for semiconductor fabrication. “Notably, our strong performance and outlook would have been even stronger had we not been supply constrained,” Mollenkopf noted.
Qualcomm’s automotive revenue is up 44 percent compared to Q1 last year with revenues at $212 million, and its design win pipeline is up to $8.3 billion which aligns with a 2024 revenue target of $1.5 billion. IoT revenue has almost doubled in the past year passing the $1 billion mark this quarter.
“The simultaneous global adoption of 5G, combined with increasingly complex technical requirements and a pace of change that is accelerating drives a significant multiyear industry transition that plays to our strength,” Mollenkopf said.
Tealium raises $96 million in VC funding
Customer data aggregation platform Tealium raised $96 million, putting its valuation at $1.2 billion. The San Diego company plans to use the funds for further product innovation on its data platform, which combines information from the web, offline sources, and Internet of Things devices to help businesses deliver personalized services.
MD7 named one of the Top Workplaces
MD7, LLC, a San Diego mobile infrastructure consultancy that helps operators around the world expand and improve their wireless networks, has been named one of the “Top Workplaces USA 2021” by Energage, a leading workplace research organization.
The award, which is being presented on a national level for the first time, recognizes America’s best places to work using direct feedback from company employees and benchmark data from more than 70,000 organizations across the country. MD7 also received two Cultural Excellence Awards from Energage: “Clued-In Leaders” and “Top Leaders.”
“We are excited to receive this recognition as it is a testament to the dedication of our team members to one another, to our clients, and to the core values we hold as a firm,” said Michael Gianni, chairman and chief executive officer of MD7, which was founded in 2003.
Former prosecutor to reveal ‘Online Romance Scams’
San Diego County Credit Union will host “Online Romance Scams,” a complimentary educational webinar presented by former San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The online webinar format allows the community to attend from the comfort of their home and is part of SDCCU Financial Wellness Wednesdays, launched in partnership with the San Diego County Library System in support of Live Well San Diego.
Online dating has become increasingly popular among single men and women searching for love, but unfortunately, this popularity has also piqued the interest of scam artists. During the webinar, Greenwood will cover current scams, romance scams and strategies to protect yourself while online. Virtual seats are limited and registration is required. To register, visit sdccu.com/webinar.
Mindi Frankel named first executive director
of Hebrew Free Loan of San Diego
Hebrew Free Loan of San Diego has named Mindi Frankel as its first-ever executive director, brought on board to grow the newly launched 501 (c)3 interest-free lending institution, a member agency of the International Association of Jewish Free Loan.
Hebrew Free Loan San Diego has a core mission: To aid and empower members of the San Diego Jewish community to help themselves by providing interest free loans and achieve financial self-sufficiency.
Frankel comes to the company after a successful tenure consulting with Hands of Peace from 2015 until 2020. Prior to her time with Hands of Peace, Frankel held a number of marketing and communications positions including serving as director of marketing for Financial Profiles Inc. and sales and marketing manager with Park Place Productions. She has also run her own independent communications consulting firm, Just Write Marketing, since 2000. Frankel holds a Master of Arts degree in Literature and Writing from California State University, San Marcos and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Marketing from San Diego State University.
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones: Professional Troublemaker
Luvvie Ajayi Jones doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’s afraid of anything. In fact, the New York Times bestselling author of “I’m Judging You,” creator of the wildly popular blog AwesomelyLuvvie, and internationally renowned public speaker seems like fear’s worst nightmare. But that same bestselling author was once a confused pre-med student, afraid of calling herself a writer.
The same woman whose TED talk has over 5 million views almost turned the opportunity down, and even wrote the first draft in an hour-long cab ride in the hopes that the organizers would reject it. Nobody is truly fearless, not even Luvvie—but we can learn how to charge forward anyway, and commit to not doing less because of fear. In her new book, “Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual,” Luvvie shows you how she’s done it, and how you can, too.
Jones is one of the featured speakers at the virtual 2021 San Diego Women’s Week March 15-19 sponsored by the North San Diego Business Chamber.
Stone Brewing expands SoCal
distribution with new San Marcos facility
Escondido-based Stone Distributing Co., launched by Stone Brewing, will expand its Southern California operations by moving to a significantly larger distribution warehouse in San Marcos. One the nation’s largest distributors of independent craft-centric beverages, the company now boasts locations in four of Innovate78’s North County cities.
Mayor announces $45.5 million
in state funding for rent relief
On the heels of announcing federal rental assistance in late January, Mayor Todd Gloria announced on Feb. 5 that the state will provide more than $45.5 million in assistance for San Diego residents unable to pay rent due to the impacts of COVID-19.
Together, this week’s funding and the direct federal funding announced previously amounts to nearly $87.9 million in relief for families and individuals who’ve been devastated financially by the pandemic. This is on top of $13.75 million in emergency rental assistance that helped 3,717 San Diego households in 2020.
“Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and the California Legislature really came through for tenants and landlords in our city and across California who have had an incredibly hard time throughout this crisis,” Gloria said. “I will work to get these rent relief dollars out for the benefit of our renters as soon as possible.”
The funding comes as part of Senate Bill 91, which distributes to local agencies funds the state received from the federal government. SB 91 also extended a statewide moratorium on evictions of residential tenants unable to pay rent due to the effects of COVID-19. The moratorium is now effective through June 30.
On Jan. 26, the San Diego City Council approved Gloria’s proposal to extend pandemic-related ban on both residential and commercial evictions. The state’s law supersedes San Diego’s residential eviction moratorium. Because San Diego’s moratorium on residential evictions will last until 60 days after the City’s emergency declaration is lifted, it will become effective on July 1 if the City is still under a state of emergency.
