The semiconductor landscape is proceeding towards a highly transformative state. A oneGbps speed is something not unheard of for regular internet users these days. The emergence of Ultra high-speed broadband technologies such as G.fast, fiber technology and the Passive Optical Network (PON) have all facilitated this. We also increasingly see broadband wireless to handheld devices such as a Smartphone or Tablet using newer versions of 4G LTE. However, there is a new push to go to 5G Wireless, which will bring bandwidths of up to oneGbps to users on handheld devices in the future.
The first generation of G.fast will consume 106MHz of bandwidth and provide approximately gigabit rates at about 100 meters, and will see wide deployment in North America and the Western Europe. In countries like Japan and Korea, they opt for a different flavor of copper technology better suited for their deployment scenario in multi-dwelling units (MDUs). This in cohesion with the already widespread deployment of the 30MHz version of VDSL2, which provides a 100Mbps symmetric service to residential customers today on the same copper network. However there will be life beyond the first generation of G.fast. The International Telecommunications Union is working on the development of the second-generation G.fast standard, which will consume up to 212MHz and will provide nearly twoGbps at about 50 meters. So copper may continue to live for years to come! Devices such as smart meters or smart refrigerators that fall into the IoT category and sensors such as gyroscopes or accelerometers that are being embedded into smartphones and tablets are the next set of trends that we see as the industry evolves.

IoT- Driving the Technology Innovation
Today, the technology innovation is being driven more by the needs of consumers, including what is needed in a so called "connected home." There are a couple of things that are very much needed now. A couple of examples of these are:
1. Guaranteed ultra-high-speed (hundreds of megabits/sec or even a gigabit/sec) broadband connections coming into homes.
2. Distribution of high-speed bandwidth within the home to enable a simultaneous multi-screen HD, 4K or 8K experience.
3. An IoT infrastructure including ultra-low-power sensor silicon and centralized control of these form a gateway for home automation. Data collection and diagnostics should also be supported by this IoT network at home for analytics to be performed in the cloud to facilitate the service providers' ability to better serve the consumer. The ultra-low-power sensors should be battery-operated so that they can be placed anywhere in the house as appropriate. These should not need a change of battery for at least a year, if not for five years.
On the enterprise/infrastructure side, one of the big unsolved problems is backhaul for Pico cells for ubiquitous high-bandwidth 4G-LTE coverage. LTE promises ultra-high-speed wireless connections. However the availability of high speed can only be guaranteed if a Pico cell is nearby. In order to provide ubiquitous coverage, these must be placed densely, e.g., every 250m or so. However, these cells must be fed by high-speed links which do not exist today! This problem will potentially be carried over to 5G wireless as well. Ubiquitous availability of gigabit/sec service to a few wireless users or tens of megabits/sec to thousands of wireless broadband users will never happen without the availability of proper backhaul; one way to achieve this would be by feeding the Pico cells with fiber or with G.fast or with bonded G.fast. So in some sense the success of wireless depends on wireline ultra-broadband.