Global chip shortages, 5G concerns, SMB digitisation plans, and more: Tech research roundup

Your tech gear is going to get more expensive due to component shortages, supply chain woes and a demand spike. Gartner has projected that the global semiconductor shortage will run through the second quarter of 2022.

For more see: Global chip shortages, supply chain woes leading to tech infrastructure inflation

PC shipments are expected to surge 18.1% in 2021 as the industry manages to navigate global semiconductor shortages, according to IDC.

For more see: PC market to surge in 2021 despite global chip shortage, but other parts in short supply

Ericsson has concluded in a new report that, while 5G uptake is still increasing, pressure is mounting on providers. The firm identified various services that consumers are hoping 5G will offer, ranging from improving productivity and creativity to developing new ways of connecting and socialising, through inspiring feelings of thrill, surprise and discovery. 

For more see: 5G smartphones have arrived. But for many, the reason to upgrade is still missing

A survey of 500 small business owners in the US from B2B research, ratings and reviews site Clutch highlighted the various benefits of outsourcing, including saving time, growing the business and supporting business processes. IT services headed up the list of business tasks SMBs planned to outsource in 2021, followed by finances and accounting.

For more see: Tech priorities for small business in 2021: Here's what's top of the shopping list

Our special feature on the new SMB stack also showed how lack of digital skills has emerged as a key challenge for small businesses. Crucially, digital maturity across strategy and organisation, processes and governance, technology, and people and skills leads to measurable bottom-line benefits.

For more see: Tech priorities for small business in 2021: Here's what's top of the shopping list

Wix saw a demand boom as small businesses went digital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now growth is accelerating again. 

For more see: Wix: Strong Q1, growth accelerating as SMB ramp digital efforts

Half of buyers say remote work due to COVID-19 has made purchasing easier, according to a LinkedIn survey. At a high level, 48% of respondents said they closed deals of $500,000 or more without ever meeting a buyer in-person. Another issue: 70% of buyers want to stay remote.

For more see: Sales people want to see you, buyers not so much, says LinkedIn

Facebook's artificial intelligence researchers say they've dramatically improved the error rate for what's called unsupervised speech recognition, where phonemes are detected without any prior examples. The report authors cut the average error rate from 26.1 to 11.3, in terms of the percentage of phonemes that are guessed right.

For more see: Facebook AI cuts by more than half the error rate of unsupervised speech recognition

Appian's latest release of its low-code automation platform speeds up document processing, collaboration, bot management and app development. The company reported first quarter earnings on May 6 with revenue of $88.9 million, up 13% from a year ago. 

For more see: Appian launches AI tools in its low-code automation platform

Finally, Numenta, the Silicon Valley artificial intelligence firm founded by Palm Pilot creator Jeff Hawkins, has been able to achieve a dramatic speed-up in conventional neural networks using Xilinx programmable logic devices. 

For more see: Xilinx and Numenta claim dramatic speed-up of neural nets versus Nvidia GPUs