Today's Hardware Pulse
Nvidia driver hints at next‑gen DLSS 5 work
Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready driver 610.47 adds three new profile options—Enable DLSS NR override, Enable DLSS NR SL override, and Override DLSS NR presets—suggesting continued development of DLSS 5 neural‑rendering technology. The earlier DLSS 5 reveal had sparked debate over AI‑driven image alteration, and the new driver hints at a quiet but ongoing effort.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Cyient Semiconductors raises $30M Series A
ONERugged Advances Smart Manufacturing with Rugged Tech
ONERugged, a specialist in rugged computing, unveiled an integrated smart manufacturing portfolio aimed at accelerating industrial digital transformation. The suite combines NFC‑enabled digital signage, fanless panel PCs, Android handheld scanners and AI‑powered laptops to deliver edge‑computing, real‑time visibility and predictive maintenance across sectors such as semiconductors, automotive and food processing. By embedding IoT and AI capabilities into durable hardware, the company promises higher productivity, lower downtime and tighter quality control.
Kioxia Holdings' FY Profit More than Doubles to $3.6B on AI‑driven Memory Demand
Kioxia Holdings Corp. posted a fiscal‑year net profit of ¥554.5 billion ($3.6 billion), a 104% jump from the prior year, driven by soaring AI‑related memory chip sales. Revenue rose 37% to ¥2.34 trillion ($15.1 billion), and the firm forecast a further 113% profit surge...
Best Google Pixel Phone to Buy in 2026
Google unveiled the Pixel 10 series in May 2026, covering the budget‑friendly Pixel 10 A at $499, the mid‑range Pixel 10 at $799, the high‑end Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL with advanced camera systems, and the new Pixel 10 Pro Fold. All models run Android 16, feature the Tensor G5 processor and...
Razer Blade 18 Launches with 24‑Core Intel CPU and $7,000 Top‑End Model
Razer announced the 2026 Blade 18 laptop, equipped with a 24‑core Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor and configurable up to an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU. Prices start at $3,999 for the base model and climb to $7,000 for the fully specced...
Bitdeer Posts $188.9M Q1 Revenue as New Low‑Power SEALMINER Cuts Energy Use
Bitdeer Holdings announced Q1 2026 revenue of $188.9 million, a 170% year‑over‑year jump, while unveiling the SEALMINER A4 series that operates at under 10 joules per terahash. The results underscore both the profitability of its expanding AI cloud services and the growing...
Japan Power Chip Alliance Talks Slow as Rohm Resists Integration
Denso has withdrawn its bid to acquire Rohm, leaving Japan’s power‑semiconductor consolidation in limbo. Ongoing talks among Rohm, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric are stalled by concerns over joint management control and operational integration. Meanwhile Toshiba and Mitsubishi have each launched...
Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Nets $127 Million From Semiconductor Picks
Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office generated $127 million in profit from recent semiconductor positions, including Lattice Semiconductors, On Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics. The gains came from $117 million of capital deployed, delivering an average return of 109.16% and highlighting the former Soros protégé’s...
Blaize Bets on Rugged Edge AI Beyond the Data Center
Blaize announced a strategic partnership with rugged hardware maker Winmate to embed its AI inference chips in defense, maritime and industrial field systems. The collaboration aims for roughly $15 million in first‑year revenue and a multi‑year rollout targeting drones, vehicle‑mounted units,...
Irish Quantum Start-Up Equal1 Unveils RacQ Data Centre Computer
Irish quantum start‑up Equal1 has unveiled RacQ, a rack‑mounted silicon‑spin quantum computer built for standard 19‑inch data‑centre racks. The system combines a UnityQ quantum‑on‑chip with classical processors to deliver hybrid quantum‑classical workloads for use cases such as risk analysis, materials...
Intel Razor Lake-AX Rumored with 32 Xe3 Graphics Cores
Intel is developing a Razor Lake‑AX client SoC that could ship with up to 32 Xe³ GPU cores, a dramatic increase over current mobile iGPUs. The graphics tile is rumored to cover roughly 162.84 mm² and may be paired with on‑package...
AMD Adrenalin 26.5.1 Reportedly Triggers Radeon Zero RPM Fan Issue
AMD’s Radeon Adrenalin 26.5.1 driver is triggering a Zero RPM fan malfunction that leaves GPU fans stopped after a monitor wakes from sleep. The bug can cause the GPU to overheat, potentially leading to throttling or instability, especially in systems...
The MSI Prestige 16 AI+ Is a High-Quality Business Laptop at an Attractive Price – It's Nigh on Impossible to...
The 2026 MSI Prestige 16 AI+ upgrades to a 16‑inch OLED panel, Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, and a slimmer, lighter chassis while cutting the numeric keypad and offering lower graphics performance than the 2025 AMD model. At roughly $1,600 it delivers a...
ASUS ROG Crosshair 2006 (20th Anniversary) X870E Review
ASUS unveiled the ROG Crosshair 2006, a 20th‑anniversary motherboard that blends retro ROG styling with the flagship X870E chipset for AM5. It features a 20+2+2 phase VRM delivering 110 A per phase, PCIe Gen5 connectivity, Wi‑Fi 7, 10 GbE/5 GbE Ethernet, and support for DDR5‑9600 on...
China's Leading Chip Foundries Project Q2 Growth Amid AI Surge
China’s top chip foundries forecast second-quarter growth amid AI boom Bai Peng, Hua Hong’s chairman and president, downplayed the impact of US export controls on the company’s capacity expansion plans https://t.co/mXQcLS1Aig via @scmpnews
NVIDIA Vera: 88 Arm Cores and Alleged Early Customers for the Next AI Platform
NVIDIA unveiled the Vera CPU, an Arm‑v9.2‑compatible processor built on 88 in‑house Olympus cores that deliver 176 threads, up to 1.5 TB of LPDDR5X memory and 1.2 TB/s bandwidth. The chip connects to Rubin GPUs via NVLink‑C2C, offering 1.8 TB/s coherent bandwidth, and...
TSMC Starts Mass Production of Largest CoWoS with 98%+ Yield, Surpassing Intel and Samsung
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) announced today that it will mass‑produce the world’s largest 5.5‑times mask CoWoS (Chip‑on‑Wafer‑on‑Substrate) with a yield exceeding 98%. The move, revealed at the Taiwan Technology Forum, is positioned as a decisive edge over rivals Intel...
Study Pinpoints Phase‑mismatch Errors Undermining MEMS Gyroscope Precision
A multinational research team identified that phase‑mismatch errors in the sense‑mode control loops of MEMS gyroscopes cause the greatest loss of precision, especially in scale factor and zero‑rate output. Their findings, published in Microsystems & Nanoengineering, propose targeted calibration to...
Amazon Redshift Launches Graviton‑based RG Instances, Promising up to 2.2x Speed and 30% Lower Cost
Amazon Redshift announced RG instances built on AWS Graviton processors, delivering up to 2.2× faster query performance than RA3 and 30% lower price per vCPU. The new family adds a built‑in data‑lake query engine that accelerates SQL across Apache Iceberg...
Seoul Viosys Targets $60B AI Data Center Optical Communications Market
Seoul Viosys is positioning itself to capture a share of the projected $60 billion AI data‑center optical communications market. Leveraging its proprietary “No‑wire” and “No‑package” patents and a 5,000‑patent portfolio, the company has moved beyond VCSEL components to offer full 100 G...
Automotive Grade Linux Launches Open‑Source SoDeV Platform, Adding Five New Members
Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) announced the initial availability of its open‑source Software‑Defined Vehicle (SoDeV) reference platform as part of the "Ultimate Unagi" release. The announcement also introduced five new members—EMQ, Lineo Solutions, MediaTek, VA Linux Systems Japan and Very Good...
Samsung Positions Galaxy XR Headset as Springboard for Future AR Smart Glasses
Samsung executive James Choi said the Galaxy XR headset establishes a scalable ecosystem that will extend to smart glasses, positioning the $1,800 device as a stepping stone toward lighter, AR‑focused wearables. The move pits Samsung against Apple’s Vision Pro and...
Mature Nodes, Missing Links And Niche Markets
China is accelerating its mature‑node semiconductor fab capacity, growing four times faster than global demand between 2015 and 2023. The country now accounts for roughly half of new mature‑node capacity projected over the next three to five years, squeezing Japanese...
AI Chip Maker Cerebras Systems Hits $95B Valuation After IPO, Giving Its Founder a 2nd Big Win
Cerebras Systems went public, pricing shares at $185 and closing at $311, which lifts its market cap to roughly $95 billion. The IPO sold 30 million shares, raising $5.55 billion, making it the biggest U.S. tech listing since Uber in 2019. The company’s...
New 3D Memory Architecture Revives Old Camera Technology to Smash Through AI Memory Wall - NAND + DRAM Hybrid Promises...
imec has unveiled the first 3‑D charge‑coupled‑device (CCD) memory architecture, blending NAND’s density with DRAM’s speed. By stacking memory cells vertically and using IGZO material, the prototype achieves charge‑transfer rates above 4 MHz and promises lower leakage and higher endurance. The...
Cerebras Stock Nearly Doubles on Day One as AI Chipmaker Hits $100 Billion — What It Means for AI Infrastructure
Cerebras Systems went public on Nasdaq at $350 per share, nearly double its $185 IPO price, instantly achieving a $100 billion market value. The company sold 30 million shares, raising $5.55 billion, the largest U.S. tech IPO since Uber in 2019. Its wafer‑scale...
Dexcom Unveils Next-Generation G8 CGM for Real-Time Glucose Monitoring
Dexcom announced its next‑generation G8 continuous glucose monitor at Investor Day, branding it as a completely new product platform built on a novel silicon chip and adaptive algorithm. The G8 offers a 50% smaller form factor than the G7 and...
Orion PDA Is a Pocket-Sized Computer with a Keyboard, Sunlight-Viewable Display, and Solar Charging (Crowdfunding)
The Orion PDA is a pocket‑sized handheld computer that blends a retro clamshell design with a modern thumb keyboard, a 3.16‑inch sunlight‑visible 1‑bit LCD, and a built‑in solar panel for off‑grid charging. Powered by an STM32U575 Cortex‑M33 microcontroller, the prototype...
Dell Launches AI‑focused 14S, 16S and Alienware 15 Laptops with up to 97% Performance Boost
Dell introduced the 14S, 16S and Alienware 15 laptops, positioning them as AI‑enabled consumer and gaming devices. The 14S starts at $1,269.99, the 16S at $1,319.99 and the Alienware 15 from $1,299, with claims of up to 97% higher multitasking performance and...
Researchers Solve Longstanding Problem in Measuring Semiconductor Defects
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and Auburn University unveiled a physics‑based framework that precisely measures atomic‑scale defects at semiconductor‑insulator interfaces. By enforcing an electrostatic consistency constraint, the method removes reliance on estimated insulator capacitance, eliminating a major source of error...
IonQ Launches 22,000‑sq‑ft Quantum R&D and Chip‑testing Hub in Boulder
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) opened a 22,000‑square‑foot quantum computing research and semiconductor testing laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, with the first trapped‑ion quantum computer slated for installation in the third quarter of 2026. The expansion, backed by state incentives, adds dozens of...
US Clears H200 Chip Sales To 10 China Firms
U.S. Commerce Department has granted export licenses to roughly ten Chinese companies—including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com—to purchase Nvidia's H200 AI chip, the company's second‑most powerful accelerator. Each approved buyer may acquire up to 75,000 units, but no shipments have...
BrainChip Expands AI Ecosystem with Strategic Software Partners
BrainChip announced an expansion of its AI software ecosystem by partnering with MulticoreWare, P‑Product, and BeEmotion.ai to develop Akida‑ready machine‑learning models for its new AKD1500 neuromorphic processor. The collaborations aim to deliver edge‑optimized, low‑power AI solutions across CPUs, GPUs, DSPs,...
Next-Gen Visual Detection Warning System From Brigade Combines Radar and Cameras
Brigade Electronics has launched Backsense Radar On‑Screen Display (OSD), a next‑generation visual detection warning system for construction and mining equipment. The system fuses adaptive radar with AI‑powered cameras to detect objects up to 60 metres, even in dust, darkness, or adverse...
CME Group and Silicon Data Launch First AI Compute Futures Market
CME Group and Silicon Data announced the launch of the world’s first compute futures contracts, letting investors hedge the cost of GPU rental power for AI workloads. The contracts, benchmarked to Silicon Data’s GPU indices, aim to turn AI compute...
On‑device AI Training Slashes Cloud Costs Dramatically
Building a catechism out of 500MB of text, one GPU‑hour and hallucination at a time, as a month‑long on-device build_qa.py run to cut what would otherwise have been a $3,000 cloud bill by a factor of 1000 has to teach...
Cerebras Files for $48 B IPO, Upsizing to $4.8 B Offering on Wafer‑Scale AI Chip
Cerebras Systems filed to go public with a $150‑$160 per‑share price range, valuing the wafer‑scale AI chip maker at about $48 billion and targeting a $4.8 billion raise. The company expanded the offering to 30 million shares after securing Amazon Web Services and...
US DOJ Probes Nvidia GPU Smuggling After Encrypted Chats Expose China, Russia Scheme
Federal prosecutors have opened an export‑control investigation after encrypted WeChat messages showed a trio conspiring to ship Nvidia GPUs to China and Russia. The case, involving alleged profits of millions per order, arrives amid $420 million in penalties levied by the...
FSR 4 Upscaling Is Finally Coming to Older Radeon GPUs, and the Image Quality Gains Are Real
AMD confirmed that its AI‑driven upscaler FSR 4.1 will roll out to Radeon RX 7000 series this summer and to RX 6000 series in early 2027. The older GPUs will run the technology using INT8 precision, which is slower than the FP8 used on...
Moto Razr Fold Shines, Smart Connect Takes Spotlight
Just WOW. The @Moto Razr Fold is impressive on so many levels, but the updated Smart Connect feature is probably my favorite. #Razrfold @MotorolaUS https://t.co/CS94oLVoq7
NASA’s Next-Gen Space Processor for More Autonomous Spacecraft
NASA announced that its High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) processor entered a multi‑month test campaign at JPL in February 2026. The radiation‑hardened system, built with Microchip’s PIC64‑HPSC family, claims up to 100 × the computational capacity of legacy flight computers and...
CSA Catapult a Core Technology Partner Providing SiC Power Module for Project SONATA
The UK’s Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult has been named a core technology partner for Project SONATA, an ATI‑funded initiative to develop an on‑aircraft electric taxi system with regenerative braking. CSA Catapult will design, build and validate custom silicon‑carbide (SiC) power...
Valve's Steam Controller Emits Wilhelm Scream When Dropped, Users Confirm Easter Egg
Valve's Steam Controller, priced at $99, contains a hidden Easter egg that triggers a Wilhelm scream when the controller is dropped with gyro enabled. The discovery, first reported by Reddit user RF3D19 and confirmed by GamesRadar, VideoGamesChronicle and Engadget, has...
Google Launches Premium Googlebook Laptops, Positioning AI‑first Hardware Against Chromebooks
Google announced the Googlebook, a new high‑end laptop series that runs on a proprietary AI‑focused OS and integrates Gemini Intelligence across the desktop. The line, built with five major OEMs, aims to offer a premium alternative to Chromebooks and expand...
Satya Nadella’s $190 B AI Infrastructure Bet Signals a New Era for Microsoft
Microsoft announced a $190 billion capital‑expenditure plan for 2026, anchored by a $625 billion commercial backlog. The spend, focused on GPUs, data‑center land and renewable power, reflects CEO Satya Nadella’s strategy to lock in AI revenue for years to come.
Flexible Carbon Nanotube Transistors Hit 152 GHz fT, Paving Way for 6G Wearables
A research team unveiled flexible radio‑frequency transistors built from aligned carbon nanotube arrays that achieve a peak extrinsic current‑gain cutoff (fT) of 152 GHz and a power‑gain cutoff (fmax) of 102 GHz, while consuming under 200 mW per millimeter. The breakthrough, enabled by...
D‑Wave Q1 2026 Revenue Plummets 81% as Flagship System Sale Missed
D‑Wave Systems posted Q1 2026 revenue of $2.9 million, down 81% year over year after a $12.6 million system sale failed to recur. Meanwhile, bookings surged 1,994% to $33.4 million, driven by a $20 million university system deal and a $10 million enterprise license, underscoring...
Comprion, Giesecke+Devrient Partner for IoT eSIM Solutions
Comprion and Giesecke+Devrient have formed a partnership to deliver a jointly validated development and testing environment for SGP.32‑based IoT eSIM solutions. The offering combines Comprion’s test tools with G+D’s Sm@rtSIM Polaris 1.5M reference card, enabling manufacturers, MNOs and automotive IoT...
"I'm Confident Alienware Can Deliver" — A New Budget Gaming Laptop Is Here, but How Does It Compare to the...
Dell’s Alienware brand has entered the budget gaming laptop segment with the new 15‑inch Alienware 15, priced from $1,299. The model offers AMD or Intel CPUs paired with RTX 4050‑5060 GPUs, matching the core hardware of the higher‑priced 16 Aurora. The Aurora starts...
Alienware's Budget Gaming Laptop Starts at $1,299 — Last-Gen Parts and a Plastic Shell Bring the Premium Brand Into the...
Dell’s Alienware brand has launched a budget‑focused 15‑inch gaming laptop starting at $1,299, a stark price drop from its usual premium tier. The entry model pairs an AMD Ryzen 5 220 or Intel Core i5 210H CPU with an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, 16 GB DDR5...
Apple’s Surprise Summer Lineup: 4 New Macs Launching Soon
Apple is set to unveil four new desktop Macs this summer, all powered by the upcoming M5 silicon family. The lineup includes an upgraded Mac Mini, a refreshed 24‑inch iMac, a rumored 30‑inch iMac Ultra, and a beefed‑up Mac Studio,...