Today's Hardware Pulse
Nvidia driver hints at progress on next‑gen DLSS 5
Nvidia’s latest GeForce Game Ready driver (610.47) adds three new DLSS profile options, indicating continued work on DLSS 5 neural‑rendering technology. The earlier DLSS 5 reveal sparked debate over AI‑driven image alteration, and this driver update provides the first concrete sign of advancement.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Cyient Semiconductors raises $30M Series funding
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Supplies Glass Substrate Samples to Apple
Samsung Electro-Mechanics has begun supplying glass substrate samples to Apple, expanding beyond its earlier collaboration with Broadcom. The glass core replaces organic material in flip‑chip BGA substrates, offering superior flatness and lower thermal expansion, which is critical as AI chips grow larger. Apple’s evaluation may serve both short‑term testing for Broadcom‑based platforms and long‑term plans to design its own server‑chip packaging. Samsung aims for mass production after 2027, supported by a joint venture with Sumitomo Chemical.
NVIDIA Bets Big on Industrial Revolution 4.0: Outlook Swells
NVIDIA is accelerating its push into the Industrial Revolution 4.0 by layering a series of strategic acquisitions and partnerships that target robotics, synthetic‑data generation, and edge AI. Recent deals—including Run:ai, Gretel Technology, Illumex, Skild, Deci AI and a joint venture with...
What Is ‘Ghost Murmur’? The Secret CIA Heartbeat Tracker Used to Find Downed American Pilot in Iran
The CIA employed a newly developed quantum‑magnetometry system called Ghost Murmur to locate a downed U.S. F‑15 weapons systems officer in southern Iran. Developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the device detects the faint electromagnetic field of a human heartbeat...
Hyperscaler Datacentres Set to Dominate by 2031
Hyperscale cloud providers are set to dominate the datacentre market, projected to hold 67% of global capacity by 2031—a fourteen‑fold increase from 2018. AI workloads are the primary catalyst, driving a near‑doubling of hyperscale capacity within three years. By Q4 2025,...
New SATCOM Tech Helps Downed Pilot Rescues
Israeli firm Commcrete unveiled palm‑sized low‑SWaP satellite‑communication devices for combat search and rescue. The units deliver continuous, on‑demand connectivity from ejection through ground movement, even under canopy, urban, maritime or parachute conditions. Featuring a 32 dB link budget, adaptive waveform and...
Stuffcool Made a 65W GaN Charger with a Retractable Cable, and It's Pretty Good
Stuffcool has launched the Zeno 65W GaN charger in India, featuring a built‑in retractable USB‑C cable and dual‑port charging for about $35. The charger delivers up to 65 W via USB‑PD 3.0, with a secondary port that shares the power budget when both...
Galaxy Book5 Pro Now Pricier than Newer Book6
I have the Galaxy Book5 Pro in the 14 inch 32/1TB model At launch that model was $1,649 It now costs $2,199, more expensive than the 14 inch 32/1TB Book6 Pro ($1,999)
How to Make Your Old Laptop Feel New Again
Replacing a new laptop can run into hundreds or thousands of dollars, but a few simple steps can make an existing machine feel brand‑new. The guide recommends backing up data, performing a clean OS install, and physically cleaning the hardware....
Ultrasonic Wind Sensor Shows Strong Promise for Deep Mine Ventilation
A portable ultrasonic wind sensor with a reflective transducer layout was tested in a Chinese coal mine, showing dramatically higher accuracy than traditional mechanical anemometers. Laboratory wind‑tunnel trials (0.5‑5 m/s) and field validation at Gaojialiang Mine reduced average measurement error by...
How to Navigate the Storage Crunch in the AI Era
AI‑driven workloads are outpacing traditional storage planning, turning five‑year forecasts into a relic. Companies face stretched lead times and compressed project windows, forcing a shift from "buy‑and‑build" to on‑demand storage services. Everpure’s Evergreen architecture offers a service‑level‑backed, outcome‑focused model that...
GoPro’s New Camera Might Be Its Biggest Comeback Move
GoPro will unveil a new generation of cameras at the 2026 NAB Show, powered by its in‑house GP3 processor. The GP3 is a 5‑nm SoC that promises twice the pixel‑processing power, AI‑driven scene recognition, and markedly better low‑light and thermal...
Leopard Imaging Introduces 25 MP Global Shutter 10 GigE Camera
Leopard Imaging has launched the LI‑IMX530‑10GigE‑NL, a 25‑megapixel global‑shutter camera that pairs 10 GigE bandwidth with native NVIDIA Holoscan support. The sensor is engineered for edge AI platforms such as Jetson AGX Orin, IGX Orin and the Jetson AGX Thor developer...
Imec Receives World’s Most Advanced High NA EUV System
imec has installed ASML’s EXE:5200 High NA EUV lithography system, the most advanced tool of its kind, in its 300 mm cleanroom in Leuven. The machine enables research into sub‑2 nm logic and high‑density memory, positioning imec as a European hub for...
DTI Ramps up $110-B Semiconductor Export Plan
The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry unveiled a five‑year roadmap to lift semiconductor and electronics exports to $110 billion by 2030, more than twice today’s level. The plan targets $70 billion in semiconductor sales and $40 billion in broader electronics shipments, backed...
Vivo T5 Pro 5G India Launch Date Confirmed: Expected Price, Specifications and Features
Vivo has set the launch of its mid‑range Vivo T5 Pro 5G for 15 April at noon in India. The device will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset and pack a massive 9,020 mAh battery. It is expected to feature a 6.8‑inch...
Xcel Minnesota Is Building a First-of-Its Kind Virtual Power Plant
Xcel Energy announced Capacity*Connect, a $430 million initiative to install up to 200 MW of customer‑site batteries across Minnesota. The utility will own and operate the virtual power plant, a first in the United States, deploying 1‑ to 3‑MW units over the...
Xiaomi Reveals New iPad Mini Rival with 165Hz Display and Flagship SoC
Xiaomi unveiled the Redmi K Pad 2, a compact tablet positioned as a direct rival to Apple’s iPad mini. The device packs MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 9500 SoC, an 8.8‑inch LCD panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate, and a sizable 9,100 mAh...
Puget Systems Expands Server Portfolio
Puget Systems has partnered with MSI Enterprise Platform Solutions to launch eleven new 1U and 2U servers aimed at dense CPU compute, GPU rendering, and AI workloads. The portfolio includes models with single or dual AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon...
Blog Review: Apr. 8
The April 8 blog roundup from Semiconductor Engineering spotlights a wave of technical breakthroughs across the semiconductor ecosystem. Cadence unveils LPDDR6 with built‑in metadata, row‑hammer mitigation and three‑rail DVFS, while Synopsys and Siemens champion multiphysics and simulation‑driven digital twins for automotive...
China’s Shenzhen Activates Huawei-Powered AI Cluster
Shenzhen has activated a new supercomputing cluster built with 10,000 Huawei Ascend 910C AI accelerator cards, delivering 11,000 petaflops of performance. Combined with a 3,000‑petaflop system launched in 2025, the facility now offers 14,000 petaflops, and 92 % of its capacity...
Planet Labs Tests AI-Powered Object Detection On Satellite
Planet Labs successfully demonstrated artificial intelligence running directly on a satellite in orbit, using an NVIDIA Jetson Orin module to detect airplanes in an image of an airport captured at 500 km altitude. The onboard model processed the photo moments after...
BenQ GW2490C Monitor Review: A Budget 24-Inch Monitor That's a USB-C Bargain
BenQ’s GW2490C is a 24‑inch IPS monitor priced around £100 (≈$125) that packs a 144 Hz refresh rate, 5 ms response time and 98 % sRGB coverage. It adds a USB‑C video input but only supplies 7.5 W, so it can’t charge a laptop...
ASUS Skips New Boards for Arrow Lake Refresh, Focuses on Next-Gen
ASUS confirmed it will not release new motherboards for Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 200S Plus refresh, opting to rely on the existing Intel 800 series boards built on the FCLGA1851 socket. The refresh offers only incremental performance gains, so manufacturers see little incentive...
Colorful Revives DDR3 H81 Motherboards Amid Rising Memory Costs
Colorful announced it will restart production of DDR3‑based motherboards built on Intel’s H81 chipset as DDR4 and DDR5 memory prices remain elevated. The H81 platform, tied to 4th‑generation Haswell CPUs and limited to 16 GB DDR3, will see limited volumes from...
Tennibot Launches AI-Powered Tennis-Playing Machine with Adaptive Training Features
Tennibot, an Alabama‑based sports tech firm, unveiled the Partner V2, an AI‑driven tennis ball machine priced at $2,245 (regular $3,500). The device is 13.6% lighter and 14.4% smaller than its predecessor while offering a 37% wider vertical feed range and...
Intel Serpent Lake Processors to Integrate NVIDIA RTX GPUs in 2028
Intel is planning a new processor family codenamed Serpent Lake, slated for a 2028 launch, that will integrate NVIDIA RTX graphics directly into the CPU package. The chips will combine Copper Shark performance cores with Golden Eagle efficiency cores, continuing...
Logic Introduces ‘Octopus’ Overhead Multi-Arm Robot to Boost Warehouse Throughput
Logic unveiled the Octopus, an overhead multi‑arm picking robot that mounts to ceiling structures and frees valuable aisle space. The system can simultaneously operate multiple arms equipped with interchangeable end effectors, eliminating mechanical changeovers and handling mixed SKUs in parallel....
Where Are They Now: Samphire Neuroscience
Samphire Neuroscience’s wearable Nettle, a headband delivering electrical pulses to the pre‑frontal and motor cortex to alleviate menstrual pain, launched in June 2024. The device sold out within a day to a wait‑list of over 15,000, each unit priced at...
400kW EV Charger Supports Denser Charging Sites
SK Signet has launched a 400 kW all‑in‑one ultra‑fast DC charger that integrates silicon‑carbide power modules and dispenser hardware in a single unit. The design achieves 96.5% power conversion efficiency while shrinking the installation footprint by 54% compared with its previous...
Orica Launches Next-Gen Groundprobe Geohazard Monitoring Platform
Orica has unveiled the next‑generation Groundprobe SSR‑XT, a geotechnical monitoring platform rebuilt from the ground up. The redesign focuses on operational continuity, with an updated engine‑mounting system that isolates vibrations and cuts noise. Enhanced sensor suites deliver real‑time geohazard data,...
Orica Digital Solutions Launches Next-Generation GroundProbe Solution for Safer, Faster Geotech Monitoring
Orica Digital Solutions has unveiled a next‑generation GroundProbe geotechnical monitoring suite aimed at improving safety and decision speed in mining operations. The offering combines three hardware models—SSR‑XT, SSR‑FX and SSR‑Omni—with the new MonitorIQ® Next software platform for streamlined, low‑touch deployment....
Network Giant Uses Contentious New Transmission Line to Boost Regional Mobile Coverage
Australian transmission operator Transgrid is attaching telecom equipment to its new 500 kV HumeLink line, creating a connectivity corridor across regional NSW. In partnership with Lumea, up to ten signal boosters will be mounted on existing and new towers along the...
First Quantum Diamond Microscopy System Lands in US for Advanced Chip Failure Analysis
QuantumDiamonds GmbH has installed its QD m.1 quantum‑diamond microscopy system at Eurofins EAG Laboratories in Sunnyvale, marking the first North‑American deployment of a commercial QDM tool. The QD m.1 uses nitrogen‑vacancy centers in synthetic diamond to produce three‑dimensional, micrometer‑scale magnetic current maps of...
Walmart's 'Excellent Quality' Wireless Earbuds Come in 5 Fun Colors, and They Start at Just $10
Walmart is offering the Cshidworld T8Max wireless earbuds at a steep discount, with the black and pink models now $10 (down from $13) and the remaining three colors at $11. The earbuds feature Bluetooth 5.0, an IPX8 waterproof rating, and...
Fortescue Adds Another Electric Excavator, Says It Is Saving a Million Litres of Diesel per Unit
Fortescue Metals Group has deployed its 15th electric excavator in the Pilbara, claiming each unit saves about one million litres of diesel per year. The company now reports moving 100 million tonnes of ore with electric equipment and plans to install...
Generative AI Improves a Wireless Vision System that Sees Through Obstructions
MIT researchers have combined generative AI with millimeter‑wave radar to reconstruct hidden 3D objects and entire indoor scenes. The new Wave‑Former model fills missing surfaces in partial mmWave scans, improving shape accuracy by roughly 20 %. A companion system, RISE, uses...
AI K-Pop Startup Galaxy Aims For IPO in Seoul, New York
Galaxy Corp., a Seoul‑based AI startup, is pioneering a new K‑pop model that replaces human idols with synchronized humanoid robots performing in elaborate, futuristic settings. Founder and CEO Choi Yong‑ho showcased a high‑tech show featuring black‑clad robots in luxury hip‑hop...
AMD Medusa Point Leaked: 10 Cores, 32 MB L3 Cache, and First Geekbench Results for a Zen 6 APU
AMD’s engineering sample of the rumored Medusa Point APU surfaced on Geekbench, revealing a 10‑core, 20‑thread Zen 6 design with 32 MB of L3 cache. The sample runs at a 2.40 GHz base clock and peaked near 2.01 GHz, scoring 1,210 single‑core and 7,323...
Broadcom Secures Google’s Commitment Through 2031, and Anthropic Invests in the Next Generation of TPUs
Broadcom announced a multi‑year agreement with Google to develop and supply future generations of custom Tensor Processing Units and the networking components for AI racks through 2031. In parallel, Anthropic secured access to roughly 3.5 GW of Google‑based TPU capacity starting...
Turkey to Race Ahead of EU on Battery Storage Amid Fossil Fuel Crisis
Turkey has approved more than 33 GW of battery storage since 2022, outpacing the combined 12‑13 GW capacity of leading EU nations such as Germany and Italy. The surge is driven by a 2022 mandate that grants preferential grid access to renewables...
Microchip Hybrid MCU Targeted at Automotive, E-Mobility HMI Applications
Microchip Technology introduced the SAM9X75D5M, an AEC‑Q100 Grade 2‑qualified System‑in‑Package that combines an Arm926EJ‑S processor with 512 Mbit DDR2 SDRAM. The hybrid MCU targets automotive and e‑mobility human‑machine interfaces, supporting up to 10‑inch XGA displays via MIPI DSI, LVDS or parallel RGB....
Onvo L90 to Adopt Nio's In-House Developed Shenji Smart Driving Chip, Report Says
Nio’s sub‑brand Onvo will launch the 2026 L90 electric SUV on April 21, featuring the company’s in‑house Shenji smart‑driving chip for the first time. The chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process, delivers up to 1,000 TOPS and is said to match the...
Data Center Capacity to Quintuples in Two Decades
#Technology #Thread #Semiconductor #Manufacturing #Data The Semiconductor Data Center Installed Capacity: 1/ - In 2005, Global Installed Data Center Capacity Was About 21.4 GW. - By 2025, Estimates Put Global Capacity At Roughly 114 GW, More Than A Five-Fold Increase Over 20 Years. -...
Seestar S30 Pro Brings the Cosmos to Your Backyard
The Seestar S30 Pro brought the wonders of the universe into my backyard. Here's what I love about it. https://t.co/Z95qFERXbb
Bain Data Center Unit Cuts Ties With Nvidia Buyer After US Probe
Bain Capital’s Bridge Data Centres has removed Megaspeed International from its Malaysian computing hub. The operator replaced the Southeast Asian firm with cloud provider Zenlayer Inc. The change was disclosed in a memo to lenders tied to a $2.8 billion loan...
Amazon to End Support for Pre‑2012 Kindles May 20
It shouldn't come as a surprise, but some users are being emailed that their pre-2012 Kindles will lose support from May 20. https://t.co/hNC4ZxbeET
New Bath Tub Eliminates Lifts and Discomfort in Care Settings
#WhatsNext? Bath tub #Innovation takes the lifting and patient discomfort out of the bathing process at retirement homes and hospitals. (GiGadgets) #HeatlhTech https://t.co/aeuSly4tb2
Garmin Adds Training Plans and Health Insights in Fenix 8 Firmware Update
Garmin has released a stable firmware update for its Fenix 8, 8 Pro, 8E, Tactix 8 and Instinct 3 watches, adding a suite of new training schedules and broader health‑metric guidance. The rollout targets serious athletes and outdoor enthusiasts seeking...
Inside Taiwan’s Semiconductor Supremacy
Taiwan now supplies about 92% of the world’s most advanced logic chips (5 nm and below), cementing its role as the linchpin of the global tech supply chain. TSMC, the island’s pure‑play foundry, posted a 62.3% gross margin in Q4 2025 and...
Google Pixel Watch 5 Leaks Hint at Tensor Chip, Sapphire Glass, and 4,000‑Nit Display
Insider reports indicate Google may launch the Pixel Watch 5 later this year with an in‑house Tensor processor, a sapphire crystal front and a display brightness boost to 4,000 nits. The smartwatch is expected to retain a $349 starting price...