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
IPhone 18 and iPhone Air 2 Design Won't Be Changing, According to New Leak
New leak from Fixed Focus Digital suggests Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 will retain the same design as the iPhone 17, with only subtle dimension adjustments and no screen size change. The same report indicates the iPhone Air 2 will also keep its current look, including a single rear camera, contradicting earlier rumors of a 2027 launch. Both devices are slated for a fall 2024 release alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, which may only receive new color options. The iPhone Fold remains the only model expected to feature a major redesign.
Ep 23: Cross-Stack Design and Tooling for Large-Scale Distributed AI Systems with Dr. Tushar Krishna, Georgia Tech
In this episode, Dr. Tushar Krishna discusses his evolution from network‑on‑chip research to designing large‑scale distributed AI systems, emphasizing the importance of cross‑stack co‑design that spans accelerators, memory hierarchies, and interconnect fabrics. He explains how predictable AI data‑flow patterns enable...
Hyperscaler Backlogs Show Growing Demand for AI Infrastructure
Data center capital expenditures surged 57% to $726 billion in 2025 and are projected to grow over 50% in 2026, pushing total spend past $1 trillion. The four hyperscalers—Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft—raised capex 76% year‑over‑year, with Amazon spending $131 billion in 2025...
Intel "Nova Lake" To Use Xe3 Graphics and Xe3P Display/Media Engine
Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake CPUs, part of the Core Ultra 400 series, will integrate Xe3 graphics and the Xe3P display/media engine rather than the newer Xe4 IP. The platform targets a late‑2026 launch with early‑2027 market availability and will natively support...
IBM, Arm Target Enterprise AI With Mixed-Architecture Approach
IBM and Arm announced a partnership to run Arm‑native applications on IBM Z mainframes and LinuxOne servers through a shared software layer and virtualization. The solution lets enterprises deploy AI workloads across both architectures without rewriting code, preserving the uptime,...
Artemis II Moon Shot Dwarfs Consumer Camera Capture
I compared Artemis II mission's historic dark side of the moon photo with my Sony Alpha A6000, and the differences just blew me away https://www.techradar.com/cameras/i-compared-artemis-ii-missions-historic-dark-side-of-the-moon-photo-with-my-sony-alpha-a6000-and-the-differences-just-blew-me-away
This MSI RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop with 20-Core CPU and 144 Hz Panel Is $298 Off
MSI’s Vector 16 HX AI gaming laptop, equipped with an RTX 5070 Ti GPU, a 20‑core Core Ultra 7 255HX CPU, 16 GB DDR5 RAM and a 144 Hz FHD+ panel, is on sale for $1,349.99 on Woot—a $298 (18%) discount. The machine targets QHD and high‑refresh‑rate FHD gaming, offering...
How to Leverage PLC/SCADA and Digital Twins for Mining Operations
Mining operators are increasingly deploying PLC and SCADA platforms to achieve real‑time visibility across underground and surface sites. A recent gold‑mine project linked 17 PLC nodes via an OPC UA architecture, harvesting over 40,000 data points annually and turning raw logs...
Roku-Powered Aurzen Projectors On Sale for Up To 40% Off
Roku‑enabled Aurzen projectors are on a limited‑time sale, offering up to 40% off their regular prices. The entry‑level EAZZE D1R drops to $119.99, while the higher‑spec D1R Cube is now $169.99, both featuring native 1080p resolution, auto focus, and dual‑band...
Rebellions AI Rings Up The Money To Rack Up AI Inference Systems
South Korean AI‑chip startup Rebellions AI secured a $400 million Series D round, bringing total funding past $850 million and valuing the company at $2.34 billion. The capital will fund its push beyond Korea, delivering complete inference systems—Rebel100 engines, RebelRack, and RebelPod—to global cloud,...
Additional Lengths for Amphenol RF SMA Cable Assembly Configuration
Amphenol RF has added a broader range of standard lengths—6 to 48 inches—for its SMA plug‑to‑SMA jack assemblies built on 0.085‑inch conformable cable. The assemblies feature gold‑plated brass connectors and support high‑frequency operation up to 18 GHz. The flexible cable combines...
Meta Should Add LED Privacy Indicator to Glasses
Meta should do the following to enhance the privacy standing of its Ray Ban Meta smart glasses. 1. Create an non-intrusive Personal mode that doesn't take pictures or videos 2. When the Personal mode is off, turn on the bright...
A Small But Useful Debugging Addition For AMD Zen Systems With Linux 7.1
Linux 7.1 adds automatic reporting of AMD's AGESA firmware version to the kernel log, eliminating the need to reboot into BIOS or parse vendor notes. The change is delivered via a patch in the tip/x86/platform branch and will be merged...
One of Our Favorite 360 Cams Is 35 Percent Off
The DJI Osmo 360, a premium 360‑degree action camera, is now selling for $401 on Amazon (27% off) and $357 at Adorama and B&H (35% off), a $209‑$193 discount from its $550 list price. The camera features dual 1/1.1‑inch sensors,...
The NASA Watch That Lets Kids Write Real Code for $129
The NASA Artemis Watch 2.0 is a $129 smartwatch that lets kids write real code using open‑source firmware. Launched alongside the Artemis II lunar mission, the watch ships pre‑assembled with a dual‑core ESP32, color LCD and multiple sensors. It offers three coding...
YieldWerx Delivers a Master Class in Co-Packaged Photonics Implementation
YieldWerx announced a forthcoming webinar that will teach semiconductor engineers how to implement co‑packaged photonics (CPO) across the full product lifecycle. The session, led by CEO/CTO Aftkhar Aslam, will detail the 12 cross‑domain challenges—from optical data complexity to test‑flow discontinuities—and...
ACCM Celeritas™ SF1600 Delivers Zero-Skew for PCIe 7, 224 Gbps and Beyond
Advanced Chip & Circuit Materials (ACCM) launched Celeritas SF1600, a laminate and prepreg that eliminates fiber‑weave skew, a root cause of timing errors in 224 Gbps PAM4 and higher data rates. The material delivers zero‑skew performance, a low dielectric constant of 2.80,...
The $100B Question: AI’s Appetite for Compute Is Rewriting the Rules of Tech
Recent financial filings from OpenAI and Anthropic reveal that AI development is becoming a capital‑intensive, compute‑driven industry. OpenAI projects $121 billion in compute spending by 2028, with inference expected to consume 65% of AI compute by 2026, while both firms report...
World's Largest Battery Maker Is Taking EV Tech to the Seas
China's CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker with 37% market share, is expanding its lithium‑ion expertise into maritime propulsion. The company has already supplied roughly 900 near‑shore vessels and plans to double its marine‑focused team to about 500 staff...
CEA-Leti, CEA-List and PSMC Collaborate to Integrate RISC-V and MicroLED Silicon Photonics Into 3D Stacking and Interposer for...
CEA‑Leti, CEA‑List and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) announced a partnership to embed CEA‑List’s RISC‑V processor IP and CEA‑Leti’s microLED silicon‑photonic chiplets into PSMC’s 3D‑stacking and interposer platform. The integration replaces traditional copper interconnects with short‑reach, high‑bandwidth optical links, delivering...
The 5 Best Streaming Devices (And Why They’re Better Than Your Smart TV)
Streaming devices outperform most built‑in smart TV platforms by offering faster processors, more memory, and regular software updates. The guide ranks Roku Ultra as the best overall, Apple TV 4K as the premium choice, Fire TV Stick 4K Max as the top...
Walmart’s New Chromecast with Google TV Replacement Starts Showing up in Stores, $30
Walmart’s private‑label Onn brand has begun shipping a new 4K streaming stick that serves as a low‑cost replacement for Chromecast with Google TV. Priced at $30, the device offers 4K output, 2 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, a quad‑core processor...
HP’s Flagship Omen Max 45L with an RTX 5090 Is on Sale for $1,000 Off — Get a Top-Shelf 4K...
HP’s Omen Max 45L gaming desktop is on sale for $5,499, a $1,000 discount from its $6,499.99 list price. It ships with a Ryzen 9 9900X3D 12‑core processor, Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 64 GB DDR5‑6000 RAM, and 4 TB of NVMe storage across two 2 TB...
RPCS3 Emulator Boosts PS3 Cell CPU Performance by Up to 7%, Nears 60 FPS on High-End PCs
The RPCS3 team announced a breakthrough in emulating the PS3's Cell processor, delivering a 5‑7% average FPS lift for the SPU‑heavy Twisted Metal reboot and putting the emulator within reach of 60 FPS on today’s most powerful PCs. The advance,...
Intel Boosts Fab 9 and Fab 11X Spending with $500M CHIPS Act Grant and Billions of Internal Capital
Intel announced a major increase in capital spending for its Fab 9 and Fab 11X facilities, tapping a $500 million CHIPS Act grant and billions of internal cash. The move underpins a push to scale advanced chip packaging, a business the...
Foxconn Q1 Revenue Jumps 30% on AI Demand, Flags Middle East Volatility
Foxconn posted a 29.7% year‑on‑year revenue increase to T$2.13 trillion ($66.6 bn) in Q1 2026, powered by surging AI‑related orders. The company cautioned that volatile Middle‑East geopolitics could pressure future growth.
Packaging Shift Lets Amazon, Google Embrace Intel Foundry
Pat’s Law of Something: All major vendors and suppliers are always in talks and testing. I do think this will move forward, though. Packaging is an easier commitment than wafers as it doesn’t force a redesign. Not easy but just...
How Rare Earth Elements Power Modern Electric Lawn Equipment: From Motors to Manufacturing
Electric lawn tools have shifted from noisy gas engines to quiet, battery‑powered devices thanks to rare‑earth permanent magnets and phosphor‑based displays. Neodymium‑praseodymium (NdFeB) magnets provide high torque in compact motors, while dysprosium and terbium preserve magnetic strength at high temperatures....
New Model Updates Cost‑Per‑Transistor Economics for AI Era
Working on building a new cost per transistor model with updated economics since it's been a few years since I have seen one. So many more dynamics are needed than the ones from a few years ago, pre AI...
MSI MAG A1200PLS PCIE5 1200W Power Supply Review: A Competent 1200W Unit, but Pricey
MSI’s MAG A1200PLS PCIE5 is a 1200 W power supply that earns Platinum certification on average efficiency but falls short of 80 Plus Platinum at peak load. Priced at $250, it features a striking matte‑black chassis, modular cabling, and a fan‑failure alarm....
Samsung May Add a "Pro" Model to Galaxy S Lineup, Matching Apple's Strategy
Samsung is reportedly planning a fourth flagship, the Galaxy S27 Pro, to sit between the Plus and Ultra models. The Pro would adopt many Ultra features, such as the new Privacy Display, but would not include the S Pen. This mirrors Apple’s four‑tier...
SecuGen Advanced Fingerprint Biometrics Device Now Available in MOSIP Marketplace
SecuGen’s Unity 20 fingerprint scanner has been added to the MOSIP Marketplace after achieving compliance with MOSIP’s SBI 2.0 L1 specifications. The device incorporates Live Finger Detection for presentation‑attack detection and a FIPS 140‑3 Level 3‑certified Foundational Trust Module that encrypts biometric data at...
Logitech’s Haptics-Enhanced MX Master 4 Mouse Is on Sale for Under $100
Logitech’s MX Master 4 wireless mouse is now on sale for $99.99, a $20 discount from its regular price. The new model adds haptic feedback to the thumb rest, which triggers tactile cues when the Action Ring overlay is activated. It...
X2D or P2 Evolution? Analyzing Bambu Lab’s Likely Direction After Retiring the X1 Series
Bambu Lab has retired its flagship X1 series, replacing it with the P2S model that offers comparable performance at a lower price point. Speculation about an X2D dual‑extruder printer is growing, but the author argues the market is shifting toward...
![[OFC 2026] Part 2 of 5: CPO and the AI Interconnect Challenge](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FG3y!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3201360a-f898-4593-8267-8cfc0766cc04_1280x1280.png)
[OFC 2026] Part 2 of 5: CPO and the AI Interconnect Challenge
AI compute clusters are doubling annually, pushing Meta's rack designs from 72 GPUs to over 256 nodes and exceeding 1 MW of power per rack. At these scales, copper backplanes face insurmountable limits in power delivery, bandwidth density, and routing complexity....
[OFC 2026] Part 2 of 5: CPO and the AI Interconnect Challenge
AI training racks are scaling rapidly, with Meta's upcoming ORW rack doubling node count and pushing single‑rack power beyond one megawatt. Copper backplanes now face insurmountable limits in bandwidth, power density, and routing complexity. Meta used OFC 2026 to set...
Solving Lithium Plating Risks in Li-Ion Batteries During Fast Charging: High-Precision Three-Electrode Analysis
A new whitepaper sponsored by Chroma highlights the use of high‑precision three‑electrode testing to diagnose lithium plating during fast charging of Li‑ion batteries. The study explains that conventional two‑electrode cells only provide combined voltage‑capacity data, obscuring the anode’s behavior. By...
Neocloud Storm Gathers as Data Center Deals Stall Over Credit Risk
Neocloud providers are finding that aggressive pricing, long‑term terms and prepaid fees no longer secure colocation capacity. Providers now demand investment‑grade credit and solid utilization visibility, turning lease underwriting into a project‑finance exercise. Even premium rates of $155‑$160 per kW...
Grab the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 32GB of RAM, and MSI X870E Bundle and Get Free 240mm AIO and Game —...
Newegg is offering a bundled deal that includes an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, 32 GB Corsair DDR5‑6400 RAM, and an MSI X870E Carbon WIFI motherboard for $1,091.99, plus a 240 mm AIO liquid cooler and a copy of *Crimson Desert*. The combo saves roughly $350...
Samsung's Music Studio Speakers and Two of Its 2026 Soundbars Are Available Now
Samsung has launched its 2026 home‑audio lineup, making most of the new Music Studio wireless speakers and three soundbars available for purchase. The rectangular Music Studio 7 retails for $500 with a 3.1.1‑channel configuration, while the compact Music Studio 5 costs $300...
Premium Galaxy S26 Pro Specs for $1,300
How I'd configure a Galaxy S26 Pro • 6.5 inch 120hz Dynamic Amoled Display • 3600 nit peak brightness • Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro for Galaxy • 200/50/50 cameras • 5x ALoP Periscope Telephoto • 5500mah battery with 65w charging • 12/16GB ram & 256/512/1TB...
Swedish EV Charging Provider Milepost Acquires Mer’s AC Charging Stations
Swedish EV charging operator Milepost has purchased Mer’s portfolio of roughly 250 AC charging stations, extending its network from Åre to Malmö. The acquired sites mainly deliver 22 kW power, with a handful capable of 50 kW, and will be integrated by...
AI's Memory Crunch Drives Up Raspberry Pi Prices
AI is hogging memory chips and it’s rippling all the way down to Raspberry Pi prices. Our April issue has two pieces on this you'll want to read: one on the HBM shortage reshaping the chip market, one on what...
Data Transfer, Not Chips, Limits Massive AI Clusters
"The new Corning facility is emblematic of the next phase of the AI buildout. As compute clusters scale to hundreds of thousands of GPUs, the bottleneck is no longer just the chip or the rack, but the ability to move...
Meet the ‘Omni-Viewer’
Pearl TV’s recent OTA converter‑box survey shows that 80% of over‑the‑air viewers would purchase a low‑cost converter to keep free local TV after the FCC’s ATSC 1.0 sunset. The study also identifies a growing “omni‑viewer” segment—tech‑savvy antenna users who also subscribe...
Rugged Acer Connect M6E Delivers All-Day 5G Wi‑Fi
Acer Connect M6E 5G provides rugged, all-day mobile Wi-Fi with 5G, NFC, Wi-Fi 6E, and global network support. https://t.co/Mi0A8Bwa4u
Tesla Business Superchargers Expand with Discounted V3s in Kansas
"It was some of the last V3s being sold at a discount to move stock." Tesla Supercharger for Business grows with rare V3 site in Belleville, Kansas Read on EVwire: https://t.co/e5hIoqYGOZ by @ResidentSponge
New 3D-Printed Microrobot Mimics Worm-Like Motion at Microscopic Scale
Researchers at Leiden University have 3D‑printed a 5 µm microrobot that crawls like a worm when exposed to an electric field. The flexible chain, built from 0.5 µm bar joints, self‑propels at about 7 µm per second without any onboard electronics. Its motion...
MacBook Neo Fails To
The MacBook Neo is pitched as the budget laptop for everyone, but can it handle real work? We have your answer. https://t.co/vvc0dGDSJj
Intel Foundry Poised for Packaging Wins, Wafer Demand Drives Momentum
$INTC Foundry is well set up for packaging wins. The market is more eager to hear about wafer wins. But… it all adds up. 👏🏻