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

30% Better Battery? The Galaxy Watch 9’s “Secret Weapon” Just Leaked
Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Watch 9, slated for a July 2026 launch, upgrades its internals while keeping the same silhouette as the Watch 8. The device ships with Qualcomm’s 3nm Snapdragon Elite processor and an on‑board NPU, delivering faster performance and on‑device AI. Despite retaining a 435 mAh battery, the new chip improves energy efficiency by roughly 30%, promising noticeably longer runtimes. Connectivity receives a boost with Bluetooth 6.0 and ultra‑wideband, opening new use cases such as digital key access.

GameStop NVMe SSD 2TB SSD Review: A Surprisingly Capable Budget Drive for the PS5
GameStop has entered the SSD market with a PS5‑compatible NVMe M.2 2280 drive available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities. Priced at $175 for 1TB, $237 for 2TB and $427 for 4TB, the drive delivers up to 7,400 MB/s reads and...

The Future of AI Might Be on Your Finger
In this episode of Access, hosts Alex Heath and Ellis Hamburger interview Mina Thami, co‑founder of Sandbar, about the company’s AI‑powered smart ring that captures and vocalizes a user’s thoughts in their own voice. They explore Mina’s background in neural...
Japanese Glassmakers Pivot to AI Chip Substrates
Japan glassmakers Asahi Kasei, AGC retool to ride surging AI chip demand Glass cloth, high-end substrates replace conventional products https://t.co/zHaNaxaWTa via @NikkeiAsia
Japan’s Rapidus Targets 1nm Mass Production by 2029
Race to 1nm heats up as chipmakers vie for next frontier Japan’s Rapidus — a state-backed newcomer with no established presence in advanced foundry — is aiming for mass production of 1nm-class technology around 2029. https://t.co/QrlTNnWiOw

Wilson Connectivity, Autonomous Systems Team for In-Building Wireless Service
Wilson Connectivity has teamed with Autonomous Systems to launch an automated, AI‑ready network‑lifecycle management service for in‑building wireless infrastructure. The offering blends Wilson’s three‑decade expertise in DAS, private 5G and CBRS with Autonomous’s cloud‑based monitoring platform, delivering real‑time visibility and active...
Nexchip Seeks Hong Kong IPO to Boost Chip Output
China’s No 3 foundry Nexchip files for Hong Kong listing to scale output Wave of Chinese tech listings builds in Hong Kong as semiconductor groups plan expansion to meet domestic demand... https://t.co/rcA6r9CkE2 via @scmpnews
The Battery Linchpin: Why Energy Storage Is the only the only Way to Safely Power the AI Boom
The AI boom is set to push North American summer peak demand up by 224 GW, a 69% jump over the previous decade forecast. To meet the 24/7 power needs of hyperscale data centers, developers plan 24.3 GW of utility‑scale battery storage...
Arm to Launch AGI CPU in China, Expects Strong Demand
Arm to sell its new AGI CPU in China — 'we would expect the demand for this product to be just as strong in China as it is in the rest of the world' https://t.co/fAW7d3IlBM
Impacts of the RAM Shortage
Since late 2025, a global RAM shortage has emerged as leading chipmakers pivoted to higher‑margin AI data‑center memory, curtailing production for smartphones, PCs and other consumer devices. In Q4 2025, demand outstripped supply by roughly 10%, pushing RAM prices up...
Maine to Freeze New Data Centers Amid AI Boom
Maine is poised to freeze large data-center construction, which would make it the first state to enact such a measure as communities across the U.S. grapple with fallout from the AI boom https://t.co/aRHZa3rcqL via @WSJ
DRAM Pauses After Rally as NAND Extends Gains, Q2 Rebound Expected
DRAM prices stalled in March at $13 per 8 Gb DDR4 after an 11‑month rally, as supply agreements capped movement. Q1 pricing was largely set earlier, but quarterly contract prices still rose sharply from Q4. Samsung signaled a 40‑45% price hike...
Memory Market Rebounds, but AI Demand Reshapes Recovery
The 2026 memory market is rebounding, but the recovery is being reshaped by AI‑driven demand. TrendForce projects DRAM contract prices to climb 58‑63% QoQ and NAND Flash to surge 70‑75% QoQ in Q2. AI and data‑center expansion are pushing suppliers...
Infineon Launches TLVR Power Module for AI Server Power Demand
Infineon Technologies has launched the TDM24745T, a quad‑phase power module designed for AI server platforms. The compact 9 × 10 × 5 mm device integrates four power stages, a TLVR inductor and decoupling capacitors, achieving current densities above 2 A/mm² and peak currents up to 320 A....
Fujitsu, Rapidus Team up on 1.4nm AI Chip for Servers
Fujitsu and Rapidus announced a joint development of a 1.4 nm neural processing unit (NPU) aimed at AI inference in servers. The project, costing roughly 58 billion yen, will leverage Rapidus’s advanced node roadmap and Fujitsu’s Arm‑based Monaka CPU built on a...
Broadband Nanoprobe Sharpens Optical Imaging Beyond the Diffraction Limit
Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong University have unveiled a fiber‑based double‑slit plasmonic probe that uses linearly polarized light and Fabry–Pérot energy recycling to achieve broadband nanofocusing. The device delivers a six‑fold electric‑field enhancement and resolves a 28.6 nm slit, essentially matching atomic...

Osprey Opens New Midlands Ultra-Rapid EV Charging Hub
Osprey Charging has opened a new ultra‑rapid EV charging hub at Twyford Services near Evesham, featuring 16 Kempower chargers capable of 300 kW output. The site can potentially serve up to 32 vehicles at once and offers a range of payment...

Siemens Expands Private 5G Play
Siemens announced a major expansion of its private 5G portfolio, adding the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, France, Norway, and Poland to its footprint, now spanning 15 countries across Europe and the Americas. The U.S. launch will rely...
Norway Revitalises Effort to Acquire a Tactical-Class UAV with $103 Million Competition
Norway’s Defence Material Agency has relaunched a procurement for a tactical‑class unmanned aerial vehicle, issuing a pre‑qualification notice on 31 March 2026. The framework agreement is valued at up to NOK 1 billion (approximately US $103 million) for a four‑year term, with options to extend...
Dell XPS 14 with Intel Panther Lake Hits 43‑hour Battery Life, Eclipsing MacBook Air 15
Dell's latest XPS 14 ultrabook, equipped with Intel's Panther Lake Core Ultra 7 355 processor, recorded more than 43 hours of web‑browsing battery life, beating the MacBook Air 15 by roughly 28 hours. The result highlights the efficiency gains of...
Intel Buys Back Apollo’s $14.2 B Stake in Fab 34, Regaining Full Control of Irish Manufacturing Hub
Intel announced a definitive agreement to repurchase Apollo Global Management’s 49% equity interest in its Fab 34 joint venture in Leixlip, Ireland, for $14.2 billion. The deal will be financed with cash on hand and roughly $6.5 billion of new debt, and it...
Sony Hikes PS5 Pro Price by $115, Teases Pricey PS6 Handheld Amid AI‑driven Cost Surge
Sony announced a $115 (£90) price increase for the PlayStation 5 Pro and used the occasion to hint that its next-generation PS6 handheld could carry a similarly steep tag. Executives linked the hikes to soaring AI‑related component costs, sparking debate among gamers...
IBM and Arm Team Up on Dual‑Architecture AI Hardware for Enterprise Workloads
IBM announced a strategic collaboration with Arm to create dual‑architecture hardware designed for AI and data‑intensive enterprise workloads. The partnership blends IBM's system design and security expertise with Arm's power‑efficient cores, targeting large‑scale B2B customers seeking flexible, secure AI infrastructure.

Toshiba Leader Talks Mobile Device Innovations, Retail Customer Experience Tech
Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions unveiled its TCx M7 handheld alongside the existing TCx M11 tablet, expanding a mobile‑first portfolio aimed at turning any store associate into a portable checkout and service point. The company also promoted its AI‑driven Elera Security Suite, now...

Who Really Wins From the Flash Price Surge?
Flash storage prices have surged, initially boosting vendor margins as they sold legacy NAND inventory at higher rates. However, that windfall is fading because new NAND fab capacity takes 18‑24 months and billions of dollars to build, keeping supply tight....

Google Might Say No More to Android Rollbacks on the Pixel 10 with a Patch
Google is reportedly preparing a bootloader patch for the upcoming Pixel 10 that will increment the anti‑rollback version, effectively preventing users from downgrading Android versions. The change builds on similar restrictions introduced with the Pixel 6 series, which were later relaxed for...

Trinity Team’s New Chip-Scale Light Technology Could Power Faster AI and Data Centre Communications
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin, in partnership with the University of Bath and EPFL, have created a chip‑scale light source that generates ultra‑stable optical frequency combs using microresonators. The device produces a new hyperparametric soliton pulse, allowing multiple precise wavelengths...
Ola Electric Cuts Roadster 9.1 Price by ₹60,000 as 4680 Bharat Cell Production Scales
Ola Electric announced a ₹60,000 ($723) price cut for its flagship Roadster X+ 9.1 kWh electric motorcycle, lowering the price to ₹1,29,999 ($1,566) from ₹1,89,999 ($2,289). The reduction stems from economies of scale at its Gigafactory and vertical integration of the...
Onsemi’s Hybrid Power Integrated Modules Used in Sineng Electric’s Solar and Energy Storage Solutions
onsemi announced that its next‑generation hybrid power integrated modules (PIMs) will be used in Sineng Electric’s 430 kW liquid‑cooled string energy storage system and 320 kW utility‑scale solar inverter. The FS7 IGBT and EliteSiC‑based F5BP modules deliver 32% higher power density and...
Neoen to Build France’s Largest Battery for Grid Relief
Neoen will build France’s largest battery, helping to store rising solar and wind generation and ease strain on the country’s grid https://t.co/KGRixCIBSj
(PR) Gigabyte Goes Dark with the X870E AERO X3D DARK WOOD
Gigabyte unveiled the X870E AERO X3D DARK WOOD motherboard, a premium AM5 platform that combines a genuine dark‑wood veneer with high‑end performance features. The board supports Ryzen 7000‑9000 CPUs, DDR5 up to 9000 MT/s, and offers a 16+2+2‑phase VRM with VRM Thermal...

Quantum Frontline Industries Sends First Batch of Drones to Ukraine
Quantum Frontline Industries (QFI) has completed its first production run of Linza tactical drones and begun deliveries to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The drones are manufactured in Munich under a German‑Ukrainian “Build with Ukraine” co‑production model, marking the shift from...
SED News: OpenCode, AI Code Vs. Shipped Code, and the LiteLLM Breach
In this episode of SED News, hosts Gregor and Sean discuss the resurgence of ARM CPUs as they move into branding their own chips, driven by the growing demand for local AI agent workloads that favor CPU and memory over...

New Data Center Developments: April 2026
Data center capital spending is surging worldwide, with the six largest U.S. hyperscalers projected to invest about $700 billion in 2026, a six‑fold increase from 2022. Major projects include Meta’s $10 billion, 1 GW El Paso facility slated for 2028, a 900 MW AI center...

FBI Warns of AVrecon Malware Targeting Network Devices Across 163 Countries
The FBI has issued a warning about AVrecon, a modular malware that compromises home and small‑office routers by exploiting unpatched remote‑code‑execution flaws. The malware was used by the now‑dismantled SocksEscort proxy service, which sold access to roughly 369,000 infected devices...

Action Camera Jargon Buster: What Do All the Specs and Complex Terminology Mean?
The article serves as a jargon buster that demystifies the technical terms found on action‑camera spec sheets, targeting cyclists of all skill levels. It explains sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, video parameters like bit depth, bit rate, and aspect...

Why the World’s First Pure-Play RTLS Integrator, LocaXion, Chooses Redpoint When It Comes to Forklift Safety
LocaXion, the first pure‑play RTLS and Digital Twin integrator, chose Redpoint for its safety‑grade real‑time location system. Redpoint’s edge‑based, downlink‑TDOA architecture delivers deterministic positioning across warehouses up to 4 million square feet and tens of thousands of forklifts, AGVs and AMRs....
I-Lumen Receives FDA IDE to Start US I-SIGHT2 Enrollment
I‑Lumen announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) for its i‑SIGHT2 clinical study. The clearance allows the company to begin enrolling participants in the United States to evaluate its breath‑based metabolic monitoring...

Wireless AI Paradox Emerges as Wi-Fi Evolves Into Strategic Growth Engine
Cisco's State of Wireless 2026 report, based on 6,098 decision‑makers, reveals a “wireless AI paradox”: AI drives the biggest ROI while also creating security and talent challenges. Enterprises that treat Wi‑Fi as a strategic asset see compounding benefits—78% report efficiency...
8BitDo Retro 68 AP50 Keyboard Channels Apple II Design in Limited Edition Release
8BitDo has launched the Retro 68 AP50, a limited‑edition mechanical keyboard that pays homage to the Apple II’s iconic beige‑brown aesthetic. The 68‑key board uses a gasket‑mount system, an aluminum chassis, and hot‑swappable Kailh BOX Ice Cream Pro Max switches. It offers...

Remote NetApp Array over Photonic Link Nears Local Access Speed
A proof‑of‑concept demonstrated that a NetApp flash array accessed over IOWN’s all‑photonics network (APN) can deliver performance nearly identical to local storage, with less than 1 % increase in GPU training time across distances up to 3,000 km. The 100 Gbps single‑mode fiber...

Developing A Security Framework For Chiplet-Based Systems
The article outlines a security framework for chiplet‑based systems, emphasizing that each chiplet must possess a verifiable identity tied to a platform‑wide trust chain. It describes two provisioning patterns—certificate‑based external provisioning and silicon‑derived (PUF) self‑generated keys—and explains how both feed...
As Cheap PCs Vanish, Enterprises Might Still Find Value in Upgrades
Cheap PCs are disappearing, prompting Dell and HP to launch new business machines built on Intel’s Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 processors. Benchmarks claim up to 80% graphics improvement, 34% faster productivity, and four‑times AI performance, while battery life stretches to...

AI Demand Resets Memory Market Priorities, Tightening NOR Flash Availability
The surge in AI infrastructure is creating a memory supercycle that pushes leading chipmakers to prioritize high‑margin products such as HBM, DDR5 and advanced NAND. DRAM prices are projected to jump roughly 90% quarter‑over‑quarter, while NAND could rise about 60%,...

World First: MACsec IP Receives ISO/PAS 8800 Certification For Automotive And Physical AI Security
Synopsys became the first company to earn ISO/PAS 8800 certification for its MACsec IP, a standard that secures Ethernet communication inside vehicles. The certification, validated by SGS TÜV Saar, confirms that the IP not only protects data integrity but also meets the...

Moving Electrons, Not Just Vehicles
The article examines how modern power electronics—especially multi‑level converters, silicon‑carbide (SiC) devices, and advanced power‑management ICs—are improving efficiency in electric vehicle (EV) and robot battery systems. It highlights fast‑charging challenges, noting that 15‑minute 0‑80% charges and 750 kW superchargers generate heat...

Embedded World 2026: Bringing Edge AI Into The Real World
At Embedded World 2026, Synaptics demonstrated that artificial intelligence is moving off the cloud and onto the device, delivering real‑time, context‑aware capabilities at the edge. The company showcased the SYN765x platform, which bundles Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 and on‑chip AI compute for...

Redmi Note 15 SE 5G with 6.77-inch AMOLED Display and 5,800 mAH Battery Launched in India, Price Starts At…
Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 15 SE 5G in India, pricing the base 6 GB/128 GB model at ₹19,999 (≈$240) with higher‑spec variants up to ₹22,999 (≈$276). The phone features a 6.77‑inch 120 Hz AMOLED panel, Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, 5,800 mAh battery with 45 W fast...
Intel Core Ultra 400HX "Nova Lake" Mobile Processor Core Configurations Surface
Intel unveiled two core configurations for its upcoming Core Ultra 400HX “Nova Lake‑HX” mobile processor, targeting high‑end gaming laptops and portable workstations. The flagship SKU packs 8 performance‑core Coyote Cove P‑cores, 16 Arctic Wolf efficiency cores and 4 low‑power island...
Binder Adds Triangular Moulding to M16 and M12 Connectors
Binder introduced a triangular moulding for its M16 series and M12 K‑ and L‑coded connectors, aiming to improve mechanical durability in demanding industrial settings. The new geometry optimises force distribution, enhances anti‑twist protection, and offers a modern visual identity. Connectors...