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
Apple Is Reportedly Working on a Holographic iPhone, an AI Pendent, and AirPods Pro with AI Cameras
Apple is reportedly prototyping three AI‑driven devices: a spatial iPhone with a holographic display, an AI‑enabled pendant that attaches to the iPhone, and AirPods Pro equipped with miniature cameras for visual AI processing. Leaks from tipster Schrodinger and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggest the holographic iPhone could debut as late as 2030, while the pendant may launch next year and the camera‑enabled AirPods Pro could arrive by year‑end after a delay tied to Apple Intelligence. The projects involve advanced eye‑tracking, diffractive beam‑steering, and on‑device AI integration, signaling Apple’s push beyond traditional form factors.
RAPID + TCT 2026: HP’s New MJF 1200 and Multi-Platform Updates
HP unveiled the MJF 1200, its smallest Multi Jet Fusion printer with a 12‑liter build volume, slated for early 2027 release and bundled with Materialise’s Magics Print software. The existing 5600 series received a High Productivity mode boosting output 20%...
FCC Commissioner Defends Blacklisting Foreign Drones over Security Fears
FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty defended the agency’s decision to add foreign‑made drones and critical components to the Covered List, citing national security and AI‑driven infrastructure risks. The move intensifies scrutiny of Chinese‑origin drones, especially DJI, which has struggled to reach...
Intel Emerges as Vital Second‑source Foundry Amid Capacity Crunch
Intel is the only foundry, and a now officially viable foundry second source, who has the capacity to expand to meet this DEEP foundry capacity shortage we have in the semiconductor industry. I'd expect any deal with Apple to...
Apple’s Camera-Equipped AirPods Reportedly Reach Late-Stage Testing
Apple is reportedly in late‑stage testing of a new version of AirPods that includes built‑in cameras. The camera‑equipped earbuds aim to capture first‑person video and support augmented‑reality experiences directly from the user’s ears. Analysts say the feature could differentiate Apple’s...
Sitan Semiconductor, Changelight Form Partnership, Deepening Micro-LED Industry Chain Collaboration
Xiamen‑based Sitan Semiconductor and Changelight have signed a strategic partnership to create a vertically integrated micro‑LED supply chain for automotive displays. The collaboration links Sitan’s CMOS driver and module‑packaging expertise with Changelight’s sapphire epitaxy and chip production, targeting die‑to‑die and...
NXP, Hangsheng Deepen Strategic Cooperation
NXP Semiconductors and Shenzhen Hangsheng Electronic have signed a Strategic Cooperation MoU 2.0, deepening a 30‑year partnership focused on smart cockpits, intelligent driving and secure connectivity. The agreement will establish joint technology innovation centers in Shenzhen, Yangzhou and Chengdu to accelerate...
New Vision's 2025 Revenue Reaches 667 Million Yuan, Up 15.4% Year-on-Year
New Vision reported 2025 revenue of ¥667 million (approximately $93 million), a 15.4% year‑on‑year increase. HUD sales topped 840,000 units, with its AR‑HUD line CyberVision surging 226.6% and accounting for 21% of total sales. The company added 14 projects from six new...
India Approves Compound Semiconductor Plant
The Indian government has approved a $336 million investment by Crystal Matrix to build the country’s first commercial GaN‑based microLED and miniLED fab in Gujarat’s Dholera zone. The integrated facility will produce 6‑inch wafers and assemble display modules, targeting a yearly...
NVIDIA and IREN Partner on 5GW AI Infrastructure Deployment Initiative
NVIDIA and IREN Limited announced a strategic partnership to roll out up to 5 GW of NVIDIA DSX‑aligned AI infrastructure across IREN’s global data‑center pipeline. The deal includes a five‑year option for IREN to purchase up to 30 million NVIDIA shares at...
Windows Rivals to MacBook Neo Are Arriving - but Can You Handle Their Shortcomings?
Apple introduced the $599 MacBook Neo, the cheapest MacBook ever, delivering high‑end specs such as a 2408×1506 Retina display, 8 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. The device’s premium build and seamless ecosystem have quickly outpaced typical budget Windows laptops, creating a...
Duos Edge AI Opens 450kW Facility in Corpus Christi, Texas
Duos Edge AI has opened a 450 kW edge data center in Corpus Christi, Texas, housed in a 55‑ft × 13‑ft pod with 15 cabinets. The facility is positioned to serve education, healthcare, and business workloads that require low‑latency processing. It follows Duos’...
Your CPU Is Throttling Itself, and One BIOS Toggle Will Fix It
Modern CPUs often hit their advertised boost speeds for only about a minute before a hidden BIOS power‑limit (PL1) throttles performance. The default PL1 setting is deliberately conservative, dropping the package power from the short‑burst PL2 level and causing a...
AI Hard Drive Shortage Makes Archiving the Internet Harder
The surge in AI‑driven data‑center workloads has triggered a sharp rise in hard‑drive and SSD prices, making storage procurement a bottleneck for digital archivists. Consumer and enterprise drives have seen price jumps of 150‑250%, with a 2TB Samsung SSD climbing...
Funding Friday: Robots Want Fast-Charging Batteries
Cambridge‑based Nyobolt announced a $60 million Series C round that lifts its valuation to $1 billion, driven by ultra‑fast‑charging batteries that can reach 80 percent charge in under five minutes. The company is targeting data‑center and robotics customers, leveraging its niobium‑tungsten‑oxide anode for higher...
University of Nebraska Deploys NSF-Funded ‘PLUMAGE’ GPU Infrastructure for AI Research
The University of Nebraska’s Holland Computing Center has launched PLUMAGE, a new GPU‑focused cyberinfrastructure funded by a $700,000 NSF grant. The system integrates six NVIDIA H200 and 52 L40S accelerators, accessible via the existing Swan cluster or the NSF‑backed National...
The First Alert Dual-Sensor Smoke Detector Increases Home Safety With Two Types of Smoke Sensing Technology
The First Alert Battery‑Powered Dual‑Sensor Smoke Detector combines a photoelectric and an ionization sensor, offering early warning for both smoldering and flaming fires. It ships with a sealed 10‑year battery, eliminating routine battery changes, and is ETL‑certified to UL 217 standards....
Nintendo's Switch 2 Price Hike May Have Been Inevitable, But It's Still Hard To Stomach
Nintendo announced on May 7, 2026 that the Switch 2 will increase $50 to $499.99, effective September 1. The hike follows similar price raises by Sony and Microsoft, reflecting tighter component costs and inflation. While the console offers backward compatibility, the lack of new...
New AirPods to Feature Cameras for AI-Powered Visual Intelligence: Report
Apple is in the final development stages of new AirPods that embed low‑resolution cameras in each earbud, turning the devices into visual sensors for Siri. The cameras, housed in longer stems, will capture environmental cues to enable context‑aware answers, cooking...
Algeria and Oman Gov'ts Partner to Establish Data Centers
Algeria and Oman have agreed to cooperate on building data centers and launching AI and digital‑government projects. The deal was sealed during Omani Minister Said bin Hamoud Al Maawali's visit to Algeria, where broader transport and IT agreements were also signed....
AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 Surfaces With Slight Multi-Core Performance Gain
AMD’s Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 has surfaced in the PassMark database, indicating a new addition to the company’s Ryzen PRO 9000 desktop family. The chip matches the 9745’s 8‑core/16‑thread design and 65 W TDP but delivers a modest 2.7% multi‑core performance gain, while single‑thread scores...
Nintendo Faces $640M Hit, Switch 2 Costs Rise $40
Nintendo reporting that it expects a 100 billion yen ($640 million) impact this fiscal year (April 2026 - March 2027) as a result of rising component prices and tariffs. Based on the 16.5m unit forecast for Switch 2, that's around...
100 Free EV Chargers Installed In Saudi Arabia
Lucid Motors has installed 100 free public electric‑vehicle chargers across Saudi Arabia, joining a growing network of complimentary charging points at malls, workplaces, and supermarkets. The rollout leverages billions of dollars of Saudi Public Investment Fund backing and aligns with...
AMD Ascent Could Lure Traders to This ETF
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has surged more than 90% this year and quadrupled in value over the past twelve months, underscoring its rising dominance in AI semiconductors. The latest earnings report highlighted record AI compute demand, positioning AMD to capture...
Dell, AMD Expand On-Prem AI Platform with Instinct MI350P GPU Support
Dell and AMD announced that Dell PowerEdge XE7745, R7725 and XE9785 servers will support AMD Instinct MI350P (and MI355X) GPUs, delivering up to 4,600 teraflops of peak performance and 144 GB of HBM3e memory per card. The solution offers a drop‑in,...
Fraunhofer IZM’s Novel SiC Inverter Hits 99% Efficiency in a 1-Liter Package for 800 V EV Drives
Fraunhofer IZM unveiled a 500‑kW silicon‑carbide inverter that occupies just one liter, delivering more than 99 % peak efficiency for 800‑V electric‑vehicle drives. The design embeds twelve SiC MOSFETs per phase directly on the PCB, uses a flat aluminum heat sink...
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Revamp Gas Turbine Production Process to Meet Growing Demand From AI Data Center Sector
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced the Innovative Total Optimization project to overhaul its gas‑turbine production at the Takasago Machinery Works. By reviewing more than 1,000 processes, the company aims to lift output by roughly 30% while trimming changeover time. Orders...
NeuroHUD Puts Tesla Navigation and Alerts Where Drivers Can See Them
NeuroHUD, a startup targeting Tesla owners, has launched a Kickstarter for the first true heads‑up display built specifically for Tesla vehicles. The device projects navigation, speed, autopilot status and safety alerts directly into the driver’s line of sight, eliminating the...
Rackspace Shares Jump 83% After AMD AI Deal and Q1 Profit
Rackspace Technology (RXT) rallied 83.26% to $4.16 on Thursday after unveiling a strategic artificial‑intelligence partnership with AMD and posting a first‑quarter profit. The move turned a modest close of $2.27 into a breakout opening at $3.98, igniting short‑term trading interest.
Fiber-Optic Sensor Reads Strain Through Electrical Signals, Skipping Optical Analyzers
Researchers at Yokohama National University unveiled a fiber‑optic sensor that reads strain and displacement directly from the electrical spectrum of a photodetected signal, bypassing traditional optical spectrum analyzers. The technique employs a polymer optical‑fiber single‑mode‑multimode‑single‑mode (SMS) structure, where modal beating...
Lenovo Legion Go 2 Launches at $1,200 Amid Price‑adjustment Controversy
Lenovo released the Legion Go 2 handheld gaming device with a $1,199.99 price tag, a figure that follows a recent pricing glitch that briefly pushed the Z2 Extreme version to $3,000. The move has reignited discussion about the sustainability of premium...
DJI Launches Osmo Mobile 8P Gimbal with Pro Framing, ActiveTrack 8.0 and Apple DockKit
DJI introduced the Osmo Mobile 8P, a 386‑gram, 10‑hour battery‑powered smartphone gimbal that adds a detachable Osmo FrameTap remote, AI‑driven ActiveTrack 8.0 and native Apple DockKit support. The launch aims to cement DJI’s foothold in the consumer video‑stabilization market as...
Schlage Arrive Review: This Electronic Deadbolt Is One of the Simplest Smart Devices I’ve Ever Used
The Schlage Arrive electronic deadbolt delivers a straightforward smart‑lock experience, installing in about 20 minutes with a Phillips screwdriver and four AA batteries. It offers built‑in Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth, allowing remote lock/unlock and up to 250 programmable access codes via...
Rivian Sets 2026 Target for Point‑to‑Point Hands‑Free Navigation to Challenge Tesla FSD
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the automaker will aim to deliver point‑to‑point hands‑free navigation by the end of 2026, a direct challenge to Tesla’s Full Self‑Driving (FSD) suite. The plan includes a possible in‑house lidar effort to reduce reliance on Chinese...
Du Named as Landing Partner for Ooredoo's FIG Subsea Cable
Qatari telecom Ooredoo has appointed UAE carrier du as the landing partner for its Fiber in Gulf (FIG) subsea cable, a 720‑Tbps system spanning 1,931 km. The cable will land in Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq,...
Memory Chips Become 2026's Hottest Thematic Trade
The hottest sector trade of 2026 isn't where you think. Memory chips — the actual bottleneck of the AI buildout — quietly became the most crowded thematic trade since the 2024 spot-Bitcoin ETFs. This week proved it. Micron just had...
Intel's Apple Chip Deal Was Inevitable After U.S. Investment
$INTC making chips for $AAPL was inevitable from the day the U.S. became an investor. And here we are. 👀
California's Battery Array as Powerful as 12 Nuclear Plants
California’s grid discharged just over 12,000 MW from battery storage, matching the output of twelve large nuclear plants. The discharge covered more than 40% of the state’s electricity demand during a peak evening period in late March. This is the first...
Essential Computer Design Laws: Did I Miss Any?
My current list of "laws" governing computer design I miss any ? Rents Rule Pollacks’s Rule Amdahls Law Moores Law Dennard Scaling Bitter lesson Little’s Law Jevon’s Paradox
Astranis Secures $450 Million to Accelerate High‑Orbit Satellite Production
Astranis raised $450 million in new capital, including a $300 million Series E round and a $155 million credit facility, to scale production of geostationary and other high‑orbit satellites. The funding positions the company to serve a surge in commercial demand and multiple U.S....
Nintendo Hiking Price for Switch 2 Consoles
Nintendo announced price hikes for its Switch 2 console, raising the Canadian retail price to $679.99 CAD (about $503 USD) and the Japanese price to 59,980 yen (≈$402 USD). The increases reflect soaring memory‑chip costs, exchange‑rate pressures and recent tariff hikes. Despite the higher price,...
HII Wins Pentagon Deal for Sub Torpedo Tube UUV System
HII secured a Defense Innovation Unit contract to build a torpedo‑tube launch and recovery system that autonomously deploys and retrieves REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles from U.S. Navy submarines. The solution requires no diver support or modifications to existing submarine interfaces,...
Florida Has a New Law Regulating AI Data Centers
Florida enacted Senate Bill 484, a law that forces AI data centers operating in the state to pay for their own electricity, water and other utilities rather than passing those costs onto consumers. The legislation also allows companies to keep...
PPC Plans 34 Fast-Charging Sites in Greece and Romania
Greece’s Public Power Corporation (PPC) will roll out 106 fast and ultra‑fast electric‑vehicle chargers at 34 strategically placed sites across Greece and Romania. The deployment, part of the EU‑backed Blue Route 4E programme, is funded with up to €3.42 million (about $3.7 million)...
Tandem to File Tubeless Insulin Pump with FDA This Quarter
Tandem Diabetes Care will file a 510(k) this quarter for a tubeless version of its Mobi insulin pump, aiming for FDA clearance in the second half of 2026. The company reported Q1 revenue of $247.2 million, a 5 % year‑over‑year increase, while...
G&D KVM-over-IP Plugin for Netgear AV Simplifies Deployments
Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and Netgear AV have launched a KVM‑over‑IP plugin that automates network configuration for G&D’s KVM solutions on Netgear AV switches. The plugin applies a dedicated profile that sets VLANs, IGMP snooping, QoS and other parameters in...
L3Harris to Advance ABMS Digital Infrastructure for US Air Force
L3Harris Technologies has secured a contract to develop key components of a secure, resilient digital infrastructure for the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). The work focuses on data integration, networking, and real‑time processing to enhance command and...
Deals: Fitbit Air Pre-Order Offers, Pixel 10 Pro/XL up to $500 Off, Legion Go 2 Windows Handheld $482 Off, More
Best Buy is bundling a free Obsidian Google Active band with Fitbit Air pre‑orders, mirroring Amazon’s $35 credit. Google’s Pixel 10 lineup sees deep cuts, with the 256 GB Pixel 10 Pro XL open‑box priced at $701, nearly $500 off. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11 falls to $540...
SLC Digital Patents Multi-Signal Fingerprint Biometric Sensor Array for Smart Cards
SLC Digital has secured a U.S. patent for a graphene‑based sensor that merges optical, ultrasound and capacitive signals into a single smart‑card biometric array. The hybrid sensor records high‑resolution fingerprint ridges, three‑dimensional subsurface skin structures and electrical properties, creating a...
Semiconductor Roundup: M&A, Apple
Latest: M&A activity; GF’s CPO; Apple looks beyond TSMC; EU chip map; earnings; MIT’s new lidar chip; AI inferencing at sea; quantum HW $; PCIe 7; home data centers; AI security warnings; temperature impact on EVs... https://t.co/iKPAzMZzfB #semiEDA