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
Unusual Machines, 6K Energy, CRG Defense, SES AI Take Steps to Be NDAA Compliant
The U.S. Department of Defense is accelerating domestic drone production with a $53.6 billion budget and tighter NDAA restrictions on foreign components. Companies such as SES AI, 6K Energy, CRG Defense, and Unusual Machines are taking compliance steps, from converting a Korean battery plant to NDAA‑approved standards to signing long‑term domestic cathode supply deals and pre‑purchasing materials. These actions align with President Trump’s June 2025 executive order and a proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget that earmarks $16.9 billion for unmanned‑systems procurement. The initiatives aim to secure the supply chain, reduce reliance on China and Russia, and scale U.S. drone capabilities.

Upset About the DJI Drone Ban in the US? Here’s How You Can Speak Out Today
The FCC placed DJI on its Covered List, effectively banning the sale of new DJI drones—including the flagship Mavic 4 Pro—in the United States. DJI has announced an appeal slated for February 2026 and is urging U.S. drone operators to submit comments through...
Taiwan’s Manufacturing PMI Hits 60.3% as AI‑Driven Chip Demand Tightens Supply
Taiwan’s manufacturing purchasing managers index climbed to 60.3% in April 2026, marking a seventh straight month of expansion and the strongest reading since September 2021. The surge reflects soaring AI‑driven semiconductor demand that is tightening supply across the island’s factories....

LOOP 3D Teases Production-Focused Upgrade
LOOP 3D unveiled the LOOP PRO X+ TURBO Gen2, a production‑focused upgrade to its large‑format FFF printer. The Gen2 promises high‑speed, batch manufacturing of fibre‑reinforced parts, citing a drone body printed in just 30 minutes. It retains the 500 × 350 × 500 mm build...

Silicon Oscillators Solve Computer Problems that Would Take Thousands of Years Using Semiconductors
A KAIST research team has built an oscillatory Ising machine entirely from conventional silicon transistors, demonstrating that combinatorial optimization problems like Max‑Cut can be solved at room temperature. By implementing both oscillators and couplers with single‑transistor devices, the system achieves...
MaxLinear Unveils Panther V AI Inference Accelerator at Dell Tech World
MaxLinear announced the debut of Panther V, its next‑generation AI inference accelerator, at Dell Technologies World 2026. The chip targets data‑movement bottlenecks in large‑scale inference clusters and taps an estimated $5 billion market for purpose‑built silicon accelerators.
Micron Tops $700 B Market Cap After Debut of 245TB SSD
Micron Technology’s stock surged 11% on Tuesday, pushing its market capitalization above $700 billion for the first time. The rally follows the company’s rollout of a 245‑terabyte SSD, the highest‑capacity drive on the market, and reflects accelerating demand for memory in...
Why AI Data Centers Need a New Model for Quality, Security, and Governance
AI and cloud computing are driving massive data‑center expansion, with hyperscalers planning hundreds of new facilities. Traditional designs built for fixed power and periodic risk assessments cannot handle accelerator‑dense, dynamic AI workloads, leading to higher outage risk. The fragmented security...
GlobalFoundries Reports Double‑digit Q1 Growth and Oversubscribed SiGe Capacity Through 2027
GlobalFoundries announced double‑digit percentage growth in automotive, communications infrastructure and data‑center markets for Q1 2026, and warned that its silicon‑germanium (SiGe) capacity at the Vermont fab is already oversubscribed through 2027. The company also previewed its Investor Day on May...
New Buying Guide Walks You Through Choosing a Fitness Tracker
We're trying out new stuff with our buying guides. Here's how I actually guide people through picking a fitness tracker in person....but in written form. https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/924338/best-fitness-trackers-2026

Ending the Telecom Spreadsheet Era with Lightyear
Lightyear, a telecom‑focused AI platform, replaces manual spreadsheet‑driven billing with an operating‑system‑style solution. Using large language models, it extracts data from any invoice, maps charges to a live network inventory, and automatically flags overcharges, ghost circuits, and contract‑rate variances. The...
Stretching Diamond Lattice by 4% Unlocks Tunable Quantum Sensors
Researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Yangzhou University announced that stretching a diamond lattice by roughly 4% reshapes silicon‑vacancy (SiV) color centers, turning them into precise, strain‑responsive quantum sensors. The finding, detailed in a May 3 study,...
AQT's LYNX Series Sets European Quantum Volume Record at 32,768
AQT announced the launch of its LYNX rack‑mounted ion‑trap system, which achieved a quantum volume of 32,768 – the highest ever recorded for a European‑built quantum computer and the second‑highest globally. The milestone showcases the scalability of trapped‑ion technology for...
INCITE Program Awards Supercomputing Time to 77 High-Impact Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science has allocated 60% of its leadership‑class supercomputing capacity to 77 high‑impact research projects for 2026 through the INCITE program. The awards cover the exascale Frontier system at Oak Ridge, the Aurora AI‑focused...
Nouveau Vs. NVIDIA R595 Linux Driver For Workstation Graphics Performance
Phoronix benchmarked the open‑source Nouveau driver stack against NVIDIA’s proprietary R595 driver on an HP Z6 G5 A workstation equipped with an RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max‑Q GPU. Using Linux 7.0, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, Mesa 26.2‑devel and the NVIDIA 595.58.03 driver, the tests focused on workstation compute and...
PolyJoule’s 3rd-Gen Conductive Polymer Battery Self-Extinguishes at 3,600 °F and Delivers 10,000+ Cycles
PolyJoule unveiled its third‑generation conductive polymer battery, a large‑format prismatic cell that uses a proprietary polymer cathode and liquid‑salt electrolyte. In a UL 9540A test, the cell self‑extinguished when exposed to a propane torch at roughly 3,600 °F (1,982 °C), proving it...

InfiMotion’s Magnesium-Aluminum Alloy Dual Motor Assembly Claims 25% Weight Reduction over Aluminum
InfiMotion unveiled at the 5th International Forum on Automotive Power Systems in Shanghai a dual‑motor assembly built with a magnesium‑aluminum alloy housing. The alloy reduces system weight by roughly 25 % compared with conventional aluminum while preserving production‑grade hardness. The unit...
U.S. Inverter Market Faces Policy, Supply Headwinds Despite Safe Harbor Pipeline
Intertek CEA projects U.S. inverter demand to grow 6% annually through 2028, but developers confront tighter regulations under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules and new cybersecurity mandates. Tariffs on imported inverters can reach...
Nvidia, Manufacturer To Build 3 U.S. Plants To Support Data Centers
Nvidia has teamed with Corning to construct three new manufacturing plants in North Carolina and Texas, aimed at scaling U.S. production of optical connectivity and fiber for data centers. The facilities will boost Corning's domestic capacity tenfold for connectivity equipment...
UWB: Why Angle-of-Arrival Positioning Hinges on Antenna Isolation
Ultra‑wideband (UWB) is transitioning from research labs to mainstream products, driven by the IEEE 802.15.4z standard and smartphone integration. While time‑of‑flight ranging provides ~10 cm accuracy, manufacturers are shifting to angle‑of‑arrival (AoA) techniques to reduce anchor density and enable new use...

Could This New Alert System Prevent Work Zone Deaths?
Researchers at Morgan State University have created “Bear Alerts,” a multi‑sensory wearable that uses LIDAR, edge computing and AI to warn highway workers of approaching vehicles up to 400 feet away. In a six‑day pilot near the campus, the system recorded...
Morse Micro Selects Gateworks as the First Global Design House Partner
Morse Micro announced Gateworks as the inaugural partner in its Design House Partner Program, a global effort to fast‑track production‑ready Wi‑Fi HaLow solutions. Gateworks, known for rugged embedded hardware made in the United States, will provide M.2 cards and development...

C-Suites Want Concrete Quantum Use-Cases, Not Hype
Research from QuEra Computing shows a clear pivot in enterprise quantum spending: executives now demand concrete proof of value before committing capital. While 44% of firms plan to increase quantum budgets, a larger 46% expect flat spending, and 10% anticipate...
The App Store for Robots Has Arrived: Hugging Face Launches Open-Source Reachy Mini App Store with 200+ Apps
Today Hugging Face unveiled an app store for its low‑cost Reachy Mini robot, offering more than 200 community‑built applications that can be downloaded for free. Since its July 2025 launch, the $299 desktop robot has sold roughly 10,000 units, with...

Edge Computing Powers Real‑Time AI Performance
AI doesn’t fail because of bad models—it fails because of where it runs. Real operations need ultra-low latency and real-time decisions. With Edge Control from T-Mobile for Business, data is processed at the edge for faster, more secure performance. Managed through T-Platform, a...

Munters Launches Speria Brand as Early Deployments Deliver Measurable Gains in Livestock Performance
Munters FoodTech has launched Speria, a unified climate‑control, sensor, and analytics brand for livestock operations. Early deployments using the Sonar IoT platform have delivered measurable improvements, including double‑digit gains in feed conversion efficiency, lower mortality, and reduced emissions. The system...

546 Two-Qubit Gates Enable Reliable Molecular Energy Calculation
Quantinuum researchers chained 546 two‑qubit gates in a single trapped‑ion computation, integrating Steane quantum error‑correction gadgets directly into quantum phase‑estimation circuits. The approach yielded a ground‑state energy estimate for molecular hydrogen within 13 hartree of the exact value, demonstrating a...

Allied Vision EoSens Camera Captures the Physics of Metal 3D Printing at 20,000 Frames per Second
Allied Vision’s EoSens 3CL high‑speed camera captured laser powder‑bed fusion (LPBF) events at 20,000 fps, detecting spatter signatures that correlate with subsurface porosity. Researchers at KU Leuven demonstrated that spatter count and velocity measured in real time match keyhole porosity identified by...
Everything You Need to Know About Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft
Airbus is developing uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft (UCCA), also known as loyal wingmen, to operate alongside crewed fighters such as the Eurofighter. The first operational capability is slated for the German Air Force by 2029, using the Kratos XQ‑58A Valkyrie...

Raytheon Receives Largest Ever SharpSight Radar Order
Raytheon, an RTX business, landed its biggest SharpSight radar contract to date – 120 units ordered by Blue Raven for global resale and distribution. The partnership lets Raytheon bulk‑produce the platform‑agnostic surveillance radar while Blue Raven leverages its international network...

Valve Releases Full External Specifications for 'Steam Deck' Accessory Manufacturing
Valve has published the full external specifications for its Steam Deck handheld and Dock, including STL and STP CAD files, to enable third‑party accessory creation. The move follows a launch‑day sell‑out that highlighted strong consumer demand. While personal printing and non‑commercial...

INIT to Roll Out 25,000 Contactless Account-Based Validators for Sydney
German firm INIT secured a contract to upgrade Transport for NSW’s Opal ticketing system to an account‑based, cloud‑managed platform, deploying 25,000 contactless validators across Sydney’s buses, trains, light rail, metro and ferries. The Opal 2.0 rollout will store fare balances in...

Corning to Supply Passive Photonics for Inside‑Box SiPh
$GLW moving inside the box. I maintain that Corning becomes a key "co-design" partner for optical as SiPH really starts to ramp in 2028. But those conversations are happening now. "historically, we've had no inside the box content...

Kempower Launches Mega Satellite Flex with CCS and MCS Charging Support at ACT Expo
Kempower unveiled the Mega Satellite Flex, a high‑power charging dispenser that supports both CCS and MCS standards for heavy‑duty electric vehicles. The unit can deliver up to 560 kW via CCS and 1.2 MW via MCS, with 5 m and 2.7 m cable reaches...
Container‑Sized Chip Fabs Offer Affordable Specialty Manufacturing
Okay this is genuinely cool: there's a startup selling shipping-container-sized chip fabs for $5–15M that can train a semiconductor workforce and compete on price with major foundries for specialty applications. started because an MIT grad student was sick of using...
Corning Boosts US Optical Capacity Tenfold for AI Demand
"Corning will increase its U.S.-based optical connectivity manufacturing capacity by 10x and expand its U.S. fiber production capacity by more than 50% to meet the accelerating demand driven by AI factory buildouts." https://t.co/VX9jOQr1Bg

The Quiet Layer Keeping the Chip Boom Alive
The semiconductor surge now hinges on keeping fab tools running flawlessly, not just building new fabs. Singapore‑based Global TechSolutions (GTS) refurbishes and upgrades front‑end equipment to OEM‑equivalent performance, cutting downtime and protecting shipment schedules. Its regional footprint across Singapore, Malaysia,...
Chipmakers Deploy AI to Consolidate Embedded Dashboard Data
Chipmakers are starting to use AI to manage data that is mined from different “dashboards,” many of which are already embedded in chips and systems and used to monitor everything from thermal gradients to voltage droop. https://t.co/zk6dbLIn9l #semiconductor #dashboards

CPU Market Set to Quadruple by 2030
We are tracking this as well going forward. This is the view of the pre-agentic CPU era, and when the CPU TAM is ~$25B. This may look very different as the TAM goes north of $100B in 2030....

U.S. Army Expands eBee VISION Fleet with New European Purchase
EagleNXT, through German integrator Dronivo, delivered three eBee VISION unmanned‑air system kits to the U.S. Army's 7th Army Training Command, bringing the service's total inventory to 34 units across six organizations. The platform, a hand‑launched fixed‑wing drone, offers up to...
NY Gets First Private Tesla Supercharger in Northeast
New York is about to get its first-ever privately owned Supercharger site. First such in Northeast US! It's built by EVIO Charging, which is dedicated to build out more Tesla-powered sites. EVwire is first to charge to the scene as always, read...
Hyperscaling Compute: Biggest Historical Bet, Risking Failure
Am I right that hyperscaling compute is the biggest bet in history? Any counter examples? It’s way more expensive than the Manhattan Project, the Apollo project, and railways across the US. If it doesn’t yield AGI, it may also be the...

Chip Fab-in-a-Box Could Democratize Semiconductors
InchFab, founded by MIT alumnus Mitchell Hsing, sells container‑size clean‑room systems priced between $5 million and $15 million. By scaling down to 4‑inch (100 mm) wafers, the startup shrinks traditional fab equipment, delivering a full suite of processes—including lithography, etch, and deposition—while accepting...
AI Data Centers Will Match US Residential Power by 2030
The global AI data center industry will consume as much power as residential electricity across 2/3 of the United States by 2030 (950 TWh). We're literally building a parallel electrical civilization — except this one thinks faster and never sleeps.

Quantum and AI Will Co‑lead, Not Compete
I congratulated @jaygambetta on Quantum making it from no show to some show to 1/3 agenda point of the Think keynote - and asked when it will be #1. He answers he doesn't foresee Quantum to overtake AI. Its going...
Twisting Atom Thin Materials Reveals New Way to Save Computing Energy
A KTH-led study published in Nano Letters shows that twisting two atom‑thin van der Waals antiferromagnet layers creates strong altermagnetic magnons, enabling magnetic‑based information transfer without electric currents or external magnetic fields. The approach leverages twist engineering to alter crystal...

Bosch Rexroth to Showcase Smarter, Faster, and Best-in-Class Automation Solutions at Automate 2026
Bosch Rexroth will exhibit its full factory‑automation portfolio at Automate 2026 in Chicago, booth #2810, from June 22‑25. The showcase includes the new TS 7plus conveyor, capable of handling payloads up to 3,000 kg, and the ctrlX AUTOMATION suite featuring cabinet‑free ctrlX DRIVE, ctrlX CORE, and the high‑speed...

Corning's Optics Will Dominate GPU Rack Interconnects
$GLW having a presentation on optics. This slide.. Everywhere you see yellow you see Corning. "And when we add the optical scale up network to interconnect all the switches in every GPU rack, well we add a lot...

Top Quantum Hardware Companies 2026 By Modality
The 2026 quantum‑hardware landscape is organized around six modalities, each dominated by a handful of commercial vendors. Superconducting platforms, led by IBM’s 1,121‑qubit system, hold the highest qubit counts, while trapped‑ion firms such as Quantinuum deliver the best gate fidelities...
New Wi-Fi 7 Network Installed at University of Florida Stadium
Extreme Networks has installed the United States' first collegiate stadium Wi‑Fi 7 network at the University of Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The system delivers ultra‑fast gigabit speeds, sub‑10‑millisecond latency, and the capacity to handle tens of thousands of simultaneous connections. Coverage spans...