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
Toyota's CUE7 Humanoid Robot Scores AI-Powered Free Throw at Tokyo Arena
Toyota demonstrated its CUE7 humanoid robot at Toyota Arena Tokyo, where the 7‑foot‑2, 163‑lb machine made an autonomous free‑throw shot before a crowd of 8,400. The robot relies on reinforcement‑learning AI, a shift from the scripted control that powered earlier CUE models, and points to broader manufacturing automation ambitions.
Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC Ramp Up AI‑Chip Investments as 2026 Competition Heats
Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are intensifying their battle for AI‑chip dominance in 2026, each committing massive capital to advanced logic and high‑bandwidth memory. Samsung announced a $73 billion capex plan, SK Hynix leads the HBM market with...
Astronaut Christina Koch Captures Earthshine on iPhone From Orion 54,500 Km Away
NASA astronaut Christina Koch recorded a striking Earthshine video on an iPhone aboard the Orion capsule during Artemis II’s second flight day, when the spacecraft was about 54,500 km from Earth. The footage, shared by NASA, underscores how consumer smartphones are becoming...
Roundhill Memory ETF Hits $1 B AUM in Just 10 Trading Days
Roundhill Investments' newly launched DRAM ETF amassed over $1 billion in assets under management in just ten trading days after its April 2 debut. The rapid inflow reflects intense investor appetite for memory‑chip exposure amid a supply crunch tied to AI growth.
Grid-Forming Inverters Feature in 74% of Australia’s 33.2GW NEM Battery Storage Pipeline
Around 74% of battery projects in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) now feature grid‑forming inverters, a technology that can independently control voltage and frequency. The NEM battery storage pipeline surged to 33.2 GW in Q1 2026, a 62% increase from the previous...
SpaceX Wins $57 Million U.S. Military Contract to Demo Satellite Crosslink Tech
SpaceX secured a $57 million contract from the Space Systems Command to demonstrate Link-182 satellite‑to‑satellite communications, a key step toward the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile‑defense architecture. The award, due for completion by April 2027, marks a deepening partnership between the commercial launch...
Arm Unveils AGI CPU, a 3nm Processor Targeting Agentic AI Workloads
Arm announced its first in‑house AGI CPU, a 3‑nanometer chip built on the Armv9.2‑A architecture with up to 136 Neoverse V3 cores. The processor is designed to orchestrate AI agents in data centers, delivering more than double the performance per...
Check Battery Health and Optimize Samsung Phone Settings
Does your @Samsung Galaxy S phone seem to have lost most of its battery capacity? It might be the apps you have or your configuration. Here's how to test your battery health and the easiest changes to maximize battery life......
Form Energy CEO on the Potential for a 100-Hour Battery
Form Energy CEO Mateo Jaramillo highlighted the strategic value of a 100‑hour iron‑air battery, a duration that can replace or compete with thermal generators on the grid. The company is rolling out its first overseas project in Ireland and recently...
Woz Reflects on Millionth Gold Apple II Milestone
#ThrowbackThursday. April 16, 1977. The Apple ][ was first introduced. A young Steve Wozniak recounting the one millionth Apple ][ computer which was gold. https://t.co/2UDZdSE186
HDMI FRL Support Achieved With Open-Source Nouveau For NVIDIA GPUs
The open‑source Nouveau driver for NVIDIA GPUs now supports HDMI 2.1 Fixed Rate Link (FRL), enabling higher refresh rates and resolutions on Linux systems. The implementation leverages the GPU System Processor (GSP) firmware, which handles most of the FRL workload, allowing...
T‑Mobile Teams with DoorDash for Same‑Day 5G Home Internet Delivery
T‑Mobile has begun offering same‑day delivery of its 5G Home Internet gateway through DoorDash, letting customers receive equipment within hours at no extra charge. The service, priced at $35 per month, targets users who prefer a quick, self‑install solution over...
Samsung Workers March 40,000 Strong Over Pay Gap, Threaten 18‑Day Strike
Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers gathered at the Pyeongtaek chip complex, demanding larger bonuses and a 7% base‑salary hike to close a pay gap with rival SK Hynix. The union has warned of an 18‑day strike starting May...
Nintendo Sued Over Trump‑Era Tariff Refunds and Switch Price Hikes
Nintendo of America is confronting a proposed class‑action lawsuit in Washington state, accusing the company of retaining government tariff refunds while it raised Switch prices by $5‑$10 during the 2025‑26 Trump‑era tariffs. Plaintiffs seek restitution for buyers who paid inflated...
UBS Raises Alphabet Target to $375 on Cloud, AI Chip Momentum
UBS lifted its price target for Alphabet to $375 from $348, driven by accelerating Google Cloud revenue, the rollout of its eighth‑generation TPU chips and steady search advertising performance. The Swiss bank kept a neutral rating, signaling that while the...
Are CCD Memories Coming Back?
Researchers at imec are reviving charge‑coupled device (CCD) memory by adapting the 3D NAND "Punch & Plug" process. By stacking three‑to‑four‑transistor CCD cells vertically and using an IGZO channel, the new design could become denser and cheaper than DRAM, whose capacitor scaling...
AI‑gadgets Platform Era Secures $11 Million to Grow Its Developer Ecosystem
Era, the AI‑gadgets software platform founded by Liz Dorman, Alex Ollman and Megan Gole, closed an $11 million round led by Abstract Ventures and BoxGroup. The money will fund a broader developer kit, more LLM integrations and a push into open‑source...
Xanadu Quantum Shares Surge 22% to $28 as Photonic Computing Hype Accelerates
Xanadu Quantum Technologies (NASDAQ: XNDU) surged 22.5% to $28.06 on April 22, spurred by renewed investor enthusiasm for its room‑temperature photonic qubits and a wave of strategic partnerships. The rally follows a $302 million SPAC financing and ongoing talks for up...
XAI’s Grok Chatbot Faces Repeated Outages as User Demand Surges
Elon Musk’s xAI has seen its Grok chatbot suffer multiple outages throughout 2026, with “high demand” errors and hours‑long downtime as traffic spikes. The disruptions, reported on X, Reddit and Downdetector, underscore the difficulty of scaling a multimodal AI service...
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan: ‘This Is A Fundamentally Different Company Today’
Intel reported first‑quarter revenue of $13.6 billion, up 7 percent YoY, driven by a 22 percent surge in its data‑center business amid AI demand. CEO Lip‑Bu Tan credited organizational cuts, a refreshed leadership team, and a stronger balance sheet for the earnings beat...
Fox ESS Ranks No. 1 Globally in Residential Energy Storage
Fox ESS was ranked No. 1 worldwide for residential energy‑storage shipments in 2025, according to S&P Global’s Market Tracker. The company’s global market share jumped 50 % year‑over‑year, putting it ahead in Germany and the UK. Headcount doubled to over 5,000 employees, with...
Intel’s Q1 Dip Overblown; Real Turnaround Underway
Intel’s Q1 sell-off was way overblown. They posted $600M in FCF, TSMC just partnered on 18A, and the foundry is ramping. Q2 might be messy, but the turnaround is real. You don’t sell that for pennies. Semiconductors
TSMC Releases New Roadmap, Rolls Out A13 Process
At its North America Technology Symposium, TSMC unveiled a roadmap extending to 2029, highlighting new process nodes such as N2, A12 and the flagship A13. The A13 node is a 6% area‑shrunk version of A14, marking the most advanced technology...
Satellite Smartphone Messaging Is Changing Search and Rescue. But Can You Trust Your Life to It?
Smartphone manufacturers now embed satellite SOS messaging, letting hikers send emergency texts without cellular coverage. Apple iPhone 14 and newer tap Globalstar, while Google Pixel 9/10 use Skylo, and carriers such as Verizon and T‑Mobile support select Android models. Colorado...
Samsung Brings Ikea Smart Home Support to Its Platform, With One Important Caveat
Samsung announced that its SmartThings platform will now natively support Ikea’s line of Matter‑compatible smart‑home devices, eliminating the need for Ikea’s $110 Dirigera hub. Around 25 Ikea products—including plugs, sensors, and bulbs—can be managed through any compatible SmartThings hub. However,...
Mobileye’s Q1 Shows EyeQ, SuperVision Surge
Mobileye’s Q1 2026 call is out—EyeQ shipments and SuperVision growth are the big stories this quarter. Industry shifts are real, but Mobileye’s staying in the fast lane. 🚗💨 SelfDriving
Carbon Nanotube Wiring Gets Closer to Competing with Copper
Researchers in Spain have doped bulk double‑walled carbon‑nanotube fibers with tetrachloroaluminate, boosting their electrical conductivity up to ten times the undoped baseline and reaching about 70% of aluminum’s conductivity, roughly half of copper’s. The doped fibers retain their lightweight nature,...
Intel’s Data Center Revenue Grows 22 Percent Amid Pent-Up AI Demand
Intel reported a 22% year‑over‑year jump in data‑center revenue, reaching $5.1 billion in Q1 2026, which helped lift total quarterly revenue to $13.6 billion—well above analysts' $12.4 billion forecast. The strong performance sparked a more than 14% surge in the stock during after‑hours...
CPU Demand Surges; Intel Sees Strong Data Center Growth
Agentic workloads are increasing demand for CPUs, $INTC CEO said data center CPU demand remains strong and foundry improvements are running well ahead of schedule. Im so bullish $AMD
1977 West Coast Computer Faire: Apple’s Debut Captured
#ThrowbackThursday. April 16, 1977. The First West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco's Brooks Civic Auditorium was held. The Apple Computer was released. This footage is the movie version from 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'. https://t.co/CEnRkUQd8U
Why the Real Quantum Race Is Shifting From Hardware to Software
The quantum computing narrative is moving from a hardware‑centric race to a software‑driven era, highlighted by IBM's recent investments in quantum software startups. While qubit counts and stability remain important, the industry is now focusing on real‑world applications that unlock...
At Scale, H100 GPUs Fail Hourly Despite
Using the following data, the mean time between failures for a single GPU is 5.8 years. "419 unexpected interruptions over 54 days on 16,384 H100s" If you have 50k GPUs, that's one per hour. If you have 2.1k GPUs, that's one per day.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum Launched, Sparking UK Home Computing Boom
#ThisDayInTechHistory. April 23, 1982. The Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer was released in the UK. https://t.co/JbZxpol1M5
Why Refurbished Garmin Watches Might Be the Best Option for Runners
Refurbished Garmin watches are emerging as a cost‑effective alternative for serious runners who value proven reliability over the latest bells and whistles. Major retailers like Amazon now sell certified‑refurbished Forerunner, Fenix and Instinct models that have been inspected for GPS...
NVIDIA Blackwell Architecture Solves Complex Quantum Chemistry Structures
NVIDIA’s new Blackwell GPU architecture, paired with a mixed‑precision implementation of the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) method, has successfully modeled two of the most demanding quantum‑chemical systems—FeMoco, a key fertilizer catalyst, and cytochrome P450, a vital liver enzyme. The breakthrough...
Texas Instruments Shares Surge 9% After Q1 Earnings Beat and Upbeat Guidance
Texas Instruments (TXN) reported first‑quarter revenue of $4.8 billion, a 19% year‑over‑year rise, and earnings per share of $1.68, beating expectations. The chipmaker also lifted its 2026 revenue guidance to $5.0‑$5.4 billion, prompting the stock to climb about 9% in after‑hours trading.
Why Chip Sovereignty Is No Longer About Chips—But Systems
Governments are still spending tens of billions on semiconductor fabs, but AI is reshaping where value is created. Industry leaders say the competitive edge now lies in integrated systems that combine GPUs, CPUs, accelerators, memory, storage and software, not just...
Tesla to Spend $2 B on AI‑Hardware Acquisition and Leverage Intel 14A for Terafab Chips
Tesla disclosed a $2 billion stock‑and‑equity deal to acquire an undisclosed AI‑hardware firm and confirmed it will build its next‑gen Terafab chips on Intel’s 14A node. The moves underscore Musk’s aggressive shift toward in‑house silicon to power autonomous vehicles, robotics and...
Sony WH-1000XM6 Beats Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 in $300 Price‑Performance Clash
Sony's WH-1000XM6 headphones, priced at $450, are pitted against Bowers & Wilkins' premium Px8 S2 at $800 in a ZDNet review that argues the $300 price gap hinges on noise‑cancellation strength versus high‑end build. The analysis also references budget alternatives...
Intel's Server CPU TAM Set to Quadruple by 2030
Definitely glad I never gave up on $INTC. Still execution milestones to watch, but as we anticipate the server CPU TAM to from ~$25b this year to ~$95b in our base case in 2030 it's greenfield dollar expansion. ...
Tesla’s $25 B AI and Robotics Bet Triggers Stock Volatility and Higher CapEx
Tesla disclosed a $25 billion capital‑expenditure plan for AI software, chips and robotics, sending its shares down nearly 3% after an initial rally. The spending surge, driven by the Terafab chip fab and Optimus robot production, raises questions about cash flow...
Non‑Linear Resonance Turns Quartz Sensor Into Single‑Particle Detector
Scientists from Ewha Womans University, Korea University and the Kavli Institute have demonstrated that a commercial quartz crystal microbalance can detect single micro‑ and nanoparticles by driving it into a non‑linear regime, achieving a detection limit of roughly 100 femtograms....
Intel's CPU Surge Powers Sixth Straight Guidance Beat
Ah the mighty agentic CPU surge. Good for $INTC. Solid beat, guidance is great, six consecutive quarters of beating guidance.
Intel Showcases Wildcat Lake Reference Laptop with Aluminum Chassis and Fanless Design
Intel unveiled a reference laptop built on its new Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake" silicon, featuring a six‑core 2P+4LPE CPU, integrated Xe graphics, a 17 TOPS NPU and 16 GB soldered RAM in an aluminum chassis. The design offers both a 17 W PL1/22 W...
Track Smarter, Not Harder: Save 25% on Samsung’s High-Performance Smartwatch
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 is now priced at $188.67, a 25% discount off its $249.99 list price. The device packs a 3 nm processor, a 3‑in‑1 BioActive sensor suite, and AI‑driven health insights, positioning it as a premium fitness wearable. Its durability...
I Just Wanted Endpoints
The author highlights a missing orchestration layer—dubbed Layer 2C or the Reasoning Plane—between AI hardware and inference endpoints. On a single NVIDIA DGX Spark, they manually juggle vLLM and Ollama containers, deciding model placement, memory swaps, and runtime selection. At cloud...
Oklo Shares Surge 9% After AI Partnership with NVIDIA and Los Alamos
Oklo Inc. (OKLO) climbed 9.12% to $79.01 on Thursday after unveiling a collaboration with NVIDIA and Los Alamos National Laboratory to fuse nuclear power with AI-driven modeling. The deal aims to create nuclear‑powered AI factories and accelerate fuel validation, positioning...
1965 Zenith N514G: Banged Up, but Still Appealing
A 1965 Zenith N514G clock radio was rescued from a $5 clearance bin and restored to near‑original condition. The author documented the radio’s cosmetic flaws—peeling silver trim, cracked clock bezel, yellowed knobs—and the cramped interior that required custom wire extensions...
3D Bio-Hybrid Device Merges Neurons and Computing
Princeton researchers have built a three‑dimensional bio‑hybrid device that integrates living neurons with a flexible metal‑mesh electrode array. The scaffold lets tens of thousands of brain cells grow through the mesh, enabling chronic recording and stimulation for more than six...
Humble Emerges With $24M Seed Round
San Francisco‑based startup Humble has emerged from stealth with a fully autonomous, electric Class 8 hauler designed for cost‑efficient freight transport. The company announced a $24 million seed round, led by Eclipse and joined by Energy Impact Partners and other investors. Humble’s...