Foundry Set To Boom
In October 2002 UMC CEO John Hsuan projected the silicon‑foundry sector to grow over 30% in 2003, while TSMC chairman Morris Chang forecast annual growth above 20% that could persist through 2010. Both foundries were operating below capacity—UMC at 60% and TSMC at 70%—leaving room for a surge in demand. The recovery is expected to be driven primarily by Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs) outsourcing production as telecoms rebound and chip makers off‑load excess orders. Analysts, however, see the broader semiconductor market expanding more than 25% next year, outpacing Chang’s 10% estimate.
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NC Tech Talk: AI Infrastructure Concerns Shift From GPU Growth to Efficiency
Enterprises and hyperscalers are moving beyond the two‑year sprint for more GPUs as power grid constraints, rising operating costs, and under‑utilized clusters become critical bottlenecks. At NC Tech’s Tech Fest, CIO Vijay Ramanujam highlighted the mismatch between energy supply and...
ASUS Unveils ROG NUC 16 Compact Gaming PC With RTX 5080
ASUS Republic of Gamers unveiled the ROG NUC 16, a 3‑liter mini‑PC built around Intel’s Core Ultra 9 290HX processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU. The system supports up to 128 GB DDR5‑6400 RAM, 16 GB of GDDR7 graphics memory, and delivers 1,334 AI TOPS for...
ASUS Launches First ROG DDR5 Memory Kit for Enthusiast PCs
ASUS has entered the enthusiast desktop memory market with its first ROG‑branded DDR5 kit, a 48 GB (2 × 24 GB) kit rated at DDR5‑6000 and aggressive 26‑36‑36‑76 timings. The modules, manufactured by BIWIN, feature a black‑red‑gold heatsink, ARGB lighting synced via Aura Sync, and...
ONERugged Advances Smart Manufacturing with Rugged Tech
ONERugged, a specialist in rugged computing, unveiled an integrated smart manufacturing portfolio aimed at accelerating industrial digital transformation. The suite combines NFC‑enabled digital signage, fanless panel PCs, Android handheld scanners and AI‑powered laptops to deliver edge‑computing, real‑time visibility and predictive...
Best Google Pixel Phone to Buy in 2026
Google unveiled the Pixel 10 series in May 2026, covering the budget‑friendly Pixel 10 A at $499, the mid‑range Pixel 10 at $799, the high‑end Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL with advanced camera systems, and the new Pixel 10 Pro Fold. All models run Android 16, feature the Tensor G5 processor and...
Japan Power Chip Alliance Talks Slow as Rohm Resists Integration
Denso has withdrawn its bid to acquire Rohm, leaving Japan’s power‑semiconductor consolidation in limbo. Ongoing talks among Rohm, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric are stalled by concerns over joint management control and operational integration. Meanwhile Toshiba and Mitsubishi have each launched...
Blaize Bets on Rugged Edge AI Beyond the Data Center
Blaize announced a strategic partnership with rugged hardware maker Winmate to embed its AI inference chips in defense, maritime and industrial field systems. The collaboration aims for roughly $15 million in first‑year revenue and a multi‑year rollout targeting drones, vehicle‑mounted units,...
Irish Quantum Start-Up Equal1 Unveils RacQ Data Centre Computer
Irish quantum start‑up Equal1 has unveiled RacQ, a rack‑mounted silicon‑spin quantum computer built for standard 19‑inch data‑centre racks. The system combines a UnityQ quantum‑on‑chip with classical processors to deliver hybrid quantum‑classical workloads for use cases such as risk analysis, materials...
Intel Razor Lake-AX Rumored with 32 Xe3 Graphics Cores
Intel is developing a Razor Lake‑AX client SoC that could ship with up to 32 Xe³ GPU cores, a dramatic increase over current mobile iGPUs. The graphics tile is rumored to cover roughly 162.84 mm² and may be paired with on‑package...
AMD Adrenalin 26.5.1 Reportedly Triggers Radeon Zero RPM Fan Issue
AMD’s Radeon Adrenalin 26.5.1 driver is triggering a Zero RPM fan malfunction that leaves GPU fans stopped after a monitor wakes from sleep. The bug can cause the GPU to overheat, potentially leading to throttling or instability, especially in systems...
The MSI Prestige 16 AI+ Is a High-Quality Business Laptop at an Attractive Price – It's Nigh on Impossible to...
The 2026 MSI Prestige 16 AI+ upgrades to a 16‑inch OLED panel, Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, and a slimmer, lighter chassis while cutting the numeric keypad and offering lower graphics performance than the 2025 AMD model. At roughly $1,600 it delivers a...
ASUS ROG Crosshair 2006 (20th Anniversary) X870E Review
ASUS unveiled the ROG Crosshair 2006, a 20th‑anniversary motherboard that blends retro ROG styling with the flagship X870E chipset for AM5. It features a 20+2+2 phase VRM delivering 110 A per phase, PCIe Gen5 connectivity, Wi‑Fi 7, 10 GbE/5 GbE Ethernet, and support for DDR5‑9600 on...
Seoul Viosys Targets $60B AI Data Center Optical Communications Market
Seoul Viosys is positioning itself to capture a share of the projected $60 billion AI data‑center optical communications market. Leveraging its proprietary “No‑wire” and “No‑package” patents and a 5,000‑patent portfolio, the company has moved beyond VCSEL components to offer full 100 G...
Mature Nodes, Missing Links And Niche Markets
China is accelerating its mature‑node semiconductor fab capacity, growing four times faster than global demand between 2015 and 2023. The country now accounts for roughly half of new mature‑node capacity projected over the next three to five years, squeezing Japanese...
AI Chip Maker Cerebras Systems Hits $95B Valuation After IPO, Giving Its Founder a 2nd Big Win
Cerebras Systems went public, pricing shares at $185 and closing at $311, which lifts its market cap to roughly $95 billion. The IPO sold 30 million shares, raising $5.55 billion, making it the biggest U.S. tech listing since Uber in 2019. The company’s...
New 3D Memory Architecture Revives Old Camera Technology to Smash Through AI Memory Wall - NAND + DRAM Hybrid Promises...
imec has unveiled the first 3‑D charge‑coupled‑device (CCD) memory architecture, blending NAND’s density with DRAM’s speed. By stacking memory cells vertically and using IGZO material, the prototype achieves charge‑transfer rates above 4 MHz and promises lower leakage and higher endurance. The...
Cerebras Stock Nearly Doubles on Day One as AI Chipmaker Hits $100 Billion — What It Means for AI Infrastructure
Cerebras Systems went public on Nasdaq at $350 per share, nearly double its $185 IPO price, instantly achieving a $100 billion market value. The company sold 30 million shares, raising $5.55 billion, the largest U.S. tech IPO since Uber in 2019. Its wafer‑scale...
Dexcom Unveils Next-Generation G8 CGM for Real-Time Glucose Monitoring
Dexcom announced its next‑generation G8 continuous glucose monitor at Investor Day, branding it as a completely new product platform built on a novel silicon chip and adaptive algorithm. The G8 offers a 50% smaller form factor than the G7 and...
Researchers Solve Longstanding Problem in Measuring Semiconductor Defects
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and Auburn University unveiled a physics‑based framework that precisely measures atomic‑scale defects at semiconductor‑insulator interfaces. By enforcing an electrostatic consistency constraint, the method removes reliance on estimated insulator capacitance, eliminating a major source of error...
US Clears H200 Chip Sales To 10 China Firms
U.S. Commerce Department has granted export licenses to roughly ten Chinese companies—including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com—to purchase Nvidia's H200 AI chip, the company's second‑most powerful accelerator. Each approved buyer may acquire up to 75,000 units, but no shipments have...
Next-Gen Visual Detection Warning System From Brigade Combines Radar and Cameras
Brigade Electronics has launched Backsense Radar On‑Screen Display (OSD), a next‑generation visual detection warning system for construction and mining equipment. The system fuses adaptive radar with AI‑powered cameras to detect objects up to 60 metres, even in dust, darkness, or adverse...
FSR 4 Upscaling Is Finally Coming to Older Radeon GPUs, and the Image Quality Gains Are Real
AMD confirmed that its AI‑driven upscaler FSR 4.1 will roll out to Radeon RX 7000 series this summer and to RX 6000 series in early 2027. The older GPUs will run the technology using INT8 precision, which is slower than the FP8 used on...
NASA’s Next-Gen Space Processor for More Autonomous Spacecraft
NASA announced that its High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) processor entered a multi‑month test campaign at JPL in February 2026. The radiation‑hardened system, built with Microchip’s PIC64‑HPSC family, claims up to 100 × the computational capacity of legacy flight computers and...
CSA Catapult a Core Technology Partner Providing SiC Power Module for Project SONATA
The UK’s Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult has been named a core technology partner for Project SONATA, an ATI‑funded initiative to develop an on‑aircraft electric taxi system with regenerative braking. CSA Catapult will design, build and validate custom silicon‑carbide (SiC) power...
"I'm Confident Alienware Can Deliver" — A New Budget Gaming Laptop Is Here, but How Does It Compare to the...
Dell’s Alienware brand has entered the budget gaming laptop segment with the new 15‑inch Alienware 15, priced from $1,299. The model offers AMD or Intel CPUs paired with RTX 4050‑5060 GPUs, matching the core hardware of the higher‑priced 16 Aurora. The Aurora starts...
Alienware's Budget Gaming Laptop Starts at $1,299 — Last-Gen Parts and a Plastic Shell Bring the Premium Brand Into the...
Dell’s Alienware brand has launched a budget‑focused 15‑inch gaming laptop starting at $1,299, a stark price drop from its usual premium tier. The entry model pairs an AMD Ryzen 5 220 or Intel Core i5 210H CPU with an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, 16 GB DDR5...
James Bond Swaps Spy Gadgets for AI Smart Glasses in Surprising New Partnership
Even Realities announced that its AI-powered G2 smart glasses will be integrated into IO Interactive's upcoming 007 First Light video game, a collaboration that also involves Amazon MGM Studios. The G2 distinguishes itself with a low‑profile heads‑up display that delivers...
T-Global Partners with SiPearl to Launch Taiwan–France Advanced R&D Initiative
T-Global Technology has teamed with French fabless CPU designer SiPearl in a two‑year joint R&D effort to create high‑thermal‑conductivity materials and two‑phase liquid‑cooling modules for high‑performance computing chips. The project, approved under Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs “A+ Driving Industrial...
AMD Reaches 46% of Server X86 CPU Revenue — Intel Still Controls 70% of the Consumer PC Market Share
AMD posted a record quarter in Q1 2026, lifting its overall x86 CPU revenue share to 38.1% and capturing 46.2% of server‑CPU revenue. The chipmaker’s client‑CPU unit share rose to 29.6% and notebook share hit 28.3%, while its desktop share slipped...
Ondas’ Sentrycs to Present New Portable C-UAS Solution, Sentrycs Scout, at SOF Week
Ondas’ Sentrycs is unveiling Scout, a man‑carried, battery‑powered counter‑UAS system, at SOF Week in Florida. The portable solution leverages the company’s Cyber‑over‑RF (CoRF) technology to passively detect, identify, and cyber‑mitigate unauthorized drones without jamming. Scout delivers real‑time situational awareness and...
Diodes Launches PCIe 7.0 Clock Generator for AI Servers
Diodes Incorporated introduced the PI6CG33A06, a six‑output ultra‑low jitter clock generator built for PCI Express 7.0 platforms in AI servers and high‑performance data‑center equipment. The device delivers RMS jitter below 30 femtoseconds, comfortably beating the PCIe 7.0 maximum of 67 fs, and supplies stable 25 MHz...
Zackat Labs Combines Wearable Heat-Stress Monitoring and Gas Alerts on AT&T Cellular IoT
Zackat Labs has introduced the W3 wearable, a Bluetooth‑linked platform that combines physiological heat‑stress monitoring with single‑ and four‑gas detection, powered by AT&T’s cellular IoT and managed through the AT&T Control Center. The system sends real‑time alerts on temperature, fatigue...
Telit Cinterion Adds Swift Skylark Corrections to IoT GNSS and Connectivity Bundle
Telit Cinterion is now bundling Swift Navigation’s Skylark Dx precise‑positioning service with its dual‑frequency L1 + L5 GNSS modules and NExT cellular connectivity. The integrated offer delivers sub‑meter accuracy for IoT devices without requiring separate RTK infrastructure. By embedding correction data in...
Why Vision LLMs Force A Rethink Of Edge AI Hardware
Vision‑centric large language models are moving onto edge devices, demanding hardware that goes beyond raw TOPS. These models combine visual encoders with transformer‑style reasoning, creating massive memory footprints and irregular execution patterns that strain traditional CNN‑focused NPUs. Expedera’s packet‑based Origin...
SOCAMM2: Bringing LPDDR5X Benefits To AI Servers
AI data centers are hitting power limits as models grow, making memory energy use a critical bottleneck. LPDDR5X, a low‑power mobile DRAM, offers high bandwidth with substantially lower voltage, but its traditional solder‑on form hinders server scalability and serviceability. The...
Chiplets Need A New Workflow
Chiplet architectures are reshaping semiconductor development from single‑die design to a system‑level, multi‑die challenge. Engineers must adopt coordinated workflows that integrate design, packaging, verification, test, and reliability early to avoid costly failures before tape‑out. Multi‑physics analysis—thermal, mechanical, power, and signal...
Flash Getting Stacked High-Bandwidth Version
Sandisk, in partnership with SK Hynix, has unveiled a high‑bandwidth flash (HBF) memory stack that mirrors the footprint of HBM but delivers far greater capacity—up to 3 TB per 16‑die stack—and 1.6 TB/s read bandwidth. The NAND‑based architecture targets AI inference workloads, keeping...
Gates Add Functionality, But Wires Create Problems
As semiconductor nodes shrink below 2 nm, transistor performance continues to improve while interconnects become the dominant bottleneck. Wire resistance on lower metal layers has risen 100‑180%, pushing interconnect delay to 60‑80% of total chip latency and inflating power consumption. Designers...
Aptiv 8th-Generation Radar Selected by Volvo
Aptiv announced a program win with Volvo for its eighth‑generation radar platform, slated for integration into Volvo’s next‑generation vehicle lineup beginning in 2028. The radar will underpin a full suite of safety and driver‑assistance functions and will be paired with...
Best Sim Racing Wheels for Real-World Driving Action
The guide ranks the top sim‑racing wheels, from high‑end direct‑drive units like Logitech PRO and Fanatec GT DD Pro to entry‑level gear‑driven options such as Logitech G29/G923. It details torque output, platform compatibility, pedal inclusion, and unique features like OLED displays or modular...
4D Vision Platform Enhances Perimeter Monitoring
SiLC unveiled the Eyeonic Vista, a high‑resolution 4D vision platform that combines 1550‑nm FMCW LiDAR with micro‑Doppler velocity data to detect and classify objects beyond 1 km. The system delivers angular resolution as fine as 0.008°, dynamic ROI scaling, and dual‑polarization...
Apple Watch Series 11 5G Teardown
TechInsights’ teardown of the Apple Watch Series 11 5G uncovers a 64‑bit dual‑core Apple S10 system‑in‑package and Apple’s first use of a MediaTek baseband for 5G connectivity. The 15.9 × 9.12 × 0.56 mm SiP houses 1,758 pins, while the MT6815W and MT6695P chips signal a shift...
Gamers Are Wrong About 1440p vs 1080p Benchmarking?
A TechSpot article sparked a heated forum debate over whether CPU performance should be measured at 1080p or 1440p gaming resolutions. Participants argued that 1080p benchmarks often become GPU‑limited, masking true CPU differences, while 1440p results reflect real‑world gaming scenarios...
Kioxia Launches XG10 PCIe 5.0 Client SSD
Kioxia has introduced the XG10, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 client SSD that delivers up to 14 GB/s sequential reads and 12 GB/s writes, with random I/O performance reaching 2 million read and 1.6 million write IOPS. The drive uses TLC flash, offering capacities from 512 GB...
Imec Demonstrates the First 3D Implementation of a Charge Coupled Device for AI Memory Applications
Imec unveiled the first 3‑D charge‑coupled device (CCD) memory with an IGZO channel at the 2026 IEEE International Memory Workshop. The prototype uses a three‑word‑line stack and 80‑120 nm vertical holes, achieving charge‑transfer speeds above 4 MHz and moving a few thousand...
IC-Link by Imec Joins TSMC 3DFabric® Alliance to Accelerate Advanced Packaging and 3D IC Innovation
IC‑Link by imec has become a member of TSMC’s 3DFabric Alliance within the Open Innovation Platform, giving it direct access to TSMC’s 2.5D/3D silicon stacking and advanced packaging technologies such as SoIC, CoWoS and InFO. The partnership expands IC‑Link’s ASIC...
How Bluetooth® Technology Is Powering Productivity at Scale
Industrial firms will invest $224.7 billion in digital transformation in 2026, driven by labor shortages, cost pressures, and tighter compliance. Bluetooth SIG highlights how Bluetooth’s low‑power, high‑density connectivity is enabling real‑time asset tracking, predictive maintenance, and safer human‑machine interfaces across factories...
Netmore, Green Frog and Sensational Systems Target UK Smart Gas Metering With Managed LoRaWAN Offering
Netmore Group, Green Frog Asset Management, and Sensational Systems have teamed up to launch a managed smart‑gas‑metering solution for UK industrial and commercial utilities. The partnership combines Netmore’s LoRaWAN network, Green Frog’s analytics platform, and Sensational Systems’ device‑integration expertise to...
Native-Color Rev8 Lidar From Ouster Targets Level 4 AV Development
Ouster announced that its Rev8 OS family of digital lidar sensors is now qualified for Nvidia's Drive Hyperion platform, a key step toward Level 4 autonomous vehicle development. The Rev8 line introduces the world’s first native‑color lidar and the OS1 Max model,...