The Stratosphere Race: HAPS Move From Experiment to Commercial Reality
High‑altitude platform stations (HAPS) are moving from experimental flights to commercial services. Aalto’s Zephyr has stayed aloft for 67 days and aims for 200‑day missions, while Sceye’s helium‑filled SE2 completed a 12‑day endurance test and is preparing a SoftBank‑backed connectivity demo in Japan. Major telecoms in Japan, Indonesia and other regions have invested billions to use HAPS for disaster‑resilient broadband, Earth observation and defense. Simultaneously, the U.S. Air Force and NASA are funding surveillance missions, underscoring a rapid industry shift.
Gartner Says Supply Chain Confront Geopolitical and AI Challenges
At Gartner’s Supply Chain Symposium, analyst Alejandro Santalo warned that supply‑chain leaders face a dual shock from tightening geopolitics and AI‑driven capacity constraints. He urged executives to build operational flexibility, diversify sourcing, and secure long‑term semiconductor allocations as hyperscalers reshape...
Majestic Labs Raises $100M for Memory Pooling AI Server
Majestic Labs announced a $100 million Series A round to fund its memory‑pooled AI server, which promises up to 100 TB of DRAM per accelerator—equivalent to the capacity of ten GPU racks in a single box. The design separates memory from compute, using...
Chiplets, Ecosystems, and Europe’s Post-Fab Semiconductor Strategy
Europe’s semiconductor share is projected to fall to about 6% in 2026, prompting policymakers to pivot from pure fab investment to a broader ecosystem strategy under Chips Act 2.0. The continent is betting on chiplets—modular building blocks linked by advanced packaging—to...
Vicinity Unveils “TRAVE” — AI-Native SDR Platform at 5G-ACIA Frankfurt
Vicinity Technologies introduced TRAVE, an AI‑native 5G/6G software‑defined radio platform, at the 5G‑ACIA conference in Frankfurt. Built on NXP’s i.MX 95 processor and Layerscape chips, the system offers programmable PHY/MAC, native mesh, sidelink networking, and ultra‑low latency for industrial use cases....
Intelligent, Configurable I/O: Edge Autonomy, Thermal Efficiency, and Higher Uptime in Industrial Control Systems
The paper examines how intelligent, configurable I/O is reshaping industrial control systems. By moving from fixed‑function to software‑defined channel assignment, a single I/O module can handle multiple signal types and adapt to late‑stage design changes. This flexibility reduces SKU count,...
Startup Boosts Scale-Up to 1000+ GPUs in a Single Domain
Delos Data unveiled its Nonstop AI platform, a disaggregated server design that can link more than 1,000 GPUs in a single scale‑up domain. By using nine OSFP ports per accelerator and 72 × 200 Gb/s connections per server, the system offers flexible topologies and...
LightSpeed Photonics Targets AI Data Centers With 400-Gbps Near-Packaged Optical Interconnects
LightSpeed Photonics unveiled a 400‑Gbps solderable optical transceiver that is 20× smaller, consumes about 2 W, and offers up to four times lower latency than traditional pluggable modules. The PCB‑level “light engine” eliminates long copper traces and DSP retimers, promising 50‑75%...
You May Not Know Actions Technology, But You’ve Definitely “Heard” It
Actions Technology, a Zhuhai‑based IC designer, has evolved from pioneering China’s first MP3 SoC in 2001 to supplying high‑fidelity Bluetooth and proprietary 2.4 GHz audio chips for leading global consumer‑audio brands. Its self‑developed Bluetooth stack and NGPP‑2.4G protocol achieve 9 ms latency,...
Realising the Benefits of Quality Inspection Reports
PCBWay has released 14 independent quality inspection reports generated by Centre Testing International, showcasing thermal, mechanical and electrical performance that exceeds typical industry benchmarks. The reports reveal a glass transition temperature of 169.6 °C, a coefficient of thermal expansion of 37.4 ppm/°C,...
Imec Says AI Scaling Needs More Orchestration Across Research, Design, Manufacturing
At ITF World 2026, imec CEO Patrick Vandenameele likened AI scaling to a violin that needs an orchestra, stressing that research, design, and manufacturing must operate in concert. He urged deeper collaboration among foundries, fabless firms, EDA vendors, equipment suppliers,...
Gartner Urges Supply Chain Execs to Adopt Autonomous Business Strategies
At Gartner’s Supply Chain Symposium, analyst Alan O’Keeffe urged chief supply‑chain officers to move beyond task‑level automation toward fully autonomous business operations. He highlighted that 80% of CEOs view current digital strategies as inadequate for an AI‑driven future, and that...
Scaling the Next Generation of Multi-Die Systems
The EE Times virtual conference on June 23‑24 will examine how to scale next‑generation multi‑die chiplet systems for AI workloads. Sessions focus on accelerating design flows, advanced packaging, interconnect standards and the thermal, power and yield challenges that arise at production...
When Arm Meets RISC-V: SiPearl, Semidynamics to Co-Develop Sovereign AI Platform
SiPearl and Semidynamics announced a joint effort to build Europe’s first sovereign rack‑scale AI platform, pairing SiPearl’s Arm‑based Rhea2 CPUs with Semidynamics’ RISC‑V inference accelerators. The first‑generation system will rely on DDR memory for the CPUs and full CPU‑accelerator memory...
Imec’s Patrick Vandenameele: Full-Stack Innovation Is the Name of the Game
Imec CEO Patrick Vandenameele said full‑stack, cross‑technology co‑optimization will drive semiconductor innovation over the next decade. He highlighted five shifts: angstrom‑scale system co‑optimization, silicon photonics, strategic memory, chiplet‑based edge computing, and industrial quantum computing. Imec is expanding its role with...