Today's Semiconductors Pulse
AMD CEO says AI boom revives focus on CPUs
AMD CEO Lisa Su said the rapid expansion of AI workloads is refocusing attention on central processing units. AMD also announced it will invest more than $10 billion in Taiwan’s ecosystem to accelerate AI infrastructure deployment.
Lattice Wins 2026 AI Excellence Award for Edge AI
Lattice Semiconductor was named a 2026 AI Excellence Award winner by Business Intelligence Group, recognizing its Edge AI solution built with NVIDIA. The award highlights the combined Lattice CertusPro‑NX Sensor‑to‑Ethernet Bridge board and NVIDIA Holoscan Sensor Bridge, delivering a full‑stack platform for real‑time data capture and processing at the edge. The accolade underscores Lattice’s leadership in FPGA‑based edge AI and its strategic partnership with NVIDIA. The company points readers to its product pages for deeper technical details.
ADI Rolls Out A²B 2.0 for Automotive Audio with Higher Bandwidth
Analog Devices announced that its A²B 2.0 automotive audio bus has entered full production. The new version boosts bandwidth to 98.3 Mbps in full‑duplex mode while keeping latency around 62 µs. It adds Ethernet tunneling via an OASPI interface and remains compatible with...
Tim Cook Warns About 'Significantly Higher Memory Costs' From June — and Not Surprisingly, Mac Fans Think Price Hikes Are...
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook warned that memory‑chip prices will rise sharply in the June quarter, putting pressure on Mac pricing. The company’s existing RAM inventory is depleting, forcing Apple to consider cost‑pass‑through options. Strong demand for AI‑focused Macs such as...
Altera Updates FPGA AI Suite for Edge AI Deployment
Altera has launched FPGA AI Suite 26.1.1, a major upgrade that adds a spatial‑mapping compiler to its AI software platform. The new compiler translates neural networks directly onto FPGA fabric, delivering ASIC‑like inference speed while preserving the re‑programmability of FPGAs....
Intel Making More GPU Driver Improvements For Crescent Island With Linux 7.2
Intel is advancing driver support for its upcoming Crescent Island Xe3P GPU, a 160 GB‑vRAM inference‑optimized card aimed at enterprise AI workloads. Open‑source engineers have added system‑controller firmware support, OA performance‑monitoring tweaks, GT tuning fixes, and HWMON energy attributes to the...
AMD Secures Multi‑GW AI Chip Deals with OpenAI and Meta, Targets 60% Data‑Center Growth
AMD announced that its AI accelerator chips will be deployed in large volumes for OpenAI and Meta, representing several gigawatts of silicon and a multibillion‑dollar revenue runway. Management projects more than 60% annualized growth in its data‑center business over the...
S27 Base/Plus Split CPUs, Pro/Ultra Snapdragon‑Only
Galaxy S27 series Base and Plus: Exynos and Snapdragon mix Pro and Ultra: Snapdragon Exclusive
TSMC N2 May Be Delayed, No Adoption Yet
Has anyone asked TSMC whether N2 is delayed? Please note that TSMC excels at incremental improvements. But TSMC N2 is not incremental. It is a major leap from FinFET to GAA/nanosheet. We know that customers such as Bitmain and AMD were expected...
Latest Issue of Semiconductor Today Now Available
Semiconductor Today released its April 2026 issue, a free monthly magazine covering the latest advances in compound semiconductors and advanced silicon materials. The issue features articles on gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, nitrides, silicon carbide, silicon‑germanium and related devices, including nano‑ridge lasers...
Advantech Brings Agentic AI to Jetson Thor Edge Platforms
Advantech unveiled its MIC‑AI series, a family of edge platforms built on NVIDIA Jetson Thor modules that can run generative and agentic AI workloads directly in factories and autonomous machines. The lineup includes MIC‑743, MIC‑742, MIC‑741 systems and MIB‑741, MIB‑742...
Broadcom Launches Wi-Fi 8 and 10G PON Chips to Boost Fiber Broadband Business for Operators
Broadcom unveiled its fourth‑generation Wi‑Fi 8 chipsets together with the BCM68565 10‑Gbps PON gateway SoC, targeting service providers in competitive, ARPU‑tight broadband markets. The integrated platform supports XGS‑PON, GPON and Active Ethernet while consolidating dual‑band Wi‑Fi 8 radios into a single silicon...
Silicon Starts It; Devices Finish the Complex Journey
#Technology #Thread #Semiconductor #Manufacturing #Silicon The Semiconductor Silicon Productization: 1/ - Silicon Is The Beginning. The Product Is The Outcome. - From A Raw Wafer To A Connected Device, The Journey Is Long, Complex, And Rarely Understood Outside The Industry.
IPhone Chip Shortage Limits Supply Flexibility, Says Cook
Apple $AAPL CEO Tim Cook just said on a Reuters interview: "iPhone still faces supply constraints from advanced node chips; supply chain is currently offering a little less flexibility to get more components"
Taiwan Launches National Quantum Initiative, Unites 18 Companies
Taiwan's Ministry of Science unveiled a national quantum initiative that brings 18 domestic firms under a coordinated program. The move aims to leverage the island's semiconductor expertise to secure a foothold in the emerging quantum computing market.
Athos Silicon Shifts Strategy for Autonomous Driving Chip
Enjoyed my visit to Athos Silicon a short while back - thanks Charnjiv and François for explaining the change in strategy for your autonomous driving chip: https://t.co/RvcUKRnGF7
Western Digital and Sandisk Crush Wall Street Forecasts on Soaring AI Demand, but Stocks Fall
Western Digital and SanDisk posted spectacular earnings as AI‑driven demand lifted memory prices. Western Digital posted Q3 adjusted EPS of $2.72, 45% revenue growth to $3.34 billion, beating forecasts, while SanDisk reported EPS of $23.41 and revenue of $5.95 billion, up 251%...
Diversion and Resale: Estimating Compute Smuggling to China
Epoch AI’s new report estimates that between 290,000 and 1.6 million Nvidia H100‑equivalent chips were smuggled into China by the end of 2025, with a median of 660,000 chips – roughly 3% of the world’s AI compute stockpile. The analysis draws...
QuantumDiamonds Deploys Tool at Taiwanese Test House
QuantumDiamonds GmbH has deployed its QDm.1 quantum‑sensing system at Integrated Service Technology (iST) in Hsinchu, Taiwan, marking the first Asian installation of the technology. The system provides non‑destructive, high‑resolution 3D imaging of current pathways in advanced chip architectures, including 2.5D/3D...
The Power Market: Three Applications, One Ecosystem
IDTechEx projects the global power electronics market to surpass $65 billion by 2036, driven by a 10% CAGR fueled primarily by data‑center expansion and electric‑vehicle (EV) adoption. Silicon IGBTs remain prevalent, but wide‑bandgap (WBG) devices—especially SiC MOSFETs—are set to dominate EV...
X-FAB Q1 Shows Strong Wide-Bandgap Growth
X‑FAB reported Q1 2026 revenue of $195.6 million, a modest 4% YoY decline, while its wide‑bandgap segment surged. SiC wafer shipments jumped 195% YoY to 14,300 units and wide‑bandgap revenue rose 152% YoY to $15.1 million. Microsystems achieved an all‑time‑high $33.7 million, up 42%...
Low Noise Amplifier, PE2-15-5R06R0-3R5-21-12-SFF
Planar Monolithics (PMI) introduced the PE2-15-5R06R0-3R5-21-12-SFF, a low‑noise amplifier (LNA) operating from 5 to 6 GHz for military and industrial use. The device delivers 15 dB of gain with a tight gain flatness of ±0.5 dB and a typical noise figure of 3.5 dB,...
Qualcomm Beats Q2 2026 Forecast, CFO Highlights R&D Spend and Automotive Surge
Qualcomm reported Q2 2026 revenue of $10.6 billion and non‑GAAP EPS of $2.65, surpassing analyst expectations. CFO Akash Palkhiwala emphasized a bottoming of handset shipments in China and outlined a $2.6 billion operating expense target, while the company returned $3.7 billion to shareholders...
Google to Sell TPU Chips as Gemini Shows Returns
Alphabet announced it will begin selling its custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to a limited set of customers who will install the chips in their own data centers, shifting from its previous model of renting TPU capacity. The change was...
Solving the EDA Tool Fragmentation Crisis
The Calibre Connectivity Interface (CCI) converts LVS verification data into a universal, queryable database, allowing diverse EDA tools to share accurate design information without manual translation. By tapping the Standard Verification Database, CCI feeds parasitic extraction, power‑integrity, electromagnetic, and soft‑error...
Continuous Lamination Unlocks Stable Production of Large-Area Flexible Circuit Boards
Researchers at Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials have unveiled a roll‑to‑roll (R2R) direct lamination process that enables continuous, large‑area production of flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs). By systematically mapping how semi‑cured adhesive films fill circuit gaps under varying speed...
Apple Share of the Smartphone SoC Market Grew From 15% to 19% in Q1
Global smartphone system‑on‑chip shipments fell 8% YoY in Q1 2026, yet Apple’s share rose from 15% to 19%, reflecting strong demand for its premium devices. Counterpoint Research notes the premium segment stayed resilient while entry‑level makers shifted to cheaper chips....
Athos Scraps Multi-Vendor Roadmap, Plans Chiplet Tape-Out
Athos Silicon, the functional‑safety chiplet startup spun out of Mercedes‑Benz, has abandoned its original multi‑vendor chiplet roadmap after Arm’s acquisition of DreamBig. The company will now tape‑out a single, purpose‑built chiplet that integrates third‑party CPU, GPU and NPU IP while...
Brain-Inspired Chip Could Reduce AI Energy Use by 70%
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have unveiled a hafnium‑oxide memristor that switches via an internal electronic interface rather than filament formation, promising ultra‑low power operation. The device achieves switching currents as low as 10⁻¹¹ A and energy consumption in the...
Asian Tech Stocks Rise as Oil Hits $125 Barrel, Bonds Slip
Asian technology equities rallied on strong earnings as Brent crude surged past $125 a barrel, sending bond yields tumbling. The mixed market reaction highlighted a risk‑on tilt despite central banks’ hawkish signals.
Shin‑Etsu's Naphtha Shortage Signals Chip Supply Risk
“Japan’s largest chemical company, Shin-Etsu Chemical, has withheld its full-year forecast,citing supply constraints on naphtha-derived products due to the war. Shin-Etsu, which also makes silicon wafers for semiconductors, says it’s difficult to “reasonably predict” performance for the fiscal year. Its...
GaN Ka-Band QFN Packaged Power Amplifier: NPQ2107-SM
Nxbeam has launched the NPQ2107‑SM, a GaN Ka‑Band power amplifier packaged in a QFN form factor. The device operates from 27.5 GHz to 31 GHz, delivering 17 W saturated output, 29% power‑added efficiency and 22 dB linear gain. In linear mode it supplies over...
Fast Load Transient - FLT 150A
The Fast Load Transient (FLT) 150A from Noffz is a high‑performance load‑step instrument built for next‑generation power‑management IC validation. It achieves up to 150 A/µs slew rates with 200 ns pulse resolution, leveraging an FPGA‑based architecture for nanosecond‑level determinism. Integrated measurement hardware includes...
Samsung Surprises on Phone Front as Chip Prices Drive Record Profit
Samsung shipped 65.4 million smartphones in Q1, an 8% year‑over‑year rise that kept it ahead of Apple’s 60.4 million units. Global handset shipments grew only 1% as vendors front‑loaded inventory, creating a looming overhang. Samsung’s Device Solutions division drove record Q1 revenue...
Chip‑scale EPR Achieved by Ultra‑fast Optical Frequency Sweep
What happens when you shrink EPR onto a chip and sweep 1400 THz/s instead of the magnet field itself? https://spectrum.ieee.org/epr-spectroscopy-free-radicals-chip?share_id=9416801
Samsung and SK Hynix Warn AI-Driven Memory Shortages Could Last Until 2027 and Beyond, as HBM Demand Explodes — Customers...
Samsung and SK Hynix warned that AI‑driven memory shortages, especially for high‑bandwidth memory (HBM), could persist through 2027 and beyond. Customers are already reserving supply years in advance, reflecting record‑low fulfillment rates. The shortage is spilling into the broader DRAM...
AI Policy Contradicts Itself: Exporting Chips, Declaring Danger
I can understand a plan to treat AI as a "normal" technology and let Nvidia export powerful chips to China. And I can understand a plan to treat AI as an "abnormal" technology that compels the govt to stop private companies...
NVIDIA Phases Out Several Jetson Modules Due to High LPDDR4 RAM Prices and Tight Supplies
NVIDIA is accelerating the end‑of‑life of several Jetson modules that use LPDDR4 memory, including the TX2 NX, TX2i, AGX Xavier, and Xavier NX families. The move follows tightening global DRAM supplies and rising LPDDR4 prices, prompting a non‑cancelable, non‑returnable (NCNR) order policy effective...
Intel and AMD Form X86 Ecosystem Advisory Group
Intel and AMD announced the formation of an X86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, bringing together a slate of industry heavyweights such as Broadcom, Dell, Google, HP, HPE, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, Epic Games and the Linux Foundation. The group’s charter...
MediaTek's ASIC Revenue Set to Outpace Entire Company
My custom ASIC market report is holding well on things I outlined for MediaTek as an opportunity. Revenue projections for MTK in 2028 just for custom ASIC could be more than total company revenue FY 2025. MediaTek trekking...
Amazon's Annapurna Labs Generates $20 B Annual Revenue
The Annapurna Labs chip business at Amazon has an annualized revenue run rate of $20 billion. Amazing. $AMZN https://t.co/OyNTQiE8DO
SNDK Highlights Predictable, Less Cyclical Business Model
$SNDK prepared remarks. "More predictable and less cyclical business." True for memory names as well. https://t.co/7oBUPr0Itp
Memory and Storage Firms Enjoy Soaring Gross Margins
The continued era of margin expansion for memory and storage players. $SNDK gross margin 78.4% $WDC gross margin 50.2%
ASML: The World's Most Crucial Semiconductor Machine
legit useful video on ASML in its role in semiconductor manufacturing. Lots of history and diagrams. Worth bookmarking The World's Most Important Machine https://t.co/FSmuVRMNg2
Intel Expands Into Three Quantum Computing Modalities
This is significant news. Intel now has their toes in three types of quantum computing modalities, to varying degrees: - Silicon spin - Neutral atoms - Photonics
QCOM’s Datacenter Bet Wins on Market Size Alone
The early call that $QCOM datacenter would work. Market size alone guaranteed it. Doesn’t have to be better than $NVDA. Needs a useful agentic / inference part and it will sell. 🚀
AI Boom Drives Micron’s 400% Surge, Funding From Cloud Giants
Mag7+ORCL, now sending 30-35% of their operating cash flow to Micron (and other memory players). Since Q3 2024 - The AI Revolution Micron MU +400% Gold GLD +74% Meta META +0% Microsoft MSFT +0% Oracle ORCL -3% Bloomberg data. https://t.co/O623tjuPGf
AI Agents Face Fragmented Toolchain Complexity
Current approaches involve multiple tools, vendors, designs, data formats, and abstractions. Can agents really use them all? https://t.co/wgm7kMJxmX #semiEDA #AgenticAI #HLS #RTL #semiconductor
Qualcomm Shares Surge 19% on AI‑focused Earnings Beat
.@Qualcomm stock is up 19% on earnings beat, and datacenter & AI expectations. Qualcomm CEO spoke to @jonfortt on CNBC moments ago. ‘Agent driven devices ‘ will need more CPU, says @cristianoamon, Qualcomm CEO. I will argue that we have...
Elite Success Breeds Isolation and Forgotten Fundamentals
✍️ Longform links: what the hyper-rich forget, how modern chip making works, and the lonely life of elite chess grandmasters. https://t.co/3HqOLRAZ4F chart: https://t.co/06hhHlEeKo https://t.co/G7TGJjxS5e
Training on GPUs, ASICs Remain Perpetual Promise
"Is training on GPUS but planning to" use [insert any ASICs here] is the state of play Ad Infinitum