Canadian Listings of Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Indicate Near-$1000 US Pricing
Canadian retailers ShopRBC and PC‑Canada have posted early listings for AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, pricing the chip at CAD $1,374‑$1,375, which converts to roughly USD $990. The listings suggest AMD will set a $999 MSRP when the processor launches on April 22, 2026. The 16‑core, 32‑thread socket‑AM5 part features two Zen 5 chiplets with 3D V‑Cache, delivering a combined 192 MB L3 cache and a 200 W TDP. This makes it AMD’s costliest consumer‑grade desktop CPU to date, excluding Threadripper HEDT models.
$2 WeAct CH32V006F8U6 Mini Core Board Features CH32V006 RISC-V MCU, Supports 3.3V or 5V I/O Voltage
Chinese manufacturer WCH’s CH32V006 RISC‑V microcontroller, launched in 2024, powers the new $2 WeAct CH32V006F8U6 Mini Core development board. The board features a 48 MHz 32‑bit RISC‑V2C core, 8 KB SRAM, 62 KB flash, USB‑C power, and selectable 3.3 V or 5 V I/O via...
Intel Pulls the Plug on XeSS Support in Unity Game Engine
Intel abruptly discontinued its official XeSS plugin for the Unity game engine, removing support for frame generation, temporal super‑sampling, and antialiasing. This follows the release of Intel's XeSS 3.0 SDK only a month earlier, which introduced multi‑frame generation and shared...
Week 14, 2026
The semiconductor industry is riding a multi‑year AI‑driven expansion, with February 2026 sales growth, record 300 mm fab equipment spending, and a $360 billion Foundry 2.0 outlook. At the same time, upstream material shortages—particularly helium, naphtha, tungsten, and sulfur—are exposing new supply‑chain vulnerabilities....
Silicon Photonics Market and Technology Report 2026
The Silicon Photonics Market and Technology Report 2026 highlights rapid growth in datacenter optical interconnects driven by AI workloads and the shift toward co‑packaged optics. It outlines a projected market size of roughly $12 billion by 2026, driven by expanding foundry...
Intel Intros New 16-Core Panther Lake CPU with Capable Arc B390 iGPU
Intel announced the Core Ultra X9 378H, a 16‑core Panther Lake processor that mirrors the X7 368H’s architecture but caps its turbo at 5 GHz, slightly below the X9 388H’s 5.1 GHz. It retains the Intel Arc B390 integrated GPU while stripping enterprise‑grade features such as vPro, AMT, and...
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[OFC 2026] Part 1 of 5: 300mm SiPh Foundry: Who Is Actually Ready?
At OFC 2026, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and NVIDIA each presented seven conference papers detailing their progress toward 300 mm silicon‑photonic (SiPh) foundry capabilities. The analysis highlights that the competition has moved beyond pure device performance to a broader contest of system‑level integration...
[OFC 2026] Part 1 of 5: 300mm SiPh Foundry: Who Is Actually Ready?
The OFC 2026 conference showcased seven papers from Samsung, GlobalFoundries and NVIDIA that dissect the state of 300 mm silicon‑photonic (SiPh) foundries. While the headline race to 200 Gbit/s per wavelength still dominates headlines, the papers reveal that success now hinges on...
NVIDIA's Neural Texture Compression Cuts VRAM Use From 6.5 GB to 970 MB
NVIDIA unveiled Neural Texture Compression (NTC), an AI‑driven method that slashes GPU VRAM usage by up to seven times. In a GTC 2026 demo, the technology compressed a 6.5 GB texture set to just 970 MB while preserving visual fidelity. NTC replaces traditional...
Linux 7.1 To Expose AMD Zen 6's AVX-512 BMM For Guest VMs
The Linux 7.1 kernel will include a patch that exposes AMD Zen 6’s new AVX‑512 Bit Matrix Multiply (BMM) instructions to KVM virtual machines. Zen 6’s ISA adds BMM and bit‑reversal operations, confirmed by recent Binutils, GCC and LLVM updates. The KVM patch...
The Latest News In Lithography
The U.S. Congress introduced the MATCH Act to tighten export controls on critical semiconductor manufacturing equipment, targeting entity‑based loopholes and allied asymmetry. Meanwhile, the Blue‑X consortium announced a shift to 3.1nm wavelength lithography, aiming to demonstrate a micro‑exposure tool within...
Intel Linux NPU Driver 1.32 Adds Wildcat Lake Support
Intel has launched Linux NPU Driver 1.32, adding official support for the upcoming Wildcat Lake platform in Core Ultra processors. The new driver mirrors the earlier IVPU kernel driver update, delivering user‑space components that interface with the accelerator hardware. It also drops the...
Modder Gets Intel Core 9 273PQE "Bartlett Lake" To Boot Windows 11 on Z790 Motherboard
A modder has successfully booted Intel’s Core 9 273PQE “Bartlett Lake” processor on a standard Z790 motherboard. The 12‑core, 24‑thread chip, originally sold only to industrial OEMs and lacking official BIOS support, previously stopped at POST. By modifying the motherboard firmware, the...
Intel Reportedly Planning Another CPU Price Increase in May Amid Massive Demand
Intel is preparing a third CPU price increase in May, following 10‑15% hikes in February and a further 15% rise in March. The cumulative adjustment aims for roughly a 30% premium over 2025 pricing and will affect both Core Ultra...
GMKtec Launches NucBox K17 Mini PC with Intel Core Ultra 5 226V
GMKtec unveiled the NucBox K17, a 127.5 mm square mini PC powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 5 226V Lunar Lake processor built on a 3 nm TSMC node. The system delivers 97 TOPS of AI compute across CPU, Arc 130V iGPU and a dedicated NPU,...
🍪 TWiC: Samsung SiPho, Mobile Demand, Nvidia+Marvell, Intel Fab, Claude Leak, ++
Samsung unveiled its SiPho Foundry platform, marrying high‑bandwidth memory with silicon photonics on a 300 mm wafer, positioning it as a turnkey alternative to TSMC. Meanwhile, memory‑driven cost pressures forced MediaTek and Qualcomm to slash 4 nm mobile chip shipments by 15‑20 million...
Snapdragon X2's Adreno X2-85 GPU Sees Driver Improvements For Linux 7.1
Rob Clark submitted a batch of MSM DRM driver changes for the upcoming Linux 7.1 merge window, targeting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 laptop SoC. The updates bring preemption support, SKU detection with speed‑bin tables, and error fixes to the Adreno X2‑85 GPU, while the...
Realtek RTL8159 10GbE to USB 3.2 Adapters Sell for About $55 and Up
Realtek's RTL8159 10 GbE‑to‑USB 3.2 adapters have entered the market at prices ranging from roughly $45 to $80, making multi‑gigabit Ethernet accessible for laptops and small‑form‑factor PCs. The WisdPi WP‑UT9 retails for $79 (about $87 shipped to the US), while the XikeStor...
GigaIO Sells SuperNODE and FabreX AI Fabric to D-Matrix
GigaIO announced the sale of its SuperNODE platform and patented FabreX PCIe Gen 5 AI fabric to low‑latency inference specialist d‑Matrix. The deal concludes a year‑long partnership that integrated d‑Matrix’s Corsair accelerators into SuperNODE, creating the industry’s most scalable inference node. Along...
Cohu Announces $30M Follow-On Orders for High Performance Computing Test
Cohu announced two customers placed follow‑on orders worth $30 million for its Eclipse platform with active thermal control, targeting next‑generation high‑performance computing (HPC) processors. The deals include a PAICe Prescriptive software subscription valued at roughly $330 K in annual fees, aimed at...
The Epoch Brief - March 2026
Epoch AI’s March 2026 brief highlights three new Data Insights, including a 4.1× annual rise in AI chip memory bandwidth now at 70 million TB/s, and reveals that advanced packaging and high‑bandwidth memory, not logic dies, constrained chip production in 2025. A...
AMD Details Upcoming Zen 6 PQOS Extensions: Advanced Bandwidth and Privilege Controls
AMD released a technical document outlining three new PQOS ISA extensions for its upcoming Zen 6 microarchitecture: Global Bandwidth Enforcement (GLBE), Global Slow Bandwidth Enforcement (GLSBE) and Privilege‑Level Zero Association (PLZA). GLBE lets system software set L3 cache external bandwidth caps...
Silicon Catalyst and Microelectronics US 2026
Silicon Catalyst has been named the exclusive strategic partner for the Microelectronics US 2026 conference in Austin, Texas. The two‑day event, scheduled for April 22‑23, will bring together more than 3,000 engineers, investors, and policymakers to discuss semiconductor design, AI hardware, advanced...
(PR) Solidigm Expands Sacramento Development, Fueling Global AI Leadership
Solidigm announced it has exceeded its original $100 million investment target in Greater Sacramento, now committing roughly $175 million to its Rancho Cordova headquarters and R&D campus. The company poured $75 million into a new NAND lab, added close to 100 NAND development tools,...
(PR) IBM Announces Strategic Collaboration with Arm
IBM announced a strategic collaboration with Arm to create dual‑architecture hardware aimed at enterprise AI and data‑intensive workloads. The partnership leverages IBM’s end‑to‑end system design expertise and Arm’s low‑power, scalable IP. IBM will integrate its Telum II processor and Spyre accelerator...
Nuvoton NuMicro M3331 Cortex-M33 MCU Features Built-In ARGB LED Controller, Optional USB 2.0 OTG Interface
Nuvoton has launched the NuMicro M3331 series of 32‑bit Cortex‑M33 microcontrollers running at 180 MHz, featuring a built‑in ARGB LED controller and an optional high‑speed USB 2.0 OTG interface on the M3334 variant. The devices offer up to 512 KB flash, 320 KB SRAM,...
Webinar – How to Reclaim Margin in Advanced Nodes
The ClockEdge webinar highlighted a hidden crisis in sub‑5 nm chip design: excessive guard‑banding caused by modeling uncertainty, which can strip 25‑35% of the clock period and cut performance‑per‑area (PPA) by up to 35%. Dave Johnson explained the “abstraction tax” and...
AMD Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT Fall Below MSRP in Germany
AMD’s RDNA 4‑based Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT have finally slipped below their European MSRP in Germany, with the ASUS Prime RX 9070 OC selling for €539 against a €629 list price and the ASRock RX 9070 XT Challenger at €640 versus €689. The price...
Mekotronics R57-5S – Rockchip RK3576 Mini PC and Digital Player Integrates Inclined 5-Inch Touchscreen Display
Mekotronics introduced the R57-5S, a Rockchip RK3576‑based mini PC with an integrated 5‑inch inclined touchscreen aimed at kiosk and digital‑signage markets. The device offers up to 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM, up to 1 TB UFS storage, dual GbE, Wi‑Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, optional 4G...
Intel Core Ultra 400HX "Nova Lake" Mobile Processor Core Configurations Surface
Intel unveiled two core configurations for its upcoming Core Ultra 400HX “Nova Lake‑HX” mobile processor, targeting high‑end gaming laptops and portable workstations. The flagship SKU packs 8 performance‑core Coyote Cove P‑cores, 16 Arctic Wolf efficiency cores and 4 low‑power island...
Musk’s Terafab: Is It Real Or Not?
Elon Musk unveiled a joint Tesla‑SpaceX semiconductor fab, dubbed Terafab, slated for Austin, Texas with an estimated $20‑$25 billion investment. The plant would integrate logic, memory, and radiation‑hard chip production, targeting a 2nm process and on‑site packaging. No concrete timeline was...
Intel Delivers Open, Scalable AI Performance in MLPerf Inference v6.0
Intel’s latest MLPerf Inference v6.0 results highlight its Xeon 6 CPUs paired with Arc Pro B70/B65 GPUs delivering open, scalable AI performance across workstations, data‑center, and edge workloads. A four‑GPU B70 configuration offers 128 GB of VRAM and can run 120‑billion‑parameter models, achieving...
(PR) AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs Surpass 1M Tokens/Sec in MLPerf 6.0
AMD announced that its Instinct MI355X GPUs have broken the 1 million‑tokens‑per‑second barrier in the MLPerf Inference 6.0 benchmark, delivering up to 3.1× higher throughput than the prior MI325X. The GPUs, built on the 3 nm CDNA 4 architecture with FP4/FP6 support and up...
Alchip’s Leadership in ASIC Innovation: Advancing Toward 2nm Semiconductor Technology
Alchip Technologies announced a dedicated 2nm ASIC design platform and completed a successful 2nm test‑chip tape‑out featuring its AP‑Link‑3D interface. The platform supports 2.5D and 3D chiplet integration, enabling high‑performance, power‑efficient silicon for AI and high‑performance computing workloads. By adopting...
(PR) SEMI Projects Double-Digit Growth in Global 300 Mm Fab Equipment Spending for 2026 and 2027
SEMI’s latest 300 mm Fab Outlook projects worldwide fab equipment spending to jump 18% to $133 billion in 2026 and 14% to $151 billion in 2027, marking the first time the market exceeds $150 billion. The surge is driven by exploding AI chip demand...
Evaluating Memory Hog Cycles in the AI Era
The article revisits the classic memory‑hog cycle—where surging demand fuels price spikes, capacity expands, and oversupply triggers crashes—through the lens of today’s AI boom. It highlights that AI accelerators now consume roughly 70% of high‑end DRAM, pushing memory prices up...
(PR) Intel to Repurchase 49% Equity Interest in Ireland Fab Joint Venture
Intel announced it will repurchase the 49% equity interest in the Fab 34 joint venture in Ireland from Apollo for $14.2 billion. The stake was originally sold to Apollo‑managed funds in 2024 for $11.2 billion, giving Intel equity‑like capital while preserving balance‑sheet strength....
CapEx Up for Foundry, Memory
Semiconductor Intelligence projects total industry capital spending to reach $200 billion in 2026, a 20% rise from 2025 and outpacing market growth. TSMC remains the largest spender, targeting $52‑$56 billion, while most other foundries stay flat except GlobalFoundries’ 70% increase. Elon Musk’s...
(PR) NVIDIA Invests $2 Billion in Marvell and Expanded NVLink Fusion Partnership
NVIDIA announced a $2 billion investment in Marvell Technology and an expanded NVLink Fusion partnership. The deal links Marvell’s silicon to NVIDIA’s AI factory and AI‑RAN ecosystem, giving customers broader options for next‑generation infrastructure. Both companies will also co‑develop silicon‑photonic solutions....
Raspberry Pi Announces More Price Hikes, 3 GB Raspberry Pi 4 SKU
Raspberry Pi announced another price increase after a seven‑fold rise in LPDDR4 DRAM costs, affecting all 4 GB and larger models of the Pi 4 and Pi 5. Prices for these SKUs will climb between $25 and $100, pushing the 16 GB Pi 5 to...
(PR) ASUS Announces UGen300 USB AI Accelerator
ASUS unveiled the UGen300 USB AI Accelerator, its first AI‑focused USB device powered by Hailo’s 10H processor delivering 40 AI TOPS. The compact 105 × 50 × 18 mm module packs 8 GB of LPDDR4 memory and draws only 2.5 W via a USB‑C interface. It offers plug‑and‑play compatibility...
(PR) AI Compute Demand Drives 44% YoY Growth for Top 10 Global Fabless IC Firms in 2025
AI compute demand propelled the top ten global fabless IC designers to $359.4 billion in 2025, a 44 % year‑over‑year increase. NVIDIA led the pack with $205.7 billion revenue, accounting for 57 % of the group’s total, while Broadcom rose to second place thanks...
Revolutionary New DDR Standards Expected
The article reviews the historical scaling limits of DDR DRAM and highlights that DDR5 now supports only one DIMM per channel, a trend that may continue with DDR6. Industry insiders speculate that DDR7 could eliminate DIMMs entirely, dramatically reducing bus...
Telink TL3228 – Low-Power, Low-Latency Dual-Core RISC-V Wireless MCU Supports Bluetooth 6.0, 802.15.4, and 2.4 GHz Proprietary
Telink introduced the TL3228, the first chip in its TL322x wireless MCU family, featuring a 192 MHz dual‑core RISC‑V processor and support for Bluetooth 6.0, Matter, Thread, Zigbee, RF4CE, and a proprietary 2.4 GHz radio. The MCU offers up to 6 Mbps data rates,...
POET Technologies Q4 2025: Reading Past the Headline Loss
POET Technologies reported a Q4 2025 net loss of $42.7 million on $341 k revenue, yet its stock jumped 16.9% to $5.94 after the release. The loss was dominated by a $30.6 million non‑cash fair‑value adjustment on CAD‑denominated warrants and a $6.85 million accounting...
RISC-V Now! — Where Specification Meets Scale!
RISC‑V Now! is a Silicon Valley conference designed to turn the open RISC‑V instruction set architecture into shipped products at scale. The event attracted roughly 600 semiconductor professionals from more than 250 companies, including industry giants such as Apple, Google,...
Toradex OSM and Lino SoMs – 30×30mm NXP i.MX 93/i.MX 91 Modules with Solder-Down or B2B Connector Designs
Toradex introduced two ultra‑compact 30 × 30 mm System‑on‑Module families, OSM and Lino, built around NXP i.MX 91 and i.MX 93 processors for edge industrial and IoT use cases. OSM follows the OSM Size‑S standard with a 332‑ball LGA that is soldered directly to a...
Intel Announces The "Optimization Zone"
Intel unveiled the Optimization Zone, a GitHub‑hosted repository that consolidates performance tuning guides and best‑practice recipes for Intel data‑center hardware. The hub currently includes optimization recipes for workloads such as Apache Kafka, Cassandra, Redis, and Spark, and provides BIOS tunables,...
T-Display-P4 Smartphone-Like Devkit Features ESP32-P4 MCU, ESP32-C6 Wireless SoC, and SX1262/LR2021 LoRa Transceiver
LILYGO has launched the T‑Display‑P4, a smartphone‑sized development kit that pairs the new ESP32‑P4 RISC‑V MCU with an ESP32‑C6 Wi‑Fi 6/BT 5.x module and optional SX1262 or LR2021 LoRa transceiver. The board offers a 4‑inch TFT or AMOLED screen, 2 MP camera, 32 MB...
Week 13, 2026
The semiconductor and AI ecosystem is entering a phase defined by efficiency gains, massive infrastructure scaling, and strategic localization. This week’s highlights include Gartner’s forecast of a sharp decline in large‑language‑model inference costs, NVIDIA’s dual‑model AI stack, and Google’s near‑lossless...