Topic: semiconductor manufacturing
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iPhone Prices Set to Rise: What You Need to Know
Apple iPhone prices are set to rise significantly due to "chipflation," a permanent shift driven by an unprecedented shortage in DRAM and NAND flash memory supply. This scarcity has reversed decades of cost declines, with component costs for smartphones increasing by over 300 percent in recent qu...
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iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra Leak Ahead of Apple Event
The upcoming foldable "iPhone Ultra" is expected to face significant supply constraints at launch, likely causing long waits or stiff competition for early buyers. The iPhone 18 Pro's A20 Pro chip will deliver up to 18% better performance and 30% improved power efficiency over the A19 Pro, thanks...
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AI whack-a-mole: Discovered Materials hunts cooler chips
Discovered Materials, a Y Combinator alum, raised a $9 million seed round led by Lightspeed India Partners to use AI agents for discovering novel semiconductor materials that address AI-driven chip overheating. The startup differentiates itself by focusing exclusively on thermal limitations, scre...
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SpaceX's Terafab opts for natural gas over Tesla solar
SpaceX will build natural gas power plants with large battery arrays to power its Terafab semiconductor facility in Texas, marking a shift away from renewable energy with no mention of solar power despite Tesla's partnership. The project, located in Grimes County, benefits from a 100% tax abateme...
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Quantum computing roundup: More tech breakthroughs emerge
Quantum computing scalability is the key debate, with different systems like atoms, ions, and quantum dots competing, though some technologies have thousands of qubits while others still operate with just a handful. Quantum dots for qubits can be fabricated using traditional semiconductor manufac...
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CXMT surges 466% on debut, becomes China's most valuable onshore firm
CXMT, a Chinese DRAM chipmaker, surged 466% on its Shanghai trading debut, reaching a valuation of 3.28 trillion yuan ($485 billion) and becoming the most valuable publicly traded company on China’s onshore market. The company specializes in DRAM memory chips, a key component in smartphones and d...
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Why Fear the GPU?
GPUs, originally designed for graphics rendering, have become the foundation of modern AI, enabling parallel processing that powers neural network training and inference in massive data centers worldwide. The manufacturing and operation of GPUs raise significant ethical and environmental concerns...
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Chinese AI Lab Builds Giant Data Center Without Nvidia Chips
Z.AI (formerly Zhipu) has begun operating a massive new data center powered entirely by domestically produced processors, avoiding U.S.-made chips like Nvidia's GPUs. This move signals a strategic shift in China's tech sector toward long-term independence from foreign hardware, despite the gap in...
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Intel Invests $5.7 Billion in Xeon Chip Production in Ireland
Intel announced a $5.7 billion investment to expand Xeon chip production at its Leixlip campus in Ireland. Instead of building a new plant, the company will upgrade existing fabs with cutting-edge equipment and an expanded automated wafer transport system. This strategy aims to boost output effic...
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Europe's €91M Diamond Microscope Bet: The Next ASML?
QuantumDiamonds, a Munich-based startup, has secured €91 million in funding under the European Chips Act to commercialize diamond-based quantum sensors for advanced chip inspection. The technology uses diamond quantum sensors to detect atomic-level defects in silicon wafers faster and more precis...
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EU-Backed QuantumDiamonds Aims to Speed Up Chip Manufacturing
QuantumDiamonds, a German startup, has secured €76 million in EU Chips Act funding and €15 million in equity to build a Munich facility for semiconductor testing equipment, aiming to accelerate chip manufacturing. The company’s quantum sensing technology can detect chip defects through all layers...
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iPhone 18 Pro Logic Board Reveals Larger A20 Pro Die & Next-Gen 5G Modem
The iPhone 18 Pro logic board leak reveals Apple’s first 2nm A20 Pro chip with Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module Packaging for better heat dissipation, a larger Neural Engine for AI tasks, and possible support for 96-bit LPDDR6 memory, though this remains unconfirmed. The board shows a dual-modem str...
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Tata Electronics confirms data leak after cyberattack
Tata Electronics confirmed a cybersecurity attack on some IT systems weeks ago, but stated its manufacturing operations, including Apple iPhone production, remain fully operational and unaffected. The World Leaks threat group, a rebrand of the Hunters International ransomware group, claimed respo...
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TSMC struggles to meet surging AI chip demand
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei acknowledged the company is struggling to meet surging demand for AI semiconductors from U.S. clients, stating they are working to avoid becoming a bottleneck. The chip supply strain extends beyond TSMC, with the AI boom causing a severe shortage of RAM and NAND Flash memory tha...
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EU tech package limits US cloud, launches Chips Act 2.0
The European Commission's new "tech sovereignty package" includes the "Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA)" , which establishes four tiers of sovereignty for public-sector cloud use to reduce reliance on US providers by requiring structural independence from foreign legal jurisdictions like t...
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Intel backs $3.3bn glass-substrate plant in India’s Odisha
Intel is investing $3.3 billion in a glass-substrate manufacturing plant in Odisha, India, in partnership with 3D Glass Solutions, marking a major advancement for India's semiconductor packaging ambitions. Glass substrates offer superior thermal and electrical properties over traditional material...
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Samsung labor protests could worsen the RAM shortage
A RAM shortage, worsened by AI data center demand, is driving up prices for consumer electronics like phones and SSDs, with Samsung's 990 Pro SSD nearly tripling in price. Samsung faces growing employee protests demanding higher wages, with 40,000 union members rallying and an 18-day strike threa...
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Exynos 2600 Made After Samsung's $3B Loss Last Year
Samsung developed its first 2nm chip, the Exynos 2600, for select Galaxy S26 models, a strategic move accelerated by a $3 billion loss earlier this year from procuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips for the S25 series. The in-house Exynos 2600 provided a crucial, more affordable alternative for the ...
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PlayStation Prices Rise Again Due to Tariffs and Shortages
Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation 5 console by $100 in the U.S. and in other major markets, citing continued global economic pressures. The price hikes are compounded by supply chain disruptions from the conflict in Iran, including a critical helium shortage from a Qatari facility shut...
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Advantest Hit by Ransomware Attack, Disrupting Chip Testing
Advantest, a key global semiconductor testing equipment manufacturer, confirmed a ransomware attack on its corporate network first detected in February 2026, though core production appears unaffected. The full impact, including whether sensitive customer or employee data was compromised, remains ...
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