Hardware & Semiconductors
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XCENA Raises $135 Million Series B for CXL Computational Memory Packing Thousands of RISC-V Cores Beside DRAM
South Korean startup XCENA raised a $135M Series B at a $570M valuation for its MX1 CXL memory device, betting AI's real bottleneck is memory, not compute.
Qualcomm Unveils Dragonfly Data Center Roadmap: A 250-Core C1000 Server CPU and AI300 Accelerator, With Meta Signed as a CPU Customer
At its June 24 Investor Day, Qualcomm detailed a multi-generation data center chip line built for agentic AI inference, anchored by the Dragonfly C1000 CPU and AI300 accelerator, and named Meta as a server-CPU customer.
Intel's Enhanced 18A-P Process Enters Risk Production, Claiming 9% More Performance and 20-40% Lower Thermal Resistance Than 18A
At the 2026 VLSI Symposium, Intel said 18A-P, a drop-in upgrade to its 18A node, reached risk production with 9% higher performance at iso-power.
OpenAI and Broadcom Unveil 'Jalapeño,' a Custom LLM-Inference Chip Designed in Nine Months and Targeting Deployment by the End of 2026
OpenAI's first custom silicon, the Broadcom-built Jalapeño inference accelerator, went from design to tape-out in nine months and targets deployment by the end of 2026.
ASML, TSMC, and imec Fabricate Complementary 2D-Material Transistors at 50nm Pitch on a Full 300mm Wafer
At the 2026 VLSI Symposium, imec and partners reported MoS2 and WS2/WSe2 transistors at a 50nm contacted poly pitch with 94% of devices operational, a step toward post-silicon logic.
Micron's 9650 Becomes the First PCIe Gen6 Data Center SSD to Reach Mass Production, Hitting 28 GB/s Reads and 5.5 Million IOPS
Micron's 9650 NVMe SSD has entered mass production as the first PCIe Gen6 data center drive to ship at scale, with up to 28 GB/s reads and 5.5 million random read IOPS.
Alibaba's T-Head Unveils Zhenwu M890 AI Accelerator With 144GB Memory and a 128-Chip Supernode, Claiming 3x Its Prior Generation
Alibaba's chip unit T-Head detailed the Zhenwu M890, a 144GB AI accelerator it says triples the prior 810E, alongside a 128-chip supernode server.
Tim Cook Calls Apple Price Increases 'Unavoidable' as a Memory Shortage Pushes iPhone 18 Pro Costs Higher
Cook told the WSJ that AI-driven memory shortages make price hikes unavoidable. TechInsights estimates the iPhone 18 Pro needs a $270 increase to hold margins.
Commerce Awards SandboxAQ $500 Million CHIPS Grant for AI Materials Discovery, Taking a Minority Equity Stake in Return
The U.S. Commerce Department will fund AI-driven work on PFAS-free chemicals, catalysts, rare earth-free magnets, and backup batteries, and take a minority equity stake in return.
SK hynix Ships 12-Layer HBM4E Samples Ahead of Schedule at 16 Gbps, Tightening the AI Memory Race With Samsung
SK hynix shipped 12-high HBM4E samples on June 18, months ahead of its own second-half timeline, three weeks after Samsung's May 29 shipment.
Tensordyne Sends Its Logarithmic-Math AI Chip Napier to TSMC, Claiming Four Times the Speed at a Fifth the Power of an Nvidia GB300 System
The startup says its 3nm Napier inference chip turns matrix multipliers into adders, with commercial sales of a 72-chip system slated for the second half of 2027.
Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon C, Pushing Windows on Arm and an On-Chip NPU Into $300 Budget Laptops
Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon C Platform for entry-tier Windows laptops starting at $300, with Acer, HP, and Lenovo as launch partners and devices expected later this year.