A Chinese AI lab just built a giant data centre with no Nvidia inside
A Chinese AI lab just built a giant data centre with no Nvidia inside

For a year, one question has hung over China’s fast-improving AI models: what are they actually running on? Z.AI has just given part of the answer. It has built a huge data centre that uses only Chinese-made chips. The company, formerly known as Zhipu,…

Google is building a chip with Gemini baked into the silicon
Google is building a chip with Gemini baked into the silicon

Most AI chips are general-purpose. You load a model onto them, and they run it. Google is reportedly trying something stranger: a chip that is the model, with Gemini’s blueprint etched into the hardware itself. The project, informally called “Frozen v2…

The firm that wires AI data centres is chasing Hong Kong’s biggest IPO since Alibaba.
The firm that wires AI data centres is chasing Hong Kong’s biggest IPO since Alibaba.

One of the quiet winners of the AI boom is about to test the public markets. Zhongji Innolight, a Chinese maker of high-speed optical transceivers, has started gauging demand for a Hong Kong listing worth as much as $8bn. The Shenzhen-listed company wo…

A British AI lab signed up Nvidia, Meta and Samsung to invent materials that don’t exist yet
A British AI lab signed up Nvidia, Meta and Samsung to invent materials that don’t exist yet

A two-year-old British AI lab wants to build the search engine for materials that do not exist yet. On Monday it gathered an unusual crowd to help. Cambridge-based CuspAI launched the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition of more than 45 companies and rese…

ASML’s planned Low-NA EUV machine price hikes reportedly frustrate TSMC — lithography machine maker comes knocking to make bank on TSMC’s profitable fabs, potentially costing the Taiwanese chipmaker billions
ASML’s planned Low-NA EUV machine price hikes reportedly frustrate TSMC — lithography machine maker comes knocking to make bank on TSMC’s profitable fabs, potentially costing the Taiwanese chipmaker billions

ASML says that the increased productivity of its Low-NA EUV tools gives it an option to increase the prices of these scanners in the future. The move may have a drastic effect on TSMC’s future expansion plans, as the foundry made a big bet on existing lithography systems.

TSMC confirms significant yield and performance improvements in A14 update — strong interest from AI/HPC and smartphone customers
TSMC confirms significant yield and performance improvements in A14 update — strong interest from AI/HPC and smartphone customers

TSMC’s A14 process technology progresses faster than N2 at this stage of development as developers of both client and AI/HPC plan to use it.

ASML looks to increase prices of its Low-NA EUV tools beyond existing productivity-based model — company wants to capture the value of all the advantages its tools offer, not just wafer throughput improvements
ASML looks to increase prices of its Low-NA EUV tools beyond existing productivity-based model — company wants to capture the value of all the advantages its tools offer, not just wafer throughput improvements

ASML’s comments point to intentions to increase prices, though the company is expected to maintain its value-based approach to price setting. Yet, TSMC is reportedly unhappy about the potential plan.

Tower Semiconductor revives shuttered Panasonic-era fab in $3 billion Japan photonics expansion — METI-backed plan targets $3.6 billion revenue by 2028

Tower Semiconductor has announced a dual-track expansion of its 300mm silicon photonics, silicon germanium, and advanced packaging operations in Japan

Nokia and Nvidia built the first commercial AI-RAN, aiming to double network capacity
Nokia and Nvidia built the first commercial AI-RAN, aiming to double network capacity

The firms powering the AI boom now want a piece of the mobile network. Nokia says it has built the industry’s first commercial AI-RAN platform, together with Nvidia, calling it the biggest shift in radio in decades. RAN stands for radio access network,…

Apple is shopping for chip companies because its own AI servers can’t keep up
Apple is shopping for chip companies because its own AI servers can’t keep up

Apple built a trillion-dollar business on chips it designs itself. It cannot design the ones its AI needs fast enough, so it is going shopping. The iPhone maker is hunting for AI chip acquisitions, The Information reported. In recent months it has talk…