AI Infrastructure
AI-Driven Chip Shortage Triggers Washington Lobbying War as Apple Seeks Chinese Supplier Relief
An explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) development has ignited a severe global memory chip crunch, igniting an aggressive lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill as non-AI sectors scramble to secure critical components and protect failing supply pipelines. Driven by data centers vacuuming up massive volumes of high-bandwidth memory and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) to train advanced […]
Jon Swartz · Aug 10, 2026 · 2 min
Intel Unveils Starfire Space Processor to Bring AI Computing to Orbit
Intel has introduced the Starfire processor, a new system-on-chip (SoC) designed to deliver artificial intelligence and high-performance computing capabilities aboard satellites and spacecraft. The processor, developed for U.S. government and aerospace missions, combines an 18A-based CPU and neural processing unit (NPU) with an Intel 3-based Xe graphics processor in a Foveros 3D package. The design […]
Andy Patrizio · Aug 10, 2026 · 2 min
Tesla, SpaceX Commit $16.8 Billion to Build Massive AI Chip Factory in Texas
Elon Musk is putting his money where his mouth is, unveiling plans for Tesla and SpaceX to invest $16.8 billion to build a massive semiconductor manufacturing complex in Texas, Called Terafab, the facility will be built in Grimes County, Texas just outside of Houston. When completed, it will be the largest building in the world […]
Andy Patrizio · Aug 10, 2026 · 2 min
SK Hynix Invests $38 Billion to Expand AI Memory Chip Production
In a sign of the growing demand for memory chips driven by AI’s growth, SK Hynix plans to spend approximately $38 billion to build two semiconductor fabrication facilities in South Korea, a major expansion for the company. The company’s board approved investments totaling 54.3 trillion won, with 35.2 trillion won allocated to a new fabrication […]
James Maguire · Aug 7, 2026 · 2 min
AMD Acquires Taalas to Bolster AI Inference
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire Toronto-based AI startup Taalas, snapping up the inference startup ahead of rivals Intel and NVIDIA. Taalas, founded in 2023 and emerging from stealth mode in 2024, is privately held, so terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2023, Taalas has taken an unconventional approach to […]
Andy Patrizio · Aug 7, 2026 · 3 min
AMD Posts Record Q2 Revenue as AI Data Center Business More Than Doubles
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) reported record second-quarter revenue and sharply higher profit on Tuesday, driven by surging demand for its data center processors and AI accelerators. AMD reported revenue of $11.5 billion for the quarter ended June 27, 2026, up 50% from a year earlier, while GAAP net income climbed 163% to $2.3 billion. Diluted […]
Andy Patrizio · Aug 6, 2026 · 2 min
NVIDIA Strives to Make GPU-Driven Storage an Industry Standard
At the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference this week, NVIDIA unveiled one of its most significant storage software initiatives to date, announcing that it is open-sourcing its cuFile APIs and the underlying storage software stack that powers GPUDirect Storage. The move is designed to remove one of the biggest bottlenecks facing AI infrastructure: […]
Andy Patrizio · Aug 5, 2026 · 3 min
HP, Asus and Acer Turn to Chinese Memory Supplier as AI Boom Tightens DRAM Market
The AI infrastructure buildout is reshaping another corner of the semiconductor industry, with reports indicating that HP, Asus and Acer have begun using limited quantities of DRAM from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) in selected notebook computers. The move is yet another sign of the growing strain that AI investment is placing on the global […]
James Maguire · Aug 5, 2026 · 2 min
Commerce Department Plans $874 Million for Seven Semiconductor R&D Projects
The US Department of Commerce plans to provide up to $874 million in CHIPS and Science Act incentives to seven semiconductor companies developing technologies for AI infrastructure, extending the government’s support for domestic semiconductor research and the US compute supply chain. The funding, announced through letters of intent, still requires additional review before final awards […]
James Maguire · Jul 31, 2026 · 3 min
Intel Posts Strong AI-Driven Quarter as Data Center Demand Fuels Growth
Intel reported a stronger-than-expected second quarter as accelerating investment in AI infrastructure lifted demand for its processors, while the company increased manufacturing spending and reaffirmed its strategy to regain semiconductor leadership. The chipmaker posted adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $16.1 billion, comfortably exceeding analyst expectations of roughly 21 to 22 […]
James Maguire · Jul 24, 2026 · 2 min
Agentic AI Shift Driving Data Center Chip Market Toward $1.2 Trillion by 2030: Futurum Report
The global data center semiconductor market is on track to expand more than fivefold, reaching $1.2 trillion by 2030 as artificial intelligence (AI) hardware demand shifts decisively from model training to agentic inference. According to a five-year forecast from tech research firm The Futurum Group, revenue in the sector hit $241 billion in 2025, a […]
Jon Swartz · Jul 23, 2026 · 2 min
NVIDIA Vera CPU Tops AMD and Intel in Benchmarks
Cloud inference provider DeepInfra claims NVIDIA’s upcoming Vera CPU significantly outperformed competing processors from AMD and Intel in production-scale AI performance testing. Rather than using generic benchmarks, which don’t often reflect real-world usage, DeepInfra used its own production AI infrastructure for testing. It showed the Arm-based Vera CPU delivered up to 2.2 times faster agent […]
Andy Patrizio · Jul 21, 2026 · 2 min
AI Can Be Underbuilt and Overinvested at the Same Time
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. delivered almost everything an AI infrastructure bull could have wanted from its second-quarter earnings report. Revenue reached $40.2 billion, an increase of 33.7% from a year earlier. TSMC recorded another quarter of record profit. Gross margin reached 67.7%, operating margin came in at 60.3%, and management raised its expectations for full-year […]
Alan Shimel · Jul 20, 2026 · 8 min
China’s Chip Ambitions Rise as CXMT Launches $10 Billion IPO
Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. is launching a blockbuster initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Board to raise nearly $10 billion, one of the largest in Asian history and a crucial test of investor appetite for China’s burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. The Hefei-based DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) champion has […]
Jon Swartz · Jul 15, 2026 · 2 min
Meta to Begin Production of Custom Iris AI Chips in September in Bid for 14-Gigawatt Power Grid: Report
Meta Platforms Inc. plans to begin manufacturing its next-generation custom artificial intelligence (AI) chip in September, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. Code-named Iris, the in-house silicon is part of a broader effort by the social media giant to double its computing infrastructure capacity to 14 gigawatts by next year and reduce its […]
Jon Swartz · Jul 14, 2026 · 2 min
DeepSeek Developing Custom Inference Chip Amid China’s AI Hardware Push
Chinese startup DeepSeek is reportedly developing its own AI inference chip, a move that would lessen its reliance on processors from NVIDIA and Huawei and place it on a growing list of AI developers building proprietary silicon. The planned processor is intended for inference, when an AI model produces responses to user prompts. That segment […]
James Maguire · Jul 7, 2026 · 2 min
Qualcomm Makes Data Center Push Targeting AI Infrastructure
Qualcomm recently held an Investor Day conference where it laid out an aggressive strategy to push into data center market, while working alongside dominant players like NVIDIA and Intel rather than competing with them. If all goes according to plan, Qualcomm will have diversified its market considerably beyond just smartphones and become a major supplier […]
Andy Patrizio · Jun 29, 2026 · 3 min
Apple Seeks White House Approval to Buy Chips From Blacklisted Chinese Maker Amid AI Supply Crunch
Apple Inc. is lobbying the Trump administration for federal permission to purchase memory chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. (CXMT), a prominent Chinese semiconductor firm currently blacklisted by the U.S. government, according to a report by The Financial Times. The tech giant approached the Commerce Department more than a month ago and has engaged White […]
Jon Swartz · Jun 28, 2026 · 2 min
Micron, Anthropic Partner for Next-Gen AI Infrastructure
Micron Technology and Anthropic have announced a strategic alliance to jointly develop the next generation of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The partnership will focus on optimizing memory and storage solutions for large-scale AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude systems. “Our compute strategy depends on getting every layer of the stack right, and memory and storage are central […]
Andy Patrizio · Jun 26, 2026 · 2 min
AMD Bets on Hybrid Systems for Quantum Computing
Add AMD to the list of chip vendors looking to get into quantum computing. It is making a push into the emerging technology, arguing that the industry’s future will not be built on standalone quantum machines but on tightly integrated systems that combine quantum processors with high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence infrastructure. In a […]
Andy Patrizio · Jun 23, 2026 · 2 min