Always Be Curious #228: Intel's week, Micron's HBM3E, and Gen Z can't type
This week in ABC: Intel has a pretty intense week, Micron launches its next-gen high bandwidth memory for AI, and Gen Z cannot type.
๐ Heads-up! I will be offline for the next 2 weeks due to work commitments, which means the next ABC publishes on Sun 29 September.
It's an intense time for chipmaker Intel. So in support of their journey, I wrote down some thoughts on ambition, change and being in the spotlight.
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Have a good week, stay safe and sound,
๐จโ๐ปThe round-up in sci-tech๐ก
โก๏ธ Clean energyโs next trillion-dollar business (The Economist) ๐
Grid-scale batteries are taking off at last.
๐ The contingency contingent (N+1 Magazine)
From someone who was there, a vivid and colorful description of the corporate craze around the Y2K bug. Love this.
โข๏ธ The first nuclear clock will test if fundamental constants change (Quanta Magazine)
An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.
๐ World's first zinc-ion battery megafactory opens for business (New Atlas)
Go Europe! ๐ช๐บ Swedenโs Enerpoly has flung open the doors to its zinc-ion battery megafactory in the north of Stockholm โ making it the first manufacturing facility to use this battery technology at a large scale in the world.
๐ Biohybrid robots controlled by electrical impulses โ in mushrooms (Cornell Chronicle)
Someone connected a bunch of mushrooms to a robot body and let it run wild. Oh yeah.
โ๏ธ NaNoWriMo is in disarray after organizers defend AI writing tools (The Verge)
At some point in our writing lives, weโve all tried to pen a 50,000-word novel over the course of November in NaNoWriMo. Now the organisation said opposing AI ignores โclassist and ableistโ issuesโand shit hit the fan.
๐ซจ How do gold nuggets form? Earthquakes may be the key (National Geographic)
Scientists have finally solved a long-standing mystery about the geologic process behind these large pieces of gold found in quartz rock.
๐คThis week in chipsโ
๐บ๐ธ New Core Ultra processors deliver breakthrough performance, efficiency for the AI PC age (Intel)
Intel Core Ultra 200V series processors offer outstanding AI performance, compatibility and power efficiency at scale to leading laptop manufacturers.
๐ Intel launches Lunar Lake: claims Arm-beating battery life, worldโs fastest mobile CPU cores (Tomโs Hardware)
Aiming for the battery life crown.
๐ Continued momentum for Intel 18A (Intel)
Progress on lead product designs and process readiness is enabling us to bridge from Intel 20A earlier than weโd planned.
๐ฅธ Intel announces cancellation of 20A process node for Arrow Lake, goes with external nodes instead, likely TSMC [Updated] (Tomโs Hardware)
Be ready to pivot.
๐ Intel says defect density at 18A is 'healthy,' potential clients are lining up (Tomโs Hardware)
Defect density of Intel's 18A seems to be competitive.
๐ค Understanding Intel, Part 2 (Chip Strat)
Foundry Significance, Intel's Future, Hardware's Bitter Lesson, Does x86 Matter, Are CPUs Dead, What About Gaudi, Client Brand Strength.
๐ Intel mulls selling Altera and freezing $32 billion German fab project (Evertiq)
Owing to delays in subsidy approvals, Intel is believed to be postponing the construction of its Fab 29.1 and 29.2 in Magdeburg, Germany.
๐ Japan to establish chip research center with Intel (Nikkei)
Facility to speed up development of equipment and materials via EUV systems.
๐ฑ TSMCโs energy demand drives Taiwanโs geopolitical future (IEEE Spectrum)
For TSMC to keep its customers, Taiwan must add green energy fast.
๐จ๐ณ China's chip capabilities just 3 years behind TSMC, teardown shows (Nikkei)
Analysis reveals limited impact of U.S. tech curbs on consumer products
๐ณ๐ฑ Dutch government takes full control of ASML export measures (The Register)
Photolithography giant assures customers it is under no new restrictions.
๐ช HBM3 memory manufacturing is a critical enabler of generative AI (Lam Research)
Sometimes the technology behind the scenes is just as impressive as the one that gets all the attention.
๐บ๐ธ๐ฅ Micron continues memory industry leadership with HBM3E 12-high 36GB (Micron)
AI workloads need high memory bandwidth and capacity. Micronโs HBM3E 12-high 36GB offers 50% more DRAM and lower power consumption than competitorsโ 8-high 24GB.
๐พ The memory wall: past, present, and future of DRAM (SemiAnalysis)
The winners and losers in the 3D DRAM revolution.
๐By the numbers๐
๐ Broadcom announces Q3 2024 financial results (Broadcom)
"Broadcom's third quarter results reflect continued strength in our AI semiconductor solutions and VMware. We expect revenue from AI to be $12 billion for fiscal year 2024 driven byย Ethernet networking and custom accelerators for AI data centers," said Hock Tan, President and CEO of Broadcom Inc. "The transformation of VMware continues to progress very well. The integration of VMware is driving adjusted EBITDA margin to 64% of revenue as we exit fiscal year 2024."
โค๏ธFor the love of techโค๏ธ
Tee hee. ๐โจ๏ธ
Gen Z-ers are computer whizzes. Just donโt ask them to type. (MSN)
The โdigital nativesโ baffle teachers and parents with their lack of typing skills.
Always Be Curious is the personal newsletter ofย Sander Hofman, Senior Creative Content Strategist atย ASML. Opinions expressed in this curated newsletter are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.