Always Be Curious #213: Waferscale computers, Asianometry's High NA EUV update, and the ASML podcast
This week in ABC: Chips are getting bigger and bigger, Asianometry releases another video on High NA EUV, and ASML releases a podcast about 40 years of innovation
This week, ASML started publishing “Four Decades of ASML”. 🍿 This show on YouTube uncovers untold stories on our 40-year journey from humble startup to a leader in the chip industry. In four episodes, we’ve tried to bring to life the defining moments, challenges and achievements that made us who we are. Episode 1 is all about the pioneering years of the mid 80s, check it out. 👇 We’ll be releasing the next episode in the coming week!
Also: if you’re in The Netherlands, have a great Liberation Day! 🇳🇱✨ A moment to be thankful for our democracy and freedom—and to never forget those who gave their lives for it. 🙏
Have a good week, stay safe and sound,
👨💻The round-up in sci-tech💡
☄️ Killer asteroid hunters spot 27,500 overlooked space rocks (The New York Times)🎁
With the help of Google Cloud, scientists churned through hundreds of thousands of images of the night sky to reveal that the solar system is filled with unseen objects.
🌊 Researchers make a plastic that includes bacteria that can digest it (Ars Technica)
Bacterial spores strengthen the plastic, then revive to digest it in landfills.
🇨🇳 Superconductivity hunt gets boost from China's $220 million physics 'playground’ (Nature)
From extreme cold to strong magnets and high pressures, the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility (SECUF) provides conditions for researching these potential wonder materials.
🚗Tesla reportedly shrinks its gigacasting manufacturing ambitions (The Verge)
Tesla’s die-cast breakthrough was going to revolutionize the auto industry.
🌖China launches moon probe as space race with US heats up | CNN
China launched an uncrewed lunar mission Friday that aims to bring back samples from the far side of the moon for the first time, in a potentially major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program.
📺 The science of 3 Body Problem: what’s fact and what’s fiction? (Nature)
Nature spoke to the sci-fi program’s adviser and two other researchers about the portrayal of PhD scientists and their technologies.
🤓This week in chips⚠
😎 Expect a wave of waferscale computers (IEEE Spectrum)
TSMC’s innovations allow for one version now and a more advanced version in 2027.
🇹🇼 TSMC readies 8x reticle super carrier interposer for next-gen chips twice as large as today's (Anandtech)
TSMC is no stranger to building big chips. Besides the ~800mm2 reticle limit of their normal logic processes, the company already produces even larger chips by fitting multiple dies on to a single silicon interposer, using their chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology. But even with current-gen CoWoS allowing for interposers up to 3.3x TSMC's reticle limit, TSMC plans to build bigger still in response to projected demand from the HPC and AI industries. To that end, as part of the company's North American Technology Symposium last week, TSMC announced that they are developing the means of building super-sized interposers that can reach over 8x the reticle limit.
🔥 ASML’s High-NA EUV Lithography: a 2024 update (IEEE Spectrum)
Asianometry dissects ASML’s High NA EUV lithography. Gotta love Jon’s work!
🇰🇷 Samsung Foundry update: 2nm unveil in June, second-gen SF3 3nm hits production this year
As part of Samsung's Q1 earnings announcement, the company has outlined some of its foundry unit's key plans for the rest of the year. The company has confirmed that it remains on track to meeting its goal of starting mass production of chips on its SF3 (3 nm-class, 2nd Generation) technology in the second half of the year. Meanwhile in June, Samsung Foundry will formally unveil its SF2 (2 nm-class) process technology, which will offer a mix of performance and efficiency enhancements. Finally, the company the company is preparing a variation of its 4 nm-class technology for integration into stacked 3D designs.
💰 Samsung’s profit surges after AI boom reverses chip losses (Bloomberg)
Samsung topped analyst earnings estimates after its semiconductor division returned to profitability, as companies like Microsoft and Alphabet led a surge in spending on artificial intelligence services.
🚗 Tesla's wafer-sized Dojo processor is in production — 25 chips combined into one (Tom’s Hardware)
Wafer-scale gaining traction.
👌 Intel brings quantum-computing microchips a step closer (Nature)
Silicon qubits fabricated on a 300mm wafer.
🇫🇮 Finland set to play an outsized role in revitalizing the European chip industry (Technology Industries of Finland)
The “Chips from the North” strategy unveiled recently highlights a promising opportunity for Finland's growth: local semiconductor companies are projected to triple their turnover to EUR 5–6 billion by 2035. Should this forecast hold true, the number of people working in the sector could increase from 7,000 to 20,000.
🏢 SK hynix is teasing 300TB SSDs as it pushes into AI (Tom’s Hardware)
But when will we see them?
📈By the numbers📉
Samsung Electronics announces Q1 2024 results (Samsung)
“The Memory Business returned to profit as it achieved qualitative growth by addressing the demand across servers, storage, PC and mobile, focusing on high-value-added products such as HBM, DDR5, server SSDs and UFS 4.0., along with the increase in ASP. Looking ahead to the second quarter, the industry is expected to remain solid, led mainly by demand for generative AI.”
AMD reports Q1 2024 financial results (AMD)
“We delivered strong first quarter results with our Data Center and Client segments each growing more than 80% year-over-year driven by the ramp of MI300 AI accelerator shipments and the adoption of our Ryzen and EPYC processors,” said AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. “This is an incredibly exciting time for the industry as widespread deployment of AI is driving demand for significantly more compute across a broad range of markets. We are executing very well as we ramp our data center business and enable AI capabilities across our product portfolio.”
Supermicro announces Q3 fiscal year 2024 financial results (Supermicro)
“We had yet another record quarter with fiscal Q3 revenue of $3.85 billion with non-GAAP EPS of $6.65 per share. This year-over-year revenue growth of 200% and year-over-year non-GAAP EPS growth of 308% was well above our industry peers,” said Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro. “Strong demand for AI rack scale PnP solutions, along with our team’s ability to develop innovative DLC designs, enabled us to expand our market leadership in AI infrastructure. As new solutions ramp, including fully production ready DLC, we expect to continue gaining market share. As such, we are raising our fiscal year 2024 revenue outlook from $14.3 to $14.7 billion to a new range of $14.7 to $15.1 billion.”
❤️For the love of tech❤️
🤓 Shout-out to every ABC reader who learned to code in BASIC! ✌️
👨💻 The BASIC programming language turns 60 (Ars Technica)
Easy-to-use language that drove Apple, TRS-80, IBM, and Commodore PCs debuted in 1964.
Always Be Curious is the personal newsletter of Sander Hofman, Senior Creative Content Strategist at ASML. Opinions expressed in this curated newsletter are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.