Always Be Curious #248: TSMC's 1nm gigafab, artificial blood, and an Apple lamp
This week in ABC: TSMC accelerates towards the 1nm node, we're close to making artificial blood, and Apple prototypes a tabletop robot
This week, while getting ready to build this latest edition of ABC, I browsed the full batch of curated articles from all kinds of fields of expertise…and well, it just made me smile. 😊 We’re in such an interesting time for science and technology. Just look at everything down here that made the cut. 👇 I mean, whether it’s the quest for synthetic blood or new tactics to fight cancer, whether it’s a new AI tool that builds you an app in seconds or a Lex Fridman episode that takes proper time to talk about all major tech trends, whether it’s the heated competition between the world’s most innovative tech companies or a bunch of Apple gearheads working on an awesome robot prototype…I can’t help but be in awe. The world of science and technology is moving at warp 9. Please hold on to something. Engage. ✨
Have a good week, stay safe and sound,
👨💻The round-up in sci-tech💡
🩸 The long quest for artificial blood (The New Yorker)🔐
One of the most valuable substances in the world has never been replicated. Are we close?
👩🔬 How hungry fat cells could someday starve cancer to death (UCSF)
Scientists used implanted fat cells to gobble up available nutrients around cancer tumors, starving the tumors to death.
🔮 Introducing Replit Agent (Replit)
Awesome new edition to the AI landscape! Replit launched Replit Agent. It’s basically an app builder. The AI allows you to enter an instruction prompt, and it goes right ahead and configures a development environment, installs dependencies, and executes code. Wow.
🔮 IBM CEO: DeepSeek proved us right—AI is not about big, proprietary systems (Fortune)
AI has been seen as a game of scale, but bigger and more expensive won’t necessarily mean better.
✨ World leaders set to vie for AI domination at Paris summit (BBC)
Global politicians and AI bosses will next week attend a summit to debate the disruptive technology.
🇪🇺 Europe in the intelligent age: From ideas to action (McKinsey)
Strategic focus and private sector–led lighthouse initiatives can change the Old Continent’s trajectory—if the public sector radically changes the investment environment with a handful of priority initiatives.
🤓This week in chips⚠
🔥 TSMC accelerates efforts to achieve 1nm production, plans to set up "Giga Fabs" in Taiwan (wccftech)
TSMC is now determined to scale up process tech, in order to incorporate the cutting-edge 1nm process in new facilities.
🥊 AMD outsells Intel in the datacenter for the first time in Q4 2024 (Tom’s Hardware)
But sales of Instinct GPUs disappoint.
😯 Intel halts products, slows roadmap in years-long turnaround (EE Times)
Intel delays product launches and slows roadmap in a long-term turnaround strategy, aiming for better competition against AMD and TSMC.
💬 Bill Gates shares his thoughts on vaccine backlash, Intel's woes and Google's antitrust battle (AP)
Although Microsoft founder Bill Gates sat down for an interview with The Associated Press to discuss his new memoir, “Source Code: My Beginnings,” he also shared his views on a variety of other topics, including vaccine conspiracy views about him, his thoughts on the struggles of longtime computer chipmaker Intel and his take on the antitrust challenges facing Google.
“I am stunned that Intel basically lost its way,” Gates said. “(Intel co-founder) Gordon Moore always kept Intel at the state of the art. And now they are kind of behind in terms of chip design and they are kind of behind in chip fabrication.”
🗯️ Intel's vacant CEO spot rumored to be filled by Tom Caulfield — abrupt GlobalFoundries shakeup sparks speculation (Tom’s Hardware)
What a career!
🇨🇳 China's state-backed labs provide a lifeline for U.S.-blacklisted chip suppliers (Nikkei)
Beijing fosters pilot production lines at research centers and boosts nation's R&D spending
🎧 DeepSeek, China, OpenAI, NVIDIA, xAI, TSMC, Stargate, and AI Megaclusters (Lex Fridman)
Lex speaks with Dylan Patel, the founder of SemiAnalysis, and with Nathan Lambert, a research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI.
💡 Improving the way flash memory is made (Princeton Plasma Physics Lab)
The narrow, deep holes required for one type of flash memory are made twice as fast with the right recipe, which includes a plasma made from hydrogen fluoride.
📈 Samsung reportedly achieves 30% yield in SF2 test production, set for Q4 mass production (TrendForce)
Beijing fosters pilot production lines at research centers and boosts nation's R&D spending
📊 Chip sales are set to soar in 2025 — so long as there isn’t a trade war (Deloitte)
Deloitte said chip sales will soar in 2025, led by GenAI and data center build-outs, even as demand from PC and mobile markets may be weak.
📈By the numbers📉
AMD reports Q4 and Full Year 2024 financial results (AMD)
“2024 was a transformative year for AMD as we delivered record annual revenue and strong earnings growth,” said AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. “Data Center segment annual revenue nearly doubled as EPYC processor adoption accelerated and we delivered more than $5 billion of AMD Instinct accelerator revenue. Looking into 2025, we see clear opportunities for continued growth based on the strength of our product portfolio and growing demand for high-performance and adaptive computing.”
Qualcomm announces Q1 fiscal 2025 results (Qualcomm)
“We are very pleased to have achieved quarterly revenue records, which reflect the strength of our technology, product roadmap and end-customer demand,” said Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are delivering growth across our diversification initiatives and remain committed to executing on our fiscal 2029 targets to achieve $22 billion of non-handset revenues.”
Gartner says worldwide semiconductor revenue grew 18% in 2024 (Gartner)
Worldwide semiconductor revenue in 2024 totaled $626 billion, an increase of 18.1% from 2023, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. Revenue is projected to total $705 billion in 2025.
“Graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI processors used in data center applications (servers and accelerator cards) were the key drivers for the chip sector in 2024,” said George Brocklehurst, VP Analyst at Gartner. “The rising demand for AI and generative AI (GenAI) workloads led data centers to become the second-largest market for semiconductors in 2024, behind smartphones. Data center semiconductor revenue totaled $112 billion in 2024, up from $64.8 billion in 2023.”
❤️For the love of tech❤️
🦾 Apple’s tabletop robot has some moves (The Verge)
It’s a dancing Siri!
💡 Apple prototypes tabletop robot with lifelike movements ahead of rumored launch by 2027 (MacRumors)
A team of robotics researchers at Apple have designed and prototyped a lamp-like robot with lifelike movements.
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.