All posts tagged: chips

EU launches Chips JU pilot lines to boost semiconductor innovation

EU launches Chips JU pilot lines to boost semiconductor innovation

Published by skeptic

The European Union has officially launched the highly anticipated Chips JU pilot lines, a pivotal €3.7bn initiative aimed at strengthening Europe’s semiconductor innovation and production capabilities. This landmark effort, part of the broader Chips for Europe Initiative, is set to transform the region into a global leader in semiconductor research and manufacturing. A €3.7bn investment in semiconductor innovation The Chips JU pilot lines represent a massive financial commitment from the European Union and its Participating States. This funding will drive capacity building, innovation, and competitiveness in semiconductor technologies, which are vital to economic security and technological sovereignty. The official launch was marked by a signature ceremony hosted by the European Commission, attended by high-profile stakeholders, including Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen. Representatives of the five pilot lines also participated, underscoring their commitment to advancing Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem. The five pioneering pilot lines The Chips JU initiative comprises five cutting-edge pilot lines, each targeting a specific aspect of semiconductor innovation: FAMES: Focused on FD-SOI technology for non-volatile memories, RF, and 3D integration. APECS: Advancing …

China has banned US exports of key minerals for computer chips – leaving Washington with limited options

China has banned US exports of key minerals for computer chips – leaving Washington with limited options

Published by skeptic

China recently banned the export of the minerals gallium and germanium to the US amid growing tensions between the two countries on trade. The minerals are of critical economic value because they are used in computer chips, in military technology such as night vision goggles, and in the renewable energy industry, where they are important for manufacturing electric vehicles and solar cells. All of these areas are very sensitive sectors for the US and EU. China has overwhelming market power over supply, because it is the source of 98% of primary gallium and 91% of primary germanium. Primary refers to “raw” sources such as mineral ore. In several sectors where the minerals are used, there are no substitutes for them. Gallium and germanium are present in very low concentration as byproducts of major minerals – they’re known as trace minerals. Germanium’s primary source is the residue from zinc refineries and coal fly ash (a powdered residue produced when coal is burnt in power plants). Gallium is mainly produced as a byproduct of bauxite ore (which …

Western self-sufficiency in computer chips is just not going to happen

Western self-sufficiency in computer chips is just not going to happen

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American microchip giant Intel is looking for a new CEO following Pat Gelsinger’s shock resignation. This represents more than just a corporate shake-up. It’s the end of an era in which one company could totally control a strategically vital American technology. Under Intel’s roof is the entire process for making computer chips – from research to design to complex fabrication. For much of the late 20th century, this made the Californian company a paragon of American ingenuity. Gelsinger has been a lifer at Intel. He rose to chief technology officer in the 2000s before leaving for a decade to run Dell’s data storage to cloud computing business, EMC. His return as CEO in 2021 was seen as messianic. He promised the return of America’s chipset manufacturing supremacy from rivals like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). President Biden and Pat Gelsinger supposedly had America’s chips problem figured out. Associated Press/Alamy His vision involved funnelling billions of dollars into expanding chip-making factories in New Mexico and Oregon, and building plants in Ohio and Germany. To help enable …

New materials to manufacture advanced computer chips

New materials to manufacture advanced computer chips

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Engineers need new materials to make computer chips—and the devices they power—even smaller and more efficient. Faculty members from the University of Dallas, collaborators, and industry partners have teamed up to design and test indium-based materials to manufacture the next generation of computer chips. The researchers have received a $1.9m, three-year grant through the National Science Foundation’s Future of Semiconductors (FuSe2) programme to support their work. The UTD funding is part of $42.4m in FuSe2 grants announced in September to support the goals of the federal CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act of 2022. This aims to make computer chips more energy-efficient and facilitate the domestic production of integrated circuits. Improving the performance of computer chips By introducing indium-based materials, the researchers aim to facilitate patterning in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range. Patterning, or lithography, is a key step in the semiconductor fabrication process in which patterns are created on the surface of a wafer to serve as pathways for transistors and other components. Moving from deep UV to EUV range …

Nvidia Says Its Blackwell Chip Is Fine, Nothing to See Here

Nvidia Says Its Blackwell Chip Is Fine, Nothing to See Here

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A large portion of Nvidia’s growth this quarter was driven by data center revenue, totaling $30.8 billion for the quarter, which was up 112 percent from last year. The company’s gross profit margin was 74.5 percent, essentially flat from a year ago. But analysts expect that Nvidia’s margins could shrink as the company shifts to producing more Blackwell chips, which cost more to make than their less advanced predecessors. Nvidia’s earnings reports are seen as an important bellwether for the AI industry as a whole. The chip architect’s advanced GPUs, which power complex neural network processing, are what made the current generative AI boom possible. As Silicon Valley giants raced to build new chatbots and image-generation tools over the past few years, Nvidia’s revenue exploded, allowing it to surpass Apple as the most valuable public company in the world. Since the launch of ChatGPT in November of 2022, Nvidia’s stock price has increased nearly tenfold. Almost every major tech company working on AI, even those building their own processing units, rely heavily on Nvidia GPUs …

Amazon Leaks Smaller Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, Up to 64GB of RAM, and More

Amazon Leaks Smaller Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, Up to 64GB of RAM, and More

Published by skeptic

Amazon has seemingly leaked the rumored next-generation Mac mini ahead of Apple’s announcement this week, revealing several details. Our concept of a smaller Mac mini According to a comparison chart on Amazon’s product listing for the new iMac, the new Mac mini will be available with M4 and M4 Pro chip options, with up to a 14-core CPU and up to a 20-core GPU. In addition, the chart indicates the new Mac mini can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM, which is double the current 32GB limit for unified memory. Storage capacities for the Mac mini will apparently continue to max out at 8TB, like the previous model. The chart includes a very tiny image of the new Mac mini that seemingly confirms the computer will feature two front-facing USB-C ports, as previously rumored. It is possible these could be Thunderbolt 4 ports, but the chart does not specify. And is that a headphone jack on the front right? The image is a little too small and blurry to say for sure. When …

From traffic-free group rides to fanzones: 12 ways to get involved with British cycling this summer | Ride Into Summer With Kettle Chips

From traffic-free group rides to fanzones: 12 ways to get involved with British cycling this summer | Ride Into Summer With Kettle Chips

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With the Tour de France continuing in full force, summer 2024 is shaping up to be a treat for cycling fans. And while the elite are off chasing gold (and the maillot jaune) in Europe, here, at home, there are tons of ways for the rest of us to enjoy life on two wheels. Kettle Chips is the official supporter of British Cycling – the national governing body for cycling in Great Britain – this summer, and there’s a packed roster of events, clubs and community initiatives offering cyclists of all ages and abilities a chance to get involved. Intrigued? Here are 12 ways to get you rolling. 1 Start ’em young Teaching small kids to ride a bike is a pretty daunting job. What if you give bad advice? Lose your temper? Put them off exercise for ever? Thankfully, British Cycling’s Summer of Cycling gives children the chance to take part in a calendar of free pedal-powered events all across England. Look out for club taster sessions in your area, traffic-free group rides, coaching, …

Huawei’s New ‘Made-In-China’ Smartphone Sources More Chips Locally Amid US Tech War 

Huawei’s New ‘Made-In-China’ Smartphone Sources More Chips Locally Amid US Tech War 

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With draconian export controls and blacklisting by Washington elites, Chinese tech giant Huawei is still operating and, in fact, producing new high-tech smartphones with components increasingly sourced from domestic suppliers.  A new teardown analysis by tech repair company iFixit and consultancy TechSearch International, first reported by Reuters, shows Huawei’s Pura 70 Pro has a NAND memory chip sourced domestically from the Chinese telecom equipment maker’s in-house chip unit, HiSilicon.  iFixit and TechSearch found the Pura 70 handset was operating on a Huawei-made advanced processing chipset called the Kirin 9010. They said the new chip is likely an “improved version” of the advanced chip used by Huawei’s Mate 60 series, which was launched last year to compete with Apple’s iPhone 15 lineup.  “While we cannot provide an exact percentage, we’d say the domestic component usage is high, and definitely higher than in the Mate 60,” Shahram Mokhtari, iFixit’s lead teardown technician, said.  Mokhtari continued, “This is about self-sufficiency, all of this, everything you see when you open up a smartphone and see whatever are made by Chinese manufacturers, this is all about self-sufficiency,” Mokhtari said. The central theme is that a worsening tech war between Beijing and …

Apple to power AI servers with its chips, Bloomberg News reports

Apple to power AI servers with its chips, Bloomberg News reports

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Apple will deliver some of its upcoming artificial intelligence features this year through data centers powered by its own in-house chips, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, as the iPhone maker looks to integrate generative AI in its products. The company is putting its chips in cloud-computing servers capable of processing advanced AI tasks coming to Apple devices, the report stated, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The chips are similar to those that power Apple’s Mac computers, the report said, adding that simpler AI-related tasks will be processed on-device. The plan to use its own chips and cloud processing for AI tasks was conceived around three years ago, but Apple sped up the timeline after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT kicked off an AI craze, according to the report. Earlier this week, Apple announced its next-generation chipset, the M4, which will be powering the new iPad Pro models and will support some AI capabilities. Source link

Biden administration plans 5M in CHIPS Act funding for digital twins

Biden administration plans $285M in CHIPS Act funding for digital twins

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President Joe Biden’s administration is looking to fund efforts that improve semiconductor manufacturing by using digital twins. Digital twins are virtual models used to test and optimize physical objects and systems. For example, auto manufacturers are looking to use digital twins of their factories to experiment with new manufacturing processes without disrupting production. The Biden administration announced will be accepting applications for what it anticipates to be a total of $285 million in funding for work that includes research into semiconductor digital twin development, building and supporting combined physical/digital facilities, industry demonstration projects, workforce training, and operation of what it says will be a new CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute. During a press briefing Sunday, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Laurie E. Locascio said digital twins could reduce chip development and manufacturing costs, while also enabling more collaborative processes around chip design and development. “Currently, no country has invested at the scale needed or successfully unified the industry to unlock the enormous potential of digital …