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news Japan’s Toto is becoming an unexpected winner from the AI chip boom

Japan’s Toto is becoming an unexpected winner from the AI chip boom

Toto is best known for toilets and bathroom products, but the Japanese company is now getting attention for a very different reason: AI chips. The company’s shares reportedly jumped 18% after it announced plans to increase production of semiconductor components, including parts used in AI chip manufacturing. The link may sound strange at first, but it comes down to ceramics. Toto’s ceramics expertise has
news Samsung Foundry may return to profit as AI memory demand fills its 4nm lines

Samsung Foundry may return to profit as AI memory demand fills its 4nm lines

Samsung’s chip making business may be getting a boost from the same AI memory wave that is pressuring the rest of the industry. A new report says Samsung Foundry is seeing strong demand for its 4nm process, with orders extending into 2027. The report says Samsung’s 4nm process has become more stable, which appears to be helping the company win more orders from global
news AMD may be preparing its first 16 core Ryzen PRO chip with 3D V Cache

AMD may be preparing its first 16 core Ryzen PRO chip with 3D V Cache

AMD appears to be working on a new Ryzen PRO desktop CPU that could bring 16 cores and 3D V Cache to its business focused lineup for the first time. The chip, listed as Ryzen 9 PRO 9965X3D, has appeared in a PassMark entry, though the details should still be treated as early and unconfirmed. Ryzen PRO chips are made for professional systems, office
news Micron says AI memory demand is still only getting started

Micron says AI memory demand is still only getting started

Micron says the AI boom is still in its early stage, and memory demand may keep rising as inference workloads grow. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said AI is in the “first innings,” with faster and denser memory becoming a strategic requirement for companies building large AI systems. The reason is simple. AI models need compute, but that compute depends heavily on memory. GPUs need HBM,
news ASUS ROG Equalizer cable may not fix 12V 2x6 load balancing after all

ASUS ROG Equalizer cable may not fix 12V 2x6 load balancing after all

ASUS marketed its ROG Equalizer 12V 2x6 cable as a better solution for balancing power across high end GPUs, but new testing from Der8auer suggests the cable may perform worse than expected. The test used an RTX 5090 and WireView Pro II to monitor current distribution across the connector pins. Instead of showing cleaner balance, the ROG Equalizer showed uneven current loads. In some
news xAI reportedly uses only a small part of its huge NVIDIA GPU fleet

xAI reportedly uses only a small part of its huge NVIDIA GPU fleet

xAI may have one of the largest AI GPU fleets in the industry, but a new report claims it is using only a small share of that hardware effectively. The company reportedly has around 550,000 NVIDIA H100 and H200 GPUs across its Memphis and Colossus clusters, but its current utilization is said to be only around 11%. That would mean xAI is effectively using
news Intel’s ZAM memory could become a serious HBM alternative for AI chips

Intel’s ZAM memory could become a serious HBM alternative for AI chips

Intel and SoftBank are working on a new memory technology called ZAM, or Z Angle Memory, and the early claims are ambitious. The goal is to offer a high bandwidth, high capacity, lower power memory option for AI accelerators, with up to twice the bandwidth of HBM4. HBM is currently the key memory technology for high end AI GPUs, but it has limits. As
news NVIDIA RTX 5050 finally appears in Steam’s hardware survey

NVIDIA RTX 5050 finally appears in Steam’s hardware survey

NVIDIA’s RTX 5050 has finally shown up in Steam’s hardware survey, months after its mid 2025 launch. That means every RTX 50 series GPU now appears in Steam’s database, although the RTX 5050 is still one of the weakest performers in terms of adoption. The desktop RTX 5050 currently sits at only 0.17% share. Its laptop version is more popular, which makes sense because
news NVIDIA’s Feynman GPUs may bring co packaged optics years earlier than expected

NVIDIA’s Feynman GPUs may bring co packaged optics years earlier than expected

NVIDIA is reportedly moving faster than expected on co packaged optics, with the technology now planned for its Feynman data center GPUs in 2028. Earlier timelines had placed broader commercialization closer to 2033, so this would bring the shift forward by about five years. Co packaged optics, also called CPO or silicon photonics, replaces more copper based data movement with optical links. The goal
news Anthropic may explore custom AI inference chips with UK startup Fractile

Anthropic may explore custom AI inference chips with UK startup Fractile

Anthropic is reportedly in early talks with UK startup Fractile, a company working on a new chip architecture designed to speed up AI inference while reducing cost. The talks are still early, and Fractile has not yet produced test chips, so this should be treated as a developing story rather than a finished product. Fractile’s technology is called Memory Compute Fusion Architecture. The basic
news ASUS may cut RTX 5070 Ti supply to focus more on RTX 5080

ASUS may cut RTX 5070 Ti supply to focus more on RTX 5080

ASUS is reportedly changing how it allocates its RTX 50 series graphics cards. Instead of pushing as many RTX 5070 Ti models as before, the company may reduce supply and move more production focus toward the RTX 5080. The reason appears to be simple. Both the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080 use 16GB of VRAM, but the RTX 5080 sells at a higher
news Xbox is starting a new developer show with Project Helix on the agenda

Xbox is starting a new developer show with Project Helix on the agenda

Xbox is launching a new developer focused video series called Game Dev Update, and the first episode will include more discussion about Project Helix, Microsoft’s next generation Xbox hardware plan. The show is aimed at developers, but many Xbox fans will likely pay attention because Project Helix remains one of the biggest questions around the platform’s future. The first episode will premiere on May
news Crimson Desert update lets you refight all 69 bosses

Crimson Desert update lets you refight all 69 bosses

Pearl Abyss has released Crimson Desert update 1.5, and it adds one of the game’s most requested features: boss rematches. After crossing 5 million sales, the studio is clearly still investing in the game with new systems, fixes, and performance features. The update is available across platforms, except the Mac App Store version, which will receive it later. The new Rematch system turns bosses
news Intel and AMD are working together on APX to improve future x86 CPUs

Intel and AMD are working together on APX to improve future x86 CPUs

Intel and AMD are working on a new x86 extension called APX, or Advanced Performance Extensions. It is part of a wider effort by the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group to modernize x86 while keeping compatibility with older software. APX is different from flashier AI focused updates like ACE. Its goal is more general. It helps normal CPU workloads run faster and more efficiently by
news Agentic AI could push CPU memory needs far beyond today’s servers

Agentic AI could push CPU memory needs far beyond today’s servers

AI memory demand is getting worse, and the pressure may soon move beyond GPUs. A new report says future AI focused CPUs could be equipped with 300GB to 400GB of memory, a major jump from today’s common 96GB to 256GB range per chip. The reason is agentic AI. These systems do more than answer one prompt. They plan, call tools, manage longer context, and
news Tenstorrent says its Galaxy Blackhole servers can challenge NVIDIA in AI inference

Tenstorrent says its Galaxy Blackhole servers can challenge NVIDIA in AI inference

Tenstorrent is making big claims for its new Galaxy Blackhole AI servers. The company says the system can deliver very high inference performance while lowering total cost compared with current GPU based platforms. The hardware is built around Tenstorrent’s Blackhole chips, which use a RISC V based design. Inside each chip are Tensix cores with programmable RISC processors, matrix units, vector units, local SRAM,
news TSMC’s A16 node brings backside power to its Angstrom era chips

TSMC’s A16 node brings backside power to its Angstrom era chips

TSMC is preparing to show more details about its A16 process at the 2026 VLSI Symposium, and the node looks like an important step beyond 2nm. A16 is part of TSMC’s Angstrom era roadmap and is expected to bring better performance, lower power use, and backside power delivery. The biggest change is TSMC’s Super Power Rail technology. This is the company’s version of backside