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TSMC is urgently expanding its orders for CoWoS packaging equipment, with Taiwanese factories welcoming huge orders for equipment machines.

The unstoppable wave of AI is coming in many forms, with the AI GPUs and AI processors being made mostly at TSMC. TSMC estimates that the server AI processor revenue would more than double in 2024, accounting for around 11-13% of total revenue in 2024. However, server AI processors will account for 50% of annual revenue by 2029.

The server AI processor that TSMC mentions refers to the GPU, AI accelerator, and CPU that perform training and inference functions, but it does NOT include network, edge, or terminal device AI. TSMC emphasized at the North American Technology Forum that its 2.5D advanced packaging CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) is a key driving technology for the AI revolution, which allows for more processor cores and HBM on a single interposer layer.

Samsung has reportedly failed to pass specific stages of HBM3E memory verification standards from NVIDIA, which is surely going to cause a headache for the South Korean memory giant.

SK hynix has been pumping out HBM3 and now HBM3E while still preparing not just the next-generation HBM4 memory, but even HBM4E memory... while South Korean HBM rival, Samsung, can't get its act together with HBM3 memory for NVIDIA according to Korean news outlet AlphaBiz.

Samsung has reportedly failed qualification tests for its HBM3 8-layer memory, which is a serious situation to be in considering how bleeding-edge HBM is, and how Samsung has been acting in an emergency-style manner to get its HBM business flourishing... and now this gigantic roadblock, as NVIDIA prepares its beefed-up Hopper H200 AI GPU, and next-generation Blackwell B100, B200, and GB200 AI GPUs which all use HBM3E memory.

Arm is developing its own artificial intelligence (AI) chips, with the first AI chips made by the company expected to launch in 2025.

The UK-based company will spool up an AI chip division that will deliver a prototype AI chip by spring 2025 according to a report from Reuters. The mass production of Arm's new AI chip will be handled by contract manufacturers -- TSMC -- and is expected to start in autumn 2025.

Arm Holdings is a SoftBank Group subsidiary -- SoftBank owns a 90% share in Arm -- with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son preparing a huge $64 billion strategy to transform SoftBank into a powerhouse AI company. Negotiations are reportedly already happening with TSMC and others to secure production capacity.

Microsoft is ushering in fresh AI capabilities for its Edge browser, and this new work pertains to customizing the app.

Windows Latest was keen-eyed enough to spot that an incoming feature called the 'AI theme generator' for Edge is part of a Microsoft 365 roadmap.

It'll work pretty much as you'd expect: you tell the AI what kind of theme you want via a simple text prompt, and it'll knock up some concepts along those lines that you can peruse.

The Google Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL aren't expected to be released until later this year but that hasn't stopped them all from leaking ahead of time. Google has long had a problem with leaks, but this is early even by the company's standards - we don't expect Google to officially unveil these devices until October.

Regardless, new images shared by Rozetked appear to give us a full look at what these new phones will have to offer, huge Pixel 9 Pro XL and all. The new phones are set to replace the current Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, adding the XL to the lineup. And that big phone is clearly a big phone as the image below shows - that's an iPhone 15 Pro Max that it's making look small, there.

Questions will obviously now be asked about how these phones have leaked but if we ignore that for a moment, we can probably all agree that these devices look good. The camera bar around the back doesn't cover the full width of the device, which isn't necessarily anything more than a potential marketing problem.

Apple has historically come out on top in terms of the company that makes the most satisfied customers in terms of the phone that they bought. In 2023 Apple just about beat out Samsung according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) but things have changed in 2024.

The new report, shared by the ACSI, shows that Apple and Samsung are now both tied for the top spot with 82% customer satisfaction. Google is in third with Motorola (Lenovo) in fourth spot. Both companies have a score of 77%, while all other manufacturers combined were only able to manage a score of 72%.

The report came after ASCI interviewed almost 12,500 consumers who were chosen at random between April 2023 and March 2024. In terms of iPhone owners, customer satisfaction increased slightly from 81% to 82% while Samsung saw its score leap from 80% to 82% year over year. Overall, smartphone satisfaction increased by 3% while Google was the only company listed to suffer a fall - down to 77% from 78%.

When the European Union forced Apple to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone, Apple suggested that its own App Store was key to ensuring that the company could keep its users safe. It's the same argument that it's used whenever the topic of the App Store and its payment processing systems has come under fire by lawmakers, and now the company has shared details that it believes help back up that stance. According to Apple, the App Store prevented $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions across a four-year time span.

The time span in question ran from 202 to 2023, Apple's press release says, with the transactions including more than $1.8 billion worth in 2023 alone. In the same period, Apple says, the company blocked more than 14 million stolen credit cards and more than 3.3 million accounts from transacting again.

The press release goes on, saying that in 2023 it rejected more than 1.7 million app submissions that failed to stick to the App Store's standards for privacy, security, and content. Apple also terminated almost 374 million developer and customer accounts and removed close to 152 million ratings and reviews over concerns that they could potentially be fraudulent.

After weeks of beta testing, Apple released the iOS 17.5 software update to the world yesterday, bringing with it a couple of new features related to the Apple News app and support for early warnings related to potential item tracker stalking. But while the update might have been lacking in terms of the sheer number of new features, it certainly made up for that in terms of the number of security fixes it implemented.

Apple has now published a new support document that details the new fixes that have been applied as a result of iOS 17.5 and there's quite a lot of them. In fact, there are no fewer than 15 new security fixes that will be applied when people install iOS 17.5 on their iPhones at home.

We tend to suggest that people regularly update their iPhones and other devices to ensure that they are running the latest software for a variety of reasons. One of those is compatibility, ensuring that you and your apps can make use of the latest APIs and whatnot. Another is to make sure you're using the latest and greatest versions of the apps that Apple ships by default, including Safari, Mail, and others.

When Apple announced its new M4 iPad Pro and the revamped M2 iPad Air last week it detailed plenty of new features that buyers will be able to take advantage of, but it turns out that there was one change that the company didn't mention. According to a new report, Apple's new iPads will sport an exclusive battery health menu including a new option.

The report, coming from iCulture, says that an additional Battery Health Menu can be found under Settings, Battery on the new iPad Pro and iPad Air. The menu shows the current battery health, maximum battery capacity, cycle count, and the option to choose the 80% battery optimization option that prevents the iPad from being charged beyond the 80% mark.

These options are not available as part of the iPadOS 17.5 update on other iPads despite having been found in code in recent beta updates before iPadOS 17.5 was released to the public. At the time it was suggested that the new features may be exclusive to the new iPads, and that now appears to have been proven correct.

The brand-new M4 iPad Pro is quite the beast of a machine as early reviews have already attested to. But while the new OLED display is said to be as impressive as Apple claimed during its announcement event, that doesn't mean that it isn't without its issues. One issue in particular relates to the way it displays HDR content, and Apple is reportedly already aware of the issue.

The issue was first reported by iMore and it's difficult to explain. The way we understand it is that some HDR highlights are blown out when certain shades of blue are shown on-screen. Instead of being blue as you might expect, they appear almost white which creates a strange-looking effect and one that definitely isn't the iPad working as intended.

The report says that the same issue isn't available on an iPhone 15 Pro, a Samsung TV, or the M2 11-inch iPad Pro, suggesting that the problem is indeed specific to the hot new OLED display found in the M4 iPad Pro. If you have a new iPad Pro you can test the issue for yourself using the Dolby Vision stream of Strange Things Series 3 on Netflix. The example given is the 25-minute mark of the fifth episode in which you see characters making their way down a long corridor. Around the edge of a blue shirt is a clear white hue, something that definitely shouldn't be there.

If you're waiting for the Apple Store to open on May 15 so you can rush in and buy one of Apple's shiny new M2 iPad Airs, you probably aren't alone. But as excited as you might be and as impressive as the M2 chip is, there is always going to be something better - and according to a new leak, the M3 iPad Air is already something that we should all be considering.

That leak comes via a private X account that has a proven track record of sharing information about future Apple products and has been picked up by MacRumors. According to that report, the next iPad Air to come out of Apple Park will ditch the current M2 chip in favor of the M3, the same chip that powers the latest and best Macs right now.

That of course isn't all that surprising when you look at Apple's history of updating iPads and iterating the chip, but it does mean that the iPad Air won't skip the M3 and go straight to the M4. That's exactly what the new iPad Pro did of course, but it seems that the M3 iPad Air will be a thing - although we don't yet know when that will happen.

We're now just hours away from Apple's M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air officially going on sale after being made available for preorder last week. May 15 is the big day, and that's when people will be able to walk into an Apple Store and then walk out with a new tablet. It's also when those who got their preorders in quickly should see their iPad Pro or iPad Air land on their doorstep, too. No matter where the new iPad came from, the unboxing experience will include a new software update after the release of iPadOS 17.5.

That new update is already available and ready for download by people who have other compatible iPads. And while those with the new hotness can expect the same new features, there is actually one that's exclusive to the new tablets as well. For that reason alone, we would suggest that every new iPad buyer download and install iPadOS 17.5 as soon as they can.

The iPadOS 17.5 update brings with it a number of improvements and there's a special build number 21F84 that will be offered to the new iPads alone. In fact, they will ship with a version of iPadOS 17.4 that was never made available to the older models, too.

id Software's Doom (1994) and Doom II (1994) helped establish and define the first-person shooter genre as two of the most iconic PC games of all time. Those who grew up playing the original Doom might recall its cheat codes. IDKFA gave you all weapons, ammo, and keys while IDDQD unlocked 'God Mode.'

As spotted by Clawsomegamer, ZeniMax Media has trademarked IDKFA for 'computer game software' and 'downloadable computer game software.' It's an obscure reference for a company to trademark, but it could point to IDKFA being the title for some sort of DLC or add-on for an upcoming Doom game from id Software, Bethesda, and Xbox.

With the success of the recent DOOM and DOOM Eternal reboots, there are several rumors (and leaks) suggesting that id Software not only has another Doom game in the works, but we could be getting our first look at it during next month's Xbox Games Showcase event.

Bethesda's long-awaited 'next-gen' update for Fallout 4 arrived just in time to ride the wave of the smash hit Amazon Prime series, which saw the 2015 game once again become one of the most played titles on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

The update improved performance and visual fidelity for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S while adding ultrawide support for the PC version, several bug fixes, and some free add-on content that included new weapons, armor, and even quests.

However, the reception was not one of universal acclaim, as the 'next-gen' update for Fallout 4 broke many PC mods and added new glitches and crashes for gamers. Many players also reported problems with 4K or Quality Mode on Xbox Series X.

ASUS has teased its ROG Ally X handheld refresh, which will get a big reveal and debut at Computex 2024. The official reveal has confirmed that the ROG Ally X will arrive sporting a new black finish, an improved battery that will have 'way more' than 40% more capacity, and a new motherboard layout to support more memory storage (greater than 16GB) and storage, while improving and fixing the SD card reader.

Surprisingly, ASUS is even adding an M.2 2280 SSD slot. Yeah, the ROG Ally X is adding support for standard full-sized SSDs you'd find in a PC, laptop, or PlayStation 5. The handheld will also change the D-Pad, joysticks, and triggers and be slightly heavier.

But what about the processor, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme (a customized Ryzen 7 7840U), and the display? Well, according to a new leak, don't expect all that much on that front.

It sounds like AMD's next-gen Radeon graphics cards powered by the new RDNA 4 architecture are right around the corner. Although rumors and months of speculation have pointed to AMD skipping high-end GPUs that will compete with the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 (or the current RTX 4090, for that matter), RDNA 4 could still present an exciting option for the mid-range market.

With a massive improvement in ray-tracing coming and a more efficient GPU, a potential Radeon RX 8800 XT with the right price could be a real competitor to the popular GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER. With AMD's Linux developers adding nearly 20,000 lines of code for 'AMD GFX12 Mesa support' for its drivers, an RDNA 4 reveal and release could be right around the corner.

Linux kernel driver support for RDNA 4 (or GFX12) is a definite sign that things are progressing well for a next-gen Radeon release this year. Depending on the timeline, we could be getting a big reveal at Computex 2024 in the coming weeks.

According to WJM47196, a source of AMD leaks over on the ChipHell forums (via Videocardz), AMD's next-gen RDNA 4 GPU line-up will "merely be a bug fix for RDNA 3," bringing improvements to ray-tracing and incremental updates in other areas. Without a flagship, the top RDNA 4 card is expected to deliver raw performance, albeit more efficient performance, on par with the Radeon RX 7900 XT.

The source claims that RDNA 3, which powers the current Radeon RX 7000 Series, "didn't meet its performance expectations," leading to problems with the core frequency power curve. Throw in the R&D costs associated with developing a multi-chip GPU, a fast on-chip interconnect, and dealing with related issues - RDNA 4 is a stopgap before the main course - RDNA 5.

RDNA 5 "will be a clean sheet design," an overhaul of AMD's Radeon architecture similar to the arrival of Zen and Ryzen. The difference is so big that RDNA 5 could ditch the Radeon branding for something completely new.

NVIDIA and MediaTek are reportedly working on a new Arm-based AI processor, co-developing the new SoC that will be finalized in Q3 2024... just months from now.

The new silicon will support advanced technologies, and will be mass-produced on TSMC's new 3nm process node, and will compete against Apple's new M4 chip, and Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X Elite SoC according to Chinese media outlet UDN.

The site reports that the price of NVIDIA and MediaTek's new Arm-based AI processor will be "as high as $300" adding that this is the first time NVIDIA and MediaTek have cooperated on PC processors, and that it's expected we'll get details on the new AI PC processor during Computex 2024 in just a few weeks' time in Taipei, Taiwan.

SK hynix has announced it plans to complete the development of its next-gen HBM4E memory by as early as 2026, preparing for the next-gen AI GPUs of the future.

SK hynix's head of the HBM advanced technology team, Kim Gwi-wook, announced the news this week of the direction of next-generation HBM development at the International Memory Workshop (IMW 2024). HBM was developed by SK hynix in 2014, with HBM2 (2nd generation) in 2018, HBM2E (3rd generation) in 2020, HBM3 (4th generation) in 2022, and HBM3E (5th generation) was introduced this year.

There's a two-year cadence between HBM generations, with HBM3E unleashed this year, it means that HBM4 (6th generation) should drop in 2025, and HBM4E (7th generation) in 2026. That's a bit faster than two years for HBM4 and HBM4E, which is because SK hynix is predicting that HBM performance advancements would become faster than previous generations.

GigaIO and SourceCode have just unveiled Gryf, an ultra-portable AI supercomputer-class system that weighs less than 55 pounds, and fits inside of a TSA-friendly carry-on suitcase. Impressive.

Gryf can handle data collection and processing on a scale that would usually see the data sent off-site, this means that the suitcase-sized supercomputer handles super-fast processing and analysis, all in a suitcase. Gryf supports disaggregating and reaggregating its GPUs, with owners capable of customizing the system's hardware configuration in the field, and on-the-fly.

You can create the absolute optimal hardware configuration for one assigned workload, and then the next workload gets another optimized hardware configuration. Each Gryf has multiple slots filled with compute, storage, accelerator, and network sleds that are perfect for their respective workloads. There's 6 sled slots in total, where you can insert and remove the modules as required.