Business, Financial & Legal - Page 3

NVIDIA's vision of the future of AI compute has been teased: the AI GPU leader sees the use of a silicon photonics interposer, 3D stacked DRAM, and GPU 'tiers' that tease GPU on GPU tech in the future.

In a new post on X from Ian Cutress, NVIDIA's vision of the future of AI compute has many different layers: module level cooling with a cold plate, die-to-die and tier-to-tier electrical connect, 3D stacked fine-grained DRAM, vertical power delivery, integrated silicon photonics, and an advanced package substrate.

Cutress reports that NVIDIA teased the silicon photonics interposer, SiPh intrachip and interchip, 12 SiPh connects wth 3 per GPU tile, 4 GPU tiles per tier, GPU 'tiers' as the image above shows, and 3D stacked DRAM with 6 per tile, fine-grained.

Samsung is making advancements on its next-gen HBM4 memory, reportedly gearing up for new 1c DRAM mass production, which is a critical component of the competitiveness of its next-gen HBM4 memory chips.

In a new report from South Korean media outlet ZDNet, Samsung has started ordering equipment from its partners to start a 1c DRAM production line at its Pyeong Plant 4 (P4) with the installation expected to begin in Q1 2025. The introduction of Samsung's production equipment for its new 1c DRAM is expected to begin in February 2025, with more investments into the technology once yield rates stabilize.

ZDNet reports that Samsung had "good dies" from its 1c DRAM production, as it was in pilot line testing for the first time in Q3 2024. The new 1c DRAM represents the 6th generation 10nm-class DRAM, with a circuit line that is around 11-12nm, with it being one generation ahead of the currently commercialized 1b DRAM (5th generation) and is expected to reach full commercialization in 2025.

Russia seems to still very easily get US-made tech after the US government (and its allies) imposed sanctions on the country, but weapons recovered from the special military operation in Ukraine have been found with US-made tech and semiconductors from the likes of Intel, Texas Instruments, and more.

In a new report from Bloomberg, we're learning that Russian weapons recovered from the battlefields in the region are "chock full of gear" from companies like Intel, Analog Devices, and more, adding "much to the frustration of officials in Washington, Brussels, and Kyiv".

The outlet got its hands on a "cache of records" that revealed new data showing just how easy-flowing the supply chain between Silicon Valley and Russia really is. The records show that many of the steps that suppliers to Russia's military take to get components from US chipmaker Texas Instruments, unbeknownst to the company itself. The data also reveals that identify Russian distributors handing out thousands of shipments on their way to Russia's military contractors, including multiple of them being under US sanctions.

Broadcom has just announced its new 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (XDSiP) platform technology, which enables consumer AI customers to develop next-generation custom accelerators (XPUs).

The new 3.55D XDSiP integrates over 6000 mm2 of silicon and up to 12 HBM stacks in a single package, enabling high-efficiency, lower-power computing for AI at scale. Broadcom says that it has achieved this significant milestone by developing and launching the industry's first Face-to-Face (F2F) 3.5D XPU.

Broradcom explains: "The immense computational power required for training generative AI models relies on massive clusters of 100,000 growing to 1 million XPUs. These XPUs demand increasingly sophisticated integration of compute, memory, and I/O capabilities to achieve the necessary performance while minimizing power consumption and cost. Traditional methods like Moore's Law and process scaling are struggling to keep up with these demands. Therefore, advanced system-in-package (SiP) integration is becoming crucial for next-generation XPUs".

TSMC's initial 2nm manufacturing yields have been better than expected during recent trial runs at its fab in north Taiwan, Hsinchu, with mass production of 2nm chips on schedule for 2025.

In a new report from Taiwanese outlet LTN and their supply chain sources, TSMC's 2nm trial production yield rate was "better than expected" and that the world's most advanced process technology will be mass-produced in 2025. TSMC's new 2nm process node will use nanosheet architecture for the very first time in the semiconductor industry, and is currently in trial production at TSMC's fab in Baoshan.

TSMC's new 2nm process node will see the company debut its next-gen nanosheet architecture, and after its 2nm node, we'll see the A16 process node that will combine the Super Power Rail architecture and nanosheet transistors, with TSMC's next-gen A16 node expected to hit mass production in 2026.

A new report from Bloomberg has revealed that SpaceX is in talks to sell off private shares held by employees at a price higher than expected.

Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter, who informed the publication that SpaceX would be valued at approximately $350 billion, a stark increase from the previous estimation of $255 billion conducted earlier this year. The deal is noted as a tender offer and makes SpaceX the world's most valuable private company, putting it alongside mega-companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance. However, if you want to compare apples to apples, SpaceX stands alone in terms of valuation within the space industry, as there isn't another company that even comes close to the $350 billion mark.

This isn't surprising as SpaceX is far and away the leader in providing a reliable, reusable means of transportation to orbit. Its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets have become the workhorses for the company, delivering payloads to the International Space Station (ISS), various orbital altitudes, and a means of ferrying astronauts to and from the ISS. Additionally, SpaceX has had quite a lot of success with its Starlink internet access program, having more than 5 million monthly customers across 114 countries.

A former Apple employee has sued the company over alleged labor violations that accuse Apple of suppressing employee speech, and invading employee privacy via conducting surveilling on employees through personal iCloud accounts.

According to a new report from Semafor, the new lawsuit that was filed last Sunday in a California state court names the former Apple employee Amar Bhakta, who worked at Apple since 2020. According to Bhakta's suit, Apple used its internal policies to harm its employment prospects by preventing Apple employees from adequately describing their jobs, accomplishments while at Apple, and professional growth on job-search-based websites such as LinkedIn. Bhakta claims these policies surrounding job discussion have hindered his chances of future job prospects.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges the Apple devices Apple employees are required to use "collect and use the valuable personal data" of employees during non-work periods. More specifically, the lawsuit states Apple employees have to agree to physical, video, and electronic surveillance by Apple and that Apple is within its rights to search any Apple or non-Apple device while an employee is on company premises. According to Bhakta's lawsuit, Apple employees are subject to "Apple's all-seeing eye" while both at work and at home.

Tesla CEO has lost his bid to get a $56 billion pay package reinstated, according to a recent ruling by a Delaware judge who upheld the original ruling in January, which denied the pay package.

The ruling came on Monday when Tesla CEO lost his bid to have his 2018 CEO pay package reinstated, which is estimated to be worth approximately $56 billion, making it the largest compensation package of any executive of a publicly traded company. Musk rebukes the ruling by the Delaware judge, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that he plans to appeal the ruling, which he describes as "absolute corruption".

Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick voided the push for the pay package back in January, citing Musk's control over Tesla at the time that enabled him to curate the pay package as he saw fit, and through a process that McCormick stated was "deeply flawed." Following these decisions, Tesla conducted a shareholder vote on the pay package in June, and the results were used by Musk's lawyers to try and convince McCormick to overturn her decision. However, it didn't work. McCormick said, "Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here."

Elon Musk has seized his opportunity to prevent OpenAI from converting into a for-profit company, with the Tesla CEO filing for an injunction against OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has long been after OpenAI since the non-profit took an investment of $13 billion from Microsoft, claiming the company Musk originally helped create as a counterweight to Google, and the rapid development of artificial intelligence has now strayed away from its original non-profit mission of bringing transparency to artificial intelligence. Now, Musk has filed an injunction that will be heard in early January next year at the United States District Court, Northern District of California.

The injunction requests that OpenAI be prevented from performing activities such as investing in OpenAI's competitors - even xAI, Elon Musk's own AI company, utilizing "wrongfully obtained competitively sensitive information" through OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft, its conversion from a non-profit company into a for-profit company, and the transferring of any OpenAI assets to competitors, subsidiaries, or affiliates. Musk has also claimed in previous complaints that OpenAI swindled him out of $44 million by preying on "well-known concerns about the existential harms" of AI.

Intel has announced that its CEO, Pat Gelsinger, has retired from the company effective as of yesterday.

Gelsinger has vacated the chief exec post and stepped down from the board of the chip giant, following what Intel described as a "distinguished 40-plus-year career."

His temporary replacements will be David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who will serve as interim co-chief executive officers, while Intel looks for another CEO to take the reins.