Hacker News with Generative AI: Semiconductors

Sources Say Intel Is an Acquisition Target (semiaccurate.com)
About two months ago, SemiAccurate was read an email about a company trying to acquire Intel, whole. We have absolute faith in the accuracy of this email but it took months to confirm it.
Acquisitions, Intel, Semiconductors
20 points by monkeydust 14 hours ago | 20 comments
100x defect tolerance: How we solved the yield problem (cerebras.ai)
Conventional wisdom in semiconductor manufacturing has long held that bigger chips mean worse yields. Yet at Cerebras, we’ve successfully built and commercialized a chip 50x larger than the largest computer chips – and achieved comparable yields.
Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Hardware, Yield
328 points by jwan584 2 days ago | 174 comments
Taiwan clears TSMC to make 2nm chips abroad – country lowers 'Silicon Shield' (tomshardware.com)
Taiwan, Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Technology, Geopolitics
5 points by transpute 3 days ago | 0 comments
Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab (tomshardware.com)
Apple, Manufacturing, Semiconductors, Arizona, Taiwan
483 points by rbanffy 3 days ago | 466 comments
TSMC's Arizona Fab 21 is already making 4nm chips (tomshardware.com)
TSMC, Arizona, Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Chip Production
21 points by libpcap 6 days ago | 5 comments
TSMC Arizona allegedly now producing AMD's Ryzen 9000 and Apple's S9 processors (tomshardware.com)
TSMC, AMD, Apple, Processors, Semiconductors
19 points by rbanffy 9 days ago | 2 comments
Why we invested in Silicon Box and the advanced chiplet packaging (medium.com)
Why We Invested in Silicon Box and the Advanced Chiplet Packaging
Venture Capital, Semiconductors, Chip Packaging
23 points by kome 15 days ago | 6 comments
Morris Chang and the Origins of TSMC (construction-physics.com)
If you were making a list of the most important companies in the world, you’d find Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, somewhere very close to the top.
Semiconductors, Business, Taiwan, History
237 points by rbanffy 18 days ago | 66 comments
The Nvidia Way (thechipletter.substack.com)
On the most superficial level, Nvidia’s rapid rise to vie for the title of the world’s most valuable company is easy to explain. AI is emerging as a technology that will be both pervasive and revolutionary. Nvidia makes the best chips for AI. QED.
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Business, Semiconductors
164 points by klelatti 21 days ago | 71 comments
TSMC's Arizona Plant to Start Making Advanced Chips (ieee.org)
After years of planning, building, geopolitical wrangling, and workforce challenges, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is officially starting mass production at an advanced chip-manufacturing facility in Phoenix in 2025.
Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Technology, Arizona
352 points by rbanffy 21 days ago | 173 comments
VPR: Nordic's First RISC-V Processor (danielmangum.com)
VPR (pronounced “Viper”) is Nordic Semiconductor’s first RISC-V processor, landing in the new nRF54H and nRF54L lines of SoCs after their initial announcements in April and October of 2023 respectively.
RISC-V, Hardware, Processors, Semiconductors
165 points by hasheddan 24 days ago | 40 comments
China's plan to dominate legacy chips globally sparks US probe (arstechnica.com)
Under Joe Biden's direction, the US Trade Representative (USTR) launched a probe Monday into China's plans to globally dominate markets for legacy chips—alleging that China's unfair trade practices threaten US national security and could thwart US efforts to build up a domestic semiconductor supply chain.
China, Trade, Semiconductors, National Security, Politics
8 points by jnord 25 days ago | 0 comments
Intel ex-CEO Gelsinger and current co-CEO sued over Intel Foundry disclosures (tomshardware.com)
Intel, Lawsuits, CEO, Semiconductors, Business
5 points by Ozarkian 28 days ago | 0 comments
Samsung gets $4.7B grants for Texas fabs (nist.gov)
The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics (Samsung), up to $4.745 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen the resilience of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, advance U.S. technology leadership, and fuel U.S. global competitiveness.
Government Funding, Semiconductors, Texas, Manufacturing, Technology
32 points by osnium123 28 days ago | 6 comments
Chinese GPU designers received key technologies from British company Imagination (tomshardware.com)
Chinese Companies, GPU, Technology, Semiconductors
15 points by ksec 29 days ago | 2 comments
Intel 18A Process Node Clocks an Abysmal 10% Yield (techpowerup.com)
In case you're wondering why Intel went with TSMC 3 nm to build the Compute tile of its "Arrow Lake" processor, and the SoC tile of "Lunar Lake," instead of Intel 3, or even Intel 20A, perhaps there's more to the recent story about Broadcom voicing its disappointment in the Intel 18A foundry node.
Semiconductors, Intel, Technology, Manufacturing, Business
9 points by LordNibbler 30 days ago | 0 comments
The higher fertility of TSMC semiconductor workers (boomcampaign.org)
This tweet has gone viral for pointing out the extraordinary fertility  of the employees of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s leading manufacturer of semiconductors and producer of nearly 90% of the most advanced chips. Though TSMC employees make up 0.3% of Taiwan’s population, they are responsible for 1.8% of all babies born in Taiwan. In every fifty Taiwanese babies born, one is a TSMC baby. 
Taiwan, Semiconductors, Demographics, Fertility, Workforce
88 points by walterbell 32 days ago | 85 comments
TSMC's N2 Technology (ieee.org)
TSMC described its next generation transistor technology this week at the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco. The N2, or 2-nanometer, technology is the semiconductor foundry giant’s first foray into a new transistor architecture, called nanosheet or gate-all-around.
Semiconductors, Technology, Nanotechnology, Transistors
5 points by rbanffy 35 days ago | 0 comments
Copper evolution and beyond: Advanced interconnects for future CMOS nodes (research.ibm.com)
Even after 27 years, IBM’s innovation in introducing Cu (copper) damascene technology for BEOL (Back-End-of-Line) in CMOS semiconductor production remains the industry standard for high-performance and low-power logic integrated circuit chip manufacturing.
Semiconductors, CMOS, Materials Science, Technology, Innovation
28 points by sandwichsphinx 35 days ago | 4 comments
TSMC Lifts the Curtain on Nanosheet Transistors (ieee.org)
TSMC described its next generation transistor technology this week at the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco. The N2, or 2-nanometer, technology is the semiconductor foundry giant’s first foray into a new transistor architecture, called nanosheet or gate-all-around.
Semiconductors, Technology, Transistors, Nanotechnology
16 points by jnord 36 days ago | 1 comments
Intel's Fall from Grace (cacm.acm.org)
Intel, Technology, Business, Semiconductors
58 points by subvertify 37 days ago | 32 comments
Graphene Interconnects Aim to Give Moore's Law New Life (ieee.org)
The semiconductor industry’s long held imperative—Moore’s Law, which dictates that transistor densities on a chip should double roughly every two years—is getting more and more difficult to maintain.
Semiconductors, Moore's Law, Technology, Graphene
70 points by jnord 38 days ago | 51 comments
Gelsinger fires back at recent stories about 18A's poor yields (tomshardware.com)
Semiconductors, Technology, Intel, Business, News
11 points by LorenDB 39 days ago | 2 comments
Russia's Military Found a Surprisingly Simple Way to Buy US Chips (bloomberg.com)
A cache of internal Russian documents reviewed by Bloomberg reveals how Putin’s forces have been able to keep purchasing American semiconductors.
Russia, Technology, Military, Trade, Semiconductors
16 points by pinewurst 39 days ago | 11 comments
Rapidus and IBM move closer to scaling out 2 nm chip production (research.ibm.com)
A new chip construction process, called selective layer reductions, is helping overcome some of the critical challenges to produce 2-nanometer transistors and beyond at scale within the decade.
Semiconductors, IBM, Chip Manufacturing, Technology
9 points by sandwichsphinx 39 days ago | 0 comments
What Arm's CEO makes of the Intel debacle (theverge.com)
Arm CEO Rene Haas has a unique, bird’s eye view of the tech industry. His company’s chip designs are in the majority of devices you use on a daily basis, from your smartphone to your car. The SoftBank-backed company he leads is worth almost $150 billion, which is now considerably more than Intel.
Tech Industry, Business, Semiconductors, Arm, Intel
50 points by m463 41 days ago | 56 comments
Apple's Three-Year Modem Road Map: Company Plans to Beat Qualcomm by 2027 (bloomberg.com)
Apple Inc. is preparing to finally bring one of its most ambitious projects to market: a series of cellular modem chips that will replace components from longtime partner — and adversary — Qualcomm Inc.
Apple, Qualcomm, Mobile Technology, Semiconductors, Competition
5 points by Tomte 42 days ago | 1 comments
China bans exports to US of gallium, germanium in response to chip sanctions (apnews.com)
China announced Tuesday it is banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications, as a general principle, lashing back at U.S. limits on semiconductor-related exports.
China, Trade, Technology, Semiconductors, Sanctions
21 points by tsujamin 46 days ago | 13 comments
ASML made a $230 Lego kit version of its $380M semiconductor tool (tomshardware.com)
Semiconductors, Technology, Manufacturing, Lego, Business
8 points by gradus_ad 46 days ago | 2 comments
The Art of Failure Analysis 2024 (ieee.org)
Searching for defects in their chips, these engineers found something inspiring
Engineering, Failure Analysis, Semiconductors
12 points by rbanffy 46 days ago | 2 comments