Intel 14A defect density is dropping faster than the company expected — ‘we have not seen this performance since 22nm,’ says CFO

Intel says defect density of 14A process technology is declining rapidly as internal teams are already developing 14A-based products, while external clients are now wondering about capacity that Intel can provide them.

Glass substrate roadmaps examined — Absolics in final qualification and a first product that keeps slipping

Glass-core substrates, the replacement for organic chip packaging that Intel promised in September 2023, are now in final qualification but still not in a single commercial product

EPA faces lawsuit over claims it fast-tracked approval of toxic ‘data center chemicals’ — exposure to photoacid generators used for semiconductor manufacturing could result in ‘sudden death,’ also appear to be long-lasting PFAS
EPA faces lawsuit over claims it fast-tracked approval of toxic ‘data center chemicals’ — exposure to photoacid generators used for semiconductor manufacturing could result in ‘sudden death,’ also appear to be long-lasting PFAS

An environmental group said that two new chemicals approved by the EPA for semiconductor manufacturing do not come with enough safeguards, so they’re suing the agency for ‘turning the new chemical review process on its head.’

Top 25 Countries Ranked By Advanced Robot Production Capability

Which countries are best at physical AI and advanced robotics. According to a new report, it’s China, and not by a small margin.

Hot Chips 2026: Nvidia presents Groq 3 LPX architecture and unveils its first third-party inference benchmark — LP30-based rack already in production, company says
Hot Chips 2026: Nvidia presents Groq 3 LPX architecture and unveils its first third-party inference benchmark — LP30-based rack already in production, company says

Igor Arsovski, now Nvidia’s VP of hardware, presented the Groq 3 LPX rack’s architecture and published the first third-party benchmark of the hardware.

Hot Chips 2026: d-Matrix stacks AI accelerator directly on custom DRAM for 100 TB/s per card — TSMC 4nm compute die bonded face-to-face at a 36-micron pitch on top of a custom-designed die
Hot Chips 2026: d-Matrix stacks AI accelerator directly on custom DRAM for 100 TB/s per card — TSMC 4nm compute die bonded face-to-face at a 36-micron pitch on top of a custom-designed die

d-Matrix presented Raptor, which it calls the first 3D DRAM accelerator for generative inference, showing a TSMC 4nm compute die bonded face-to-face at a 36-micron pitch on top of a custom-designed DRAM die.

Hot Chips 2026: Micron warns HBM wafer penalty is widening with every generation — AI memory uses 3x more silicon than DDR5, company says memory wall is ‘getting worse’ as prices rise
Hot Chips 2026: Micron warns HBM wafer penalty is widening with every generation — AI memory uses 3x more silicon than DDR5, company says memory wall is ‘getting worse’ as prices rise

Micron Fellow Raghu Sreeramaneni told the Hot Chips 2026 conference that the silicon penalty HBM carries against DDR5 is growing with every generation.

Hot Chips 2026: SK hynix pushes hybrid bonding to HBM5 as AI memory hits 775-micron ceiling — firm extends MR-MUF through Nvidia Rubin
Hot Chips 2026: SK hynix pushes hybrid bonding to HBM5 as AI memory hits 775-micron ceiling — firm extends MR-MUF through Nvidia Rubin

The problem, per SK, is that HBM cubes are capped at a total thickness of 775 microns, the standard thickness of a 300mm logic wafer.