The supercomputer race no longer means what it used to, as rankings lose relevance in the AI era — as privately held compute clusters are built, running HPL becomes a distraction
 The supercomputer race no longer means what it used to, as rankings lose relevance in the AI era — as privately held compute clusters are built, running HPL becomes a distraction

We review the current state of high-performance supercomputing, interviewing experts, including the deputy head of high-performance computing at GWDG, to find out exactly where the current race stands.

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SMIC posts record $3B quarter and hikes wafer prices — US sanctions hand Chinese foundry a captive AI market

SMIC posted its first $3 billion quarter earlier this month, with revenue up 36.1% year on year, net profit nearly tripling to $479.2 million.

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Amazon delivery drone dumps Texas woman’s parcel straight into her swimming pool — viral video surfaces the same week the company announces 500-city Prime Air expansion

A Texas woman has filmed the moment an Amazon Prime delivery drone dumped her package straight into her swimming pool.

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Samsung raises advanced foundry prices by up to 15% as AI demand fills its 4nm lines, report claims — Chinese customers accepting the largest hikes
 Samsung raises advanced foundry prices by up to 15% as AI demand fills its 4nm lines, report claims — Chinese customers accepting the largest hikes

Samsung raised prices on new orders across its 4nm, 5nm, and 8nm foundry processes in July, with increases reaching 15% for customers in China.

China shifting massive AI data center complexes to rural provinces to tap surplus energy — ‘Eastern Data, Western Computing’ strategy has Chinese tech giants Huawei and Tencent building AI infrastructure Guizhou

Chinese tech giants are putting up data centers in rural Chinese provinces with zero resistance. The abundance of land and energy in these areas allowed infrastructure to easily be built with limited issues, although some experts still question how much development they can bring to these areas.

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Samsung’s fab roadmaps examined — Taylor, Pyeongtaek, and the yield woes behind a $16.5 billion Tesla deal
 Samsung’s fab roadmaps examined — Taylor, Pyeongtaek, and the yield woes behind a $16.5 billion Tesla deal

Divided across two countries and four campuses, Samsung’s fab roadmap runs from the Korean bases at Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong, and Giheung to the new U.S. site at Taylor.

Jason Kelce-led marketing campaign asks beer drinkers to send their pee to AI data centers — Liquid Death and Garage Beer skit claims ‘AI data centers waste millions of gallons of water’

Two indie brands join together in a viral ad campaign asking people to pee on computers. Taylor Swift’s brother-in-law, Jason Kelce, who co-owns one of the brands, stars in this humorous ad where he pees in a bottle and carries it to a post office to send to his AI data center of choice.

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Beijing AI bar that offers unlimited free DeepSeek coding tokens with $1.50 drink haemorrhaging cash — ‘the bar is completely losing money, ‘ owner admits

An AI-themed bar in Beijing’s Zhongguancun tech hub hands out free, unlimited DeepSeek tokens with its drinks, running inference locally on two Nvidia DGX Spark mini-PCs.

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Ajinomoto reportedly cuts critical chip packaging film supply to China by 30% as domestic substitutes race to qualify — ABF restriction comes following Beijing’s rare earth export curbs

Japanese chemical maker Ajinomoto has reportedly told customers in mainland China that it will cut the supply of ABF.

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AI server boom funds $314 universal cash payout in Taiwan — President Lai Ching-te says the payout ensures the country’s AI windfall ‘can be shared by all,’ 11% GDP growth and $903B export surge finance $7.4B dividend

Taiwan will hand roughly $314 USD in cash to every resident next year as a boon for the island’s residents generated by the AI gold rush. The 2027 central government budget sets aside $7.4 billion USD for the dividend.