The Hot Take: I really wonder if this will deflate the Ai bubble even a little bit.
The x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group led by Intel and AMD recently firmed up the AI Compute Extensions (ACE) specification for optimizing x86 for AI computation tasks around matrix multiplication and the like for machine learning workloads. The cross-vendor ACE extension is ultimately a successor to Intel's Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX). Posted to the GCC mailing list today by Intel engineers are the initial patches in preparing the compiler support for ACE...
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The Hot Take: Interesting...
Qualcomm has introduced its first-ever CPU designed for Data Centers, the Dragonfly C1000, which leverages the Oryon architecture. Qualcomm Enters The Agentic AI CPU Race With Dragonfly C1000 Chip, Oryon-Based With Over 5 GHz Clocks, Over 250 Cores, & Aims To Achieve Single-Core Leadership One of the biggest announcements by Qualcomm today was its first release of a CPU for the data center segment, called the Dragonfly C1000. This is a chip purpose-built for Agentic AI & General-Purpose workloads, delivering best-in-class power efficiency and TCO. As per Qualcomm, the Dragonfly C1000 is based on a custom-designed Oryon core architecture that […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-single-core-leadership-first-server-cpu-dragonfly-c1000-250-cores-5-ghz-2028/
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The Hot Take: I really hope something comes soon to alleviate all this nonsense AI is causing.
US-based AI company, Tensordyne, has announced the successful tape-out of its Napier chip, which it claims to demolish NVIDIA's Blackwell & Rubin chips with leading token throughput and efficiency. Tensordyne’s new Napier AI Chip arrives with one clear mission: to make NVIDIA’s Blackwell and Rubin chips look considerably less impressive The Napier chip will be the core component of the Tensordyne Napier TDN system, which is designed in collaboration with Broadcom and HPE Juniper Networks. The Napier platform has one goal: to unify AI through novel logarithmic AI math, a tightly integrated memory architecture, and a high-performance scale-up interconnect that […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/tensordyne-3nm-napier-ai-chip-13x-higher-token-throughput-blackwell-blazes-past-rubin/
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The Hot Take: ARM seems to be breaking out from everywhere. Fujitsu, Nvidia, AWS and ARM. Qualcomm seems to be playing catch up in the server market from the looks of it.
AWS has provided a first look at its next-generation Graviton5 processor, a custom server CPU developed by Annapurna Labs for deployment across the company's cloud computing platform and AI inference infrastructure.
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The Hot Take: Now we know why M$ is trying to squeeze out every ounce of performance in Windows 11.....
Microsoft says you’ll be able to run Windows 11’s local Language Model APIs on non-Copilot+ PCs as long as you meet the new hardware requirement: an RTX 30+ GPU with 6GB of VRAM. It’s a major change, as it means Copilot+ PCs’ advantages are getting “thin,” and I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft drops the NPU requirement entirely in the future.
Copilot+ PCs officially debuted on June 18, 2024, and they’ve been driving sales for PC makers. However, it’s not because of the “Copilot” or “NPU” factor. It’s largely because newer PCs are now sold as “Copilot+ PCs,” so even a regular laptop purchase gets counted as proof that AI PCs are taking off.
For a PC to meet the “Copilot+ PC” requirement, it would need to have 16GB of RAM, an SSD, and at least a 40 TOPS NPU. For those unaware, an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) is a chip designed to run AI models, specializing in efficiency rather than raw power. On the other hand, a GPU is a heavy-duty processor designed for massive parallel tasks.
What is a “Copilot+ PC?”
Microsoft sold you Copilot+ PCs as the only way to run local AI, but that was never…
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The Hot Take: Ai will consume ALL THE THINGS!!
The massive AI gold rush has a new bottleneck set in its sights, CPUs. But what's driving the demand? We interview industry experts to find out.
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The Hot Take: Tell me something I didn't know already. Why else would the GPU market go crazy prices wise?
A business-intelligence researcher said that the Chinese military has been actively acquiring Nvidia AI chips, even after the U.S. put export controls on them. Public documents show that some institutions ask for these chips either through the specifications they demand or by directly asking for Nvidia chips by name.
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The Hot Take: Intel moving fast to make up lost ground on this front for sure. From the looks trying to hit the $ sweet spot too.
Intel revealed more details of its next-gen Data Center GPU, code-named Crescent Island, at Computex 2026. This inference-optimized chip will feature up to 480GB of LPDDR5X memory for efficient handling of massive AI contexts.
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By ckasprzak | TkOut | May 21, 2026 |
Hardware
The Hot Take: When these start getting traction we'll get GPUs to drop in price.....
While AI GPU giant NVIDIA's chips are widely believed to offer superior total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to custom AI chip alternatives, analysts from Evercore ISI believe that AI engineers are unimpressed by them. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has defended his firm's AI chip price points on multiple occasions by claiming that they offer better performance efficiency compared to peers. However, according to the Evercore report, AI engineers are also focused on other metrics, such as the cost of cooling the chips, when deciding which products to use. Power Consumption & Cooling Are Important For NVIDIA's AI Chip Costs, […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/nvidia-loses-ground-with-ai-engineers-as-cooling-and-power-costs-push-hyperscalers-toward-custom-asics-evercore-warns/
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The Hot Take: AMD seems to be out performing Intel & Nvidia on the market, while Nvidia is still the preferred Ai holy-grail? Just seems odd.
While Nvidia has dominated the "infrastructure boom" since 2022's launch of ChatGPT and "the generative AI craze," CNBC writes that "This week offered the starkest illustration yet of what MIzuho analyst Jordan Klein said could be a 'changing of the guard in AI.'"
Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices and Intel notched gains of about 25%, while memory maker Micron jumped more than 37% and fiber-optic cable maker Corning climbed about 18%. All four of those companies have more than doubled in value this year, with Intel leading the way, up well over 200%. Nvidia, meanwhile, is only slightly ahead of the Nasdaq in 2026, gaining 15% for the year, aided by an 8% rally this week. In spreading the wealth to a wider swath of hardware companies, investors are clearly betting that the bull market in AI has long legs and that data centers are going to need a wider array of advanced components for years to come.
Memory has been the biggest theme of late due to a global shortage that's driven up prices and turned Micron, a 47-year-old company tucked in a sleepy corner of the semiconductor market, into one of the hottest trades over the past 12 months. Micron blew past an $800 billion market capitalization for the first time this week, and the stock is now up over 750% in the past year. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told CNBC in March that key customers are only getting "50% to two-thirds of their requirements" because of supply issues. The memory market is largely dominated by Micron, along with Korea-based Samsung and SK Hynix, which are also both in the midst of historic rallies...
Bank of America estimates the data center CPU market could more than double from $27 billion in 2025 to $60 billion in 2030. AMD's quarterly results this week underscored the emerging trend, as earnings, revenue and guidance sailed past estimates on strong data center growth. The company has long led the CPU charge, and CEO Lisa Su said on the earnings call that AMD now expects 35% growth over the next three to five years in the server CPU market, up from a forecast of 18% growth that the company provided in November.
The article cites two other big movers:
Intel "is in the midst of a revival sparked by a major investment from the U.S. government last year. Intel's stock had its best month on record in April, more than doubling, and has continued notching massive gains, rising 33% in the early days of May."
Nvidia still remains the world's most valuable company "and is expected to show revenue growth of 70% this fiscal year," the article points out — adding that companies like Corning are also benefiting from Nvidia partnerships. "Glass maker Corning, which celebrated its 175th anniversary this week, signed a massive deal with Nvidia on Wednesday that involves the development of three new U.S. factories dedicated entirely to optical technologies... likely a major step in Nvidia's move away from copper cables and towards fiber-optic cables as it builds out its rack-scale systems."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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