Jan 30Sean HollisterIntel is canceling Falcon Shores, its next big AI chip.I am not happy with where we are today, Intel interim co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus says of the companys AI server business on todays earnings call, a business which has not met its promises with Gaudi.So, says Holthaus, Intel will simplify our roadmap and concentrate our resources by canceling Falcon Shores. We plan to leverage Falcon Shores as an internal test chip only without bringing it to market. Itll focus on Jaguar Shores, a system-level solution at rack scale, instead.Intel foundries lost $13 billion last year, but its losses are no longer historicSean HollisterJan 30Jan 30Sean HollisterIntel cancels AI chip, talks painful past and simplified futureImage: Alex Castro / The VergeLast quarter, amid turmoil and restructuring, chipmaker Intel announced one of the largest corporate quarterly losses of all time $16.6 billion, ten times worse than its $1.6B loss the quarter before. But in todays Q4 2024 and full-year earnings release, Intels not hurting as badly: the company just announced a mere $126 million quarterly loss on $14.3 billion in revenue, and its executives are talking about simplifying the company so it can win in the future.The company isnt in great shape despite the staunched bleeding, as its primary businesses were all down this quarter and barely up over the full year (see table below). And if you thought its chipmaking foundries were spending too much back when they lost $7 billion in 2023, well, Intel just revealed the foundries lost nearly double that $13.4 billion across 2024.Read Article >Jan 28Richard LawlerNvidias market cap drops by almost $600 billion amid DeepSeek R1 hype.As Chinese AI startup DeepSeek draws attention for open-source AI models that it says are cheaper than the competition while providing similar or better performance, AI chip king Nvidias stock price dropped today.CNBC said that after closing at $118.58, down 17 percent, this was the biggest drop ever for a U.S. company.Jan 22Chris WelchElon Musk, White House adviser, says OpenAI deal announced at White House is a shamIllustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Photo: Getty ImagesElon Musk doesnt miss an opportunity to take a dig at OpenAI even when the news item in question is supposed to be favorable to President Trump. Just a few hours after yesterdays White House presser on The Stargate Project wrapped up, Musk posted on X that they dont actually have the money.Softbank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX have committed to deploy $100 billion now and $500 billion toward the AI data center company over the next four years.Read Article >An AI supercomputer you can carry around.This is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangs introduction of Project Digits, a GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip-powered system with 128GB of RAM that costs about $3,000 and can run sophisticated AI models in a package small enough to sit on your desk.Dec 18, 2024Jay PetersPlayStation and AMD are teaming up to infuse games with AISony is furthering its partnership with AMD so they can create more AI-powered technology to make games look and play better and not just on PlayStation hardware. The two companies are establishing a deeper collaboration to work on Machine Learning-based technology for graphics and gameplay, lead architect of the PS5 and PS5 Pro Mark Cerny announced on Wednesday.The two already partner on the PS5 and PS5 Pros GPUs, which are based on AMDs RDNA 2 architecture, and the PS5 Pro uses a feature called PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to improve image clarity and frame rates.Read Article >Dec 9, 2024Umar ShakirChina opens an antitrust investigation into NvidiaCath Virginia / The VergeChina is investigating Nvidia over antitrust violations, reportedly over claims the chipmaker failed to follow conditions set during Chinas approval for its $6.9 billion acquisition of Israeli network hardware company Mellanox in 2020.While announcing the DGX A100 GPU after acquiring Mellanox, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said this while explaining its importance to his company:Read Article >Dec 3, 2024Sean HollisterWhat happened to Intel?Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger holds up an early Intel 18A wafer in late 2023. Image: IntelOn Monday, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger abruptly decided to retire after less than four years on the job. That was the official story, anyhow. Within hours, Reuters, Bloomberg, and The New York Times had a different one: the board of directors pushed him out. Three and a half years ago, Gelsinger announced an ambitious plan to turn around the troubled chipmaker within four years now, hes reportedly been kicked out of the company before he could see it through. It happened so abruptly that Intel doesnt have a planned successor in mind, and so completely that Gelsinger wont even stick around as an adviser. Hes gone.Read Article >Dec 2, 2024Emma RothIntels CEO is out after only three yearsImage: Laura Normand / The VergeIntel CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired after over four decades at the company and stepped down from the board of directors effective December 1st, 2024. A report from Bloomberg says that after meeting with the board to discuss Intels progress in catching up with Nvidia and regaining lost market share, Gelsinger was given the option to retire or be removed, and chose to announce the end of his career at Intel.Gelsinger rejoined Intel as CEO in February 2021, taking over from Bob Swan to turn around the already struggling chipmaker an effort that hasnt gone as planned. Its largely missed out on the AI chip boom that fueled Nvidias rise, failed to launch new technology on schedule, struggled with recent CPU instability issues, and was skipped over as Microsofts launch partner for AI PCs.Read Article >Nov 20, 2024Sean HollisterNvidia says its Blackwell AI chip is full steam aheadThe Blackwell B200 GPU. Image: NvidiaNvidia has become the worlds most valuable company on the back of AI chips, passing Microsoft and Apple along the way, and in todays Q3 2025 earnings, the company suggested its record AI revenue and profits are only the beginning.While The Information recently reported that its new flagship Blackwell AI servers might have cooling issues, the company didnt address that on todays call instead, Nvidia assured investors that Blackwell is in full production, is full steam ahead, and that the company would continue to deliver more of the chips each quarter from here on out.Read Article >Nov 20, 2024Sean HollisterNvidia just made nearly $20 billion in pure profit in a single quarter.$14.8 billion profit in Q1, $16.6 billion in Q2, and now $19.3 billion in Q3 of fiscal 2025 thats profit, not earnings. (Earnings were $35.08 billion, up from $30.04 billion last quarter.)The vast majority is from AI data center, of course but gaming did have a 14 percent bump. Its a $3B-a-quarter business, while data center is a $30B one.Oct 31, 2024Sean HollisterIntels Gaudi AI chips are far behind Nvidia and AMD, wont even hit $500M goalNvidia made a fortune on the AI boom. AMDs rival AI chip became the fastest ramping product in its history, already pulling in $1 billion per quarter and inspiring AMD to remake itself as an AI company too. But Intel, which suggested it would pull in $1 billion, even $2 billion on the back of AI in 2024, now says it wont even meet its more modest $500 million goal for its Gaudi AI accelerator this year.We will not achieve our target of $500 million in revenue for Gaudi in 2024, CEO Pat Gelsinger just said on the companys Q3 2024 earnings call today.Read Article >Oct 29, 2024Umar ShakirOpenAI will start using AMD chips and could make its own AI hardware in 2026Image: OpenAIOpenAI is reportedly working with Broadcom to develop new custom silicon designed to handle its large AI workloads for inference and secured manufacturing capacity with TSMC, according to sources speaking to Reuters. OpenAI has reportedly built a chip development team of about 20 people, including lead engineers who previously worked on Googles Tensor processors for AI.Still, on its current timeline, the custom-designed hardware may not start production until 2026.Read Article >Oct 23, 2024Sean HollisterWe had a design flaw in Blackwell, admits Nvidia CEO.It was functional, but the design flaw caused the yield to be low. It was 100% Nvidias fault, Nvidias Jensen Huang tells Reuters, effectively confirming The Informations report from August about why its new flagship AI chips wont ship in large amounts right away.He says its now fixed, but the timeline stays the same: Q4 for first shipments.Nvidia's design flaw with Blackwell AI chips now fixed, CEO says[Reuters]Oct 10, 2024Sean HollisterAMDs AI chips are coming for Nvidia but how quickly?AMD says the MI325X, shipping Q4, will beat Nvidias H200. But Nvidia seems a step ahead; itll ship several billion dollars of its next-gen Blackwell B200 GPU in Q4, too. AMD says its Blackwell competitor, the MI355X, wont arrive till 2H 2025.AMD isnt talking price, but told us itll undercut Nvidia when it comes to total cost of ownership.1/19Tap through our gallery for info about the upcoming MI355X, too. Images: AMDSep 22, 2024Richard LawlerSamsung and TSMC have reportedly discussed building AI chip megafactories in the UAE.Weve heard rumors about AI chip manufacturing projects in the Middle East linked to OpenAI Sam Altman and Elon Musk.Now, the WSJ says Samsung and TSMC execs have visited the United Arab Emirates recently, discussing projects worth up to $100 billion despite concerns about water sources and building up local engineering talent.Chip Giants TSMC and Samsung Discuss Building Middle Eastern Megafactories[WSJ]Sep 20, 2024Qualcomm wants to buy IntelIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeOn Friday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported Intel had been approached by fellow chip giant Qualcomm about a possible takeover. While any deal is described as far from certain, according to the papers unnamed sources, it would represent a tremendous fall for a company that had been the most valuable chip company in the world, based largely on its x86 processor technology that for years had triumphed over Qualcomms Arm chips outside of the phone space.The New York Times corroborated the report on Friday evening, adding that Qualcomm has not yet made an official offer for Intel.Read Article >Sep 17, 2024Richard LawlerApple A16 chips are reportedly being made in America.Former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan writes on Substack:Apples A16 SoC, which first debuted two years ago in the iPhone 14 Pro, is currently being manufactured at Phase 1 of TSMCs Fab 21 in Arizona in small, but significant, numbers, my sources tell me.Theyre only used in the iPhone 14 Pro and standard iPhone 15 right now, but maybe the American-made chips Apple signed up for will end up in a future iPhone SE someday. The question is if its worth the costs.Apple Mobile Processors Are Now Made in the USA. By TSMC[timculpan.substack.com]Sep 16, 2024Emma RothIntels big turnaround plan includes spinning off its chipmaking businessIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeIntel is spinning off its chipmaking business as part of its plans to reverse billions in losses and a tumbling stock price. In an announcement on Monday, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the Intel Foundry will become an independent subsidiary with clearer separation and independence from Intel.With the change, the Intel Foundry will have its own operating board and report its financial earnings separately from Intel. Intel will also stop work on the factories its building in Poland and Germany for two years based on anticipated market demand. The company is still moving forward with its plants in Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, and Ohio, however.Read Article >Sep 16, 2024Richard LawlerSony reportedly picked AMD over Intel for the PS6Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeWhats next after the PS5 Pro? A report from Reuters focuses on Sonys plans beyond this falls new $700 system, saying that the battle to win a contract for the chip powering a future PlayStation 6 came down to AMD vs. Intel, with others like Broadcom eliminated earlier, with AMD eventually winning out.According to Reuters, since AMD makes the chip in the PS5 and PS5 Pro, maintaining backward compatibility in a possible move was part of months of discussions in 2022 between executives and engineers at Sony and Intel. However, Intels bid was blocked because they couldnt agree on how much profit Intel would make from each chip it would design as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) handled the manufacturing process.Read Article >Sep 16, 2024Emma RothTikToks parent company reportedly gets closer to making its own AI chips.A report from The Information details the China-based ByteDances plans to mass produce two new AI chips by 2026 with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The move would help ByteDance save billions of dollars as opposed to buying chips from Nvidia.ByteDance Steps Up AI Chip Efforts[The Information]Sep 9, 2024Sean HollisterAMD is turning its back on flagship gaming GPUs to chase AI firstPhoto by Tom Warren / The VergeAMD is saying the quiet part out loud: its now prioritizing AI chips ahead of flagship GPUs for gamers. The companys just laid out a new business strategy, where it will merge its RDNA gaming graphics and CNDA data center efforts into a single universal UDNA thats aimed at AI first.In two interviews with Toms Hardware (youll definitely want to read both), AMD computing and graphics boss Jack Huynh doesnt beat around the bush. With gaming graphics, he explains, the goal is now building scale and market share at lower price points not the King of the Hill flagship GPUs that havent convinced enough buyers to leave Nvidia behind.Read Article >Sep 3, 2024Richard LawlerThe Nvidia AI antitrust investigation is escalating, reports BloombergCath Virginia / The VergeAn antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice focusing on Nvidias AI dominance as the hardware company of choice is escalating, reports Bloomberg. The outlet reports that Nvidia and other companies have received legally binding requests for information as its sources say regulators are investigating whether Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalizes buyers that dont exclusively use its artificial intelligence chips.Nvidia wins on merit, as reflected in our benchmark results and value to customers, and customers can choose whatever solution is best for them. We have inquired with the U.S. Department of Justice and have not been subpoenaed. Nonetheless, we are happy to answer any questions regulators may have about our business, said Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo, as reported previously by CNBC.Read Article >Aug 28, 2024Sean HollisterDont expect affordable Nvidia Blackwell gaming GPUs to arrive anytime soon.Nvidia just said it wont begin to ramp production of its new Blackwell GPUs until its fourth fiscal quarter, which begins in November.Nvidia just reported a record $30 billion quarter, and the vast majority of it ($22B) was data center compute... will it set aside some of its latest and greatest for gamers instead of AI? If so, I wouldnt bet on prices being low.Nvidia CFO Commentary (pdf)[s201.q4cdn.com]Aug 15, 2024Emma RothGeekbench has an AI benchmark nowPhoto by Tom Warren / The VergeThe popular benchmarking utility Geekbench has launched a new cross-platform tool to evaluate the performance of devices under AI-heavy workloads. Geekbench AI measures a devices CPU, GPU, and NPU (neural processing unit) to determine how well it can handle machine learning applications.Geekbench developer Primate Labs has been working on the software using the name Geekbench ML, which launched in preview in 2021, but shifted the name to AI for reasons that seem obvious. To explore how different hardware responds to different AI-related tasks, it evaluates performance based on both accuracy and speed, with support for different frameworks, including ONNX, CoreML, TensorFlow Lite, and OpenVino.Read Article >