Discussions around TSMC’s vertical DRAM patents raise an intriguing question: could the world’s leading foundry eventually challenge established memory manufacturers? The curiosity is understandable. Patent disclosures involving vertical transistors and integrated capacitors show that TSMC is exploring architectures… Read More
Applied Materials President and CEO Gary Dickerson with the EPIC Center founding partners on October 12, 2026, in Sunnyvale, CA. (Tomas Ovalle/AP Content Services for Applied Materials, Inc.)The bottlenecks are becoming interconnected
Artificial intelligence is changing what the semiconductor industry must deliver. … Read More
ASML is exploring how to produce more than 110 extreme ultraviolet lithography machines in 2028, reflecting the extraordinary investment flowing into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The Dutch semiconductor-equipment company expects to manufacture at least 80 EUV systems in 2027 and is considering another production… Read More
ASML’s grip on the most advanced corner of chip manufacturing is tightening. The Dutch company, already the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography systems, is winning broader industry support for High Numerical Aperture EUV, or High NA, its next-generation technology for printing smaller and denser circuitry.… Read More
Samsung might be the most unusual company on earth because it is difficult to decide what kind of company it actually is. To most consumers, Samsung means smartphones, televisions, refrigerators. Yet the name also appears on apartment towers, cargo ships, hospital equipment, insurance policies, construction projects, and… Read More
Global unit shipments of PCs and smartphones were both down versus a year ago in the 2nd quarter of 2026, according to IDC. PCs were down 4.9% and smartphones were down 6.7%. Both PCs and smartphones showed growth in 2024 and 2025. IDC is predicting an 11.3% decline in PCs and a 13.9% decline in smartphones in 2026.
What is causing the… Read More
The momentum behind RISC-V continues to accelerate as Akeana announced a strategic collaboration with Samsung Electronics aimed at reducing time-to-market for next-generation server and agentic AI silicon. The partnership combines Akeana’s high-performance RISC-V compute platform with Samsung Foundry’s advanced process… Read More
Contrary to the popular press, ASML High-NA EUV is not ready for logic production yet—and it may never be, at least not in the form originally envisioned. If you remember how long it took conventional EUV to become production-worthy—arguably 5–10 years—this should not come as a surprise. More importantly, this is no longer just… Read More
The global semiconductor market grew 25% in the 1st quarter of 2026 from the 4th quarter of 2025 to reach $299 billion, according to WSTS. The 1st quarter of 2026 was up 79% from a year earlier. The 25% quarter-to-quarter growth was the highest in the over 40-year history of WSTS data, surpassing the 20% growth in the 2nd quarter of 2009.… Read More
In forty plus years as a semiconductor professional I have never seen a semiconductor design ecosystem build as fast and as strong as RISC-V. As a result, RISC-V Now! has emerged as a pivotal gathering, a conference with a clear and ambitious mission: To transform the open, modular, and flexible RISC-V ISA from an exciting specification… Read More
