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
In the rapidly evolving landscape of semiconductor technology, the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) emerges as a groundbreaking open standard designed to revolutionize on-package chiplet integrations. Presented by Dr. Debendra Das Sharma, Chair of the UCIe Consortium and Intel Senior Fellow, at the Chiplet… Read More
The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a structural supply challenge that’s tightly coupled to exploding demand for advanced chips, especially those used in AI, HPC, and next-generation mobile and consumer devices. At the center of this vortex is the 2nm class of manufacturing technology, representing one of the most … Read More
The global semiconductor industry sits at the foundation of modern technology, powering everything from smartphones and cloud data centers to artificial intelligence, automobiles, and national defense systems. At the center of advanced chip manufacturing are three major players: TSMC, Samsung Foundry, and Intel Foundry… Read More
