TSMC to Expand CoWoS Capacity by 60% Yearly Through 2026
Customer demand for AI and HPC processors is driving a much greater use of advanced packaging technologies, particularly TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) services. As things stand, TSMC is just barely meeting the current demand for this packaging method – never mind future demand – which is why last year the company announced plans to more than double CoWoS capacity by the end of 2024. But as it turns out, just doubling capacity once won't be enough, and the world's largest contract maker of chips is going to have to keep scaling up at a rapid pace.
At its European Technology Symposium last week TSMC announced plans to expand CoWoS capacity at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 60% till at least 2026. As a result, TSMC's CoWoS capacity will more than quadruple from 2023 levels by the end of that period. And keeping in mind that TSMC is prepping additional versions of CoWoS (namely CoWoS-L) that will enable building system-in-packages (SiPs) of up to eight reticle sizes, increasing CoWoS capacity by four-fold in three years may still not be enough. The good news is that the various third-party off-site assembly and testing (OSAT) providers are also expanding their CoWoS-like capacity, so the demand for advanced packing isn't a problem that TSMC is facing (or resolving) on their own.
And CoWoS isn't the only advanced packaging technology line whose capacity TSMC is looking to rapidly expand. The company also has its system-on-integrated chips (SoIC) 3D stacking technology which adoption is poised to grow in the coming years. To meet demand for its SoIC packaging methods TSMC will expand SoIC capacity at a 100% compound annual growth rate by the end of 2026. As a result, SoIC capacity will grow by eight-fold from 2023 levels by late 2026.
Overall, TSMC itself expects leading-edge SiPs for demanding applications like AI and HPC will adopt both CoWoS and SoIC 3D stacking technologies in the coming years, which is why it needs to increase capacity for both methods to be able to build those highly-complex processors.
Semiconductors
Posted by The Techinical Support
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Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
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G.Skill's DDR5-6400 CL30 39-39-102 modules have a capacity of 16 GB and will be available in 32 GB dual-channel kits, though the company does not disclose voltages, which are likely considerably higher than those standardized by JEDEC.
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G.Skill notes that since its modules are non-standard, they will not work with all systems but will operate on high-end motherboards with properly cooled CPUs.
The new ultra-low-latency memory kits will be available worldwide from G.Skill's partners starting in late August 2024. The company did not disclose the pricing of these modules, but since we are talking about premium products that boast unique specifications, they are likely to be priced accordingly.
Memory
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Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
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CPUs
G.Skill Intros Low Latency DDR5 Memory Modules: CL30 at 6400 MT/s
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G.Skill notes that since its modules are non-standard, they will not work with all systems but will operate on high-end motherboards with properly cooled CPUs.
The new ultra-low-latency memory kits will be available worldwide from G.Skill's partners starting in late August 2024. The company did not disclose the pricing of these modules, but since we are talking about premium products that boast unique specifications, they are likely to be priced accordingly.
Memory
Fadu's FC5161 SSD Controller Breaks Cover in Western Digital's PCIe Gen5 Enterprise Drives
When Western Digital introduced its Ultrastar DC SN861 SSDs earlier this year, the company did not disclose which controller it used for these drives, which made many observers presume that WD was using an in-house controller. But a recent teardown of the drive shows that is not the case; instead, the company is using a controller from Fadu, a South Korean company founded in 2015 that specializes on enterprise-grade turnkey SSD solutions.
The Western Digital Ultrastar DC SN861 SSD is aimed at performance-hungry hyperscale datacenters and enterprise customers which are adopting PCIe Gen5 storage devices these days. And, as uncovered in photos from a recent Storage Review article, the drive is based on Fadu's FC5161 NVMe 2.0-compliant controller. The FC5161 utilizes 16 NAND channels supporting an ONFi 5.0 2400 MT/s interface, and features a combination of enterprise-grade capabilities (OCP Cloud Spec 2.0, SR-IOV, up to 512 name spaces for ZNS support, flexible data placement, NVMe-MI 1.2, advanced security, telemetry, power loss protection) not available on other off-the-shelf controllers – or on any previous Western Digital controllers.
The Ultrastar DC SN861 SSD offers sequential read speeds up to 13.7 GB/s as well as sequential write speeds up to 7.5 GB/s. As for random performance, it boasts with an up to 3.3 million random 4K read IOPS and up to 0.8 million random 4K write IOPS. The drives are available in capacities between 1.6 TB and 7.68 TB with one or three drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years rating as well as in U.2 and E1.S form-factors.
While the two form factors of the SN861 share a similar technical design, Western Digital has tailored each version for distinct workloads: the E1.S supports FDP and performance enhancements specifically for cloud environments. By contrast, the U.2 model is geared towards high-performance enterprise tasks and emerging applications like AI.
Without any doubts, Western Digital's Ultrastar DC SN861 is a feature-rich high-performance enterprise-grade SSD. It has another distinctive feature: a 5W idle power consumption, which is rather low by the standards of enterprise-grade drives (e.g., it is 1W lower compared to the SN840). While the difference with predecessors may be just 1W, hyperscalers deploy thousands of drives and for their TCO every watt counts.
Western Digital's Ultrastar DC SN861 SSDs are now available for purchase to select customers (such as Meta) and to interested parties. Prices are unknown, but they will depend on such factors as volumes.
Sources: Fadu, Storage Review
Storage
Kioxia Demonstrates Optical Interface SSDs for Data Centers
A few years back, the Japanese government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO ) allocated funding for the development of green datacenter technologies. With the aim to obtain up to 40% savings in overall power consumption, several Japanese companies have been developing an optical interface for their enterprise SSDs. And at this year's FMS, Kioxia had their optical interface on display.
For this demonstration, Kioxia took its existing CM7 enterprise SSD and created an optical interface for it. A PCIe card with on-board optics developed by Kyocera is installed in the server slot. An optical interface allows data transfer over long distances (it was 40m in the demo, but Kioxia promises lengths of up to 100m for the cable in the future). This allows the storage to be kept in a separate room with minimal cooling requirements compared to the rack with the CPUs and GPUs. Disaggregation of different server components will become an option as very high throughput interfaces such as PCIe 7.0 (with 128 GT/s rates) become available.
The demonstration of the optical SSD showed a slight loss in IOPS performance, but a significant advantage in the latency metric over the shipping enterprise SSD behind a copper network link. Obviously, there are advantages in wiring requirements and signal integrity maintenance with optical links.
Being a proof-of-concept demonstration, we do see the requirement for an industry-standard approach if this were to gain adoption among different datacenter vendors. The PCI-SIG optical workgroup will need to get its act together soon to create a standards-based approach to this problem.
Storage
U.S. Signs $1.5B in CHIPS Act Agreements With Amkor and SKhynix for Chip Packaging Plants
Under the CHIPS & Science Act, the U.S. government provided tens of billions of dollars in grants and loans to the world's leading maker of chips, such as Intel, Samsung, and TSMC, which will significantly expand the country's semiconductor production industry in the coming years. However, most chips are typically tested, assembled, and packaged in Asia, which has left the American supply chain incomplete. Addressing this last gap in the government's domestic chip production plans, these past couple of weeks the U.S. government signed memorandums of understanding worth about $1.5 billion with Amkor and SK hynix to support their efforts to build chip packaging facilities in the U.S.
Amkor to Build Advanced Packaging Facility with Apple in Mind
Amkor plans to build a $2 billion advanced packaging facility near Peoria, Arizona, to test and assemble chips produced by TSMC at its Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona. The company signed a MOU that offers $400 million in direct funding and access to $200 million in loans under the CHIPS & Science Act. In addition, the company plans to take advantage of a 25% investment tax credit on eligible capital expenditures.
Set to be strategically positioned near TSMC's upcoming Fab 21 complex in Arizona, Amkor's Peoria facility will occupy 55 acres and, when fully completed, will feature over 500,000 square feet (46,451 square meters) of cleanroom space, more than twice the size of Amkor's advanced packaging site in Vietnam. Although the company has not disclosed the exact capacity or the specific technologies the facility will support, it is expected to cater to a wide range of industries, including automotive, high-performance computing, and mobile technologies. This suggests the new plant will offer diverse packaging solutions, including traditional, 2.5D, and 3D technologies.
Amkor has collaborated extensively with Apple on the vision and initial setup of the Peoria facility, as Apple is slated to be the facility's first and largest customer, marking a significant commitment from the tech giant. This partnership highlights the importance of the new facility in reinforcing the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and positioning Amkor as a key partner for companies relying on TSMC's manufacturing capabilities. The project is expected to generate around 2,000 jobs and is scheduled to begin operations in 2027.
SK hynix to Build HBM4 in the U.S.
This week SK hynix also signed a preliminary agreement with the U.S. government to receive up to $450 million in direct funding and $500 million in loans to build an advanced memory packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The proposed facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2028, which means that it will assemble HBM4 or HBM4E memory. Meanwhile, DRAM devices for high bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks will still be produced in South Korea. Nonetheless, packing finished HBM4/HBM4E in the U.S. and possibly integrating these memory modules with high-end processors is a big deal.
In addition to building its packaging plant, SK hynix plans to collaborate with Purdue University and other local research institutions to advance semiconductor technology and packaging innovations. This partnership is intended to bolster research and development in the region, positioning the facility as a hub for AI technology and skilled employment.
Semiconductors
Microchip Demonstrates Flashtec 5016 Enterprise SSD Controller
![](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60_29.html&text=TSMC to Expand CoWoS Capacity by 60% Yearly Through 2026 <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21405/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60-every-year-through-2026"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21405/tsmc-3d-fabric-packaging_575px.png" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Customer demand for AI and HPC processors is driving a much greater use of advanced packaging technologies, particularly TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) services. As things stand, TSMC is just barely meeting the current demand for this packaging method – never mind future demand – which is why last year the company announced plans to more than double CoWoS capacity by the end of 2024. But as it turns out, just doubling capacity once won't be enough, and the world's largest contract maker of chips is going to have to keep scaling up at a rapid pace.</p>
<p>At its European Technology Symposium last week TSMC announced plans to expand CoWoS capacity at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 60% till at least 2026. As a result, TSMC's CoWoS capacity will more than quadruple from 2023 levels by the end of that period. And keeping in mind that TSMC is prepping additional versions of CoWoS (namely CoWoS-L) that will enable building <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21375/tsmc-readies-8x-reticle-size-super-carrier-interposer">system-in-packages (SiPs) of up to eight reticle sizes</a>, increasing CoWoS capacity by four-fold in three years may <em>still</em> not be enough. The good news is that the various third-party off-site assembly and testing (OSAT) providers are also expanding their CoWoS-like capacity, so the demand for advanced packing isn't a problem that TSMC is facing (or resolving) on their own.</p>
<p>And CoWoS isn't the only advanced packaging technology line whose capacity TSMC is looking to rapidly expand. The company also has its system-on-integrated chips (SoIC) 3D stacking technology which adoption is poised to grow in the coming years. To meet demand for its SoIC packaging methods TSMC will expand SoIC capacity at a 100% compound annual growth rate by the end of 2026. As a result, SoIC capacity will grow by eight-fold from 2023 levels by late 2026.</p>
<p>Overall, TSMC itself expects leading-edge SiPs for demanding applications like AI and HPC will adopt both CoWoS and SoIC 3D stacking technologies in the coming years, which is why it needs to increase capacity for both methods to be able to build those highly-complex processors.</p>
</p> Semiconductors){kind=link}
![](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60_29.html&media=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uOV4WtXuyDdU7rdaAJkVS8Q1aClSnifZ7dExtNw3roFkSWd7ERTJfxFEz9g8iHAVqa3BkWQa8Aq3GKoAh4FKK1LY5ELSfAAJ3sBM6OFZLdEbqVld0EYNZpQgrbYFwPAR4AVfMKsS1AKhDQiHAu&description=TSMC to Expand CoWoS Capacity by 60% Yearly Through 2026 <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21405/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60-every-year-through-2026"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21405/tsmc-3d-fabric-packaging_575px.png" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Customer demand for AI and HPC processors is driving a much greater use of advanced packaging technologies, particularly TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) services. As things stand, TSMC is just barely meeting the current demand for this packaging method – never mind future demand – which is why last year the company announced plans to more than double CoWoS capacity by the end of 2024. But as it turns out, just doubling capacity once won't be enough, and the world's largest contract maker of chips is going to have to keep scaling up at a rapid pace.</p>
<p>At its European Technology Symposium last week TSMC announced plans to expand CoWoS capacity at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 60% till at least 2026. As a result, TSMC's CoWoS capacity will more than quadruple from 2023 levels by the end of that period. And keeping in mind that TSMC is prepping additional versions of CoWoS (namely CoWoS-L) that will enable building <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21375/tsmc-readies-8x-reticle-size-super-carrier-interposer">system-in-packages (SiPs) of up to eight reticle sizes</a>, increasing CoWoS capacity by four-fold in three years may <em>still</em> not be enough. The good news is that the various third-party off-site assembly and testing (OSAT) providers are also expanding their CoWoS-like capacity, so the demand for advanced packing isn't a problem that TSMC is facing (or resolving) on their own.</p>
<p>And CoWoS isn't the only advanced packaging technology line whose capacity TSMC is looking to rapidly expand. The company also has its system-on-integrated chips (SoIC) 3D stacking technology which adoption is poised to grow in the coming years. To meet demand for its SoIC packaging methods TSMC will expand SoIC capacity at a 100% compound annual growth rate by the end of 2026. As a result, SoIC capacity will grow by eight-fold from 2023 levels by late 2026.</p>
<p>Overall, TSMC itself expects leading-edge SiPs for demanding applications like AI and HPC will adopt both CoWoS and SoIC 3D stacking technologies in the coming years, which is why it needs to increase capacity for both methods to be able to build those highly-complex processors.</p>
</p> Semiconductors){kind=link}
![](https://web.whatsapp.com/send?text=TSMC to Expand CoWoS Capacity by 60% Yearly Through 2026 <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21405/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60-every-year-through-2026"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21405/tsmc-3d-fabric-packaging_575px.png" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Customer demand for AI and HPC processors is driving a much greater use of advanced packaging technologies, particularly TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) services. As things stand, TSMC is just barely meeting the current demand for this packaging method – never mind future demand – which is why last year the company announced plans to more than double CoWoS capacity by the end of 2024. But as it turns out, just doubling capacity once won't be enough, and the world's largest contract maker of chips is going to have to keep scaling up at a rapid pace.</p>
<p>At its European Technology Symposium last week TSMC announced plans to expand CoWoS capacity at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 60% till at least 2026. As a result, TSMC's CoWoS capacity will more than quadruple from 2023 levels by the end of that period. And keeping in mind that TSMC is prepping additional versions of CoWoS (namely CoWoS-L) that will enable building <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21375/tsmc-readies-8x-reticle-size-super-carrier-interposer">system-in-packages (SiPs) of up to eight reticle sizes</a>, increasing CoWoS capacity by four-fold in three years may <em>still</em> not be enough. The good news is that the various third-party off-site assembly and testing (OSAT) providers are also expanding their CoWoS-like capacity, so the demand for advanced packing isn't a problem that TSMC is facing (or resolving) on their own.</p>
<p>And CoWoS isn't the only advanced packaging technology line whose capacity TSMC is looking to rapidly expand. The company also has its system-on-integrated chips (SoIC) 3D stacking technology which adoption is poised to grow in the coming years. To meet demand for its SoIC packaging methods TSMC will expand SoIC capacity at a 100% compound annual growth rate by the end of 2026. As a result, SoIC capacity will grow by eight-fold from 2023 levels by late 2026.</p>
<p>Overall, TSMC itself expects leading-edge SiPs for demanding applications like AI and HPC will adopt both CoWoS and SoIC 3D stacking technologies in the coming years, which is why it needs to increase capacity for both methods to be able to build those highly-complex processors.</p>
</p> Semiconductors | https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60_29.html){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=TSMC to Expand CoWoS Capacity by 60% Yearly Through 2026 <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21405/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60-every-year-through-2026"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21405/tsmc-3d-fabric-packaging_575px.png" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Customer demand for AI and HPC processors is driving a much greater use of advanced packaging technologies, particularly TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) services. As things stand, TSMC is just barely meeting the current demand for this packaging method – never mind future demand – which is why last year the company announced plans to more than double CoWoS capacity by the end of 2024. But as it turns out, just doubling capacity once won't be enough, and the world's largest contract maker of chips is going to have to keep scaling up at a rapid pace.</p>
<p>At its European Technology Symposium last week TSMC announced plans to expand CoWoS capacity at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 60% till at least 2026. As a result, TSMC's CoWoS capacity will more than quadruple from 2023 levels by the end of that period. And keeping in mind that TSMC is prepping additional versions of CoWoS (namely CoWoS-L) that will enable building <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21375/tsmc-readies-8x-reticle-size-super-carrier-interposer">system-in-packages (SiPs) of up to eight reticle sizes</a>, increasing CoWoS capacity by four-fold in three years may <em>still</em> not be enough. The good news is that the various third-party off-site assembly and testing (OSAT) providers are also expanding their CoWoS-like capacity, so the demand for advanced packing isn't a problem that TSMC is facing (or resolving) on their own.</p>
<p>And CoWoS isn't the only advanced packaging technology line whose capacity TSMC is looking to rapidly expand. The company also has its system-on-integrated chips (SoIC) 3D stacking technology which adoption is poised to grow in the coming years. To meet demand for its SoIC packaging methods TSMC will expand SoIC capacity at a 100% compound annual growth rate by the end of 2026. As a result, SoIC capacity will grow by eight-fold from 2023 levels by late 2026.</p>
<p>Overall, TSMC itself expects leading-edge SiPs for demanding applications like AI and HPC will adopt both CoWoS and SoIC 3D stacking technologies in the coming years, which is why it needs to increase capacity for both methods to be able to build those highly-complex processors.</p>
</p> Semiconductors&body=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/tsmc-to-expand-cowos-capacity-by-60_29.html){kind=link}
Microchip recently announced the availability of their second PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD controller - the Flashtec 5016. Like the 4016, this is also a 16-channel controller, but there are some key updates:
- PCIe 5.0 lane organization: Operation in x4 or dual independent x2 / x2 mode in the 5016, compared to the x8, or x4, or dual independent x4 / x2 mode in the 4016.
- DRAM support: Four ranks of DDR5-5200 in the 5016, compared to two ranks of DDR4-3200 in the 4016.
- Extended NAND support: 2400 MT/s NAND in the 4016, compared to the 3200 MT/s NAND support in the 5016.
- Performance improvements: The 5016 is capable of delivering 3.5M+ random read IOPS compared to the 3M+ of the 4016.
Microchip's enterprise SSD controllers provide a high level of flexibility to SSD vendors by providing them with significant horsepower and accelerators. The 5016 includes Cortex-A53 cores for SSD vendors to run custom applications relevant to SSD management. However, compared to the Gen4 controllers, there are two additional cores in the CPU cluster. The DRAM subsystem includes ECC support (both out-of-band and inline, as desired by the SSD vendor).
At FMS 2024, the company demonstrated an application of the neural network engines embedded in the Gen5 controllers. Controllers usually employ a 'read-retry' operation with altered read-out voltages for flash reads that do not complete successfully. Microchip implemented a machine learning approach to determine the read-out voltage based on the health history of the NAND block using the NN engines in the controller. This approach delivers tangible benefits for read latency and power consumption (thanks to a smaller number of errors on the first read).
The 4016 and 5016 come with a single-chip root of trust implementation for hardware security. A secure boot process with dual-signature authentication ensures that the controller firmware is not maliciously altered in the field. The company also brought out the advantages of their controller's implementation of SR-IOV, flexible data placement, and zoned namespaces along with their 'credit engine' scheme for multi-tenant cloud workloads. These aspects were also brought out in other demonstrations.
Microchip's press release included quotes from the usual NAND vendors - Solidigm, Kioxia, and Micron. On the customer front, Longsys has been using Flashtec controllers in their enterprise offerings along with YMTC NAND. It is likely that this collaboration will continue further using the new 5016 controller.
Storage
U.S. Signs $1.5B in CHIPS Act Agreements With Amkor and SKhynix for Chip Packaging Plants
Under the CHIPS & Science Act, the U.S. government provided tens of billions of dollars in grants and loans to the world's leading maker of chips, such as Intel, Samsung, and TSMC, which will significantly expand the country's semiconductor production industry in the coming years. However, most chips are typically tested, assembled, and packaged in Asia, which has left the American supply chain incomplete. Addressing this last gap in the government's domestic chip production plans, these past couple of weeks the U.S. government signed memorandums of understanding worth about $1.5 billion with Amkor and SK hynix to support their efforts to build chip packaging facilities in the U.S.
Amkor to Build Advanced Packaging Facility with Apple in Mind
Amkor plans to build a $2 billion advanced packaging facility near Peoria, Arizona, to test and assemble chips produced by TSMC at its Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona. The company signed a MOU that offers $400 million in direct funding and access to $200 million in loans under the CHIPS & Science Act. In addition, the company plans to take advantage of a 25% investment tax credit on eligible capital expenditures.
Set to be strategically positioned near TSMC's upcoming Fab 21 complex in Arizona, Amkor's Peoria facility will occupy 55 acres and, when fully completed, will feature over 500,000 square feet (46,451 square meters) of cleanroom space, more than twice the size of Amkor's advanced packaging site in Vietnam. Although the company has not disclosed the exact capacity or the specific technologies the facility will support, it is expected to cater to a wide range of industries, including automotive, high-performance computing, and mobile technologies. This suggests the new plant will offer diverse packaging solutions, including traditional, 2.5D, and 3D technologies.
Amkor has collaborated extensively with Apple on the vision and initial setup of the Peoria facility, as Apple is slated to be the facility's first and largest customer, marking a significant commitment from the tech giant. This partnership highlights the importance of the new facility in reinforcing the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and positioning Amkor as a key partner for companies relying on TSMC's manufacturing capabilities. The project is expected to generate around 2,000 jobs and is scheduled to begin operations in 2027.
SK hynix to Build HBM4 in the U.S.
This week SK hynix also signed a preliminary agreement with the U.S. government to receive up to $450 million in direct funding and $500 million in loans to build an advanced memory packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The proposed facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2028, which means that it will assemble HBM4 or HBM4E memory. Meanwhile, DRAM devices for high bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks will still be produced in South Korea. Nonetheless, packing finished HBM4/HBM4E in the U.S. and possibly integrating these memory modules with high-end processors is a big deal.
In addition to building its packaging plant, SK hynix plans to collaborate with Purdue University and other local research institutions to advance semiconductor technology and packaging innovations. This partnership is intended to bolster research and development in the region, positioning the facility as a hub for AI technology and skilled employment.
Semiconductors
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's.
The Endorfy Fortis 5 Dual Fan CPU Cooler Review: Towering Value Standard CPU coolers, while adequate for managing basic thermal loads, often fall short in terms of noise reduction and superior cooling efficiency. This limitation drives advanced users and system builders to seek aftermarket solutions tailored to their specific needs. The high-end aftermarket cooler market is highly competitive, with manufacturers striving to offer products with exceptional performance.
Endorfy, previously known as SilentiumPC, is a Polish manufacturer that has undergone a significant transformation to expand its presence in global markets. The brand is known for delivering high-performance cooling solutions with a strong focus on balancing efficiency and affordability. By rebranding as Endorfy, the company aims to enter premium market segments while continuing to offer reliable, high-quality cooling products.
SilentiumPC became very popular in the value/mainstream segments of the PC market with their products, the spearhead of which probably was the Fera 5 cooler that we reviewed a little over two years ago and had a remarkable value for money. Today’s review places Endorfy’s largest CPU cooler, the Fortis 5 Dual Fan, on our laboratory test bench. The Fortis 5 is the largest CPU air cooler the company currently offers and is significantly more expensive than the Fera 5, yet it still is a single-tower cooler that strives to strike a balance between value, compatibility, and performance.
Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
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