The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken legal action against software giant Adobe and two of its top executives for allegedly deceiving consumers about the actual costs of its popular subscription services and deliberately obstructing cancellations. In a federal court complaint filed by the Department of Justice at the FTC's request, the commission accuses Adobe of obscuring hefty early termination fees and making it excessively difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions. The complaint alleges that when signing up for subscriptions on Adobe's website, the company steers consumers toward the "annual paid monthly" option, pre-selecting it as the default while burying details about the 50% early termination fee for canceling within the first year. Customers have lodged numerous complaints, saying they were unaware the plan committed them for a full year.

According to the FTC, even when customers did attempt to cancel, Adobe forced them to navigate a bureaucratic maze of web pages, unhelpful customer service reps, dropped calls, and transfers. Some customers who thought they had successfully canceled continued to be charged. Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, noted, "Adobe trapped customers into year-long subscriptions through hidden early termination fees and numerous cancellation hurdles." The complaint charges that these deceptive "dark patterns" violate the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. It names Adobe's President of Digital Media, David Wadhwani, and Vice President Maninder Sawhney as co-defendants for their oversight roles in these shady business practices.

The US Department of the Treasury on Wednesday, sanctioned 16 Chinese tech companies involved in supporting the Russian wartime economy, or supplying goods to blacklisted Russian firms, as the war in Ukraine rages on. A surprising name on this list is Beijing Deepcool Industries, the company behind the popular PC cooling, casing, and power supply brand Deepcool. A US State Department release announcing the sanctions, described Deepcool as supplying $1 million worth common high-priority items list (CHPL) goods. These are items that could directly or indirectly support the Russian war-effort in Ukraine. "BEIJING DEEPCOOL INDUSTRIES CO LTD is a PRC-based company involved in the supply of over $1 million worth of CHPL items to Russian companies, including the U.S.-designated, Russia-based AKTSIONERNOE OBSHCHESTVO TASKOM and OOO NOVYI AI TI PROEKT," the State Department release says.

Meanwhile, the executive aspect of the sanctions are handled by the Treasury Department, which restricts all transactions by US firms to the 16 newly sanctioned Chinese companies, which include Deepcool. What this means is that the US-end of Deepcool must immediately cease operations, as it cannot transact any business with its parent company in China. Sale of Deepcool product will also stop, as US residents cannot conduct any business with the company. This could also mean that the US-based subsidiary of Deepcool may not be in a position to provide aftersales support to existing customers in the country.

According to sources familiar with the matter and reported by Bloomberg, the Biden administration is considering imposing further export controls to limit China's ability to acquire advanced semiconductor technologies crucial for developing AI systems. Gate-all-around (GAA) transistor technology and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips are at the center of the proposed restrictions. These cutting-edge components play a pivotal role in creating powerful AI accelerators. GAA transistors, a key feature in next-generation chips, promise substantial improvements in power efficiency and processing speeds. Meanwhile, HBM chips enable high-speed data transfer between a processor and memory. While existing sanctions prevent American firms from supplying Chinese companies with equipment for manufacturing leading-edge chips, concerns persist that China could still attain advanced capabilities through other means.

For instance, China's leading chipmaker, SMIC, could potentially integrate GAA transistors into its existing 7 nm process node, markedly enhancing performance. Access to HBM would further augment China's ability to develop AI accelerators on par with cutting-edge offerings from US firms. The reflections within the Biden administration show a strategic effort to preserve America's technological edge by denying China access to key semiconductor innovations. However, implementing such stringent export controls is a delicate balancing act, as it risks heightening tensions and prompting Chinese retaliation. No final decision has been made, and officials continue weighing the proposed restrictions' pros and cons. Nonetheless, the discussions highlight the pivotal role that semiconductor technology plays in the great power rivalry between the US and China, especially in the AI era.

Malaysia is firmly positioning itself as a hub for semiconductor investment, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stating the country aims to attract over $100 billion in investment into the industry. This aligns with recent trends in the region, such as China's announcement of a massive $47.5 billion investment fund or Micron's plans to build a new chip factory in Hiroshima, Japan by the end of 2027.

As a major player accounting for 13% of global chip testing and packaging, Malaysia has benefited from strong investments by Intel ($7 billion for an advanced packaging plant) and Infineon ($5.4 billion to expand its power chip plant). The country now hopes around 10 local companies will make substantial investments in new facilities focused on chip design and advanced packaging. To support this goal, the Malaysian government plans to allocate $5.3 billion in fiscal backing, along with tax breaks and subsidies. It is targeting these investments to generate revenues between $210 million and $1 billion for the semiconductor industry in Malaysia.

SK hynix Inc., the world's leading producer of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, announced today that it will invest an estimated $3.87 billion in West Lafayette, Indiana to build an advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for AI products. The project, the first of its kind in the United States, is expected to drive innovation in the nation's AI supply chain, while bringing more than a thousand new jobs to the region.

The company held an investment agreement ceremony with officials from Indiana State, Purdue University, and the U.S. government at Purdue University in West Lafayette on the 3rd and officially announced the plan. At the event, officials from each party including Governor of Indiana Eric Holcomb, Senator Todd Young, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Arun Venkataraman, Secretary of Commerce State of Indiana David Rosenberg, Purdue University President Mung Chiang, Chairman of Purdue Research Foundation Mitch Daniels, Mayor of city of West Lafayette Erin Easter, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States Hyundong Cho, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago Junghan Kim, SK vice chairman Jeong Joon Yu, SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung and SK hynix Head of Package & Test Choi Woojin, participated.

The expansion of AI technology affects not only the production and demand for graphics cards but also the electricity grid that powers them. Data centers hosting thousands of GPUs are becoming more common, and the industry has been building new facilities for GPU-enhanced servers to serve the need for more AI. However, these powerful GPUs often consume over 500 Watts per single card, and NVIDIA's latest Blackwell B200 GPU has a TGP of 1000 Watts or a single kilowatt. These kilowatt GPUs will be present in data centers with 10s of thousands of cards, resulting in multi-megawatt facilities. To combat the load on the national electricity grid, US President Joe Biden's administration has been discussing with big tech to re-evaluate their power sources, possibly using smaller nuclear plants. According to an Axios interview with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, she has noted that "AI itself isn't a problem because AI could help to solve the problem." However, the problem is the load-bearing of the national electricity grid, which can't sustain the rapid expansion of the AI data centers.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has been reportedly talking with firms, most notably hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, to start considering nuclear fusion and fission power plants to satisfy the need for AI expansion. We have already discussed the plan by Microsoft to embed a nuclear reactor near its data center facility and help manage the load of thousands of GPUs running AI training/inference. However, this time, it is not just Microsoft. Other tech giants are reportedly thinking about nuclear as well. They all need to offload their AI expansion from the US national power grid and develop a nuclear solution. Nuclear power is a mere 20% of the US power sourcing, and DOE is currently financing a Holtec Palisades 800-MW electric nuclear generating station with $1.52 billion in funds for restoration and resumption of service. Microsoft is investing in a Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) microreactor energy strategy, which could be an example for other big tech companies to follow.

Lead a nation of your design through a history shaped by your choices in Millennia, a new 4x historical strategy game from C Prompt Games and Paradox Interactive. Guide your people from the stone to a near future, maybe taking detours through historical ages of plague or steampunk technology in Millennia, available now. From us at Paradox Interactive & C Prompt Games, we hope you love the game!

Define history; turn by turn and age by age. In Millennia, you start with a blank slate on which to write a new society and culture. Choose traits and government forms as you accumulate power through a variety of domains (government, war, art, etc.), using these powers to expand and exploit the world around you. Develop a production chain to transform common resources into valuable goods, and then trade the surplus to a distant settlement, boosting its population and production. Define your nation as a land of warriors, explorers or learners as you adopt new traits over time.

According to a report by the Financial Times, China has banned the use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers. The decision, which aims to reduce reliance on foreign technology and boost domestic semiconductor production, is expected to have far-reaching implications for the global tech industry and geopolitical relations. The Chinese government has instructed PC suppliers to replace foreign-made CPUs with domestic alternatives in all government computers within the next two years. This directive is part of China's broader strategy to achieve self-sufficiency in critical technologies and reduce its vulnerability to potential supply chain disruptions or geopolitical tensions. The ban on Intel and AMD chips is likely to significantly impact the two companies, as China represents a substantial market for their products.

However, the move also presents an opportunity for Chinese semiconductor manufacturers like Loongson and Sunway to expand their market share and accelerate the development of their next-generation chip technologies. By reducing its dependence on foreign technology, China aims to strengthen its position in the global tech landscape and mitigate the risks associated with potential sanctions or export controls. As China pushes for self-sufficiency in semiconductors, the global technology industry will likely experience a shift in supply chains and increased competition from Chinese manufacturers. This development may also prompt other countries to reevaluate their reliance on foreign technology and invest in domestic production capabilities, potentially leading to a more fragmented and competitive global tech market.

According to the latest report by Reuters, the US government is preparing to announce a multi-billion dollar grant for Intel's chip manufacturing operations in Arizona next week, possibly worth more than $10 billion. US President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will make the announcement, which is part of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act aimed at expanding US chip production and reducing dependence on China and Taiwan manufacturing. The exact amount of the grant has yet to be confirmed, but rumors suggest it could exceed $10 billion, making it the most significant award yet under the CHIPS Act. The funding will include grants and loans to bolster Intel's competitive position and support the company's US semiconductor manufacturing expansion plans. This comes as a surprise just a day after the Pentagon reportedly refused to invest $2.5 billion in Intel as a part of a secret defense grant.

Intel has been investing significantly in its US expansion, recently opening a $3.5 billion advanced packaging facility in New Mexico, supposed to create extravagant packaging technology like Foveros and EMIB. The chipmaker is also expanding its semiconductor manufacturing capacity in Arizona, with plans to build new fabs in the state. Arizona is quickly becoming a significant hub for semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. In addition to Intel's expansion, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is also building new fabs in the state, attracting supply partners to the region. CHIPS Act has a total funding capacity of $39 billion allocated for semiconductor production and $11 billion for research and development. The Intel grant will likely cover the production part, as Team Blue has been reshaping its business units with the Intel Product and Intel Foundry segments.

Global tensions have caused big semiconductor manufacturers to consider a diversification of production facilities outside of China—most news headlines have concentrated on new operations or advancement/upgrades in the USA, India and Japan. As reported by the Financial Times, Malaysia has quietly established itself as a haven for big chip firms—a "free-trade zone" on the island of Penang is home to fancy Intel and Micron production operations. Team Blue's emerging next-gen Battlemage GPU was spotted during a summer 2023 press event—at the time, HardwareLuxx reported the existence of a "BMG G10" die in Intel Malaysia's Failure Lab. Micron celebrated its 45th anniversary last October, with the opening of a new cutting-edge assembly and test facility in Batu Kawan, Penang. The two firms—and a few others—established roots in Malaysia decades ago, but future investments are set to boost the nation's semiconductor industry.

According to Tom's Hardware: "Intel will spend a whopping $7 billion on new, Malaysian chip assembly and testing facilities. The overall total of foreign Malaysian investment in 2023 was $12.8 billion, and that exceeded its seven-year combined total from 2013 to 2020." Anwar Ibrahim, the country's Prime Minister, is keen to see manufacturing advance to a higher-value tier—a February FT.com interview reveals that this is a "critical goal" for his administration. The establishment of a front-end semiconductor manufacturing plant would be welcomed the most—Zafrul Aziz, Trade Minister of Malaysia, stated (to FT): "I am optimistic we will attract more than one. All it takes is one to kick-start a wave." Historically, Malaysian facilities have been created to deal with the back end of semiconductor supply chains—e.g. packing, assembling and testing components. Company leaderships consider these activities to be of lower value, due to their less complex nature. Certain foreign investments, into Malaysian plants, have come from Chinese firms—a growing presence of PRC-owned plants could complicate matters. The Financial Times article presents a possible future scenario, with the US Government stepping in...if alarmed to a certain degree.

A 2019-signed export license has allowed Intel to supply laptop processors to Huawei, under an exclusive deal—this US Government approved arrangement was not viewed favorably by AMD. The rival chipmaker apparently missed out on the securing of a similar trade license back in 2021. According to a new Reuters report, Team Red and a handful of supporters have attempted to revoke Intel's license—worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Two anonymous sources allege that: "Intel has survived an effort to halt chip sales to Huawei...giving one of the world's largest chipmakers more time to sell to the heavily sanctioned Chinese telecoms company." Intel and Huawei's symbiosis is set to end later this year—folks on the inside reckon that the current US administration will not approve a renewal. Reports suggest that Qualcomm is not anticipating a renewal either—Huawei is an approved buyer of Snapdragon chips, but industry whispers indicate an eventual shift to in-house fare.

Intel, Huawei, US Commerce Department and the White House have declined to comment on the aforementioned scenario. Reuters also sent a query to AMD, but the publication did not receive a response. Earlier last year, a government official revealed that "Huawei's licensing policy" was under review, alongside a general push to scrap a number of trade deals. According to insiders, the same government official allegedly told companies—in private—that the US Commerce Department would fix "the licensing discrepancy." Another anonymous source believes that the agency shelved these plans late last year, for reasons unknown—they stressed that there is potential for a revival. Given the upcoming expiry of Intel and Huawei's arrangement—within the year—it makes little sense to implement a drastic change.

SMIC, China's largest semiconductor manufacturer, is reportedly assembling a dedicated team to develop 3 nm semiconductor node technology, following reports of the company setting up 5 nm chip production for Huawei later this year. This move is part of SMIC's efforts to achieve independence from foreign companies and reduce its reliance on US technology. According to a report from Joongang, SMIC's initial goal is to commence operations of its 5 nm production line, which will mass-produce Huawei chipsets for various products, including AI silicon. However, SMIC is already looking beyond the 5 nm node. The company has assembled an internal research and development team to begin work on the next-generation 3 nm node.

The Chinese manufacturer is expected to accomplish this using existing DUV machinery, as ASML, the sole supplier of advanced EUV technology, is prohibited from providing equipment to Chinese companies due to US restrictions. It is reported that one of the biggest challenges facing SMIC is the potential for low yields and high production costs. The company is seeking substantial subsidies from the Chinese government to overcome these obstacles. Receiving government subsidies will be crucial for SMIC, especially considering that its 5 nm chips are expected to be up to 50 percent more expensive than TSMC's due to the use of older DUV equipment. The first 3 nm wafers from SMIC are not expected to roll out for several years, as the company will prioritize the commercialization of Huawei's 5 nm chips. This ambitious undertaking by SMIC represents a significant challenge for the company as it strives to reduce its dependence on foreign semiconductor technology and establish itself as an essential player in the global manufacturing industry.

IBM has announced the official opening of the new IBM X-Force Cyber Range in Washington, DC. The range includes new custom training exercises specifically designed to help U.S. federal agencies, their suppliers and critical infrastructure organizations more effectively respond to persistent and disruptive cyberattacks, and threats posed by AI. The state-of-the-art facility is designed to help everyone from legal and mission-critical leaders, to the C-Suite and technical security leaders prepare for a real-world cyber incident. According to IBM's 2023 Cost of a Data Breach report the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million, with the US facing the highest breach costs across all regions. Organizations that formed an incident response (IR) team and tested their IR plan experienced faster incident response times and lower costs than organizations that did neither. In fact, the report found that high levels of IR planning and testing saved industry and government nearly $1.5 million in breach costs and 54 days from the data breach lifecycle.

"From national security threats to supply chain disruptions impacting the goods and services we rely on every day, cyberattacks on government and critical infrastructure can have ramifications that go far beyond the balance sheet," said Alice Fakir, Partner, Lead of Cybersecurity Services, US Federal Market for IBM Consulting. "The elite and highly customizable cyber response training we provide at our new DC range helps organizations and federal agencies better defend against existing and emerging threats, and also addresses federal mandates like those in the Biden Administration's Executive Order 14028 focused on improving the nation's cybersecurity."

NVIDIA has joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology's new U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium as part of the company's effort to advance safe, secure and trustworthy AI. AISIC will work to create tools, methodologies and standards to promote the safe and trustworthy development and deployment of AI. As a member, NVIDIA will work with NIST—an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce—and fellow consortium members to advance the consortium's mandate. NVIDIA's participation builds on a record of working with governments, researchers and industries of all sizes to help ensure AI is developed and deployed safely and responsibly.

Through a broad range of development initiatives, including NeMo Guardrails, open-source software for ensuring large language model responses are accurate, appropriate, on topic and secure, NVIDIA actively works to make AI safety a reality. In 2023, NVIDIA endorsed the Biden Administration's voluntary AI safety commitments. Last month, the company announced a $30 million contribution to the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program, which aims to broaden access to the tools needed to power responsible AI discovery and innovation.

Japan's Jiji news agency has cottoned onto a major computer memory industry rumble—a Friday Reuters report suggests that Kioxia has offered an olive branch to SK Hynix, perhaps in a renewed push to get its proposed (and once rejected) merger with Western Digital over the finishing line. The South Korean memory manufacturing juggernaut took great issue with the suggested formation of a mighty Japanese-American 3D NAND memory chip conglomerate—SK Hynix's opposition reportedly placed great pressure on Western Digital (WD), and discussions with Kioxia ended last October.

Kioxia is seemingly eager to resume talks with WD, but requires a thumbs up from SK Hynix—according to Jiji's insider source(s), the Tokyo-headquartered manufacturer is prepared to offer its South Korean rival a nice non-volatile memory production deal. Kioxia's best Japanese 3D NAND fabrication facilities could play host to SK Hynix designs, although it is too early to tell whether this bid has been accepted. The Yokkaichi and Kitakami plants are set to receive a 150 billion yen Government subsidy—Kioxia and WD's joint venture is expected to move into cutting-edge semiconductor production. The Japanese government is hoping to secure its native operations in times of industry flux.

The publication of ASML's 2023 Annual Report has revealed some interesting insights into how the photolithography producer remains diplomatic in times of global tension. Peter Wennink (President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Management) discussed his company's carefully considered tightrope act—here is his message to stakeholders: "In 2023, demand for our DUV systems continued to be strong, particularly in China. During the previous two years, our Chinese customers had received significantly fewer systems than they had ordered, due to global demand for our systems exceeding supply. However, the shifts in demand timing from other customers that we experienced in 2023 meant that we had the opportunity to backfill these orders for mature and midcritical nodes to China, while of course complying with export regulations." ASML is seemingly keen to continue doing business with Chinese customers, despite having to juggle with strict international trade rulings—as revealed in their financial report, trade in this region accounts for "26.3% of our 2023 total net sales." This places China in a second tier position, just behind Taiwan (29.3% of 2023 total net sale).

ASML was expecting to deliver a grand total of 600 DUV equipment units to Chinese customers by the end of 2025, but trade restriction adjustments nixed that avenue of business. The report's "Strategy and products" section highlights the company's concerns about narrowed lanes: "Geopolitical tensions may result in export control restrictions, trade sanctions, tariffs and more generally international trade regulations which may impact our ability to deliver our systems, technology, and services." China's leading foundry—Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC)—is reportedly targeting a 5 nm process node, although this would require a major readjustment of its existing collection of (older) lithography equipment. SMIC's flagship Shanghai location cannot upgrade to the most advanced DUV machinery in ASML's catalog, therefore workers are reliant on slightly antiquated gear (previously tasked with 7 nm manufacturing)—low yields and added expense are the anticipated headaches.

Every country needs to own the production of their own intelligence, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang told attendees Monday at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. Huang, who spoke as part of a fireside chat with the UAE's Minister of AI, His Excellency Omar Al Olama, described sovereign AI—which emphasizes a country's ownership over its data and the intelligence it produces—as an enormous opportunity for the world's leaders. "It codifies your culture, your society's intelligence, your common sense, your history - you own your own data," Huang told Al Olama during their conversation, a highlight of an event attended by more than 4,000 delegates from 150 countries.

"We completely subscribe to that vision," Al Olama said. "That's why the UAE is moving aggressively on creating large language models and mobilizing compute." Huang's appearance in the UAE comes as the Gulf State is moving rapidly to transform itself from an energy powerhouse into a global information technology hub. Dubai is the latest stop for Huang in a global tour that has included meetings with leaders in Canada, France, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam over the past six months. The Middle East is poised to reap significant benefits from AI, with PwC projecting a $320 billion boost to the region's economy by 2030.

NVIDIA's H800 AI GPU was rolled out last year to appease the Sanction Gods—but later on, the US Government deemed the cutdown "Hopper" part to be far too potent for Team Green's Chinese enterprise customers. Last October, newly amended export conditions banned sales of the H800, as well as the slightly older (plus similarly gimped) A800 "Ampere" GPU in the region. NVIDIA's engineering team returned to the drawing board, and developed a new range of compliantly weakened products. An exclusive Reuters report suggests that Team Green is taking pre-orders for a refreshed "Hopper" GPU—the latest China-specific flagship is called "HGX H20." NVIDIA web presences have not been updated with this new model, as well as Ada Lovelace-based L20 PCIe and L2 PCIe GPUs. Huawei's competing Ascend 910B is said to be slightly more performant in "some areas"—when compared to the H20—according to insiders within the distribution network.

The leakers reckon that NVIDIA's mainland distributors will be selling H20 models within a price range of $12,000 - $15,000—Huawei's locally developed Ascend 910B is priced at 120,000 RMB (~$16,900). One Reuters source stated that: "some distributors have started advertising the (NVIDIA H20) chips with a significant markup to the lower end of that range at about 110,000 yuan ($15,320). The report suggests that NVIDIA refused to comment on this situation. Another insider claimed that: "distributors are offering H20 servers, which are pre-configured with eight of the AI chips, for 1.4 million yuan. By comparison, servers that used eight of the H800 chips were sold at around 2 million yuan when they were launched a year ago." Small batches of H20 products are expected to reach important clients within the first quarter of 2024, followed by a wider release in Q2. It is believed that mass production will begin around Spring time.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce publicly announced two new notices of intent—as reported by Tom's Hardware, this involves the latest distributions from the CHIPS Act's $11 billion R&D budget: "$300 million is to be made available across multiple awards of up to $100 million (not including voluntary co-investment) for research on advanced packaging, while another $200 million (or more) is set aside to create the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute. Companies will have to compete for the funds by filing an application." The Act's primary $39 billion tranche is designated to new construction endeavors, e.g. the founding of manufacturing facilities.

A grand total of $52 billion was set aside for the CHIPS Act in 2022, which immediately attracted the attention of several semiconductor industry giants. Companies with headquarters outside of North America were allowed to send in applications. Last year, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, made some controversial statements regarding his company's worthiness of government funding. In his opinion, Team Blue is due the "lion's share" due to his operation being a USA firm—the likes of TSMC and Samsung are far less deserving of subsidies.

In a major stride toward building a shared national research infrastructure, the U.S. National Science Foundation has launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program with significant support from NVIDIA. The initiative aims to broaden access to the tools needed to power responsible AI discovery and innovation. It was announced Wednesday in partnership with 10 other federal agencies as well as private-sector, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. "The breadth of partners that have come together for this pilot underscores the urgency of developing a National AI Research Resource for the future of AI in America," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "By investing in AI research through the NAIRR pilot, the United States unleashes discovery and impact and bolsters its global competitiveness."

NVIDIA's commitment of $30 million in technology contributions over two years is a key factor in enlarging the scale of the pilot, fueling the potential for broader achievements and accelerating the momentum toward full-scale implementation. "The NAIRR is a vision of a national research infrastructure that will provide access to computing, data, models and software to empower researchers and communities," said Katie Antypas, director of the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at the NSF. "Our primary goals for the NAIRR pilot are to support fundamental AI research and domain-specific research applying AI, reach broader communities, particularly those currently unable to participate in the AI innovation ecosystem, and refine the design for the future full NAIRR," Antypas added.

TSMC's Fab 21 Phase 2 facility is currently under construction in the Greater Phoenix area, Arizona—this secondary production facility was originally announced as housing a 3 nm process production line (opening by 2026), but that company target will be missed by a sizable margin. The transcription of the company's Q4 2023 Earnings Call presents another set of shifted expectations—outgoing CEO, Dr. Mark Liu—admitted that a number of factors are expected to delay Phase 2's opening by another year or two: "The second fab shell is under construction, but what technology [to use] in that shell is still under discussion...I think that also has to do with how much incentives that fab, the U.S. Government can provide…The current planning [for the fab] is '27 or '28, that will be timeframe."

Industry analysts believe TSMC leadership have a tough choice to make—the second Arizona factory's delayed launch could provide enough lead time to upgrade with a more advanced node (e.g. 2 nm), but ambitions could be lowered for the troubled site. An older plus more mature fabrication process could be a better fit, although the neighboring Fab 21 Phase 1 site is already set for a full 2025 initiation on 4 nm FinFET. Liu outlined this challenge: "To be honest, most of the overseas fabs, what technology is being set up, really, it is a decision of customers' demand in that area at that timing. So, nothing is definitive, but we are trying to optimize value for the overseas fab for TSMC." The current chairman will not be around for Phase 1's full deployment, but he shared some positive Arizona-related news: "We are well on track for volume production of N4, or 4 nm process technology, in the first half of 2025 [in Arizona] and are confident that once we begin operations, we will be able to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability in Arizona as from our fabs in Taiwan."

The Chinese Government regulators overseeing the country's video game industry approved 105 new game titles since last week's curbs that prevent online games from rewarding daily gameplay. The scope of the curbs were so profound that they sent company stocks of the country's two leading game publishers, Tencent and NetEase, crashing down by approximately 16% and 24%, respectively, with tens of billions in investor value erased. China's domestic online gaming revenues were last assessed at around $42 billion a year.

The Press and Publications Administration (PPA), the overarching regulatory body behind all information and content creation and circulation in China, in its official WeChat account, commended the Game Working Committee of China Music and Digital Association, the body that approves publication of new games, for the successful implementation of the new curbs, and the approval of the 105 new games, stating that the approvals "send positive signals that support the prosperity and healthy development of the online game industry." At any given time, the Chinese regulators have a queue of games and their content additions (eg: DLCs) awaiting government approval. 105 is the highest number of monthly approvals passed by the government, and is hence seen as a move aimed at appeasing investors after last week's crash of game publisher stocks.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF) a new 10-year contract for a supply of securely manufactured, U.S.-made semiconductors for use across a wide range of critical aerospace and defense applications.

With an initial award of $17.3 million this month and an overall 10-year spending ceiling of $3.1 billion, the new contract provides the DoD and its contractors with access to GF's semiconductor technologies manufactured at its U.S. facilities. These GF facilities are DoD-accredited to the highest security level, Trusted Supplier Category 1A, which implements proven stringent security measures to protect sensitive information and manufacture chips with the highest levels of integrity to ensure they are uncompromised.

In an event at the White House today, NVIDIA announced support for voluntary commitments that the Biden Administration developed to ensure advanced AI systems are safe, secure and trustworthy. The news came the same day NVIDIA's chief scientist, Bill Dally, testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee seeking input on potential legislation covering generative AI. Separately, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang will join other industry leaders in a closed-door meeting on AI Wednesday with the full Senate.

Seven companies including Adobe, IBM, Palantir and Salesforce joined NVIDIA in supporting the eight agreements the Biden-Harris administration released in July with support from Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI.

According to Reuters, Micron has followed in Intel's footsteps and asked the US Government to pitch in to help the company build new fabs in Boise, Idaho and Clay, New York. The funds would be part of the CHIPS Act, which means Intel is going to have to fight for its share, since Pat Gelsinger is expecting Intel to get a bigger share than other companies. However, as Micron is also a US company, Intel will have less clout to convince politicians to favour it over the competition for the funds. The CHIPS Act has earmarked US$52.7 billion in subsidiaries for semiconductor production and research in the US.

Last September, Micron announced that it would be investing some US$15 billion in new facilities at its Idaho location by 2032, which the company claimed would create some 17,000 jobs by 2030 in the area. In October, the company went on to state that it would invest up to US$100 billion for the next 20 years in what Micron says will be the largest semiconductor production plant in the world at its Clay, New York location. However, now it looks like at least a sizable chunk of that money will come from the US taxpayers, rather than from Micron's own pocket. Time will tell how much each of the CHIPS Act applications will get, as if enough companies apply, the money might not go quite as far as some of these companies have hoped for.