Everyone perceives sound differently. Your ear is not like a measuring microphone. Because of this, it's important to understand how sound is perceived and what factors influence that perception. In creating the OAE1 signature with Axel Grell, we studied how sound is perceived. This premise drove the unique geometry and driver placement for the OAE1 Signature headphones. Since our ears, with all their unique characteristics, act as a natural equalizer to all that we hear, it makes sense that headphones should do more to use the structure of the pinna to guide soundwaves into the ear canal.

To achieve this effect, the transducers are placed much further forward and angled back towards the ear. By positioning the transducer further out and away it enables the soundwaves to fully encompass the pinna (the external part of the ear), allowing for an increase in spectral information and a more natural sound field for the listener. By contrast, the majority of headphones on the market are much closer to the ear and positioned perpendicular to the opening of the canal which bypasses much of the pinna's structure (and therefore the natural sound-shaping function of the ear itself).

The US government is reported to be preparing a very healthy $3.5 billion investment in Intel Corporation—a mid-week published Bloomberg article proposes that the White House has authored a new "fast-moving spending bill." Congressional aides believe that Team Blue—upon official approval/signing off of funds—will be tasked with the production of advanced semiconductors for military and intelligence programs. Bloomberg posits that the resources will be sourced from a "Secure Enclave" project, seemingly linking to a wider tranche of funds within the US government's CHIPS and Science Act. The agreement/contract is expected to run over a period of three years. According to Bloomberg: "the Senate is expected to pass the legislation by a Saturday (March 9) deadline."

Reports from last November suggested that Intel leadership and US government representatives had engaged in negotiations regarding funds for military and intelligence chip applications—the construction costs for new manufacturing facilities were estimated to be in the $3 billion to $4 billion range. A Commerce Department statement was submitted to Bloomberg, but they only commented on an overall $10 billion budget: "We are still reviewing the effect of the appropriations text on the program...(we look) forward to continuing to work with Congress on implementing the Chips and Science Act in a manner the promotes our economic and national security." TSMC, Micron and Samsung are expected to receive "multi-billion-dollar awards" in the near future—these multinational corporations will assist in a bolstering of North American chip manufacturing capabilities.

South Korean tech insiders believe that SK Hynix has sent "12-layer DRAM stacked HBM3E (5th generation HBM)" prototype samples to NVIDIA—according a ZDNET.co.kr article, initial examples were shipped out last month. Reports from mid-2023 suggested that Team Green had sampled 8-layer HBM3E (4th gen) units around summer time—with SK Hynix receiving approval notices soon after. Another South Korean media outlet, DealSite, reckons that NVIDIA's memory qualification process has exposed HBM yield problems across a number of manufacturers. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are competing fiercely on the HBM3E front—with hopes of getting their respective products attached to NVIDIA's H200 AI GPU. DigiTimes Asia proposed that SK Hynix is ready to "commence mass production of fifth-generation HBM3E" at some point this month.

SK Hynix is believed to be leading the pack—insiders believe that yield rates are good enough to pass early NVIDIA certification, and advanced 12-layer samples are expected to be approved in the near future. ZDNET reckons that SK Hynix's forward momentum has placed it an advantageous position: "(They) supplied 8-layer HBM3E samples in the second half of last year and passed recent testing. Although the official schedule has not been revealed, mass production is expected to begin as early as this month. Furthermore, SK Hynix supplied 12-layer HBM3E samples to NVIDIA last month. This sample is an extremely early version and is mainly used to establish standards and characteristics of new products. SK Hynix calls it UTV (Universal Test Vehicle)... Since Hynix has already completed the performance verification of the 8-layer HBM3E, it is expected that the 12-layer HBM3E test will not take much time." SK Hynix's Vice President recently revealed that his company's 2024 HBM production volumes for were already sold out, and leadership is already preparing innovations for 2025 and beyond.

Cyberattacks are an existential risk, with 89% of organizations ranking ransomware as one of the top five threats to their viability, according to a November 2023 report from TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, a leading analyst firm. And this is just one of many risks to corporate data—insider threats, data exfiltration, hardware failures, and natural disasters also pose significant danger. Moreover, as the just-released 2024 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index states, as the generative AI market becomes more established, it could trigger the maturity of AI as an attack surface, mobilizing even further investment in new tools from cybercriminals. The report notes that enterprises should also recognize that their existing underlying infrastructure is a gateway to their AI models that doesn't require novel tactics from attackers to target.

To help clients counter these threats with earlier and more accurate detection, we're announcing new AI-enhanced versions of the IBM FlashCore Module technology available inside new IBM Storage FlashSystem products and a new version of IBM Storage Defender software to help organizations improve their ability to detect and respond to ransomware and other cyberattacks that threaten their data. The newly available fourth generation of FlashCore Module (FCM) technology enables artificial intelligence capabilities within the IBM Storage FlashSystem family. FCM works with Storage Defender to provide end-to-end data resilience across primary and secondary workloads with AI-powered sensors designed for earlier notification of cyber threats to help enterprises recover faster.

TSMC Arizona's second semiconductor fabrication site has celebrated a "topping out" milestone—as documented in an official blog post (via LinkedIn) from yesterday. Workers were photographed installing an important/final piece of structure—the aforementioned "topping out" milestone signifies: "the last steel beam being raised into place on a construction project." The Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturer has had a rough time in establishing operations out in the desert/greater Phoenix area—the "Fab 21 Phase 2" plant is not expected to meet its original 2026 opening window. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu is reportedly leaving his position due to consistent Arizona-related problems and delays.

The TSMC LinkedIn account shared some additional and certainly much-needed positive news: "We also recently achieved the topping milestone on our second fab's auxiliary buildings, which will supply the necessary utilities infrastructure to the second fab clean room." Thursday's blog (February 22) also discloses that the primary site—Fab 21 Phase 1—is still on track to begin production within the first half of 2025, thanks to "significant" bursts in construction progress. The author moved onto future production prospects: "Once operational, our two fabs at TSMC Arizona will manufacture the most advanced semiconductor technology in the U.S., creating 4,500 direct high-tech, high-wage jobs and enabling our customers' leadership in the high-performance computing and artificial intelligence era for decades."

SK Hynix Vice President Kitae Kim presides over the company's HBM Sales & Marketing (S&M) department—an official leadership blog profile reveals that the executive played a key role in making the South Korean supplier's high bandwidth memory (HBM) product line "a superstar of the semiconductor memory industry in 2023." Growing demand for powerful AI processors has placed SK Hynix in a more comfortable position, following recessive spells—including a major sales downturn in 2022. NVIDIA is the market leader in AI processing chips, and many of its flagship enterprise designs are fitted with cutting-edge SK Hynix memory modules. Kim noted that his firm has many notable international clients: "HBM is a revolutionary product which has challenged the notion that semiconductor memory is only one part of an overall system...in particular, SK Hynix's HBM has outstanding competitiveness. Our advanced technology is highly sought after by global tech companies."

The VP outlined how artificial intelligence industries are fuelling innovations: "With the diversification and advancement of generative AI services, demand for HBM, an AI memory solution, has also exploded. HBM, with its high-performance and high-capacity characteristics, is a monumental product that shakes the conventional wisdom that memory semiconductors are only a part of the overall system. In particular, SK Hynix HBM's competitiveness is outstanding." Business is booming, so much so that nothing can be added to this year's HBM order books: "Proactively securing customer purchase volumes and negotiating more favorable conditions for our high-quality products are the basics of semiconductor sales operations. With excellent products in hand, it's a matter of speed. Our planned production volume of HBM this year has already sold out. Although 2024 has just begun, we've already started preparing for 2025 to stay ahead of the market."

US Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, was a notable guest speaker during yesterday's Intel Foundry Direct Connect Keynote—she was invited on (via a video link) to discuss the matter of strengthening the nation's semiconductor industry, and staying competitive with global rivals. During discussions, Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO) cheekily asked whether a "CHIPS Act Part Two" was in the pipeline. Raimondo responded by stating that she is till busy with the original $52 billion tranche: "I'm out of breath running as fast as I can implementing CHIPS One." Earlier this week, her department revealed a $1.5 billion planned direct fund for GlobalFoundries: "this investment will enable GF to expand and create new manufacturing capacity and capabilities to securely produce more essential chips for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense, and other vital markets."

Intel is set to receive a large grant courtesy of the US government's 2022-launched CHIPS and Science Act—exact figures have not been revealed to the public, but a Nikkei Asia report suggests that Team Blue will be benefiting significantly in the near future: "While the Commerce Department has not yet announced how much of the funding package's $52 billion it would grant Intel, the American chipmaker is expected to get a significant portion, according to analysts and officials close to the situation." Raimondo stated that: "Intel is an American champion company and has a very huge role to play in this revitalization." The US Commerce Chief also revealed that she had spoken with artificial intelligence industry leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, about the ever-growing demand for AI-crunching processors/accelerators/GPUs. The country's semiconductor production efforts could be bolstered once more, in order to preserve a competitive edge—Raimondo addressed Gelsinger's jokey request for another batch of subsidies: "I suspect there will have to be—whether you call it Chips Two or something else—continued investment if we want to lead the world...We fell pretty far. We took our eye off the ball."

Various news outlets have been keeping tabs on OpenAI's CEO—Sam Altman—the AI technology evangelist was reported to be pursuing an ambitious proprietary AI chip project in early 2024. Inside sources pointed to late-January negotiations with important investment personnel in the Middle East—many believe that OpenAI leadership is exploring the idea of establishing its own network of semiconductor production plants. Late last week, The Wall Street Journal followed up on last month's AI industry rumors: "(Altman) has another great ambition: raising trillions of dollars to reshape the global semiconductor industry. The OpenAI chief executive officer is in talks with investors including the United Arab Emirates government to raise funds for a wildly ambitious tech initiative that would boost the world's chip-building capacity, expand its ability to power AI." One anonymous insider reckons that "the project could require raising as much as $5 trillion to $7 trillion."

TSMC is reportedly in the equation—Altman allegedly conducted talks with top brass last month—their expertise in cutting edge fabrication techniques would be of great value, although it is somewhat futile to reveal too many industry secrets given the sheer scale of OpenAI's (reported) aggressive expansion plans. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) suggests that the embryonic venture is far more "open" than previously reported—a collaborative venture could be established once funding is secured, although Altman & Co. face "significant obstacles" en route. WSJ proposes that the somewhat OpenAI-centric fabrication network is best founded by a joint partnership—involving multiple investors, contract chip manufacturers (perhaps TSMC), and energy/power providers. OpenAI appears to be the "primary buyer" of resultant fabricated AI chips, with manufacturing services also offered to other clients. The scale of such an endeavor is put into perspective by WSJ's analysis (via inside sources): "Such a sum of investment would dwarf the current size of the global semiconductor industry. Global sales of chips were $527 billion last year and are expected to rise to $1 trillion annually by 2030. Global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment—the costly machinery needed to run chip factories—last year were $100 billion, according to an estimate by the industry group SEMI."

Skull and Bones sets sail on February 16, welcoming players to the cutthroat world of the Indian Ocean during the Golden Age of Piracy. While you start off as a shipwrecked outcast, you'll fight, forge alliances, and make enemies as you build your empire and become a kingpin of the seas. And the adventure doesn't stop once you've reached the top. As a kingpin, you'll have the power to take on difficult endgame events and challenges to earn more riches and unlock new items, but that's just the start. Skull and Bones' first year will bring four seasons of new enemies to the Indian Ocean, starting with a pestilent pirate lord who rains poison from the sky.

In a recent co-op gameplay session, we had the opportunity to play around in Skull and Bones' endgame. Playing at the Kingpin level, the highest Infamy ranking, we had a fleet of ships and an arsenal of weapons at our disposal to plunder outposts and seize their means of production, hunt down a devastating sea monster, and sail into battle against the aforementioned pirate lord. Skull and Bones endgame is full of opportunities to take on legendary challenges, cement yourself as a powerhouse in different regions of the Indian Ocean, and even change up a few game mechanics.

Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are considered to be the top manufacturing sources of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)—the HBM3 and HBM3E standards are becoming increasingly in demand, due to a widespread deployment of GPUs and accelerators by generative AI companies. Taiwan's Commercial Times proposes that there is an ongoing shortage of HBM components—but this presents a growth opportunity for smaller manufacturers in the region. Naturally, the big name producers are expected to dive in head first with the development of next generation models. The aforementioned financial news article cites research conducted by the Gartner group—they predict that the HBM market will hit an all-time high of $4.976 billion (USD) by 2025.

This estimate is almost double that of projected revenues (just over $2 billion) generated by the HBM market in 2023—the explosive growth of generative AI applications has "boosted" demand for the most performant memory standards. The Commercial Times report states that SK Hynix is the current HBM3E leader, with Micron and Samsung trailing behind—industry experts believe that stragglers will need to "expand HBM production capacity" in order to stay competitive. SK Hynix has shacked up with NVIDIA—the GH200 Grace Hopper platform was unveiled last summer; outfitted with the South Korean firm's HBM3e parts. In a similar timeframe, Samsung was named as AMD's preferred supplier of HBM3 packages—as featured within the recently launched Instinct MI300X accelerator. NVIDIA's HBM3E deal with SK Hynix is believed to extend to the internal makeup of Blackwell GB100 data-center GPUs. The HBM4 memory standard is expected to be the next major battleground for the industry's hardest hitters.

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, had a turbulent winter 2023 career moment, but appears to be going all in with his company's future interests. A Bloomberg report suggests that the tech visionary has initiated a major fundraising initiative for the construction of OpenAI-specific semiconductor production plants. The AI evangelist reckons that his industry will become prevalent enough to demand a dedicated network of manufacturing facilities—the U.S. based artificial intelligence (AI) research organization is (reportedly) exploring custom artificial intelligence chip designs. Proprietary AI-focused GPUs and accelerators are not novelties at this stage in time—many top tech companies rely on NVIDIA solutions, but are keen to deploy custom-built hardware in the near future.

OpenAI's popular ChatGPT system is reliant on NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, but tailor-made alternatives seem to be the desired route for Altman & Co. The "on their own terms" pathway seemingly skips an expected/traditional chip manufacturing process—the big foundries could struggle to keep up with demand for AI-oriented silicon. G42 (an Abu Dhabi-based AI development holding company) and SoftBank Group are mentioned as prime investment partners in OpenAI's fledgling scheme—Bloomberg proposes that Altman's team is negotiating a $8 to 10 billion deal with top brass at G42. OpenAI's planned creation of its own foundry network is certainly a lofty and costly goal—the report does not specify whether existing facilities will be purchased and overhauled, or new plants being constructed entirely from scratch.

Video interface and IP workflow innovator Magewell has announced that the company has joined the Q-SYS Technology Partner Program. This program enables software and hardware technology partners to create market-ready solutions that integrate seamlessly with Q-SYS, a cloud-manageable audio, video and control platform. The first result of the initiative—the Q-SYS Control plugin for Magewell's USB Fusion video capture, mixing and presentation device—has been endorsed with Q-SYS Certified status and is now available for download through the Q-SYS Designer Asset Manager found in Q-SYS Designer Software.

Magewell will showcase USB Fusion among other innovations in stand 5E710 at the ISE 2024 exhibition in Barcelona from January 30 to February 2. Magewell's USB Fusion hardware and accompanying app let users easily combine cameras, wired or wireless screenshares, and media file sources into visually compelling live presentations for streaming, live event production, online lectures, webinars, video conferencing and other applications. Users can switch between sources or combine inputs into attractive scene layouts.

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."

During the CES 2024 international show, Wacom, one of the leaders in the digital design space, unveiled the new Wacom Cintiq Pro and Wacom One tablets. The company also showcased its digital rights management software, Yuify, and introduced Wacom Bridge, a tool designed to enhance remote collaborative workflows for studios. The new Wacom Cintiq Pro line, including the Pro 27, 22, and 17, was developed in collaboration with professionals in virtual production, VFX, CG, and animation. The latest Wacom Cintiq Pro 27, with its precision and best-in-class color fidelity, is poised to take virtual production workflows to the next level. Color accuracy is crucial in virtual production workflows, and the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 delivers 100% Rec. 709 and 98% DCI-P3 color accuracy. Its 4K display, with 10-bit color, offers high color performance and calibration options, reducing the traditional setup footprint without compromising performance.

The new Wacom Pro Pen 3, redesigned for ergonomic comfort and customization, complements the Cintiq Pro 27's eight Express Keys and multi-touch screen, offering a harmonious workflow. Wacom Bridge, developed in partnership with AWS NICE DCV and Splashtop, is a technology solution that enhances the use of Wacom products on supported remote desktop connections, catering to the needs of remote and hybrid work environments. The Wacom One line, first launched in 2019, has been redesigned and upgraded, offering more options and customization opportunities. The line includes the Wacom One 13 and 12 displays and the Wacom One Medium and Small pen tablets. Finally, Wacom's commitment to protecting artists' work is embodied in "Yuify", a service that allows artists to protect their artwork, manage usage rights, and establish legally binding license permissions. This digital rights management platform enables creators to conveniently manage their authorship records and sign licenses and contracts.

TrendForce reports that the DRAM contract prices are estimated to increase by approximately 13-18% in 1Q24 with mobile DRAM leading the surge. It appears that due to the unclear demand outlook for the entire year of 2024, manufacturers believe that sustained production cuts are necessary to maintain the supply-demand balance in the memory industry.

PC DRAM: The market is buzzing with unfilled DDR5 orders, while savvy buyers brace for a continued surge in DDR4 prices, keeping procurement engines running. This trend, however, is shadowed by a gradual industry pivot toward DDR5, casting uncertainty over the expansion of DDR4 bit procurement volumes. Despite this, both DDR4 and DDR5 prices have yet to hit the target set by manufacturers, and buyers seem ready to ride the wave of price hikes into 1Q24. This sets the stage for an estimated 10-15% in PC DRAM contract prices, with DDR5 poised to take the lead over DDR4 in this pricing rally.

Acer today shared its commitment to carbon neutrality for its Aspire Vero laptop line, starting from the new Aspire Vero 16 (AV16-51P). Following international standards for carbon footprint calculation and carbon neutrality, actions are taken at each stage of the device lifecycle to minimize its carbon footprint, and then, high-quality carbon credits will be applied to attain carbon neutrality.

"To help tackle the increasing challenges posed by climate change, on the product side, Acer is proposing 'conscious technology' designed and made with consideration for the future," said Jerry Kao, COO, Acer Inc. "On the corporate side, Acer has joined the RE100 initiative and committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2035. We have also pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050."

A somewhat expected result of the November 17th export ban on RTX 4090 GPUs to China has been that AMD's top offerings; recently rumored to soon suffer the same fate, have been selling faster than AMD or its partners can make them. Predicting the worst, some OEMs such as Dell have allegedly already set their own self-imposed restrictions on the export of both Radeon and Instinct cards to China. Meanwhile insiders in board channels have not yet received any official warning that they can no longer sell RX 7900 XTXs or XTs to DIY markets, however vendors and consumers alike sense an oncoming storm and unable to get RTX 4090s are buying up as many of the high end Radeons as they can.

It's said that AMD's production capacity for this surge in sales has been underwhelming, and supply to Chinese board partners has been barely trickling in. This lack of incoming supply of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT, restriction or not, is creating a shortage of cards in China that is expected to impact the remainder of Q4 2023 and much of Q1 2024. With no immediate restrictions expected for AMD's top cards it's possible that they could react and ramp up exports to cover the demand, however that could be risky if AMD is trying to avoid being targeted.

NVIDIA's most recent FY3Q24 financial reports reveal record-high revenue coming from its data center segment, driven by escalating demand for AI servers from major North American CSPs. However, TrendForce points out that recent US government sanctions targeting China have impacted NVIDIA's business in the region. Despite strong shipments of NVIDIA's high-end GPUs—and the rapid introduction of compliant products such as the H20, L20, and L2—Chinese cloud operators are still in the testing phase, making substantial revenue contributions to NVIDIA unlikely in Q4. Gradual shipments increases are expected from the first quarter of 2024.

The US ban continues to influence China's foundry market as Chinese CSPs' high-end AI server shipments potentially drop below 4% next year
TrendForce reports that North American CSPs like Microsoft, Google, and AWS will remain key drivers of high-end AI servers (including those with NVIDIA, AMD, or other high-end ASIC chips) from 2023 to 2024. Their estimated shipments are expected to be 24%, 18.6%, and 16.3%, respectively, for 2024. Chinese CSPs such as ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BBAT) are projected to have a combined shipment share of approximately 6.3% in 2023. However, this could decrease to less than 4% in 2024, considering the current and potential future impacts of the ban.

NVIDIA is reportedly rushing shipments of GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs to China in anticipation of expected export restrictions. We have already reported that NVIDIA might be canceling 5 billion US Dollars worth of orders. The US government will require an export license for shipping RTX 4090s to China, effectively restricting sales to the country. NVIDIA's add-in-board (AIB) partners are reportedly working at full capacity to produce as many RTX 4090 products for the Chinese market as possible before the potential restriction on November 17. While it remains unclear whether the export restrictions will ultimately be implemented, the anticipation of such measures has prompted NVIDIA and its partners to accelerate their production.

The Tweet that feeds this information is coming from Zed Wang, a well-known hardware leaker with historically accurate insights into NVIDIA's operations, who claims that "NVIDIA has been shipping tons of AD102 for AICs this week to manufacture as much RTX 4090 as possible before the original restriction date of RTX 4090 in China. It is still unclear whether the restriction will become true or not. But all AICs are at their full power in producing RTX 4090, regardless of that."

We're excited to share that Framework Laptop 16 made it into TIME's Best Inventions of 2023! This is our second product winning this award, with the original Framework Laptop making it onto the cover in 2021. Dave2D also got an early hands-on with a DVT2 engineering sample over the weekend and was surprised by the refinement of the design. This was a random development unit, and the final product has further improvement on mechanical fit and finish.

We know that the many of you who have placed pre-orders are eager to get your hands on the product. We're coming up to the end of the DVT2 phase, which is the final engineering phase of our product development process. The Framework engineering and supply chain teams are heads down now on engineering validation, completing firmware development, and readying manufacturing. This is by far the most complex product we've built, both from a design and an operational perspective, and we're putting everything we have into getting it right. We've made dozens of small mechanical and electrical changes over the last couple of months, and we'll be sharing some highlights on these over the coming weeks along with more detail on the schedule for mass production.

Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world's largest semiconductor companies, today marked a historic day with the opening of its new cutting-edge assembly and test facility in Batu Kawan, Penang, alongside the celebration of Micron's 45th anniversary. A ceremony officiated by Chief Minister of Penang, Yang Amat Berhormat Tuan Chow Kon Yeow, underscored the regional significance of Micron's expansion, highlighting the company's four and a half decades of innovation and excellence.

Micron previously invested $1 billion and will add up to another billion including construction and full equipping of this new facility over the next few years in Penang to increase factory space to a total of 1.5 million square feet. This expansion enables Micron Malaysia to boost production output and further strengthen its assembly and test capabilities, allowing it to supply leading-edge NAND, PCDRAM and SSD modules to meet the growing demand for transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous or electric vehicles.

According to Korean business news publication ChosunBiz, both Samsung and TSMC are struggling with their 3 nm node yields. The two companies have different approaches to their 3 nm nodes, with Samsung using GAA FET (Gate All Around), whereas TSMC is continuing with its FinFET technology. That said, TSMC has at least five known 3 nm nodes, of which two should be in production by now, assuming N3E has proved to be reliable enough to kick off. Samsung on the other hand has three known 3 nm nodes, with only one in production so far, called 3GAE.

ChosunBiz reports that neither company is getting the kind of yields that you'd expect from a node that should have been in volume production for around a year by now, with Samsung apparently being somewhat better than TSMC. At 60 and 50 percent respectively, neither Samsung nor TSMC are anywhere near decent yields. Anything below 70 percent is considered very poor and even the 60 percent claim in Samsungs case, is apparently limited to some kind of Chinese mining ASIC and doesn't include the SRAM you find in most modern processors. ChosunBiz also mentions a source familiar with Samsung's foundry business who mentions a yield closer to 50 percent for the company. The same source also mentions that Samsung needs to reach at least 70 percent yield to be able to attract major customers to its 3 nm node.

TrendForce research indicates that in 1H23, the utilization rate of 8-inch production capacity primarily benefited from sporadic inventory restocking orders for Driver ICs in the second quarter. Additionally, wafer foundries initiated pricing strategies to encourage clients into early orders, offering solid backup. However, in 2H23, persistent macroeconomic and inventory challenges led to the evaporation of an anticipated demand surge.

Meanwhile, stockpiles in automotive and industrial control segments grew after meeting initial shortages, tempering demand. Under fierce price competition from PMIC leader Texas Instruments (TI), inventory reductions for Fabless and other IDMs were drastically inhibited. With IDMs ushering in output from their new plants and pulling back outsourced orders, this compounded reductions to wafer foundries. This dynamic saw 8-inch production capacity utilization dipping to 50-60% in the second half of the year. Both Tier 1 and Tier 2/3 8-inch wafer foundries saw a more lackluster capacity utilization performance compared to the first half of the year.

We continue to be on track to start shipments before the end of the month on the new Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series). Last week we shared that SMT (Mainboard production) had started, and this week we've begun final assembly of laptops. We also pulled some early units to send out to press reviewers to make sure that you can see exactly where we've landed on performance and battery life.

We have another happy bit of news to share with you: our Lead System Architect Kieran was able to implement a firmware solution to reduce power consumption when using HDMI and DP Expansion Cards on the back two slots. The only remaining power issue is with USB-A Expansion Cards on the back slots, which we are investigating a future USB-A Expansion Card hardware revision to resolve.

TSMC has gained the Taiwanese government's approval to invest $4.5 billion in its main North American manufacturing hub—Fab 21 is located in the greater Phoenix area. Mass production at the Arizona foundry has been delayed into 2025 due to behind-schedule equipment installations and various workforce-related issues, but a limited trial run is reported to begin early next year. Mid-last month, the TSMC executive board sought approval from Taiwan's Investment Commission for an additional overseas spend (the Arizona operation is registered as a subsidiary company).

This request was approved by the commission yesterday (September 18)—a $3.5 billion cash injection was already given the thumbs-up back in March. Exact areas of expenditure have not been declared to the public, but Taiwanese media outlets believe that the second phase of funds will be marked for working capital expenses at the North American division. Short-term business costs include the purchase of inventory (e.g raw materials), day-to-day operating expenses and resolvement of short-term debts. Mark Liu, TSMC's chairman, recently expressed optimism about goings-on at Arizona's Fab 21—mentioning significant progress made over the spring and summer period.