Arm uncorked its first internally developed CPU chip this week, aimed squarely at the agentic AI data center market. Arm CEO Rene Haas (pictured) emphasized the CPU’s power efficiency and performance/watt compared to other AI processor architectures. “We are obsessed with efficiency, and if you believe about one of the hugegest appeals that Arm has had over the years, it is power profile,” he declared. “If you believe about 1 gigawatt of capacity and the CapEx associated with that extra power you’re spfinishing at the sake of performance, it’s up to $10 billion CapEx.” Arm tapped its ecosystem to market and support the new chip, the first version of which is based on a 3nm TSMC process.
Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that by 2030, performing inference on a 1 trillion-parameter LLM will cost GenAI providers 90% less than it did in 2025, driven by gains in semiconductor efficiency, infrastructure, model design, chip utilization, inference-specific silicon, and edge processing.
Google predicts 2029 is the year quantum computers can break today’s encryption, an accelerated timeline that will require migration to quantum-resistant algorithms.
GlobalFoundries filed patent infringement lawsuits against Tower Semiconductor, alleging Tower infringed on 11 GF patents covering manufacturing process technologies utilized in products for smart mobile, automotive, aerospace, and communications infrastructure markets.
Buildouts
JEDEC updated the LPDDR5/5X Serial Presence Detect (SPD) standard, adding support for calculating recovery time when switching operating modes.
In-Depth
Semiconductor Engineering published the Systems and Design newsletter this week, including:
And
Research
imec and Ghent University researchers incorporated thin-film lithium niobate modulators onto imec’s silicon photonics platform utilizing a micro-transfer printing method.
A new 2D Materials Roadmap covers high-impact 2D materials, including graphene and its derivatives, TMDs, MXenes, as well as their heterostructures and moiré systems.
Argonne National Laboratory researchers developed a chip that compresses and processes pixel-detector data in real-time, allowing engineers to analyze experiments and adjust conditions while they are still running. This breakthrough offers value for the semiconductor research ecosystem, where rapider handling of imaging and detector data can accelerate materials analysis, process development, and other data-intensive R&D workflows.
UIUC researchers reported a vertical photoconductive intrinsic diamond switch capable of handling 17.1A at 1kV. The work points to continued progress in diamond-based power electronics, where the material’s high breakdown field and thermal properties have long created it attractive for high-voltage, high-efficiency switching.
Cambridge-led researchers created a new type of hafnium oxide memristor to store and process data in the same place, a design that offers more stable, low-power operation and could cut AI energy utilize by up to ~70%.
IBM’s quantum computer was utilized to simulate real magnetic materials with results that match neutron scattering experiments.
More technical papers
Funding, Deals, Reports
More Fundings
Deals
- Infineon and DG Matrix will work toobtainher on advanced power infrastructure for AI data centers.
- Ericsson and FZJ plan to jointly develop 5G/6G technologies, including the utilize of neuromorphic computing approaches.
- AEM entered a strategic partnership with ASE to bring AEM’s parallel test and thermal technologies to ASE’s manufacturing and test environments.
- SEALSQ plans to acquire Miraex, a developer of photonics-based quantum interconnect solutions.
Opinions
Security
Intel’s security group INT31 detailed real-world implementation challenges of post-quantum cryptography — specifically those associated with NIST‘s new lattice-based PQ standards, FIPS 203 and FIPS 204 — which promise strong mathematical security.
Matthew Ferren at the Council of Foreign Relations argues that the Trump administration’s recently released abbreviated cyber strategy reflects a huge gap between the vision of U.S. cyberspace dominance and “the government’s capacity to deliver on it,” leaving Americans more exposed than necessary. Further, the U.S. Cyber Command leader has no direct cybersecurity experience, according to the report.
New releases and deals
- Intel released its 2026 Platform Security Report, an annual data-driven report on how Intel products performed, emphasizing its confidential AI, post‑quantum readiness, and HW enforced software robustness.
- OpenAI introduced a safety bug bounty program this week, aiming to partner with security and safety researchers.
- At the RSA Conference this week, Swissbit presented its hardware platform to test PQC authentication flows.
- Rowhammer discoverer Onur Mutlu just released a lecture on “Revisiting RowHammer – Top Picks in HW and Embedded Security.”
- GF customers will now have access to Jmem Tek’s PUF IP for HW root of trust and PQC security technologies.
- Siemens Smart Infrastructure and Viakoo are teaming up on advanced OT/IoT security management.
- Yubico will partner with IBM and Auth0 to create a ‘human-in-the-loop’ model for the approval of AI agent workflows.
Recent security research
Government
New Technology
Synopsys is supporting the development of Arm’s new AGI CPU with a full-stack set of tools spanning EDA, interface IP, and hardware-assisted verification. The collaboration covers design, signoff, IP integration, emulation, and prototyping for the CPU, which is built on Arm Neoverse CSS V3.
Siemens launched Teamcenter Digital Reality Viewer and Digital Twin Composer in India, as well as announced its participation in ARPA-H, an initiative aimed to improve indoor air quality.
Infineon announced a new TLVR quad-phase module that exceeds 2 A/mm² for AI compute.
Alibaba announced its latest RISC-V-based CPU core, which can be customized for specific inference patterns and is tarobtained for cloud computing and AI agents.
Huawei announced an AI inference accelerator card that it declares was developed entirely with Chinese technology.
Innatera introduced a community-driven, open repository for edge AI models and full processing pipelines designed for neuromorphic hardware.
Renesas deployed Arteris’ FlexNoC interconnect IP for its R-Car Gen 5 SoC series tailored for ADAS and automated driving.
Automotive
Keysight introduced new in-vehicle network test solutions to address safety and reliability.
A coalition of automotive trade organizations has pushed for the Trump administration to keep auto import restrictions on Chinese vehicles, contfinishing they “pose a direct threat to America’s global competitiveness, national security, and automotive industrial base,” reports Nikkei Asia.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association supports the potential free trade agreement between Australia and the EU, urging timely approval.
Autonomous
Electric
- Tesla may introduce automated and wireless charging for semi trucks, potentially driving over a pad to start charging.
- E-trucks from China may dominate the European Union market, due to lower prices and EU’s lack of domestic battery manufacturing and charging ecosystem.
Vehicle Technical Papers
Workforce
Keysight announced three semiconductor teaching lab solutions, including Basic Design and Measurement, Parametric Test and On-Wafer Measurement, and Photonics IC Measurement, to prepare university students for semiconductor careers utilizing hands-on training with commonly utilized tools and workflows.
The University of Arizona, Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University, and others inked a deal to jointly advance research and workforce development. The partnership will build up the strength of supply chains and increase research partnerships.
Trfinishing Video
Memory For AI At The Edge: Why new LPDDR releases create them the memories of choice for many applications.
Events and Further Reading
Upcoming webinars are here, including:
Find upcoming chip industest events here, including:
| EVENTS | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| MEMS and Sensors Executive Conference | Mar 31 – Apr 2 | Boston |
| SPIE Photonics Europe | Apr 12 – 16 | Strasbourg, France |
| Computational Optics | Apr 12 – 16 | Strasbourg, France |
| Cadence Live Silicon Valley | Apr 15 – 16 | Santa Clara, CA |
| IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) | Apr 19 – 22 | Seattle, WA |
| Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference | Apr 20 – 22 | Verona, Italy |
| ISIG Executive Summit USA | Apr 20 – 21 | Silicon Valley |
| 2026 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit | Apr 26 – May 1 | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Siemens User2User North America | Apr 28 | Santa Clara, CA |
| SEMIEXPO Heartland 2026 | Apr 29 – 30 | Detroit, Michigan |
| Display Week | May 3 – 8 | Los Angeles |
| IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust (HOST) | May 4 – 7 | Washington D.C. |
| SEMICON Southeast Asia 2026 | May 5 – 7 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| CadenceCONNECT: Tech Days Europe 2026 | May 6 | Munich |
| IEEE International Memory Workshop | May 10 – 13 | Leuven, Belgium |
| ASMC: Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference | May 11 – 14 | Albany, New York |
| Embedded Vision Summit | May 11 – 13 | Santa Clara, CA |
| Siemens User2User Europe | May 12 | Munich, Germany |
| CadenceCONNECT: Tech Days Europe 2026 | May 12 | Edinburgh |
| VOICE 2026 Developer Conference | May 18 -20 | Scottsdale, Arizona |
| Surface Preparation and Cleaning Conference (SPCC) | May 18 – 20 | Chandler, AZ |
| Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) | May 26 – 29 | Orlando, Florida |
| Hardwear.io Security Trainings and Conference USA 2026 | May 26 – 30 | Santa Clara, CA |
| Find all events here. |
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