While all eyes are on Intel’s restructuring plan, which features the foundry unit’s spin-off and the delay of Germany and Poland factories, there is another critical decision regarding its photonics business.

According to Intel’s announcement, the tech giant is moving Integrated Photonics Solutions (IPS) into its Data Center and Artificial Intelligence division (DCAI), as it tries to drive a more focused R&D plan that’s fully aligned with its top business priorities.

This shuffle seems to be reasonable, as earlier this year, Intel has achieved a milestone in integrated photonics technology for high-speed data transmission, and the two arenas seem to be inseparable.

A few months ago, Intel demonstrated the industry’s most advanced and first-ever fully integrated optical compute interconnect (OCI) chiplet co-packaged with an Intel CPU and running live data. According to Intel, the OCI chiplet represents a leap forward in high-bandwidth interconnect by enabling co-packaged optical input/output (I/O) in emerging AI infrastructure for data centers and high performance computing (HPC) applications.

A report by Photonics Spectra notes that Intel’s IPS division focuses on technologies such as light generation, amplification, detection, modulation, CMOS interface circuits, and package integration.

Here’s why this technology matters: As chipmakers advance Moore’s Law, increasing transistor density, signal loss during transmission becomes a significant issue because chips use electricity to transmit signals. Silicon photonics technology addresses this problem by using optical signals instead of electrical ones, allowing for high-speed data transmission, greater bandwidth, and faster data processing.

Intel has been developing silicon photonics technology for over 30 years. Since the launch of its silicon photonics platform in 2016, Intel has shipped over 8 million photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and more than 3.2 million integrated on-chip lasers, according to its press release. These products have been adopted by numerous large-scale cloud service providers.

In addition to Intel, rivals such as AMD and TSMC are also accelerating the development of next-generation silicon photonic solution.

Read more

• [News] Venturing into Silicon Photonics, AMD Reportedly Seeks Partnerships in Taiwan
• [News] TSMC’s Latest Advancements in CFET, 3D Stacking, and Silicon Photonics

(Photo credit: Intel)

Ahead of Intel’s upcoming board meeting in mid-September, rumors have been circulating that the struggling giant may be mulling to selling its FPGA unit Altera, with AMD and Marvell being potential buyers. However, according to an interview with Altera’s CEO by CRN, Altera’s plan for an initial public offering (IPO) remains unchanged, as it pursues to be listed by 2026.

The information is confirmed by Sandra Rivera, Altera’s CEO. Citing her remarks, CRN notes that the FPGA unit is working on its plan, which involves selling a stake in Altera, not the entire company. Rivera further stated that this has been Altera’s communicated strategy for over a year, with an IPO planned for 2026.

Citing Rivera, the report pointed out that though Altera began operating independently from Intel at the start of 2024, it is still in the process of separating from many of the general and administrative functions of its parent company, with a target completion date of January 1, 2025.

Intel acquired Altera in 2015 for USD 16.7 billion, and the latter dropped its name afterwards, known as the Programmable Solution Group under the U.S. semiconductor giant.

It was not until 2023 that Intel announced its intention to spin off the Programmable Solutions Group into a separate, wholly-owned company. In February, 2024, the FPGA unit announced that it would revive the Altera brand, CRN reported.

The spin-off of the FPGA business is intended to achieve two goals: providing Intel with additional liquidity to fund CEO Pat Gelsinger’s costly revitalization strategy and enhancing the business opportunities for the FPGA company, according to CRN.

Intel’s board is set to meet this week to discuss restructuring plans, which may include separating its design division from its foundry operations. Citing Intel CFO David Zinsner’s comments at an investor meeting last week, a report by CNBC notes that dividing the two businesses would be a logical move, as the company is trying to create more separation between these two businesses.

Read more

• [News] AMD Could Emerge as a Prospective Buyer for Intel’s Potential Sale of Altera
• [News] Intel Reportedly Considering Foundry Spin-Off or Merger to Mitigate Losses

(Photo credit: Intel)

Amid concerns on the delay of NVIDIA’s Blackwell, CEO Jensen Huang spoke at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference a few hours ago, trying to ease the doubts of the market by expressing his optimism on the demand of its products and the company’s future prospects.

“We have a lot of people on our shoulders, and everybody is counting on us,” said Huang, according to a report by Yahoo Finance. He even joked that as the world relies so much on the company, the engineers may have to spend more time on work. “Less sleep is fine. Three solid hours is all we need.”

Huang also elaborated on the demand for the delivery of NVIDIA’s components, technology, infrastructure and software, stating that it is so overwhelming that people may get “emotional,” as it has a direct impact on their revenue and competitiveness.

It is worth noting that Huang also mentioned that NVIDIA heavily relies on TSMC for producing its most important chips, as in many ways, according to a report by Economic Daily News. He said TSMC’s agility and ability to respond to demand are incredible.

Huang stated that most of NVIDIA’s technology is self-developed, and if necessary, orders could be shifted to other suppliers. However, such adjustments could lead to a decline in chip quality, according to the report.

According to a previous report from Commercial Times, NVIDIA has reportedly executed changes to the Blackwell series’ GPU mask. Therefore, the process can now proceed without re-taping out, with NVIDIA’s updated version of B200 expected to be completed by late October, allowing the GB200 to enter mass production in December.

Moreover, in his latest meeting with Goldman Sachs, Huang noted that the first trillion dollars of data centers is going to get accelerated, creating a new type of software, generative AI.

Citing Huang’s remarks, the report by Yahoo Finance stated that it matters a lot because generative AI is not just a tool but a “skill,” so for the first time, the AI chip giant is developing skills that will enhance human capabilities.

According to Yahoo Finance, Huang said that NVIDIA, along with cloud service providers (CSPs), build the infrastructure in the cloud so developers can access these machines to train, fine-tune, and safeguard models.

It is worth noting that Huang tried to materialize the benefit, saying that for every dollar a CSP spends with NVIDIA, it results in USD 5 worth of rentals. He also said while training AI models is resource-intensive, it pays off in the long run.

Citing Huang, the report stated that NVIDIA’s servers may seem expensive at first glance, as it potentially costs a couple of million dollars per rack. However, they replace thousands of nodes. What is remarkable is that the cost of cables for old, general-purpose computing systems is higher than consolidating everything into a single, dense rack, Huang said.

According to Yahoo Finance, Huang also noted that the days of software engineers writing every line of code are completely behind. In his vision, every software engineer will have digital companions working alongside them 24/7.

In addition, NVIDIA, with its 32,000 employees, hopes to be supported by “100 times more digital engineers” in the near future, the report noted.

Notably, there seems to be another piece of good news for the U.S. chip giant. According to a report by Reuters, the U.S. government is said to be mulling, allowing NVIDIA to export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia, which would enable the country to train and operate the most powerful AI models.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia expects to receive shipments of NVIDIA’s most advanced chips, the H200s, which were first used in OpenAI’s GPT-4o.

Read more

• [News] NVIDIA’s Blackwell Overcomes Delays, as GB200 Reportedly Sets for December Mass Production
• [News] Foxconn Remains Unfazed Despite NVIDIA’s GB200 Delay, with Customers Aim to Secure Their Orders

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

Amid crisis and various rumors, Intel might be finding a buyer for parts of its chip business? Citing sources familiar with the matter, the latest report by Reuters suggests that U.S. chip giant Qualcomm, which is known for its Snapdragon processors used in smartphones, has investigated the possibility of acquiring parts of Intel’s design business to enhance its product portfolio.

Ahead of Intel’s board meeting next week, in which a proposal from CEO Pat Gelsinger and other executives regarding operational cuts will be reviewed, Qualcomm is said to be mulling on acquiring various segments of Intel. However, the potential target is not its FPGA unit Altera.

Instead, Qualcomm is particularly interested in Intel’s PC business, according to Reuters, though the mobile chipmaker is evaluating all of the company’s design units. The report indicates that acquiring other segments of Intel, such as the server division, would be less practical for Qualcomm.

Qualcomm, valued at USD 184 billion and known for its smartphone chips with Apple as a key customer, has been developing plans to acquire parts of Intel for several months, Reuters suggests. However, sources indicate that Qualcomm’s interest and plans are not yet finalized and could still be subject to change.

It is worth noting that earlier this week, Intel introduced Lunar Lake, which will power more than 80 new laptop designs across more than 20 original equipment manufacturers. With its boost, Intel targets to ship more than 40 million AI PC processors this year.

Almost in the meantime, on September 4^th, Qualcomm launched its latest AI PC chip, the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor, with the intention to counter Intel and AMD.

Qualcomm declined to comment. Intel, on the other hand, stated that there have been no discussions with Qualcomm regarding a potential acquisition, emphasizing that Intel remains “deeply committed to our PC business,” according to Reuters.

On the other hand, getting stuck in its current situation, Intel is said to be pushing U.S. officials to expedite the release of funding, another report by Bloomberg notes. Earlier in April, Intel and Biden administration announced up to USD 8.5 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS Act.

The Silicon Valley company is slated to receive USD 8.5 billion in grants and USD 11 billion in loans under the 2022 Chips and Science Act, but this funding is contingent on meeting key milestones and undergoing extensive due diligence, according to Bloomberg. Therefore, like other potential beneficiaries, Intel has not yet received any money.

More importantly, the report indicates that if Intel lowers the scale of the investment in the U.S., its subsidy package would very likely change as well. Intel CFO David Zinsner reportedly acknowledged that it is unlikely that Intel will receive subsidies before year-end.

Read more

• [News] Intel’s 18A Reportedly Runs into Trouble with Broadcom, while 20A Plan on Arrow Lake Cancelled
• [News] Amidst Rumors of Germany Plant Delay, Intel’s Penang Project Also Reportedly on Hold

(Photo credit: Qualcomm)

According to a report from South Korean media outlet HankYung, Samsung plans to unveil its next-generation flagship Galaxy S25 series in January 2025, including the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and the top-tier Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Contrary to earlier rumors of a dual-processor strategy which offers different versions with either Exynos 2500 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, Samsung is reportedly equipping the entire S25 series with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor.

The report highlights that this shift is driven by Apple’s upcoming iPhone 16, which is being promoted as the first AI-centric smartphone, placing Samsung at a pivotal moment in the competition for AI smartphone leadership.

Given that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 boasts over a 30% improvement in AI performance compared to its predecessor and slightly outperforms the Exynos 2500, Samsung has opted to play it safe by adopting the latest Snapdragon chip, ensuring the S25 series to maximize its AI capabilities.

Previous rumors had also suggested that Samsung considered implementing a three-way strategy for its 2025 S25 series, which would have included MediaTek’s Dimensity chipset alongside Qualcomm’s Snapdragon.

As per a report from SamMobile, Samsung’s strategy to include multiple chipset suppliers was intended to prevent over-reliance on Qualcomm, which could limit their ability to negotiate lower prices.

However, a previous report by SamMobile points out that, since MediaTek’s Dimensity chips have traditionally only been used in Samsung’s mid-to-low-end devices, integrating them into the premium S series would have presented a significant challenge in terms of market acceptance.

Read more

• [News] Samsung Rumored to Adopt MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 in Galaxy S25
• [News] Samsung Adopts Dimensity 9300+ Instead of Snapdragon, the First Time for Its Flagship Tablet to Feature MediaTek AP

(Photo credit: Samsung)