Today (Feb. 4, 2026) Arm (NASDAQ: ARM) published a letter to its shareholders containing the company's results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 ended December 31, 2025. The infographic below provides the key highlights:

Here are what the results mean and how they were achieved:

• Revenue grew 26% year-on-year to $1.24 billion, representing Arm's fourth consecutive billion-dollar revenue quarter.
• Royalty revenue grew 27% year-over-year to a record $737 million, driven by growth across Arm's target end markets, including AI and general-purpose data center, smartphones, physical AI and edge AI.
• License and other revenue of $505 million increased 25% year-over-year, as more leading companies sign high-value licenses for next-generation Arm technologies.
• Demand for Arm Compute Subsystems (CSS) continues to exceed expectations as adoption grows in light of increasingly complex chip designs. This represents a significant tailwind to royalty growth, as Arm expands both the value delivered and economics captured per chip.
  • During the quarter, Arm signed two CSS licenses for use in both edge AI tablets and smartphones, bringing the total number of CSS licenses to 21 across 12 companies.
  • Additionally, five customers are now shipping Arm CSS-based chips, including two shipping its second-generation platform, while the top four Android smartphone vendors are all shipping Arm CSS-powered devices.

Qualcomm and AMD are reportedly considering the integration of SOCAMM2 memory into their AI product lines to enhance memory capacity and speed. Following NVIDIA's "Vera" CPU, which features LPDDR5X memory on the SOCAMM factor, offering 1.2 TB/s of memory bandwidth and supporting up to 1.5 TB of LPDDR5X memory, Qualcomm and AMD aim to pursue a similar strategy to achieve high-speed, high-capacity AI systems. These systems require fast memory close to AI accelerators, and SOCAMM can complement the extensive HBM memory on the accelerators. It acts as a fast memory pool with sufficient capacity to store entire models in memory, reducing the need for data transfer to SSD flash storage.

NVIDIA's SOCAMM approach involves surrounding the CPU with multiple SOCAMM modules, a strategy Qualcomm and AMD are expected to adopt in their AI solutions. AMD's Instinct MI accelerators, paired with EPYC CPUs, might be the next candidates for this integration, or AMD may develop a completely new system. Qualcomm already offers AI solutions like the AI200 and AI250 inference accelerators, which include up to 768 GB of LPDDR5 per card. These could soon be complemented by SOCAMM, allowing for standardized memory expansion based on the SOCAMM standard rather than soldering individual memory modules. This approach would enable manufacturers to offer various system versions and solutions by simply adding or removing SOCAMM modules, without the need for extensive PCB soldering work.

Lately and supposedly, the Samsung Foundry has "stabilized" yields of its cutting-edge 2 nm GAA node process (SF2); enough to qualify as being "mass production"-worthy. Despite rumors of a yield rate hovering around the 50% mark, the South Korean semiconductor specialist seems to be proceeding with high-volume manufacturing of Exynos 2600 application processors. This next-gen smartphone chip is expected to become the foundry service's SF2 "proof of concept," as finalized silicon gets released within upcoming Galaxy S26 and S26+ devices. A fresh Chosun Daily article cites recent research done by KB Securities—with head analyst, Kim Dong-won, projecting a return to profit—in 2027—for the Samsung's chip making business. Prior to the early success of SF2, the megacorp's foundry division has been "recording trillions of won in losses since 2022," but new deals could lead to much better fortunes in the next financial year. KB Securities reckons that "performance is expected to turn a profit next year from a loss of 7 trillion won last year, thanks to an increase in operating rates following the expansion of Tesla AI chip supply."

One industry insider commented on present-day goings-on with company leadership: "they are accelerating order intake with the goal of turning a profit next year. In addition to the stabilization of yields in advanced processes below 3 nm (<SF3-class), the operating rates of the highly profitable 4-8 nm processes are also at their highest levels." The Chosun Daily news piece brings up Qualcomm and AMD as potential returning (fabless) customers, especially in the context of adopting 2-nanometer wafers—either SF2 or SF2P-class. Last month, Qualcomm was reportedly close to adopting Samsung Semiconductor's HPB technology, another in-house smartphone-centric product. A week ago, the rumor mill mentioned one unnamed "definite" sign-up. As the 2 nm (SF2) process stabilizes, Chosun thinks that Samsung has a better/growing chance of securing Qualcomm's custom in the near future. They outline a current fruitful collaboration: "Qualcomm is a long-time customer of Samsung Foundry, and has a special relationship with Samsung Electronics' Mobile Business (MX) division."

Late last week, semiconductor industry trackers were astonished by Intel's fresh recruitment of Eric Demers. Until very recently, the seasoned GPU architect had spent almost fourteen years at Qualcomm—ending this spell as senior vice president of engineering. On Friday (January 16), Demers announced this major change—a short story mentioned multiple meetings (in 2025) with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. He confirmed, in a private LinkedIn message (sent to CRN), that he would be starting work at Intel within the next week. Complete details of his new job description—chez Team Blue—were not shared with the American computer publication. Instead, a small hint was dropped—according to the CRN article, Demers expects to "lead GPU engineering with a focus on AI." Looking back in the TechPowerUp news archive, one historical section of Demer's career trajectory was brought forth. In early 2012, he moved on from his Corporate VP & CTO role at AMD's graphics division.

At the time, official statements did not mention his intention to join Qualcomm's Adreno GPU department. Prior to his tenure at ATI/AMD, Demers spent time at Silicon Graphics (SGI), Matrox, and then joined a team of former SGI-ers at start-up ArtX. ATI Technologies acquired ArtX almost three years after the latter's founding date. One of Demers' final projects at Qualcomm seems to be the Windows PC-focused Snapdragon X2 Series. Industry experts anticipate the ex-"other Red Team" engineering executive becoming a key figure at Intel's fairly new "AI Group"—this independent entity could be chasing major enterprise rivals; most notably NVIDIA. Team Blue introduced its "Crescent Island" AI data center accelerator a few months ago. A next-gen successor—dubbed "Jaguar Shores"—is reportedly expected to be "design complete" by the middle of 2026.

Just before Christmas, Samsung fully unveiled its brand-new Exynos 2600 application processor (AP). The firm's Semiconductor division started teasing this next-gen smartphone chip around late 2025, with pre-launch details being shared via teaser trailers and sparsely populated splash pages. During the winter holiday period, the South Korean giant's foundry business detailed its pioneering "Heat Path Block" (HPB) technology. This intriguing aspect of the Exynos 2600 SoC's design was leaked mid-way through December; when industry moles started whispering about HPB tech being shopped to Apple and Qualcomm. Samsung's FoWLP_HPB (Fan-out Wafer Level Package with Heat Path Block) technology could address the problems faced by rival chip designers—in particular, it is believed that Qualcomm's next-wave Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile SoCs would require more potent heat dissipation solutions.

According to fresh inside track information—courtesy of the "Fixed-focus Digital Cameras" Weibo blog—HPB tech is now adopted by "many chip manufacturers that commonly use Android chips." The leaker believes that stronger heat dissipation will lead to greater overclocking capabilities on (non-Samsung) next-gen mobile chips. According to official descriptions, the development of FoWLP_HPB has improved the thermal resistance: "of the (Exynos 2600) AP die by reducing the size of the DRAM that obstructs the heat dissipation path and attaching Heat Path Block to facilitate heat release. Additionally, High-k EMC is applied to ensure that heat is efficiently transferred toward the HPB direction...With these packaging innovations, Samsung's mobile packaging technology enables efficient outward heat dissipation, resulting in up to a 16% reduction in thermal resistance compared to previous packages and delivering enhanced performance." Current-gen flagship smartphone chips can operate at impressive frequencies, but thermal considerations have set certain limits. The now "old school" placement of a wider DRAM layer—that restricts heat being drawn away from the CPU die—could be considered a major obstacle, going forward.

We've already seen lots of amazing projects based on Arduino UNO Q come up since its launch in early October - but we're doubling down anyway! Today, we are launching a new Arduino UNO Q variant with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage, allowing all of you to dream bigger and go further, while still enjoying the same Arduino UNO Q form factor and ease of use.

4 good reasons to choose 4 GB
In this 4 GB variant, Arduino UNO Q still leverages a unique combination of powerful Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 microprocessor and real-time STM32U585 microcontroller, but can now better meet the needs of developers who require a more ample memory configuration.

NVIDIA's long-awaited N1 and N1X laptop chips are set to arrive in the first quarter of this year, according to sources close to DigiTimes. The new roadmap indicates that NVIDIA's latest Windows-on-Arm platform will debut with the N1X chips this quarter, while the regular N1 chips are expected in the second quarter of 2026. After years of speculation, this release could finally position NVIDIA to compete with other Windows-on-Arm platforms like Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Plus. The N1X and N1 processors were initially expected to debut around CES 2026.

NVIDIA reportedly used its GB10 Superchip—the design powering the DGX Spark—as the blueprint for the N1/N1X. The CPU features 20 Arm v9.2 cores, divided into two clusters of ten, each supported by 16 MB of shared L3 cache (32 MB total), with each core having private L2 storage. The memory subsystem uses a unified LPDDR5X-9400 fabric on a 256-bit bus, supporting up to 128 GB and delivering approximately 301 GB/s of raw bandwidth, although it's unclear if such capacity will be available in consumer laptops. The package is rated at around 140 W TDP and includes PCIe 5.0 for high-speed NVMe SSD connections. For the GPU, N1X variant is rumored to include 6,144 CUDA cores.

A fresh Qualcomm teaser trailer has dropped a major hint about Snapdragon X2 Elite chips breaking away from expected portable PC formats. The official Snapdragon YouTube channel's January 13 upload description stated: "next-gen desktops are here. Snapdragon X Series processors build on the breakthroughs that reshaped laptops—bringing speed, intelligence, and power efficiency to desktop PCs so creators, developers, and gamers can do more, faster." Eighteen seconds into Qualcomm's minute-long video, a clumsily-phrased "these flexible PCs bring what legacy desktops don't" declaration is made. Additionally, some "real life" examples are shown in the short video—where a few folks are typing away on wireless keyboards.

Presumably, these demo peripherals are linked up to generic-looking black or metallic silver compact desktop PC systems—in turn connected/wired to curved office monitors. A VideoCardz report concludes that the "next-gen desktops powered by Snapdragon X Series" trailer delivers misleading messaging, since Qualcomm has only showcased passively-cooled mini PC prototypes (in-person) at past promotional events. Most notably, red "drinks coaster" and "hockey puck"-shaped samples appeared at last September's Snapdragon Summit 2025 in Hawaii. The semantics of what qualifies as a small desktop Windows PC system can be argued over in infinitum—we hope that Qualcomm, and involved manufacturing partners, clarify matters once finalized hardware nears retail release time.

EnGenius Technologies Inc., a global leader in advanced connectivity and cloud-managed networking solutions, today announces the expansion of its EnGenius Cloud-managed security portfolio with advanced Wi-Fi 7 access points featuring EnGenius AirGuard, now integrated into its flagship ECW536S Wi-Fi 7 series for enhanced protection in security-sensitive environments such as financial institutions, healthcare, and enterprises.

Continuous Wireless Threat Protection with AirGuard
As enterprise environments embrace remote access and proliferating Bluetooth/IoT endpoints, attack surfaces have expanded dramatically. EnGenius addresses this challenge with AirGuard, an intelligent wireless intrusion detection and prevention system (WIDS/WIPS) built into its APs. AirGuard delivers 24/7 threat detection—identifying and neutralizing threats such as evil twins, rogue APs, man-in-the-middle attacks, RF jammers, and flood attempts—by leveraging dedicated scanning radios. This always-on security protection operates without compromising wireless performance. Professional-grade RF spectrum analysis visualizes SSID legitimacy and ensures optimal channel utilization, while zero-wait DFS facilitates seamless, non-disruptive channel shifts when radar is detected. Additionally, BLE scanning capabilities detect nearby Bluetooth devices.

Razer made an appearance at CES 2026 with a headset prototype that resembles more of a sci-fi research project than a finished product. "Project Motoko" is a wireless headset that the company describes as a "full-time AI assistant." It features two eye-level cameras and an array of microphones designed to capture what you see and hear throughout the day. The device operates on Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform and integrates with various AI services from OpenAI and xAI, learning your habits and schedules to respond proactively. Unlike typical AR headsets that overlay graphics onto your view, Motoko is aimed at contextual understanding. The cameras can recognize objects, translate text on signs, or summarize documents you're reading, while the microphones capture both your voice and ambient sounds. Razer also suggests that the point-of-view footage could assist robotics researchers in training humanoid machines to perceive spaces more naturally. The company emphasizes that this is currently just a concept, with no pricing or release date announced.

ASUS has had a strong presence at CES 2026, presenting updated gaming and creator laptops, including an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395-powered convertible laptop and a new ZenBook Duo with dual 14-inch OLED displays. As it happens, that Intel Panther Lake ZenBook has a Snapdragon-powered sibling as well. The new ASUS ZenBook A16 is a 16-inch Windows-on-Arm PC intended to be used as an everyday general productivity and media consumption laptop. ASUS's goal with the A16 was to design the "best commuter laptop," and balance portability, versatility, and efficiency. The end result is a 1.2 kg laptop that measures just 16.5 mm thick but still boasts 21 hours of battery life from a 70 Wh battery.

The ZenBook A16 will be available with both the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-92-100 and the X2 Elite Extreme X2E-94-100, both versions with 48 GB of LPDDR5x memory and up to 2 TB of PCIe 4x4 storage. The CPU in the ZenBook A16 aside, there are also a number of interesting features that make the new Arm-powered laptop stand out. For starters, the 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED touch display—there is also an otherwise identical non-touch version—reaches 1100 nits peak brightness and features a 120 Hz refresh rate. The ZenBook A16 is light on ports, though, likely owing to its thin Ceraluminum chassis—which ASUS says is 30% lighter and 3x more durable than regular aluminium. The ZenBook A16 has dual USB4 ports, a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack. The A16's included chiclet keyboard has 1.3 mm of total travel, and the included trackpad has been stretched to the vertical limit, which has become a trend in modern laptops.

Rokid, a global pioneer in human-computer interaction and AI-powered eyewear, today unveils Rokid Ai Glasses Style at CES 2026. Style is a display-free, voice-centric AI glasses built for all-day wear, combining an open AI ecosystem, prescription-first design, dual-chip architecture, and a strong commitment to global accessibility.

Weighing just 38.5 grams, Style is among the lightest full-featured AI glasses on the market. Designed as premium eyewear rather than a gadget, it represents Rokid's answer to the industry's long-standing dilemma: how to deliver powerful AI functionality without compromising comfort, style, or battery life.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today unveiled Project Motoko, an AI-native wireless headset concept that redefines the boundaries of wearable technology. Powered by Snapdragon platforms and universally compatible with leading AI solutions, Project Motoko ushers in a new era of personal computing with contextual awareness, real-time vision processing, and intuitive controls - all delivered through a sleek, wireless form factor.

"Project Motoko is more than a concept, it's a vision for the future of AI and wearable computing," said Nick Bourne, Global Head of Mobile Console Division, Razer. "By partnering with Qualcomm Technologies, we're building a platform that enhances gameplay while transforming how technology integrates into everyday life. This is the next frontier for immersive experiences."

Today, HP Inc. announced the company's newest innovations powering the work of everyday life with updates to its full HP OmniBook consumer portfolio that deliver passion-ready experiences for consumers to work smarter, look sharper, and lead better. "Today's consumers use their PCs in more ways than ever before to create content, stream entertainment, code, or game. And regardless what hat they may wear at any given point - student by day, entrepreneur or freelancer by night - they all need devices that can keep up with whatever comes their way," said Samuel Chang, Senior Vice President and Division President, Consumer Personal Systems at HP Inc. "Our newest OmniBook, OmniStudio, and Chromebook portfolios deliver our widest range of PCs yet - engineered to power the most demanding types of work while designed to enable whatever consumers love to do."

Powerful Performance Meets Stunning Design
The line between work and personal life has become increasingly blurred. Up to 12.5% of the total global workforce is made up of online gig workers, and people are using their PCs not just for school or personal tasks, but for side hustles, freelancing, and exploring their entrepreneurial spirit. Knowledge workers are using AI more than ever, with a 39% increase year-over-year in daily AI use. And close to half of all knowledge workers are optimistic about work because they believe tech will improve it. The company's newest HP OmniBook Ultra and HP OmniStudio X 27 are designed to take advantage of the latest in AI, delivering Copilot+ experiences to get the work done so you have more time to enjoy what you love.

At CES, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the Snapdragon X2 Plus platform, the newest entrant to Snapdragon X Series. A bold leap forward, it transforms every click and every moment for modern professionals, aspiring creators and everyday users seeking a fast, responsive and portable device with multi-day battery life. With the launch of Snapdragon X2 Plus, Qualcomm Technologies expands the power of Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs across its Snapdragon X Series with select devices from leading OEMs available for purchase in 1H26.

Consumers set the pace. Snapdragon X2 Plus sets the bar.
Modern professionals, aspiring creators and everyday users expect their PCs to keep up with them-from speed to multi-day battery life to built-in AI features. Designed to surpass their pace, Snapdragon X2 Plus delivers lightning-fast performance and fluid multitasking in sleek, ultraportable Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs. Consumers can shift from data-intensive analysis to creative design or video calls without compromise.

Advantech is proud to introduce its latest suite of high-performance edge AI compute solutions powered by the Dragonwing IQ-X platform - the AOM-6731, AIMB-293, and SOM-6820. Built on this groundbreaking platform, these innovative products are engineered to meet the demanding requirements of modern industrial applications by delivering exceptional processing power, integrated AI acceleration with up to 45 TOPS of AI performance, and robust and lightning-fast 5G and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity into an industrial PC.

The solutions powered by the Dragonwing IQ-X 12-core and 10-core with a leading Qualcomm Oryon CPUs, reaching speeds of up to 3.40 GHz. This high-performance processing not only ensures enables rapid data handling and seamless multitasking but also outperforms traditional x86 solutions—using 28% less power on average for everyday tasks, including Teams video calls, local video playback, web browsing, and Microsoft 365. Enhancing AI capabilities, these devices are integrated with Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, providing up to 45 TOPS.

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Alphawave IP Group plc (AWE.L) ("Alphawave Semi"), approximately one quarter ahead of schedule. The acquisition of Alphawave Semi aims to further accelerate and provide key assets for Qualcomm's expansion into the data center. Tony Pialis, CEO and co-founder of Alphawave Semi, will lead the Qualcomm data center business.

"Alphawave Semi's expertise in high-speed connectivity technologies complements our Qualcomm Oryon CPU and Hexagon NPU processors," said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "Qualcomm delivers high-performance, energy-efficient compute and AI solutions, and the addition of Alphawave's technologies will strengthen our platforms and optimize performance for next-generation AI data centers."

Samsung Foundry's "Heat Path Block" (HPB) technology is reportedly a key aspect featured within the upcoming Exynos 2600 application processor (AP). The South Korean's previous flagship mobile chipsets have often been beset with thermal issues, leading to the deployment of rival chipsets within certain generations of Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The South Korean seems to be pinning its hopes on the emerging Exynos 2600 across a number of fronts. Most notably as a confident "proof of concept" demonstration of the foundry business's cutting-edge 2 nm GAA process (aka SF2). According to a freshly-published ET News SK article, Samsung's innovative "semiconductor heat-suppressing technology" has already attracted interest from Apple and Qualcomm.

In the recent past, these VVIP clients have been on the order books for TSMC's best modern node processes. Samsung's SF2 line is seemingly being dangled as a carrot; designed to entice the return of former customers. Semiconductor industry trackers reckon that the Exynos 2600 SoC—enhanced with HPB tech—will serve as a strong demo of Samsung's 2 nm chip making capabilities. The foundry's in-house Heat Path Block is a copper heatsink that is packaged on top of a mobile AP. Heat dissipation is further maximized by moving DRAM to the side—previous Exynos layouts had this aspect placed atop APs. Insiders believe that a 30% improvement has been observed when comparing the Exynos 2600 to a predecessor. Samsung's System LSI division supposedly co-created the HPB design with an internal packaging development organization.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems Inc., underscoring its commitment to advancing the RISC-V standard and ecosystem. This strategic move strengthens Qualcomm's CPU capabilities by integrating Ventana's expertise in RISC-V ISA development. The Ventana team will complement Qualcomm's ongoing RISC-V and custom Oryon CPU development, further advancing technology leadership in the AI era across all businesses.

"At Qualcomm, we are committed to shaping the future of intelligent computing. We believe the RISC-V instruction set architecture has the potential to advance the frontier on CPU technology, enabling innovation across products. The acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems marks a pivotal step in our journey to deliver industry-leading RISC-V based CPU technology across products," said Durga Malladi, executive vice president and general manager, technology planning, edge solutions and datacenter, Qualcomm Technologies.

Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile chipset at the tail end of September, followed by yesterday's presenting of their Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 platform. On a surface level, this confusing naming scheme makes it difficult to tell the difference between the two fifth-gen options. Complicating matters further, semiconductor industry soothsayers have already moved onto predicting the nature of next generation Qualcomm offerings. This week, Digital Chat Station reckoned that Qualcomm's engineering department has moved onto the development of a mysterious "Snapdragon 8950" SoC. This forthcoming "standard" SKU could end up becoming the "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6" chip; set to exist alongside a more potent "Pro" model.

Earlier today, Digital Chat Station shared fresh musings via their Weibo blog: "the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 platform's performance was pretty good, which gives me some confidence in next year's standard Snapdragon 8950. After all, it uses the same high-end TSMC 2 nm '2+3+3' Oryon CPU (as the Gen 6 Pro), with a slightly downgraded GPU. This chip will be positioned directly in the 4000 yuan (~$560 USD) price range." The speculated "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro" option is expected to utilize a more powerful Adreno GPU, thus demanding a price premium. Insiders believe that Qualcomm will be selecting TSMC's newer 2 nm "N2P" for production of the sixth-gen Snapdragon 8 production. Reportedly, MediaTek leadership has made a similar decision regarding the makeup of its next flagship designs.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Mobile Platform, a premium offering that combines outstanding performance with cutting-edge technologies, raising the bar for flagship mobile experiences. Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 joins our premium tier family, offering consumers greater choice and flexibility. It is premium at its core and meets the rising demand for cutting-edge capabilities - from AI and camera innovations to immersive gaming experiences.

With the new 8-series Mobile Platform, users can instantly wake their AI assistant up simply by picking up their device, thanks to the Qualcomm Sensing Hub, which intelligently combines microphone and sensor inputs to detect users' intent to speak. Powered by the Qualcomm AI Engine, Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 also enables agentic AI assistants to deliver context-aware interactions and personalized suggestions - elevating mobile experiences with seamless, on-device intelligent experiences. At the core of these capabilities is the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, which achieves up to 46% improved performance.

Tuxedo Computers, the brand known for making high-performance Linux laptops powered by its own TuxedoOS, has officially announced that it has stopped work on a planned Qualcomm Snapdragon X1 Elite laptop, citing development difficulties as the reason for stopping the project. Some of the issues Tuxedo ran into were caused by incompatibility and a lack of driver support, while others were seemingly just platform limitations and a lack of platform maturity. One of the main complications Tuxedo cites is a lack of support for BIOS updates under Linux, but this lack of support also extends to virtualization, fan control, and high-speed USB4 ports, at least given the prospective launch timeline. Tuxedo also explains that the long battery life—the main draw of Arm-powered laptops—simply wasn't panning out on Linux.

Supposedly, Tuxedo would require "several more months" of development to be able to deliver a retail unit, which would mean anyone buying the Snapdragon Tuxedo laptop would immediately have very outdated hardware. Instead, Tuxedo has left the door open to being able to resume development on the system if and when it makes sense to do so. Tuxedo has, in the meantime, committed to contributing the device tree and any progress it has made during the unrealized laptop's development to the mainline Linux kernel so that the community can benefit from the work the company did manage to complete. There's also a non-zero chance that the development will be picked up by enterprising community members, eventually resulting in the maturation of Snapdragon support on Linux.

If you're in the market for a new laptop and notice that the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus boasts more TOPS than usual, it's because Dell is equipping its latest models with a discrete Neural Processing Unit (NPU) from Qualcomm. The Dell Pro Max 16 Plus features a Qualcomm AI-100 Ultra NPU, delivering 870 INT8 TOPS within a 150 W TDP envelope, along with 128 GB of LPDDR5X memory. This provides enough computing power and memory capacity to run local AI models with up to 120 billion parameters on the NPU alone, without needing additional memory or computing resources.

Dell is outfitting these laptops with robust internals, including up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vPro CPU with 24 cores. Notably, Dell has removed the discrete GPU to accommodate the NPU, which offers more computing power and VRAM capacity than a traditional GPU. For local AI development, the system utilizes this NPU for all necessary tasks, paired with a CPU and 64 GB of memory. For graphics output, the system relies on the integrated GPU within the "Arrow Lake-HX" chip, which handles basic graphics tasks but isn't suitable for gaming. This design choice is logical, as the dedicated NPU is intended for AI developers and occupies the space, power, and heat dissipation capacity that a GPU would typically use.

Qualcomm is ready to push its Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme SoCs into a sector that was previously dominated by x86 SoC makers, and that is gaming. The company now claims that its SoC can run more than 90% of the most played games available on the market on the initial launch. However, this is not the only striking claim, as Qualcomm has benchmarks that prove that its Adreno X2 iGPU is 50% faster than the iGPU inside Intel Core Ultra 9 288V "Lunar Lake" and 29% faster than the iGPU on AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point," under the same graphics settings. This is of course, no small win, and Qualcomm expects to win hearts of gamers with its next-generation platform.

The new chip delivers frame rates up to 2.3x higher than its predecessor while supporting many popular Windows games. Its architecture uses four processing blocks that give the flagship X2 Elite Extreme an edge over competing integrated graphics. Each block efficiently processes graphics work before passing it to shader processors organized around two micro-units. These units each contain 128 KB of memory feeding 128 ALUs. The design supports multiple precision formats, employs a more efficient execution model, and can process two instructions at once to maximize its 128-ALU groups. In total, the GPU has eight shader processors and 2,048 ALUs running at up to 1.85 GHz, backed by 21 MB of on-chip memory, 2 MB of cache, and 228 GB/s of memory bandwidth on the flagship model.

Apple, Broadcom, and Qualcomm might soon become customers of Intel Foundry, but not for the typical reasons. These giants are considering Intel Foundry for its advanced packaging technologies, which could allow Intel to significantly increase its foundry revenue without manufacturing the actual silicon. Job listings from Apple, Broadcom, and Qualcomm highlight Intel's Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) as a key requirement for packaging engineer positions. This suggests they are keen on hiring engineers familiar with Intel's EMIB technology to help design their next-generation products.

Interestingly, Qualcomm's CEO recently stated that "Intel is not an option today," but expressed a desire for Intel to become a viable choice. He noted that Intel's current foundry node, likely the 18A, is not suitable for their mobile chips. The main focus of the 18A node is not on mobile, low-power system-on-chips (SoCs), but rather on mid-range and high-power solutions. As the CEO put it, "We design all of our chips assuming there's a battery on the other side, not plugged into the wall." However, 18A node is not what seemingly attracts customers like Qualcomm. It is the packaging that Intel offers. Last year, Broadcom tested the 18A node but expressed disappointment. However, the situation is now evolving differently, with Intel's advanced packaging emerging as a promising alternative to TSMC's CoWoS and other packaging types.