From the archive
AI hardware provides the computing power, memory and networks used to train and run artificial intelligence models. Follow news on GPUs, AI accelerators, data centres, chip design and energy demand. Read how changes in infrastructure affect performance, availability and cost, and distinguish measured results from vendor claims about what the next generation of computing will deliver.
Lead story
AMD has filled in much of the picture around its Zen 6-based EPYC Venice server processors, including a 256-core flagship, faster memory and a direct performance challenge to NVIDIA’s Vera CPUs. The important point is not one spectacular benchmark, but a broader platform aimed at general-purpose computing, HPC…
Read the report & discussion ↗NVIDIA Watch
NVIDIA’s Accelerated Quantum Research Center in Boston is due to receive IonQ’s Superion 256 in 2027, placing a 256-qubit quantum processor directly alongside an NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 system. The significance is practical rather than purely numerical: the companies are building a testbed for hybrid quantum-classical computing, where quantum…
AWS AI Watch
AWS has published a practical guide to running the open-source, terminal-native OpenCode coding agent with open-weight models through Amazon Bedrock. The useful bit is not another model launch, but a workable setup for developers who want local file and shell access while keeping inference inside their AWS environment.
AMD Watch
Viridien says it is using AMD CPUs and GPUs to extend its production-scale high-performance computing operation from energy-sector geoscience into materials discovery, molecular modelling and drug development. The important detail is practical rather than glossy: the company says its systems run more than one million HPC workloads a…
Microsoft AI Watch
Microsoft researchers say robots can gain speed, accuracy and battery life by sending demanding AI inference to nearby edge hardware or the cloud instead of running everything on the robot. The catch is wonderfully physical: network delay and bandwidth now become part of the robot’s nervous system.
Watch Desk
Chicago’s mayor and a group of aldermen are backing a 12-month moratorium on new data-centre development, giving the city time to work out who pays for the AI infrastructure boom and who gets a say. The proposal matters because it puts electricity, water, pollution and neighbourhood oversight at…
Intel AI Watch
Intel India and NAMTECH have signed a memorandum of understanding to build AI and semiconductor skills in India, linking classroom training to the country’s push to expand its chip industry. The practical point is simple: the next phase of the AI race needs technicians, engineers and educators, not…
Watch Desk
Nutanix has acquired French AI compute-orchestration company Ryax, aiming to improve GPU utilisation and help enterprise customers manage agentic AI workflows. The deal matters because it targets the unglamorous bottleneck between an impressive AI experiment and a system that can actually run reliably in a business.
Watch Desk
GitLab is expanding Duo Self-Hosted so organisations can run its AI development features against models deployed in their own Microsoft Foundry environment. The practical shift is control: teams can choose the model provider, deployment location and data path instead of sending requests to GitLab-managed infrastructure.
Intel AI Watch
Intel and Submer have signed a collaboration covering AI infrastructure, high-performance computing and next-generation data-centre systems across the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. The practical point is not another promise to make AI bigger. It is an attempt to make the plumbing cope with bigger workloads, including high-density…
Watch Desk
The Netherlands’ new strategic-innovation agency NADI is launching a €40m challenge with Germany’s SPRIND to accelerate chip design using artificial intelligence. The important point is not another lab demo, but public money being aimed at shortening one of computing’s slowest and most expensive development cycles.
TSMC Watch
TSMC and Belgian research institute imec are expanding access to advanced chip design through a managed cloud service aimed at startups, research groups and European design teams. The important shift is practical: smaller teams can use TSMC process design kits and secure computing infrastructure without building the whole…
Watch Desk
Accelevation is targeting a valuation of up to $5.37bn in a US initial public offering, seeking as much as $720m as investors look beyond glamorous models to the equipment that keeps AI data centres running. The Miamisburg, Ohio company designs, makes and installs power distribution, cooling and modular…
Watch Desk
LG is expanding its AI infrastructure partnership with Microsoft while Nvidia approves its cooling and battery systems for AI data centres. The important shift is that the AI build-out is reaching the less glamorous machinery that keeps powerful servers running: cooling, electricity and factory data.
Anthropic Watch
Anthropic is in early talks to lease up to 1GW of computing capacity directly from Stream Data Centers, The Information reports. The proposed deal would give the Claude maker more control over the infrastructure needed to train and run its models, while tying it more closely to hardware…
AWS AI Watch
Amazon plans to spend $220bn on capital projects in 2026, much of it tied to the computing infrastructure behind AI. The important detail is not simply the size of the cheque, but Amazon’s argument that it can delay some equipment purchases until demand is clearer, then earn returns…
vLLM Watch
vLLM has released version 0.30.0, a major update to the open-source engine used to serve large AI models. The release adds new model support, GPU memory and caching improvements, watermarking controls, speculative decoding and a long list of serving optimisations. The important point is not one shiny benchmark,…
Anthropic Watch
Anthropic is partnering with medical knowledge platform OpenEvidence to offer AI-powered clinical decision support to healthcare providers in dozens of low- and middle-income countries. The important point is practical access: the initiative is intended for places where doctors may lack specialist expertise, medical literature and continuing education, rather…
Watch Desk
Durabook has announced the Z14I-DX3, a rugged Windows laptop with three built-in 14-inch touchscreens and optional NVIDIA graphics for AI work at the edge. It is less “laptop in a rucksack” and more “portable operations room with a keyboard”.
TSMC Watch
Apple’s A20 Pro is the first Apple application processor made with TSMC’s N2 process, according to TechInsights. Its early analysis suggests the move to 2nm is being spent on more graphics and on-device AI capability rather than simply making the chip smaller.
