Samsung to use TSMC technology for Nvidia's next-generation memory chips, Seoul newspaper reports

Samsung Electronics will use TSMC's 3-Nanometre process to produce base dies for Nvidia's Next-Generation custom High-Bandwidth memory chips, according to the Seoul Economic Daily.

This marks the first time Samsung has worked with Taiwanese contract chipmaker Nvidia at the HBM manufacturing stage.

Nvidia has asked Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology to use TSMC's process for NVHBM base dies, and sixth-generation DRAM technology for its core dies.

NVHBM integrates Nvidia's custom memory Controller into the base die and is aimed at standardising implementation across multiple memory suppliers, according to the company.

Samsung accepted Nvidia's requirements after an internal review but plans to retain its in-house production model for standard HBM and custom products for other customers.

It is also assessing whether its own foundry could produce Nvhbm base dies if demand exceeds TSMC's capacity.

Reference Sources

1. thestarmy - Samsung to use TSMC technology for Nvidia's next-generation memory chips, Seoul newspaper reports

The US-China grand bargain remains out of reach

US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to meet two more times by the end of the year.

The decision was made in late September when Trump welcomed Xi to Washington as a state guest, complete with Cannon Salutes and a lavish banquet.

Despite the grand stagecraft, the summit yielded few tangible results.

The truce in the US-China trade war was extended by only two months, through January.

Even on artificial intelligence governance, a key focus of the summit, the two sides made little progress.

Nevertheless, Trump and Xi will each visit the other's country twice within a single year.

Some pundits see it as a sign that Washington and Beijing are laying the groundwork for a major deal on trade and security.

But the opposite may be true.

Both leaders should be aware that even two more meetings are unlikely to yield a dramatic breakthrough.

Even so, they appear determined to continue dialogue to avoid a breakdown in relations.

Washington and Beijing have one important objective in common: neither wants bilateral tensions to get out of control.

The US remains heavily dependent on China for imports of rare earths, a critical input for a wide range of products.

Trump is keen to avoid a rupture in ties until alternative supply chains can be secured.

Reference Sources

1. nikkei - The US-China grand bargain remains out of reach

Microsoft pulls plug on Nscale data centre deal

Microsoft has withdrawn from a data centre deal with British cloud provider Nscale.

The US tech giant, one of Nscale's two largest customers, recently terminated its agreement for the Loughton, Essex data centre.

The newspaper did not specify why Microsoft withdrew from the project.

Nscale filed for an initial public offering in the US last month, and its prospectus lists Microsoft and Anthropic as expected major customers.

Nscale provides infrastructure, including compute, power and data centres, as well as software for training and running AI models.

The Nvidia-backed AI group, which competes with Coreweave, Nebius, Crusoe and Lambda, has grown rapidly since its launch, scaling from $100M to more than $103Bn in total contracted value in just two and a half years.

The Loughton deal announced last year was part of a £22Bn investment from Microsoft into the UK, hailed by the then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as helping the country become a “world leader” in AI.

The companies said at the time they would build the “UK’s largest AI supercomputer” at the Loughton campus, deploying some 23,000 Nvidia GB300 chips.

Reference Sources

1. thestarmy - Microsoft pulls out of UK data center deal with Nscale, Telegraph reports
2. ft - Microsoft pulls plug on Nscale data centre deal
3. dailymail - Microsoft pulls out of AI deal for UK data centre firm in move that could deprive Nick Clegg of £30million payout

The CommonWealth English daily news digest is a service curated by CommonWealth English team with the help of AI tools.  

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