Headed for premium smartphones

Samsung Electronics is mass producing what it calls the industry's thinnest 12nm-class, 12GB, and 16GB LPDDR5X DRAM packages, aimed at the premium smartphone market.

These ultra-thin packages are designed to enhance thermal control by using additional space within smartphones, a crucial feature as on-device AI applications become more prevalent.

The new LPDDR5X DRAM package, featuring a 4-stack structure, reduces thickness by 9 per cent and improves heat resistance by approximately 21.2 per cent compared to Samsung's previous generation.

The Korean technology giant achieved this by employing an optimised back-lapping process, refined PCB design, and advanced epoxy moulding compound techniques, resulting in a package as thin as 0.65 millimetres, the slimmest among existing LPDDR DRAM packages. This innovation is expected to enhance airflow, potentially leading to cooler devices.

Samsung has also disclosed plans to develop 6-layer 24GB and 8-layer 32GB modules in the thinnest LPDDR DRAM packages for future devices. These high-capacity packages are anticipated to power future Copilot+ PCs, introducing a new class of AI features.

Samsung Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning YongCheol Bae said: "Samsung's LPDDR5X DRAM sets a new standard for high-performance on-device AI solutions, offering not only superior LPDDR performance but advanced thermal management in an ultra-compact package."

The forthcoming Google Pixel 9 series may incorporate these advanced DRAM packages, enhancing on-device AI capabilities. Similarly, Samsung's Galaxy S25 series, expected in early 2025, is likely to use these new DRAM packages, providing even more sophisticated AI experiences for users.

This development underscores Samsung's leadership in memory technology innovation and signals a trend toward integrating AI capabilities in future flagship smartphones.

Same reasons as before

Elon [look at me] Musk has sued OpenAI, its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, and associated entities, accusing the creators of ChatGPT of violating their initial contractual commitments by prioritising profit over the non-profit's foundational goal of advancing AI for the benefit of humanity.

For those who came in late, Musk sued everyone at OpenAI a few months ago before pulling the case, presumably when it became clear that some of his emails showed that he wanted the company to be for-profit and drawn into his Tesla outfit.

However, it is not clear why Musk believes that the same argument will work this time. According to the court documents, Musk was a co-founder and early supporter of OpenAI, asserts that Altman and Brockman persuaded him to co-found and finance the startup in 2015 with assurances that it would operate as a non-profit entity aimed at countering the competitive threat posed by Google.

 According to the lawsuit, the founding agreement stipulated that OpenAI's technology should be "freely available" to the public.

Filed in a San Francisco court late Thursday, the lawsuit contends that OpenAI, now the world's most valuable AI startup, has transitioned to a for-profit model, focusing on commercialising its AGI research following a partnership with Microsoft, the world's most valuable company, which has invested approximately $13 billion into the startup.

"In reality, however, OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft. Under its new board, it is not just developing but is refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity," the lawsuit states. "This represents a stark betrayal of the Founding Agreement."

Not going to drain that bit of the swamp

Former President Donald Trump said he had "no choice" but to support electric vehicles after Tesla CEO Elon Musk "endorsed" him.

Musk has long been a champion of the pivot to electric vehicles. His company Tesla has largely led the way in developing the industry, ironically making Musk a darling of the climate-conscious left.

But Musk has more recently embraced conservative politics. Musk bought Twitter in 2022, rebranded it to X, and has dismantled many of the checks and balances meant to limit hateful speech and misinformation on the platform.

Musk has publicly supported Trump but denied reports that he pledged a $45 million donation to a pro-Trump super PAC.

At a rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump, who is 78 you know, told the crowd he supported electric cars but thought people should still have access to petrol vehicles.

"I'm for electric cars. I have to be because, you know, Elon endorsed me very strongly. So, I have no choice. You want to have gas-propelled cars. You want to have hybrids. You want to have every kind of car," he said.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Biden administration's EV regulations, including its plan to grow EV sales to half of all new vehicle sales by 2030.

"Not everybody has to have an electric car. I told [Musk] that. So we're going to get rid of that mandate if you don't mind. Some people want gasoline-propelled cars, some people want a hybrid, and some people like an electric car."

He's given wildly inconsistent estimates for how much it would cost to install EV chargers nationwide. At the Bitcoin conference, he said it would cost $12 trillion. At a North Carolina rally on July 24, he said it would cost $5 trillion. And at the Atlanta rally on Saturday, he said it would cost $9 trillion.

A bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 included $7.5 billion to help pay for thousands of EV chargers around the country, Politico reported.

However, Trump may not have to be supporting EVs soon. The super PAC spearheaded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk supporting him is under investigation by the Michigan Secretary of State’s office for how it collects voter data.

America PAC is a new super PAC founded by tech industry donors, which was first formed in May and had raised $8.75 million as of the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

While FEC filings don’t yet show any donations by Musk to the PAC, the Telsa founder has publicly said he founded the PAC and plans to make “some donations” to it, though he denied initial reports suggesting he would contribute $45 million per month.

The PAC came under scrutiny after CNBC reported a link on the group’s website directing supporters to register to vote for the most part doesn’t do so, but rather just steals personal data.

CNBC discovered if a user lists a zip code in a battleground state, the website leads them to a detailed form asking for much more personal information than if they report being in a non-competitive state—in which case they still aren’t registered to vote, though, for some non-battleground state zip codes, the PAC does lead them to an official voter registration link.

A spokesperson for Benson said in a statement to multiple outlets Sunday that the Democratic state official is “reviewing [the PAC’s] activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law.”

Court decides Google spent billions to become an illegal monopoly

A US. judge ruled  that Google violated antitrust law by spending billions of dollars to establish an illegal monopoly and become the world's default search engine.

This marks the first major victory for federal authorities challenging Big Tech's market dominance.

The ruling sets the stage for a second trial to determine potential remedies, which could include the breakup of Google's parent company, Alphabet. Such a move would significantly alter the landscape of the online advertising industry, which Google has dominated for years.

This decision also signals a green light for aggressive US antitrust enforcers targeting Big Tech, a sector under scrutiny from across the political spectrum.

US District Judge Amit Mehta said: "The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly."

The "remedy" phase could be protracted, with potential appeals to the US Court of Appeals and “the unbribable” US Supreme Court, possibly extending the legal battle into 2026.

Shares of Alphabet fell 4.5 per cent on Monday amid a broader decline in tech stocks due to recession fears. Google advertising accounted for 77 per cent of Alphabet's total sales in 2023.

Alphabet announced plans to appeal Mehta's ruling. "This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available," Google said in a statement.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, highlighted the bipartisan support for antitrust enforcement.

"It's a huge victory for the American people that antitrust enforcement is alive and well when it comes to competition… Google is a rampant monopolist."

Search engine too good at gambling and porn

Indonesia has banned the privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo, citing concerns over its potential use for accessing pornography and online gambling sites.

Indonesia has made such sites illegal in the country because it has the world's largest Muslim population, and enforces strict rules against sharing obscene content online. Platforms like Reddit and Vimeo are already blocked.

As you might expect it is not very successful. Government data showed 3 million Indonesians gambled online last year, spending an estimated $20 billion, or about 1.5 per cent of the country's GDP.

Usman Kansong, a communications ministry official said DuckDuckGo was banned due to numerous complaints about rampant online gambling and pornography in its search results.

DuckDuckGo, based in Pennsylvania, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ministry did not explain how

DuckDuckGo differs from other search engines like Google, but DuckDuckGo claims to offer products that protect online privacy, earning praise from privacy advocates.

Took a while

In July 2024, Windows 11 reached a significant milestone: for the first time since its launch in October 2021, the operating system crossed the 30 per cent market share mark.

 According to Statcounter's latest findings, Windows 11 achieved a new all-time high of 30.83 per cent last month, gaining 1.08 points in just one month or 7.17 points year-over-year (it was at 23.66 per cent in July 2023).

As Windows 11 rises, Windows 10 sees a decline in its market share. It has now fallen below 65 per cent, standing at 64.99 per cent, a drop of 1.06 points in one month.

Year-over-year, the change is 11.15 points (it was at 71.14 per cent in July 2023). With the operating system set to reach its end of life in about a year, its market share is expected to decline more rapidly in the coming months.

However, the Extended Security Update programme and third-party services like 0patch will help the OS remain in use for many more years.

The launch of Copilot+ PCs has generated considerable buzz in the Windows market, but it is too early to determine whether the well-received Windows 11 computers with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processors will attract more users.

Qualcomm and its partners plan to release more ARM-powered devices, including business-focused models, and the approaching back-to-school season should accelerate the adoption of Windows 11 PCs.

Other Windows versions, now long unsupported, still retain a fair share of users who refuse to switch. Windows 7 is the third most popular Windows version with a 3.04 per cent market share (+0.08 points). Windows 8.1 is fourth with 0.42 per cent (+0.02 points), and Windows XP is fifth with 0.38 per cent (-0.01 points).

Another law firm is seeking to capitalise on Intel's chip crash bug.

Atlanta-based Kaplan Gore is investigating a case against Intel for allegedly selling potentially defective 13th and 14th-gen ('Raptor Lake') processors.

Reports of these desktop processors crashing date to December 2022, but Intel only addressed the issue in July 2024. The bug is particularly concerning as it can permanently degrade the affected processors.

Intel is preparing a patch and has promised to extend warranty support for the affected chips from three to five years. The company also plans to offer replacement chips for consumers experiencing repeated issues with the 13th and 14th Generation desktop processors.

However, Kaplan Gore LLP argues that Intel's response is insufficient, criticising the lack of a full recall. The firm claims that those who purchased Intel CPUs as part of pre-built systems have not been promised any compensation and an extended warranty may not be enough for the millions of customers affected by defective CPUs.

Kaplan Gore LLP is urging affected consumers to contact them about launching a potential lawsuit. This follows a similar call from Oklahoma-based Abington Cole + Ellery, which is also considering a class-action lawsuit against Chipzilla.

So far, no lawsuits have been filed. But Intel could be heading into trouble as some consumers on Reddit have claimed that Intel refused to offer refunds or replacement processors.

In a statement to PCMag, Intel said: “We are committed to making sure all customers who have or are currently experiencing instability symptoms on their 13th and/or 14th Gen desktop processors are supported in the exchange process. For customers experiencing instability symptoms, Intel advises them to reach out to Intel Customer Support or their system manufacturer for further assistance.”

It just does not work that way

Elon Musk's Neuralink brain-implant venture could revolutionise artificial vision for the visually impaired, but it’s unlikely to deliver on Musk’s bold claim of “better than normal vision,” according to University of Washington researchers.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, UW psychologists Ione Fine and Geoffrey Boynton explain that the brain’s vision system relies on complex neuron interactions that don’t translate into a simple pixel-by-pixel picture.

“Engineers often think of electrodes as producing pixels, but that’s not how biology works,” Fine said.

Neuralink has been developing brain implants to help quadriplegic patients control tools with their minds.

One patient, Noland Arbaugh, received an implant in January and reported being “very happy” despite some performance issues. Musk hopes to expand the number of implant recipients this year, pending regulatory approval.

Musk’s next goal is to provide artificial vision through a system called Blindsight. Early tests in monkeys have shown some promise, but human trials are still a way off.

Musk admitted the initial resolution would be low, like “Atari graphics,” but claimed it could eventually surpass normal vision.

Fine and Boynton’s simulations suggest that even with tens of thousands of electrodes, the images produced wouldn’t match the detail of natural vision. Fine noted the immense challenge of replicating the brain’s visual processing, as each neuron has its unique code.

The study highlights the complexity of creating effective artificial vision and cautions against overhyping the technology.

Fine emphasised the need for realistic expectations, especially for those who become blind later in life and may be desperate for a solution.

The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, underscores the importance of understanding the limitations and potential of brain-implant technology.

Boffins baffled

Boffins are baffled after they managed to get their AI to perform more accurate maths if they were asked to do it in the style of a Star Trek character.

Rick Battle and Teja Gollapudi, authors of the study from VMware in California found that asking the chatbot to respond as if it were on Star Trek dramatically enhanced its ability to solve grade-school-level math problems.

"It's both surprising and irritating that trivial modifications to the prompt can exhibit such dramatic swings in performance."

Machine learning engineers Battle and Gollapudi were exploring the "positive thinking" trend in AI. They discovered that the quality of chatbot outputs depends not only on what you ask them to do but also on how you ask them to act while doing it.

To test this, they fed three Large Language Models (LLMs) with 60 human-written prompts designed to encourage the AIs. These ranged from "This will be fun!" to "You are as smart as ChatGPT."

The engineers found that automatic optimisation of these prompts always surpassed hand-written attempts, suggesting that machine learning models are better at writing prompts for themselves than humans are.

One of the best-performing prompts for the Llama2-70B model was: "System Message: 'Command, we need you to plot a course through this turbulence and locate the source of the anomaly. Use all available data and your expertise to guide us through this challenging situation.'"

This prompt significantly improved the model's proficiency in mathematical reasoning.

The study highlights the complexity and unpredictability of AI systems. Catherine Flick from Staffordshire University noted that these models do not "understand" anything better or worse when preloaded with a specific prompt; they simply access different sets of weights and probabilities.

This research underscores the importance of understanding how to optimiae chatbot models, even though the processes behind their performance remain largely mysterious.

"In my opinion, nobody should ever attempt to hand-write a prompt again. Let the model do it for you," he said.

Apple fanboys furious at the slight

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has launched a scathing attack on Apple's 'Find My' service, branding it as "super creepy surveillance tech" that "shouldn't exist."

Sweeney recounted an incident where a Mac laptop was stolen from his car. Years later, he discovered the thief's address through the 'Find My' service, as the Mac was still linked to his Apple ID.

When asked if he retrieved his laptop, Sweeney admitted he hadn't. Instead, he was "creeped out" by the unexpected revelation of the thief's address and subsequently disabled 'Find My iPhone' on all his devices.

Apple fanboys rushed to mock Sweeney, suggesting his wealth made him indifferent to the theft. They also questioned his motives, implying he was merely trying to tarnish wonderful Apple's reputation amidst ongoing legal battles.

Sweeney argued that tracking a device inevitably involves tracking the person in possession of it, infringing on privacy rights. He asserted that the recovery of lost or stolen devices should be handled through legal channels, not by the device owner.

While he didn’t mention it, there have been cases of shoot outs between Apple fanboys and people who they thought were thieves. Other a cases where a shoot out happened because a tag led police to the wrong address.

Other Apple fanboys were desperate to point out that Epic Games' had privacy violations, which resulted in a $520 million fine. It is worth pointing out that Apple has four privacy class actions in the works.

 Others noted that iPhone thefts decreased after Apple introduced the 'Activation Lock' feature, although to be fair that might have been because the newer iPhones were pretty pointless.

AppleInsider criticised Sweeney's logic, to which he responded by highlighting the potential dangers of such tracking technologies, especially for families and innocent buyers of second-hand devices. He quoted Steve Jobs, expressing concerns about the risks of stalking and other harmful consequences. Quoting St Steve against against fan boys is the burn of all times.

In Real Life customers were mostly bots

IRL, once seen as a potential rival to Facebook, aimed to encourage its online users to meet in real life. However, the platform shut down in 2023 after it was revealed that most of its users were bots.

The SEC alleges that CEO Abraham Shafi raised around $170 million by falsely portraying IRL as a social media success story. He claimed that IRL’s supposed 12 million users were gained through organic growth, but the SEC argues that the company spent millions on advertisements to attract users, hiding these expenses in its books.

IRL received multiple rounds of venture capital, reaching a $1.17 billion valuation. However, an internal investigation found that 95 per cent of the app’s users were bots, leading to its closure in 2023.

This case is part of a broader trend, with the SEC charging several venture-backed founders with fraud.

Recently, BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji was charged with fraud and unregistered securities offerings, raising over $257 million in cryptocurrency. In June, Ilit Raz, CEO of the now-defunct AI recruitment startup Joonko, was charged with defrauding investors of at least $21 million. The SEC has also targeted venture firms, charging Robert Scott Murray and Trillium Capital LLC with manipulating the stock price of Getty Images Holdings in May.

Seems he wants to shut it down

Former US President Donald Trump appears to have a beef with Google and if he is elected may try to close it down.

I mean, that is what we think he meant as it is rather difficult to make sense of this quote on his tame Fox News Network.

Trump, who is  78 you know, literally said: “Google, nobody called from Google. One of the things like doing a show like yours, your show, you know, you see it on Fox, but when you really see it is all over the place, they take clips of your show that you're doing right now with me and if I do a good job, they're gonna vote for me, they're gonna vote for me because it's not just on Fox, it's on Fox is a smaller part of it. You're on all over this, those little beautiful cell phones you're on, you're all over the place. You have a product, you have a great product. You have a great brand. So you have to get out, you have to get out, you have to do things like your show and other shows and Google has been very bad. They've been very irresponsible and I have a feeling that Google is gonna be close to shut down”

Basically (we think) he is saying that Google, which — being a search engine — did not ban him (or information about him), is nevertheless in his crosshairs. This means that Google will have a rocky future during a second Trump administration and he will shut it down.

Being defective as a feature argument did not wash

The fruity cargo cult Apple is finally coughing up $50 million to settle claims over its notoriously defective MacBook butterfly keyboards.

Owners of these ill-fated keyboards, who have approved claims, will receive cheques of up to $395, depending on the extent of the repairs needed. Michael Burkhardt from 9to5Mac has already reported receiving two payout cheques presumably becasue he was dumb enough to make the same mistake twice.

From the moment these keyboards were introduced in 2015, users were plagued with issues. Keys would get stuck or become completely unresponsive, often due to tiny specks of dust or debris. Despite these glaring flaws, Apple stubbornly stuck with the butterfly design until 2019, when it finally switched to the more reliable “scissor-switch” design.

Apple’s so-called “repair program” was a farce, merely replacing faulty butterfly keyboards with more of the same defective models. It wasn’t until a class action lawsuit was filed in 2018 that Apple was forced to confront the issue. The lawsuit alleged that Apple knew about the defects but chose to conceal them from customers. Although Apple agreed to settle the lawsuit in 2022, it denied any wrongdoing.

According to the settlement’s website, those who had two or more topcase replacements within four years of purchasing an affected MacBook will receive between $300 and $395. Owners who had only one replacement could get up to $125, while those who needed just a keycap replacement will receive a maximum of $50. Only Apple customers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington who required repairs are eligible for payouts.

Tame Apple press tries to spin result

The Tame Apple press has been trying to spin its favourite tech companies result with “never mind the quality feel the width” style analysis.

Last week, Apple reported that sales had been higher than what the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street had expected and that was the only thing that the Tame Apple Press bothered to report.  Basically, sales were five per cent higher due to the latest iPad making a slight comeback.

However, there were some incredibly dark sides to Apple’s results which were not mentioned, played down, or placed under meaningless headlines like “Apple makes a billion dollars of profit every four days.” Some have been so desperate, that they are repeating the news of Apple’s folding phone vapourware which has almost been around as long as its failed self driving car.

What was not been mentioned as that Apple sales declined six per cent to $14.72 billion in greater China, a region that includes Taiwan and Hong Kong. Apple is under pressure in mainland China as local rivals such as Huawei introduce competing products. 

Apple’s most important business remains the iPhone, which accounted for about 46 per cent of the company’s sales during the quarter. While the tech giant beat LSEG estimates, the product line still declined about a per cent year over year, to $39.29 billion in revenue.  This is hugely bad.

 It is also still unable to make any cash out of AI, and not likely to do so in the near future.  Those net sales while “better than expected” were still beak in comparison with the past when Jobs Mob was on its game.

In a sign that serious investors are losing faith in Apple, Warrant Buffett announced that he had sold half of his Job’s Mob shares. A long term investor in Apple, Buffett has decided that that company is not going to make him much more money and it was better that the cash was put elsewhere.

The Tame Apple Press has tried to write this off as a tax dodge.   Buffett has previously indicated that he has sold "a little bit" of Apple's shares to potentially avoid higher tax rates in the future. Put another way, Buffett is taking a certain profit now, with known variables like a lower tax rate, instead of gambling on uncertainty.

But this is a faulty argument. Another more likely scenario is that Apple has run out of steam and its value is set to fall in the future.

Takes a big hit, announces cost-reduction plan, shares take a tumble

Intel has announced its second-quarter 2024 financial results, reporting a revenue of $12.8 billion, 38.7 percent gross margin, and EPS of $0.02. In the words of Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO, these are disappointing quarter results, despite the fact that the company has "hit key product and process technology milestones."

In terms of numbers, Intel reported a revenue of $12.8 billion which is a 1 percent drop compared to the last year. Gross margin is reported at 35.4 percent, down by 0.4 percent, and net income or rather loss is reported at $1.6 billion, with earnings loss per share (GAAP) of 0.38. The non-GAAP gross margin is 38.7 percent, down by 1.1 percent and non-GAAP EPS is at $0.02, down by 0.11 compared to the last year. In the second quarter, the company generated $2.3 billion in cash from operations and paid dividends of $0.5 billion.

When it comes to specific business units, specifically the Intel Product group, the Client Computing Group reported a revenue of $7.4 billion, up by 9 percent compared to the last year, while Data Center and AI and Network and Edge, reported a revenue of $3 and $1.3 billion, a drop of 3 and 1 percent compared to the last year. The total Intel Products revenue adds up to $11.8 billion, which is up by 4 percent compared to the last year.

The Intel Foundry group reported a revenue of $4.3 billion, up by 4 percent compared to the last year.

Other business units, which report revenue in millions rather than billions, including Altera and Mobileye, reported a drop of 57 and 3 percent compared to the last year, with $361 and $440 million.

"Our Q2 financial performance was disappointing, even as we hit key product and process technology milestones. Second-half trends are more challenging than we previously expected, and we are leveraging our new operating model to take decisive actions that will improve operating and capital efficiencies while accelerating our IDM 2.0 transformation," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "These actions, combined with the launch of Intel 18A next year to regain process technology leadership, will strengthen our position in the market, improve our profitability and create shareholder value."

"Second-quarter results were impacted by gross margin headwinds from the accelerated ramp of our AI PC product, higher than typical charges related to non-core businesses and the impact from unused capacity," said David Zinsner, Intel CFO. "By implementing our spending reductions, we are taking proactive steps to improve our profits and strengthen our balance sheet. We expect these actions to meaningfully improve liquidity and reduce our debt balance while enabling us to make the right investments to drive long-term value for shareholders."

In order to somehow ease up the hit, Intel has announced the new cost-reduction plan, which includes reducing operating expenses with some "meaningfully cut spending and headcount" by reducing its R&D and marketing, general and administrative spending by $20 billion in 2024 and $17.5 billion in 2025 and reducing workforce by more than 15 percent by the end of this year.

Intel also plans to reduce capital expenditures as it draws to the end of its five-nodes-in-four-years journey, which should reduce its gross capital expenditures next year. The company also means to reduce cost of sales next year, generating over $1 billion in savings, and it also means to maintain core investments to execute strategy. Intel will also suspend the dividend starting in the fourth quarter, recognizing the importance of prioritizing liquidity to support the investments needed to execute its strategy.

Intel was keen to note that the company is still on track and nearing completion of its promised five-nodes-in-four-years strategy, with Intel 18A on track to be manufacturing-ready by the end of this year and production wafer start volumes in the first half of 2025. The first two Intel products based on the 18A manufacturing process, Panther Lake for the client market and Clearwater Forest for the server market, are still on track for launch in 2025.

Intel also says that it has shipped more than 15 million AI PCs since December 2023, far more than all of Intel's competitors combined, and on track to ship more than 40 million AI PCs by year-end. Lunar Lake has achieved production release in July and should be shipping in the third quarter, promising to power over 80 new Copilot+ PCs across more than 20 OEMs.

Intel's Data Center and AI business group is betting big on its next-generation Intel Xeon 6 processors, including Sierra Forest with efficiency E-cores and Granite Rapids with P-cores, which should begin shipping in the third quarter of 2024. Of course, we expect Sierra Forest and some Granite Rapids SKUs while the rest should launch in early 2025. The same group is also on track to launch its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator in Q3 this year.

Intel expects revenue of $12.5 to $13.5 billion in Q3 2024, with a gross margin (GAAP) of 34.5 percent and earnings or loss per share of $0.24 (GAAP).

At the time of writing, Intel has taken a big hit with its shares dropping by over 20 percent after the financial report, and over 30 percent in the last year.

Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger has sent a note to employees after the second-quarter 2024 financial report, promising to save $10 billion in the next year, as detailed earlier. Gelsinger notes that the current cost structure is not competitive, especially considering that the annual revenue of the company in 2020 was $24 billion higher than it was last year and the workforce was 10 percent smaller, stating that it is "not a sustainable path forward."

Gelsinger notes that the future path for the company will not be easy, but still believes that the IDM 2.0 strategy will eventually bear fruit and that the company needs to improve its execution, operate as a more agile company, and adapt to adapt to new market realities.

Nobody’s business but the Turks

Turkey's communications authority has blocked access to the social media platform Instagram, marking the latest instance of internet censorship in the country.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, responsible for regulating the internet, announced the block early on Friday without providing a reason.

However, the government-aligned Sabah newspaper reported that the block was in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users expressing condolences over the killing of Hama political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

This move follows criticism from Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who condemned the Meta-owned platform for preventing Turkish users from posting messages of condolence for Haniyeh.

Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation. President Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel's military actions in Gaza, has described Hamas as "liberation fighters."

Friday has been declared a day of mourning for Haniyeh in Turkey, with flags being flown at half-mast.

Turkey has a history of censoring social media and websites. According to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organisation of lawyers and human rights activists, hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked since 2022.

YouTube was also blocked in Turkey from 2007 to 2010.

Annual revenue growth to halve by 2029

The global gaming industry is projected to reach over 1.3 billion users this year, an increase of 91 million from 2023 and nearly double the figure reported in 2017.

According to numbers compiled by Stocklytics.com despite the growing number of gamers, spending on gaming equipment is on the decline and this is expected to continue in the coming years.

Stocklytics.com said the annual growth rate in the gaming equipment market is anticipated to halve, dropping to just 1.7 per cent by 2029.

Supply chain issues, global economic conditions, and a shift towards mobile and cloud gaming have significantly impacted the gaming equipment market in recent years, leading to fluctuations and slowdowns in revenue growth.

While the pandemic and the launch of new-generation VR headsets and consoles, such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, caused a surge in global gaming equipment sales between 2020 and 2022, the market is now cooling down, with growth rates far below those seen in previous years.

A Statista Market Insight survey revealed that global gaming equipment sales experienced double-digit growth between 2019 and 2022, with an average annual increase of 15 per cent.

The years 2020 and 2021 were particularly strong for gaming consoles and VR headsets, with revenues rising by 23 per cent and nearly 17 per cent, respectively. However, growth has since slowed dramatically.

After falling to five per cent in 2023, the annual growth rate in the gaming equipment segment is forecasted to drop to 3.6 per cent in 2024, a sixfold decrease since 2021. This downward trend is expected to continue, with Statista predicting the annual growth rate will fall to just 1.7 per cent by 2029. This modest growth will result in a market revenue increase of only 11 per cent, or $4 billion, over the next five years, compared to an 88 per cent increase in the past six years.

Statista data indicates that China, the world's largest gaming market, will see the most significant decrease in gaming equipment spending.

In 2024, Chinese consumers are expected to spend around $4 billion on gaming consoles and VR headsets, a 10.2 per cent increase from last year. By 2029, market revenue will rise slightly to over $4 billion, but the annual growth rate will plummet 34 times to just 0.3 per cent.

Americans are bigger spenders on gaming equipment. By 2029, US gaming equipment revenue is projected to rise from $9.7 billion to $10.9 billion, with the market growth rate doubling to 1.8 per cent.

Japan is also facing a slowdown, with gaming equipment sales expected to increase by only $100 million over the next five years, while the growth rate will drop from 3.8 per cent to 0.7 per cent.

When analysed by device type, VR headsets are facing a more severe decline than gaming consoles, with their annual revenue growth rate expected to drop fivefold to 1.6 per cent by 2029. The growth rate for gaming consoles is expected to remain flat at 1.8 per cent.