TechPowerup News

• This Week in Gaming (Week 28)

  Welcome to the first full week of July, which continues to be a rather slow week for new game releases. This week's major release puts you in a time loop with your fellow resistance fighters. This is followed by an online tactical action shooter, some old balls and bats, a post-apocalyptic 2D side scroller, a remake and another remake, although the two have nothing in common with each other.
  
  Every Day We Fight / This week's major release / Thursday 10 July
  Citizens from either side of an ongoing war must set aside their differences as a mysterious alien invasion threatens humanity - time has come to a stop for all but your small band of freedom fighters. Caught in a seemingly endless loop, you must shape these ordinary civilians into heroes as they repeatedly fight and die in this turn-based tactical roguelite. Real-time exploration, stealth, and teamwork are essential as you acquire new skills, seek out more powerful weapons, escape the time loop, and save the world. Welcome to the resistance. Steam link

  

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• Infineon to Start 300 mm GaN Wafer Production as TSMC Exits Market

  Infineon has announced that its gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductor production is on schedule, confirming that its 300 mm wafer fab will deliver customer samples in Q4 2025. The German semiconductor manufacturer becomes the first company to successfully integrate 300 mm GaN wafer technology into its existing high-volume production infrastructure, achieving a 2.3x higher chip yield per wafer compared to conventional 200 mm processes. Infineon plans to capitalize on the projected annual market growth of 36%, with GaN power applications expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2030, according to an analysis by the Yole Group. The timing proves particularly strategic, as TSMC has announced plans to shut down its GaN production lines and dismantle facilities within two years, creating a significant market vacuum.
  
  The new announcement addresses a fundamental industry challenge: scaling GaN production while maintaining cost competitiveness with silicon alternatives. Infineon's integrated device manufacturer (IDM) model provides complete process control from wafer fabrication through final product delivery, enabling what the company projects will be cost parity between comparable silicon and GaN devices. Johannes Schoiswohl, Head of GaN Business Line, emphasized that the scaled 300 mm manufacturing leverages Infineon's existing infrastructure investments while supporting rapid capacity expansion for emerging applications, including AI system power supplies, automotive charging systems, and industrial motor control. TSMC's strategic retreat from GaN manufacturing indicates that the company's focus remains on high-margin logic processors, leaving specialized power semiconductor companies like Infineon to dominate the expanding GaN market. In this market, GaN's superior power density, switching speeds, and thermal performance deliver measurable system-level advantages over traditional silicon-based solutions.

  

• Cerabyte Plans 100 PB Ceramic Nano Memory Storage by 2030

  Cerabyte has unveiled a detailed roadmap for its Ceramic Nano Memory archival storage system, promising a cloud-based platform capable of storing over 100 PB per rack by 2030. The company expects data transfer speeds to climb above 2 GB/s and the time to first byte to fall below 10 seconds, a dramatic improvement over its current pilot system, which delivers just 1 GB per rack, 100 MB/s throughput, and a 90-second access time. The initial pilot, running through 2026, validates the 1 PB per rack design. A mid-cycle refresh around 2027-2028 will boost rack density into the double-digit petabyte range, halve access times, and more than double throughput. By 2029-2030, Cerabyte aims to reach its full 100 PB capacity, sustain transfer rates exceeding 2 GB/s, and reduce access latency to under 10 seconds. Cerabyte's approach relies on 100 µm-thin glass panels coated with a 10 nm ceramic film. Data are inscribed by etching microscopic holes in the ceramic layer using a femtosecond laser, creating patterns that a high‑resolution camera can read.
  
  Multiple 9x9 cm tablets fit into cartridges similar in size to magnetic tape, and robotic arms handle all media swapping. Financially, Cerabyte projects that the total cost of ownership will decrease from approximately $7,000-$8,000 per PB-month today to just $6-$8 per PB-month by 2030. Supporters include Pure Storage, Western Digital, In-Q-Tel, and the European Innovation Council's Accelerator fund. To date, the startup has secured roughly $10 million in seed financing, along with more than $4 million in grants. Compared with traditional tape libraries, Cerabyte's system offers at least twice the bandwidth, a lifespan exceeding 100 years versus tape's 7-15 years, and half the cost per terabyte. Additionally, the company envisions adopting helium-ion beam writing by 2045 to shrink bit sizes from approximately 300 nm to 3 nm, a change that could increase per-rack capacity into the exabyte range.