Intel Pro Max Ultra

2026 Intel Watchlist H1 • CES: Panther Lake momentum (18A) • Clearwater Forest launch (18A + EMIB 3.5D) • EMIB/EMIB-T design wins / customer callouts • Direct Connect: “a new node after 18A-P” • External 18A-P tape-out announcement • More partnership/investment signals H2 • 14A major external customer signal • Ohio investment acceleration / Oregon D1X Mod 4 construction update • Rack-scale AI GPU solution: Jaguar Shores progress/launch signal • Intel×UMC 12nm platform milestones + design wins • 18A yields stabilize + 18A-P ramp • Nova Lake / Diamond Rapids launches • IFS financials: op loss burn-down

NY Creates, which owns Albany NanoTech, says they were able to get one of the first high-NA EUV scanners because of their relationship with Micron. The tool arrives this summer.

出典：meti.go.jp/policy/mono_in…

ラピダス、先端半導体の組み立て試作開始　効率10倍で顧客獲得に前進 nikkei.com/article/DGXZQO…

富士通・IBMなどに900億円補助　ラピダスの顧客開拓を支援、経産省：日本経済新聞 nikkei.com/article/DGXZQO…

経産省、ラピダスへの6315億円の追加支援決定　総額2.3兆円に reut.rs/4srYw1S reut.rs/4srYw1S

@HyperTechInvest The pricing actions have been in place since Q1, and the capacity corridor for server CPUs has now been opened up. I don’t think the Q1 financials will show a big leap; the focus is on the guidance/forecast for Q2 and H2.

$INTC is doing everything right as far as partnerships and headlines go Now the question is: will earnings follow the trend as well? That’s what will separate a $60 stock from a $120 stock

That's sensible. Laying off 40% of the workforce was probably one of the toughest decisions an Intel CEO has had to make and execute as part of the company’s turnaround plan. I personally think one of the key reasons PG was ousted was that he didn’t do it as quickly as the board expected. Lip-Bu was more aggressive on this front but also put in place great supporting measures.

@IntelProMUltra I think that while Intel laid off many, they did so in the best way they could. Support, recommendations, and I would presume to some degree 'placements'. No dawn execution emails. Maybe former employees would feel differently but I observe more frequently than most I'd say fwiw

Next Gen you say

Artemis II mission route in 3D

Artemis II Trajectory compared to Apollo 11 and Apollo 13

:From Deep Space to Splashdown Hold your breath as the Orion capsule screams back from the edge of space! Watch this blazing fireball tear through the atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour, glowing white-hot from re-entry heat... before gracefully slowing down and settling into a perfect splashdown in the vast blue ocean. Pure engineering brilliance and raw courage — bringing our astronauts safely home from the depths of space.

Qualcomm may shift orders for its latest (AP) mobile phone chips to TSMC from Samsung due to persistent 2nm yield issues, media report, noting TSMC could win the entire order. Qualcomm suspended use of Samsung Foundry in 2022 in part due to thermal issues with the chips it produced. $QCOM $TSM $SSNLF #Samsung #semiconductors businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleVi…

SK Hynix Begins Full-Scale HBM4 DRAM Production at New M15X Fab This Month SK Hynix is ramping up mass production of cutting-edge DRAM at its new M15X fab in Cheongju starting this month. M15X is expected to serve as the key production hub for scaling high-bandwidth memory (HBM) output through next year. While overall production scale remains smaller than the Wuxi (China) and Icheon (Korea) fabs, the company plans to maximize profits during the current super-cycle by deploying advanced process equipment en masse and accelerating the ramp-up timeline. According to industry sources on April 10, the M15X fab will gradually increase wafer input from a monthly average of 10,000 wafers this month, targeting a maximum of 80,000 wafers per month by next year. Given the pace of equipment installation and setup this year, the line is expected to handle 30,000 to a maximum of 50,000 wafers per month by year-end — roughly two months ahead of the original schedule. The DRAM produced at M15X will be allocated primarily to high-margin products including 6th-generation HBM (HBM4), with a portion going toward high-performance server DRAM. M15X is a new DRAM production base built through an approximately KRW 20 trillion investment to expand the existing M15 fab. Until the first fab within the Yongin semiconductor cluster is completed in 2027, M15X will serve as the primary facility for addressing next-generation HBM demand. The timeline for the Yongin cluster fab's actual commissioning remains uncertain — the industry expects it to come online next year, but sources both inside and outside SK Hynix suggest 2028 or later is more likely due to local government and infrastructure issues. This makes M15X SK Hynix's sole avenue for expanding DRAM production capacity until Yongin comes online. M15X is a state-of-the-art line equipped with a large number of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools required for cutting-edge DRAM production. The industry estimates approximately KRW 12 trillion worth of EUV equipment has been deployed at M15X. The 10nm 5th-generation (1b) DRAM primarily produced on this line is expected to help increase the share of high-performance DRAM products — including HBM, server, PC, and mobile — in the product mix. Once M15X reaches full utilization, SK Hynix's total DRAM output is expected to increase by 10–15% in wafer terms. However, the consensus is that its contribution will be far greater in terms of HBM supply capacity, revenue mix, and profitability, given the line's specialization in advanced processes. SK Hynix itself emphasized M15X as an HBM-optimized hub during its earnings call, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has noted that HBM consumes far more wafers than conventional DRAM — suggesting the vast majority of output will be directed toward reinforcing HBM leadership. The expansion of SK Hynix's DRAM production synergies — currently centered on Wuxi and Icheon — into Cheongju also carries significant implications. The M15X fab is located directly adjacent to the existing M15 fab, which is scaling up investment in through-silicon via (TSV) equipment, creating favorable conditions for HBM production optimization. TSV is a technology that enables vertical electrical connections through silicon interposers and is essential for manufacturing memory products like HBM. With M15 and M15X at its core, the Cheongju site is poised to emerge as a key HBM hub, synergizing with TSV back-end processes and future packaging investment in Cheongju. A source close to SK Hynix explained: "M15X is a capacity expansion card that can boost SK Hynix's total DRAM wafer capacity by up to nearly 20%, but its more fundamental significance lies in being the fab that resolves the advanced DRAM bottleneck for HBM. The goal is not just incremental output gains, but filling the gap before the Yongin fab comes online to rapidly respond to the HBM market leadership race against competitors."

Albany NanoTech cleanroom photos: arrival of TEL’s Lithius Pro DICE, the high-NA EUV photoresist processing tool.

Intel 14A.

*SAMSUNG 1Q OPER PROFIT 57.20T WON, EST. 39.28T WON They Won

@intel @AndrewCurran_ @SpaceX @xai @Tesla They finally got @elonmusk on LinkedIn

Samsung Electronics Places Equipment Orders for Final P4 Lines… Accelerating HBM Mass Production Samsung Electronics' capital investment for its 4th Pyeongtaek Campus (P4) is entering the final stage. It has been confirmed that the company placed manufacturing equipment orders last month for the remaining 2 phases (out of a total of 4) where investment had not yet been executed. These lines are dedicated to mass production of Samsung Electronics' most advanced DRAM process, 1c (6th-generation 10nm-class) DRAM. 1c DRAM serves as the core die for Samsung's HBM4 (6th-generation High Bandwidth Memory) and is drawing significant attention as a critical component for business with global big tech customers including NVIDIA. According to ZDNet Korea reporting on April 6, Samsung Electronics recently placed a blanket order for front-end process equipment for two buildings — ph2 and ph4 — within P4. P4 is Samsung Electronics' advanced semiconductor fab. Originally designed as a comprehensive fab for DRAM, NAND, and foundry production, the majority of its production capacity has been allocated to DRAM due to market conditions and other factors. Among its output, it produces the most advanced process-based 1c (6th-generation 10nm-class) DRAM. P4 is divided into a total of 4 phases. The construction sequence is 1-3-4-2. Ph1, which was built first, has already completed all investment. Ph3 has also been under investment since H2 last year, with most equipment setup now finalized. This year, front-end process (the process of etching circuits onto semiconductor wafers) equipment investment is expected to proceed actively for the remaining ph4 and ph2. According to multiple equipment industry sources, Samsung Electronics issued purchase orders (POs) for front-end process equipment for ph4 and ph2 at the end of last month. Accordingly, front-end equipment is planned to be installed in ph4 starting around May–June. Equipment installation for ph2 is scheduled for around November. Cleanroom construction work for equipment installation in ph2 already began in Q1 this year. A cleanroom is an infrastructure facility that controls contamination levels and other environmental factors essential for semiconductor manufacturing. It must be installed before front-end process equipment can be brought in. With this PO placement, Samsung Electronics' P4 construction timeline has become clear. Samsung has been accelerating new and conversion-related capital investment recently to respond in a timely manner to the semiconductor supercycle triggered by global AI infrastructure investment. In fact, front-end equipment for P4 ph2 had previously been expected to be ordered at year-end, with actual installation taking place next year. Considering this, the actual installation timeline has been pulled forward by approximately 2 months. In particular, 1c DRAM plays a central role in the company's high-value-added memory business. Samsung Electronics adopted 1c DRAM — one generation ahead of competitors — for its HBM4, which entered full-scale mass production this year. As a result, Samsung is assessed to have achieved the highest performance in HBM4 for its key customer NVIDIA. This year, Samsung's 1c DRAM production capacity is expected to reflect the P4 ph3 buildout. In numerical terms, this amounts to approximately 130,000–140,000 wafers per month. The completion of front-end equipment setup in ph2 is expected around Q1 next year. Including 1c DRAM conversion investments planned for next year at P3 and the Hwaseong Line 17, production capacity is projected to continue expanding. A semiconductor industry source explained, "Samsung Electronics has been showing a proactive willingness toward capital investment, to the extent of placing advance equipment orders for ph2 with its partners," adding, "High-value-added DRAM is in the spotlight within the AI industry, and there is a prevailing atmosphere of preparing investments ahead of time to avoid uncertainties arising from the recent war."

Today, WIRED reported that Intel may be close to securing EMIB-related orders from Google and Amazon. That said, the news itself isn't entirely new. In our December report, we had already noted that Google and other companies pursuing in-house ASIC development were evaluating EMIB as an alternative to CoWoS. If there's one thing our report missed, it would be that a significant portion of Meta's in-house ASIC volume has since been canceled, and it is now Amazon — rather than Meta — that is exploring EMIB adoption.