Microsoft: Project Solara & the Agentic Operating Plane for the Non-NVIDIA World
At its recent Build 2026 event, Microsoft introduced Project Solara, a chip-to-cloud platform built specifically for devices whose primary interface is an AI agent. Solara runs on the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP), a lightweight operating system built on AOSP that hosts an Agent Shell capable of dynamically loading and tailoring cloud-based agents, paired with […]
Computex 2026: AI Infrastructure, the PC Wars, and the New Connectivity Arms Race
Computex has historically been a client- and consumer-focused event, but those markets now take a back seat to enterprise infrastructure and the components that define an AI factory. The key messages were all AI, all the time.
The keynotes were entirely semiconductor-first, with talks by three chip CEOs: Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Lip-Bu Tan of Intel, and Matt Murphy of Marvell. Each painted a slightly different picture about where the AI buildout is headed.
Google Cloud: 8th-Generation TPU Family Splits Training and Inference
At Google Cloud Next 2026, Google unveiled its 8th-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) family, splitting its custom silicon lineup into two purpose-built architectures for the first time.
The TPU 8t targets large-scale model training, emphasizing compute throughput and scale-up bandwidth, while the TPU 8i addresses inference and reasoning workloads, emphasizing memory bandwidth and low-latency communication.
Call Notes: Quarterly Semiconductor Update (March 2026)
Every quarter I participate in a call for buy-side investment analysts focused on the broader datacenter/hyperscaler semiconductor ecosystem. Here, I’m sharing the raw notes I used to drive that call.
Call Notes: Compute Hardware & Semiconductor Ecosystem
Every quarter I participate in a call for buy-side investment analysts focused on compute hardware and the broader semiconductor ecosystem. Here, I’m sharing the raw notes from that call.
Research Note: Microsoft Azure Maia 200 Inference Accelerator
Microsoft recently announced its second-generation custom AI accelerator, the Maia 200. The new chip is an inference-optimized alternative to third-party GPUs in its Azure infrastructure. The company says the accelerator delivers 30% better performance per dollar than existing Azure hardware while supporting OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 models and Microsoft’s own synthetic data generation workloads.
Call Notes: Q4 Semiconductor Tracker
We’re in a moment that’s less about individual chip performance and more about processing-at-scale. It’s all about sprawling AI racks, optics, interconnect, and custom silicon hungry for scale, speed, and a story.
NAND Insider Newsletter: January 21, 2025
Every week NAND Research puts out a newsletter for our industry customers. Below is an excerpt from this week’s.
NAND Insider Newsletter: January 5, 2025
Every week NAND Research puts out a newsletter for our industry customers. Below is a excerpt from this week’s.