TSMC’s Christmas Card evokes a retro 8-bit winter wonderland — ‘pixelated’ kids play Breakout with snowballs, carving out a festive scene

TSMC has shared a super-cool digital greetings card with a retro-nostalgic 8-bit style gaming animation.

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Researchers discover that some biodegradable electronics produce microplastics as they degrade — the investigated material is commonly used in medical research

Researchers from Northeastern University discovered that PEDOT:PSS, which is typically used in medical research, breaks down into harmful microplastics.
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China’s reverse-engineered Frankenstein EUV chipmaking tool hasn’t produced a single chip — sanctions-busting experiment is still years away from becoming operational

A reported attempt by a covert Chinese lab to reverse-engineer an EUV lithography scanner underscores that, despite access to scattered components, replicating ASML’s EUV tools is effectively impossible without recreating …

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‘Twas The Night Before Tom’s Christmas 2025

Enjoy the 2025 holiday poem from the editors of Tom’s Hardware.

Trump administration announces new tariffs on Chinese chips and electronic components — but fresh sanctions won’t take effect until 2027, and rates remain unknown

The United States has slapped a fresh set of tariffs on Chinese electronic components, but their implementation has been delayed until 2027.
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World’s oldest Bitcoin Mining Pool celebrates 15th anniversary, has mined 1,311,339 bitcoins worth $115 billion — group has 255 billion times more hash power than at inception

15 years ago, the first Bitcoin mining pool was introduced by coder Slush.

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Nvidia prepares shipment of 82,000 AI GPUs to China as chip war lines blur — H200 shipments with 25% tax to begin as US loosens restrictions

Nvidia is preparing to deliver up to 80,000 H200 AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year holiday, marking the first time this level of silicon would be legally exported to the country since 2022.
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Ten former Samsung employees arrested for industrial espionage charges for giving China chipmaker 10nm tech — executives and researchers allegedly leaked DRAM technology to China-based CXMT, resulting in trillions of losses in Korean Won

10 former Samsung employees are accused of leaking Samsung’s 10-nm DRAM technology to CXMT, allegedly allowing the latter to achieve technological breakthroughs on stolen information.
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U.S. FCC bans foreign-made drones from DJI, others — DJI to be heavily affected by the announcement, with many American drone pilots up in arms due to lack of viable alternatives

FCC’s announcement signals the end of DJI in the U.S.

Intel’s Fab 52 is bigger and better equipped than TSMC’s Arizona facilities — Intel’s production volume dwarfs TSMC’s operations in the U.S.

Intel’s Fab 52 in Arizona is currently the most advanced chip production facility in America, but it has yet to reach its full 40,000-wafer capacity due to low 18A yields.
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