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Tech giants are rushing to develop their own chips — here’s why

Not content with relying on standard chips that are in high demand, some of the world’s biggest tech firms are developing their own semiconductors.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Baidu are all shunning established chip firms and bringing certain aspects of chip development in-house, according to company announcements and media reports.

“Increasingly, these companies want custom-made chips fitting their applications’ specific requirements rather than use the same generic chips as their competitors,” Syed Alam, global semiconductor lead at Accenture, told CNBC.

Unexpected Peaks in Spectrum Upset Conventional Models of Exotic Quantum Material

Mott Insulator Exhibits a Sharp Response to Electron Injection In a finding that will give theorists plenty to ponder, an all-RIKEN team has observed an unexpected response in an exotic material known as a Mott insulator when they injected electrons into it. This observation promises to give physicists new insights into such materials, which are closely related to high-temperature superconductors.

Single Neurons Might Behave as Networks

Summary: Findings could advance the development of deep learning networks based on real neurons that will enable them to perform more complex and more efficient learning processes.

Source: Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

We are in the midst of a scientific and technological revolution. The computers of today use artificial intelligence to learn from example and to execute sophisticated functions that, until recently, were thought impossible. These smart algorithms can recognize faces and even drive autonomous vehicles.

Exciting research

Fibromyalgia appears to be autoimmune, and by knowing the antibody target it should be possible to force immunotolerance, curing the disease. Thanks to the animal experiments.

Paper:
Goebel A, Krock E, Gentry C, et al.: Passive transfer of fibromyalgia symptoms from patients to mice. J Clin Invest. 2021;131(13). doi: 10.1172/JCI144201

Shenzhou-12 astronauts present the Tianhe core module

The Shenzhou-12 crew, astronauts Nie Haisheng (commander), Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, presented the Tianhe core module to university students and secondary school pupils in Hong Kong. The Tianhe core module (天和核心舱), the first and main component of the China Space Station (中国空间站), informally known as Tiangong (天宫, Heavenly Palace).

Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)