Articles by Jon Martindale, Freelance Writer

After building his first computers in his teens, Jon Martindale has spent the past two decades covering the latest advances in technology. From displays to PC components, blockchain to AI, and tablets to standing desk accessories, Jon has covered just about every facet of the tech space in his varied career. He has bylines at Forbes, USNews, Lifewire, DigitalTrends, PCWorld, and a range of other sites. He brings that same level of expertise and professional insight to Toms Hardware.Away from writing, Jon is an avid reader, board gamer, and fitness enthusiast. He lives in rural Gloucestershire with his wife, two children, and French Bulldog cross.

Articles by: Jon Martindale

Tesla's robotics ambitions rest on the knife-edge of US-China trade relations due to its supply chain — the majority of critical materials and suppliers are located in China

By Jon Martindale published 5 February 26

Premium In a reversal of trade dynamics over cutting-edge silicon, China holds the cards in robotics manufacturing.

Intel is co-developing new Z-Angle Memory to compete with HBM used in AI data centers — vertically-stacked memory touts 2 to 3x more capacity, greater bandwidth, and half the power consumption

By Jon Martindale published 3 February 26

Premium With the first prototypes expected in 2027.

Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron work to block memory hoarding — prices might rise faster, but it could help encourage increased supply long term

By Jon Martindale published 2 February 26

Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are teaming up to block memory hoarding.

SK hynix invests $10 billion in creating a U.S.-based 'AI solutions' company — company to restructure California-based Solidigm enterprise SSD brand to bolster American investments

By Jon Martindale published 28 January 26

Premium Solidigm brand to be spun off into a new subsidiary in the process

Alibaba plans IPO for chip-arm T-Head to help bankroll ambitious AI infrastructure investments — company to go up against Cambricon and Huawei to capture domestic accelerator market

By Jon Martindale published 23 January 26

Premium Alibaba fancies itself a player in the Chinese AI accelerator space

Companies are deploying high-level executives abroad to keep supply chains smooth amid memory squeeze — from CEOs to procurement experts, crucial meetings across the globe shape the industry

By Jon Martindale published 22 January 26

Premium Breaking bread while brokering deals.

U.S company Noveon Magnetics raises $215 million to expand homegrown rare earth magnet supply — $630 million spent in 2025 on American reshoring efforts to divest from Chinese reliance

By Jon Martindale published 20 January 26

Premium Rare earth metals like magnets are frequently used in HDDs and other crucial pieces of hardware.

Robotics and world models are AI's next frontier, and China is already ahead of the West — research shows almost 13,000 robots deployed in 2025 alone

By Jon Martindale published 19 January 26

Premium With the AI race showing no signs of stopping, the next great frontier is conquering the complex requirements that advanced robotics demands, and China is positioned to dominate.

Glass cloth could be the next great AI shortage, as major manufacturers scramble to secure critical material — Japanese manufacturer courted by Apple, Nvidia, Google, and Amazon

By Jon Martindale published 16 January 26

Premium Limited supply and skyrocketing demand brew a perfect storm.

Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan getting into a vehicle.

Intel appoints Trump economic advisor as head of government affairs — announces broader leadership shakeup, new interim CTO

By Jon Martindale published 16 December 25

Intel has tightened its ties with the current US administration, appointing an economic advisor to President Trump as its new head of government affairs.

China mulls $70 billion domestic chip fabrication injection, would be largest of any government semiconductor investment — Huawei and Cambricon among candidates in push to compete with Nvidia, other U.S. firms

By Jon Martindale published 12 December 25

Huawei and Cambricon are seen as likely candidates for investment.

Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic join forces to form Agentic AI alliance, according to report — organization backed by the Linux Foundation is set to create open source standards for AI agents

By Jon Martindale published 11 December 25

Premium The biggest names in AI are set to form an open source alliance

ASML under fire for selling DUV equipment to Chinese firm with military ties, says the machines are not subject to export controls — fears grow that 'old technology' will bolster Beijing's quantum effort

By Jon Martindale published 9 December 25

It claims the technology was old and "cannot be used to make the most advanced chips."

The Senate's new SAFE bill is set to curb access to advanced chips to China, but that won't slow down the AI war — training workloads still heavily rely on Nvidia, while alternatives remain inefficient

By Jon Martindale published 8 December 25

Premium A new bipartisan bill in the Senate could pause shipments, but there are ways around it.

Chinese tech firm Cambricon looks to step into Nvidia void, triple AI chip production next year — seeks to rival Huawei, but production remains a concern

By Jon Martindale published 4 December 25

Where it will make all those chips, though, is anyone's guess

Taiwan hits Japanese firm with indictment in TSMC data theft saga — Tokyo Electron charged with failing to prevent its staff from stealing trade secrets

By Jon Martindale published 2 December 25

As chip companies become important to national security, trade thefts have an entirely new gravity to them.

Chinese startup founded by Google engineer claims to have developed its own TPU chip for AI — custom ASIC reportedly 1.5 times faster than Nvidia's A100 GPU from 2020, 42% more efficient

By Jon Martindale published 27 November 25

It's allegedly 1.5 times the speed of Nvidia's A100 GPU from 2020.

Sundar Pinchai and Mark Zuckerberg at an AI summit.

Billion-dollar AI chip deal between Google and Meta could be on the cards — would involve renting Google Cloud TPUs next year, outright purchases in 2027

By Jon Martindale published 25 November 25

The deal is said to be worth billions to both firms, and has already helped boost Google's parent company to a near $4 trillion valuation

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 review photos

AMD to allegedly raise graphics card prices by at least 10% in 2026 — price surge attributed to ongoing AI-related DRAM supply crisis

By Jon Martindale published 24 November 25

Rising memory prices blamed as GPUs look set to become more expensive in 2026.

Wall Street warns of rising AI debt risk as stocks slide on wobbly investor confidence — analysts warn of 'systemic risk' as Nvidia share price creaks

By Jon Martindale published 21 November 25

Increasing systemic risk from interconnected investments with circular revenue relationships is waving red flags.

Anthropic signs $30 billion deal with Amazon to deploy Claude on AWS — Nvidia and Microsoft jointly invest $15 billion into AI firm as it becomes first provider across Azure, AWS and Google

By Jon Martindale published 19 November 25

Premium Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon hitch up with Anthropic

GPU depreciation could be the next big crisis coming for AI hyperscalers — after spending billions on buildouts, next-gen upgrades may amplify cashflow quirks

By Jon Martindale published 18 November 25

Premium Even hyperscalers risk becoming unprofitable.

Microsoft Azure Blocks Largest DDoS Attack in History — attack equivalent to streaming 3.5 million Netflix movies at once, 15.72 Terabits per Second from 500,000 IP addresses tied to IoT botnet

By Jon Martindale published 18 November 25

Attack from botnet hit Azure with over 3.6 million packets per-second

Samsung raised memory chip prices by up to 60% since September, according to reports — AI data center build out strangles supply

By Jon Martindale published 14 November 25

This could be the canary in the coal mine for much higher memory prices to come.

Google strikes massive deal to buy 1.5 terawatt hours of Ohio solar capacity — 15-year deal will see most of 50 megawatt solar farm's capacity diverted to data centers

By Jon Martindale published 12 November 25

There may not be capacity left over for local communities or other businesses to benefit.

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