Luke James

Luke James

Contributor

Luke is a freelance technology journalist who has been covering hardware and semiconductors since 2020. He began his career at All About Circuits and has since contributed to EE Power and Laptop Mag. Luke has a particular interest in semiconductors, microelectronics, and the industry shifts that shape the devices we use every day. Above all, he loves making complex technology accessible to experts and enthusiasts alike. Luke's interest in hardcore computing can be traced back to his university studies, when he responsibly spent his very first student loan payment on a custom-built gaming rig equipped with a GTX 780 Ti. 

Articles by: Luke James

Woman walking past battery testing

Taiwan's $3.2 billion plan for 'AI island' with data centers, quantum hubs, and AI robotics labs faces risks — power and geopolitical headwinds may threaten country's ambition

By Luke James published

Premium Taiwan has confirmed it will allocate over NT$100 billion — around US$3.2 billion — for a multi-year national AI infrastructure plan, to become a global leader in AI compute and hardware by 2040.

Intel NYC 2025 pop-up store

TSMC's CoWoS packaging capacity reportedly stretched due to AI demand — Intel's EMIB and Foveros eyed as potential solution to bottleneck

By Luke James published

Premium As TSMC hits a supply-side wall with CoWoS, Intel may be positioned to provide reprive with EMIB and Foveros.

An Amazon Leo Ultra satellite antenna.

Amazon unveils Starlink rival capable of up to 1 Gbps satellite internet — Leo Ultra is an enterprise-grade terminal with 400 Mbps upload speeds

By Luke James published

Amazon has unveiled Leo Ultra, a high-throughput phased-array terminal for its upcoming satellite internet service, now rebranded from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo.

Huawei

Huawei claims new software can 'create an analogue AI chip 1000 times faster than Nvidia’s chips' — open source Flex:ai software designed to boost AI-chip utilization

By Luke James published

Huawei has introduced Flex:ai, an open-source orchestration tool designed to raise the utilization rate of AI chips in large-scale compute clusters.

Lisa Su sits alongside TSMC CEO C C Wei and former Chairman Mark Liu on-stage at the 2025 SIA Awards.

TSMC says advanced‑node capacity falls ‘about three times short’ of AI demand — company's wafer capacity is 'still not enough' as demand continues to rise

By Luke James published

TSMC Chairman-CEO C. C. Wei says capacity is roughly three times short of what its major customers plan to consume.

GettyImages-86430864

Major insurers move to avoid liability for AI lawsuits as multi-billion dollar risks emerge — Recent public incidents have lead to costly repercussions

By Luke James last updated

Major insurers are moving to ring-fence their exposure to artificial intelligence failures, after a run of costly and highly public incidents pushed concerns about systemic, correlated losses.

IBM Quantum Starling and the roadmap to 2033

IBM and Cisco agree to lay the foundations for a quantum internet — companies announce plans to build a distributed quantum computing network, linking fault-tolerant systems over long distances

By Luke James published

Premium IBM and Cisco have announced plans to jointly build a distributed quantum computing network capable of linking fault-tolerant systems over long distances.

Undersea cables

Congressional report details China's new deep-sea cable cutter that can sever armored cables in 13,000 feet of water — report warns of rising Chinese undersea cable cutting capabilities

By Luke James published

A new annual report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission delivered to Congress states that China is actively developing technologies to sever undersea cables.

Dig up some Bitcoins

Hobbyist solo miner scores a full Bitcoin block worth $270,000 despite 1 in 180 million odds — 3.146 Bitcoins mined by a single low-powered 6 TH/s ASIC with about 0.0000007% of the network’s hashrate

By Luke James published

A solo miner running just 6 terahashes per second of computing power has overcome odds of about one‑in‑180 million to mine a full Bitcoin block via the CKpool pool.

The DragonFire system firing a bright red laser, engaging a drone mid-air.

DragonFire laser shoots down high‑speed drones traveling at 400mph, costs $13 per shot — UK Navy to begin deploying system on destroyers

By Luke James published

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that the high‑power laser system DragonFire successfully shot down drones travelling at speeds up to 650 km/h during recent trials in Scotland.

Huawei Ascend

Huawei's Ascend AI chip ecosystem scales up as China pushes for semiconductor independence — however, firm lags behind on efficiency and performance

By Luke James published

Premium Huawei’s in-house Ascend processors and their surrounding supplier network are being positioned as the foundation of a national effort to build an independent, fully domestic semiconductor ecosystem.

The Microsoft Azure Cobalt 200 chip pictured with a blue hue around it.

Microsoft unveils Azure Cobalt 200 CPU, in-house chip targets higher performance and deeper integration — Arm-based chip is equipped with 132 cores and manufactured using TSMC's 3nm process

By Luke James published

Premium Microsoft has revealed its next major in-house server processor, the Azure Cobalt 200, a 132-core Arm-based CPU built on TSMC’s 3nm process.

Nexperia logo

Netherlands suspends Nexperia takeover order as China eases export curbs — de-escalation could be welcome break for automotive industry

By Luke James published

The Dutch government has suspended its emergency order to oversee chipmaker Nexperia, returning operational control to Chinese parent company Wingtech.

cloiudflare

Cloudflare's CTO apologizes after error takes huge chunk of the internet offline — 'we failed our customers and the broader internet'

By Luke James published

Cloudflare has confirmed that a bug in one of its core services caused a major outage on Tuesday, taking large portions of the internet offline.

A datrk render of a data center

Taiwan to spend $3 billion turning nation into 'AI island', targets top five global compute power — new goals threatened by energy shortfalls

By Luke James published

Taiwan has formally committed over NT$100 billion (US$3.2 billion) to a new national initiative to turn the island into a global hub for artificial intelligence.

A garden shed that is being used as a datacenter

UK couple’s garden shed datacenter heats home and cuts energy bills to £40 — clusters of 56 Raspberry Pis run real workloads, waste heat converted to heat home

By Luke James published

A couple from Essex in the United Kingdom are heating their home with a small datacenter in their garden, according to a BBC News report.

Undersea cable

Google and Meta delay undersea cable projects over security concerns — Red Sea corridor carries a fifth of global internet traffic, but risk to crews and ships stalls plans

By Luke James published

Google and Meta have delayed segments of their subsea cable projects crossing the Red Sea, citing continuing security risks

SK Hynix

Distributors force unprecedented RAM and motherboard bundle mandate to fight global shortage, report claims — distributors require one-to-one ratio from buyers

By Luke James published

A severe shortage in global DRAM supply has reportedly led some distributors in Taiwan to impose unprecedented bundling requirements on buyers.

UPS planes on an airport ramp

PC hobbyist charged $684 in tariffs on $355 shipment of parts due to classification defaults as low-value import exemptions vanish - de minimis exemption expiration poses big problems for the holiday season

By Luke James published

A PC hobbyist says he was hit with a $684 tariff bill on a $355 shipment of retro computing parts, in what appears to be a growing pattern tied to changes in federal import rules.

MSFT All In One HERO

Microsoft Windows boss posts lackluster response to ‘agentic OS’ backlash — Microsoft is working to address broad problems with the OS

By Luke James published

For both your everyday and power users alike, the gap between messaging and actual, measurable action in response to criticism remains stark.

A Tesla Megapack cluster deployed in a desert environment.

Tesla targets AI data centers with massive Megapack batteries as grid-strain fears grow — says $50B/GW for a 2-hour system over a 20-year lifetime is 'outsized value'

By Luke James published

Tesla has launched a new marketing push for its Megapack battery systems, targeting hyperscale AI data centers grappling with extreme and unpredictable power fluctuations.

NAND Flash pricing decline

YMTC moves ahead with third chipmaking fab in Wuhan despite U.S. sanctions — blacklisted Chinese chipmaker bets big on memory

By Luke James published

Premium Amid a global memory shortage, China's YMTC has set its sights on building a third semiconductor plant in Wuhan, with the facility expected to begin mass production of memory chips by 2027.

Nexperia factory in Newport.

Automotive officials warn of 'devastating' chip storage as Nexperia halts China-bound wafer shipments — companies working 'around the clock' to find alternatives

By Luke James published

A growing dispute inside one of Europe’s largest chipmakers is threatening to derail automotive production across the continent.

An IBM Quantum Nighthawk chip held by a gloved hand.

IBM unveils new 'Quantum Nighthawk' 120-qubit processor and software stack — company on track for 2029 fault-tolerance milestone

By Luke James published

Premium IBM has detailed its most significant quantum computing advances to date, revealing new hardware and software designed to push the limits of what today’s superconducting qubits can do.

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DARPA invests $1.4 billion to build experimental Texas foundry for next-generation 3D chips — Austin plant to buck standard fab models to focus on high-mix, low-volume production

By Luke James published

Premium A new DARPA- and Texas-backed facility will focus on 3D heterogeneous integration, stacking, and combining multiple materials and chip types to advance U.S. capabilities in defense, AI, and HPC.

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