Ming-Chi Kuo noted that ASML is in rumors to increase the price of its chip-making tools for TSMC. But that won’t be the exact case. Perhaps, the Taiwanese semiconductor firm will likely bargain with ASML and suppress it for price reductions.

TSMC is one of the biggest customers of ASML. The latter used to sell large lithography machines to the former to print circuit patterns onto silicon wafers.

Wall Street stated a few points that hint at why ASML could raise the price of its chip equipment for TSMC. Firstly, ASML has planned to achieve €30 to €40 billion in revenue range by 2025. The firm is taking new steps to enhance its sales by next year.

Secondly, TSMC and other customers of the Dutch chip equipment supplier are looking forward to more advanced chipmaking processes by next year. This may ultimately increase the demand for ASML’s highest-end EUV tools pricing €350 million.

Lastly, ASML is seeing a major decline in semiconductor stocks for the time being. Customers like Intel and Samsung didn’t make much progress. But TSMC has recently reported blockbuster earnings with 54% profit. This could be a reason to hike chip equipment prices for the Taiwanese semiconductor firm.

TSMC is highly dependent on ASML for chipmaking tools. Thus, the Dutch firm could take advantage of this point to some extent by raising its price. However, the U.S. government may subsidize this dealing with better profits on both sides.

Note that neither ASML nor TSMC has confirmed this news so far. Hence, it is better to take this rumor with a grain of salt at present.

ASML rumored to increase chip-making tool price for TSMC (Image Credits: ASML)

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The U.S. is looking for every loophole that can help Huawei in the advanced chipmaking process. A recent report said that the Biden administration may soon add more Chinese firms to the Entity list, blocking the growth of the chip network in China.

Apart from keeping an eye on China, the U.S. is now investigating other foreign suppliers who can lend a hand to Huawei in semiconductor manufacturing.

Inputs reveal that the U.S. Commerce Department started probing TSMC for chip dealings with Huawei. The investigation is in the early stages and aims to check if the chipmaker has been making any AI or phone chips for Huawei for the time being.

If TSMC is found breaching the U.S. export regulations, it might face huge penalties or even a prohibition on using advanced chipmaking tools or techs temporarily.

Under this investigation, the U.S. authorities have targeted the Mate 60 series’ Kirin 5G 9000s chip and recently developed AI Ascend processor. Both these chipsets significantly contribute to China’s progress in the semiconductor industry.

The Commerce Department inquired TSMC about having any direct or indirect (via different names) chip shipments to Huawei in the past or at present. Investigators are also looking into other related aspects like “know-your-customer checks”.

Issues for TSMC

Further details note that the investigation could trouble TSMC to some extent. The Taiwanese chipmaker is one of the key chipset suppliers for U.S. firms.

Huawei AI chipsets (Image Credits: Huawei)

For instance, Apple and Nvidia mainly rely on TSMC for their processors. Also, the Biden administration was planning a $6.6 billion subsidy for the chipmaker to develop its third fabrication unit in Arizona. However, an investigation could halt benefits for some time.

TSMC responded to this investigation and said that it follows all the U.S. export regulations without fail. Although if there is a problem, then it will take action to guarantee compliance in all possible aspects.

“TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are committed to complying with all applicable regulations. If we have any reason to believe there are issues, we will take prompt action to ensure compliance.”

HuaweiCentral’s Take

The U.S. will try every effort to push back Huawei as done in 2019. But this time, the Chinese OEM is focusing on being self-reliant. A recent report claimed that Huawei Kirin 7nm chip performance can match the level of the 5nm processor of TSMC.

How far the U.S. will stretch this investigation on TSMC chip dealings with Huawei would be worth looking forward to.

U.S. investigates TSMC on chip dealings with Huawei (Image Credits: Huawei/TSMC)

(source)

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X tipster @UniverseIce details a new One UI 7.0 internal testing build. He says that Samsung has revamped several app icons with the latest One UI 7.0 version.

The company has specifically made changes to the Gallery, Phone, Camera, Voice Recorder, Contacts, and Notes app icons. Samsung phone users will probably notice beautiful and appealing changes in the user interface with the One UI 7 upgrade.

Further input reveals that the new app icons are more reasonable and far better looking than ever before. It seems Samsung is now working as per users’ feedback.

Samsung is readying more modern and comprehensive app icons this time that can be soothing to the eyes. These improvements will ultimately boost the user interface and make it more attractive than the previous One UI software updates.

Samsung One UI 7 likely to feature attractive app icons (Image Credits: UniverseIce/X)

Revamps and adjustments are the part of software upgrade. As the testing proceeds, users may witness better and more efficient changes in the One UI 7.0.

A previous hands-on video revealed that Samsung is focusing on a cleaner and clutter-free interface. The new changes and enhancements will likely appear in the first One UI 7.0 beta, expectedly scheduled for later this year.

One UI 7.0 will go official next year alongside the Galaxy S25 series. Till then, the company will surely adopt more useful and attractive changes to provide the best software experience to its users.

(Source/Via)

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According to Reuters, the finance minister of South Korea, Choi Sang-mok said that the country is readying strict measures and rules to block chipset and technology leaks in the global market. It is preparing a big-data system as a major safety.

The new “big data” system will lead to useful and stricter rules with tougher punishments for culprits. The penalties under this system are unknown but it will eventually ensure full security of the business secrets and chip tech in the country.

“We will prevent illegal leaks of advanced technologies to raise the global competitiveness of our companies and strengthen technology leadership.” – said Choi.

South Korean government is taking such strict measures following the previous leak cases in the country. Inputs reveal that over 97 attempts have been made in the past five years to leak business secrets and chipset details to other countries.

As noted by the National Intelligence Service, 40 of these leaks were regarding chip manufacturing and its relevant parts. The good news is that these leaks didn’t achieve success. Or else, it would have led to a loss of $16.85 billion to the country.

In September, a South Korean official blamed for stealing chipmaking details from Samsung.  Thus, a few strict measures on this matter are quite necessary.

Over the years, South Korea established around 12 national strategic tech firms that can support the country financially. These include rechargeable batteries, aerospace and artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and more.

These industries also aim to protect and respond actively to global competition and help resolve supply chain problems. It would be worth seeing what new penalties South Korea will take on the chipset and tech leak matter.

South Korea to halt chipset and technology leak with strict measures (Image Credits: Samsung)

|| Source/Featured Image – Samsung Semiconductor ||

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Let’s explore the newly launched speaker in detail.

Design

Huawei launches Sound X4 speaker with the same 3D curved surface as the previous-gen models. It brings smart colorful light effects that move as per the sound. The device is available in two bashing colors: Rhythmic Black and Dynamic White.

Internal parameters: Speakers

It has a dimension of 175.6 x 175.6 x 224mm and weighs around 3150 gm. Sound X4 packs a pure titanium film tweeter, a self-developed mica fiber diaphragm with a midrange speaker, and a 50W sub-tweeter to provide clear sound all the time.

The device supports eight-speaker units which count one 4.75-inch woofer (rated 50W power), four 1.5-inch full-range speakers (5W power each), one 1.25-inch tweeter (3W power), and two passive radiators. It has a frequency response range of 40kHz.

All these eight units bring sound effects like a symphony orchestra. Huawei Sound X4 supports dual channels and an AC adapter with a 24V/2.71A power supply. The compact speaker also has six microphones with a ring array.

Device Controls

Huawei Sound X4 has the following touch buttons: Volume + – button, mic button, play/pause tab, and a lighting control tab on the top center. It can well manage voice, app, and button controls and ensures an interruption-free sound experience.

As mentioned, the device supports a ring of lights that acts as indicators for connection, voice response, status indication, music effects, light wallpaper, and more.

Huawei Sound X4 controls (Image Credits: Huawei)

Features and Capabilities

Huawei Sound X4 has received the high-res high-definition sound quality certificate. It claims to provide more sound details bringing richer as well as more immersive audio to listeners.

It runs on the HUAWEI SOUND Bass enhancement algorithm that actively manages vibration, reduces distortion, and improves the response of low frequencies. The algorithm further helps to achieve powerful performance with rich bass texture.

Smart Sound Field: It spreads sound waves to recognize the room structure and receive feedback. This helps the device automatically match the sound effects in the spatial scenarios. It creates a unique sound field wherever you put it.

HarmonyOS one-touch voice transmission: Just touch the speaker once with your phone and the music will immediately start playing. One can put the speaker close to phones, tablets, PC, or smart TVs and auto-connect both devices without any app.

The device also supports Super Device and cinema-level sound effects. It is a perfect speaker that lets you easily control smart home products.

Price and availability

Huawei Sound X4 is open for sale on Huawei Mall for 1999 yuan. The original rate is 2499 yuan. Users can also pick guarantee services as per their preference.

Huawei Sound X4 features (Image Credits: Huawei)

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Huawei is unable to access high-end chipmaking tools due to U.S. sanctions. Now the foreign authorities are planning more challenges for the company in semiconductor manufacturing. They are pressing Biden to impose more restrictions.

Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi – the members of the House Select Committee on strategic conflicts between the U.S. and China, recently wrote a letter to Gina Raimondo (Commerce Secretary) on Chinese tech progress concerns.

The letter highlights that the Biden administration should increase export controls to block Huawei’s secretive chip network growth. The “clandestine semiconductor facilities” of Huawei will ultimately harm U.S. security on a large scale.

“…Just as you have taken steps to prohibit Huawei from purchasing U.S. chips, it is similarly important and logical to restrict the flow of SME to prevent Huawei from fabricating its chips. Restricting the flow… will send an important signal to… Huawei that the United States will take action to prevent U.S. technology from enabling its problematic technology ambitions.” (via)

According to Bloomberg, Huawei is currently teaming up with Pengxinxu, SwaySure Technology, and Qingdao SiEn to expand its chip network. These firms are free from U.S. restrictions and do not count in the Entity list.

US lawmakers urge tougher restrictions on Huawei chip tech: Report (Image Credits: Huawei)

Huawei also collaborated with the PXW Semiconductor to accelerate its chipmaking process. But later, the U.S. added the respective firm to the entity list, prohibiting it from accessing advanced technologies. Now they are planning the same treatment for the above-mentioned firms to block ways for Huawei.

The Commerce Department has said to respond on this matter soon with their appropriate mediums.

Huawei launched a 7nm chip last year which belongs to the SMIC foundry. Since then, the U.S. started eyeing the OEM for every step it takes in chipmaking.

The U.S. authorities canceled the licenses of many foreign semiconductor firms from selling chipsets or chipmaking equipment to Huawei. ASML is one of the major examples of this aspect. Now lawmakers are urging to ban 120+ Chinese companies and impose fresh restrictions on chip tool sales in China.

Apart from its own efforts, the U.S. is pressuring its neighboring countries to impose the same restrictions on China. Although they didn’t show much interest.

How Huawei will make its steps more firm in the chip tech field amid these US restrictions and export problems would be worth looking forward to.

[Source]

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Weibo tipster @RuiPlaysDigital shared an image of two Control Panels, claiming them to be of HarmonyOS NEXT and MagicOS 9.0. One of these is similar to an early revelation of HarmonyOS NEXT Control Center and adds consent on this matter.

The tipster says the only difference between HarmonyOS NEXT and Honor MagicOS 9.0 Control Panel is the arrangement of widgets. For instance, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tabs, audio controller, volume and brightness adjuster, and so on.

Meanwhile, other features and icons of these two Control Panels are quite identical to each other. The blur effect between the two also differs to some extent but possesses the same capability. Let’s explore both Control Panels one by one.

Honor MagicOS 9.0 Control Panel

The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tabs are placed vertically on the top left, beside the hotspot section. Below these buttons, users will find the media player and two adjusters: brightness and volume. Settings and Edit icons are also visible above the hotspot.

At the topmost side, there is a battery indicator and other network services icon. The rest of the Control Panel is full of quick setting icons like ring, rotate, and more.

The live image shows an opaque background rather than a slight blur. But that could be the wallpaper effect. Other changes will be clear by the MagicOS 9.0 launch.

HarmonyOS NEXT vs MagicOS 9.0: Control Panel (Image Credits: Weibo)

HarmonyOS NEXT Control Panel

The current appearance is quite similar to a previous leak. It shows merged items instead of separate ones. Just opt for a simple “swipe down” gesture to see all the icons alongside a large brightness adjuster, which is not visible in this picture.

All the icons and tabs appear at equidistance from each other. The tiny icons are now more round than ever before and seem quite big as well as recognizable.

One side of the Control Panel shows the setting icon while the other one highlights the editing option. The background seems more blurry, giving the effect of the main wallpaper on the Control Panel which ultimately makes it more appealing.

Concluding the points, the tipster said that HarmonyOS NEXT Control Panel isn’t the final version. Huawei could make more changes and modify it with the stable version. Thus, we may find more interesting changes between the two major OS(s) later.

Leak shows similar Control Panel of HarmonyOS NEXT and MagicOS 9.0 (Image Credits: Weibo)

|| source ||

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X tipster @UniverseIce recently noticed the creativity level of One UI 7.0 in one of its early builds. He says that the software is still in development. But new testing builds hint at positive improvements regarding the User Interface and stability.

The tipster further reveals that One UI 7.0 will bring redesigned widgets and many icons. For instance, the Samsung Gallery app will get a new app icon again.

Not only applications but the upcoming software update may also change the in-content tool and feature icons of the Gallery app. Apart from the Samsung Gallery, users could discover more new innovative app icons with the One UI 7.0 beta.

Speaking of the widgets, the tipster mentioned that One UI 7 will likely bring some incomparably rich widgets. These might deliver smarter tools and capabilities over the rival operating systems. But the details aren’t clear for the time being.

Samsung One UI 7.0 may feature redesigned widgets and icons (Image Credits: UniverseIce/X)

A report by ETNews also claims that Samsung is working on the stability and completeness of the One UI 7.0 user interface. The company continues to perform new internal tests that can improve the new software’s UI to a greater extent.

Samsung is putting efforts to make its upcoming One UI upgrade the best for its device users. This is probably a reason why the company is taking time to roll out the first beta update. How far the tech giant will extend this wait would be worth seeing.

(Source/Via)

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A few early teardowns have shown that Pura 70 series uses more Chinese parts than previous Huawei phones. The standard variant possesses nearly 33 China-made components, which is the highest number to date. Read the full details HERE.

Now TechInsights revealed that the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has advanced 5G radio architecture. It says that the OEM imposed improved RF parts on the device.

RF Components:

RF (radio-frequency) components are the basic parts that operate a device. These elements manage filtering, amplifying, mixing, and modulating signals. Simply put these help in transmitting/receiving radio signals between two devices.

TechInsights states that the Pura 70 Ultra shows the company’s progress in cutting-edge technologies for its devices. And the 5G radio design is no exception to this theory. The report also mentions that the Pura model has a few similar RF parts to the Mate 60 series handsets. Some of these are given in the image below.

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has cutting-edge 5G radio architecture: TechInsights (Image Credits: MyDrivers)

Notably, all components mentioned in the list are made in China. The main manufacturers of these parts are HiSilicon, China Electronics Group, and Onmicro.

Apart from components, certain features of the Pura 70 Ultra are also running on Chinese components. For instance, the satellite features by Beidou and Tiantong are possible due to the MSC06A MSS chip and a HiSilicon processor.

These enhancements reflect Huawei’s progress towards self-reliance. The company is ditching foreign components for its devices. It aims to support native suppliers and enrich its creations with self-developed elements over the U.S.-based parts.

A recent input said that the Huawei Mate 70 series will have more Chinese components than the Pura 70 models. Things will get clear after the official unveiling of the upcoming flagship.

(source)

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The company and its senior executives have begun teasing the Honor X60 series on Weibo. In the latest edition, a teaser of a 6600mAh battery has surfaced saying:

“Good mobile phone with good battery life and more durable! #HonorX60Series# is equipped with an Honor Qinghai Lake battery for the first time. Whether it is strong or not, you have the final say!”

Looking into the teaser image, the Honor X60 series reflects a 6600mAh large battery. The lithium cell claims to offer the best battery life and gives a big relief to users from constant charging. It can keep the device alive for 2 days straight.

While many smartphones pack 6000mAh and above batteries, the X60 series cell capacity directly turned to 6600mAh which shows battery life at a new peak!

Honor X60 series to equip a 6600mAh large battery (Image Credits: Honor/Weibo)

Now here comes an important point! An early hands-on image claimed that the Honor X60 possesses a 5800mAh battery. It means the 6600mAh cell is for the Pro model.

Qinghai Lake battery tech is Honor’s first silicon-carbon negative electrode cell technology. It is familiar for increasing the cell capacity and enhancing its longevity.

The Qinghai Lake battery solution is further linked with low-voltage charge polymerization to increase the battery power in the device. And let’s not forget the E1 chip that helps with precise energy efficiency as well as power management.

It would be worth seeing what more flagship-level specifications the Honor X60 series will bring to the consumer platform.

[Source]

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