In a development that comes on the proverbial heels of China's formal approval of Apple Intelligence features for the country's consumers, Alibaba has notified that its Qwen family of AI models will be integrated into Apple Intelligence, bringing AI-powered experiences for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS users. Users in China will now be able to access Qwen’s entire range of AI capabilities, including text, image, and content generation, directly on Apple devices Alibaba has now officially confirmed that users in China will be able to access its Qwen AI models via Apple devices, going on to note in a statement: […]

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NVIDIA Corporation is taking strict action to ensure that its AI GPUs only land in the hands of the right customers, reports the Financial Times. The action is to ensure that its chips do not reach China, and it follows increasing scrutiny by Taiwanese authorities on firms allegedly involved in shipping the chips to the Asian country. Previous reports have suggested that the Chinese government is interested in granting exemptions to some local firms to buy NVIDIA chips, even as firms such as Huawei claim to be able to achieve parity with Western technology in the future. NVIDIA Is Working […]

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In a surprising move, China has decided to restrict global helium supplies. The export ban appears to be blanket, but given China's limited market share of the global helium industry, it is unlikely to cause significant disruption in the semiconductor fabrication industry. Estimates from the US Geological Survey suggest that the US is the world's leading helium producer and is followed by Qatar, Russia, Algeria, and Canada. China's Helium Export Ban Could Create Tightness In Global Semiconductor Fabrication Industry Helium is used in several key phases of semiconductor fabrication. These include different categories of deposition, cooling the wafers, and etching. […]

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