compelling

TSMC is not going to use its High-NA machines at the moment and has a compelling reason not to do so

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On April 23, TSMC made official a strategic decision very important: has postponed the adoption of ASML’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and high aperture lithography machines until 2029. These are the equipment of manufacturing of more advanced integrated circuits that this company from the Netherlands currently has in its portfolio, and TSMC’s announcement caused ipso facto a drop of 3.3% of the value of its shares. It is not in vain that this Taiwanese chip producer is ASML’s largest client. In 2025 23.9% of total sales of this Dutch company came from TSMC. The main reason why this last company has decided not to use UVE High-NA machines of ASML in the short term is strictly economic. Each of them has a price of around 350 million euros, and, in addition, a single cutting-edge semiconductor plant requires the installation of several dozen of this equipment. TSMC considers that they are currently too expensive to make the manufacturing of advanced chips profitable. And, interestingly, Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix they are already adopting High-NA technology. This decision by TSMC brings great technical challenges The step taken by TSMC has not been improvised, as might be expected. In fact, over the past two years several managers at this company have publicly expressed doubts about the short-term adoption of ASML’s High-NA equipment. In January 2024 CC Wei, the current president and CEO of TSMC, surprised us with this statement: “We are studying it carefully, evaluating the maturity of the tool and examining its costs. We always make the right decision at the right time in order to offer the best service to our clients,” Wei assured. during a meeting. A few weeks earlier Szeho Ng, an analyst at China Renaissance, predicted that TSMC would not use ASML’s high-aperture UVE equipment until it introduced its 1nm integration technology. “We always make the right decision at the right time with the purpose of offering the best service to our clients” Last week it was Kevin Zhang, TSMC’s deputy chief operating officer, who clarified something very important: “I am amazed by our R&D team. They continue to find ways to drive technological development without using ASML’s High-NA UVE equipment. Someday we may have to use them, but right now we can continue to reap the benefits of current EUV technology without moving to High-NA which, as we all know, is extremely expensive.” In 2029, TSMC intends to have the A12 and A13 integration technologies ready for large-scale production, which are nothing more than derivatives of its A14 photolithography. From a commercial point of view these will be the first 1.2 and 1.3 nm technologies of this company. They will use GAA transistors (Gate-All-Around) and NanoFlex Pro technology. This latest innovation will allow IC designers to use fast cells for the critical parts of the GPU that need speed, and dense or efficient cells for the rest, thus optimizing the chip area down to the last millimeter. What we still do not know is what technical solutions TSMC engineers are going to implement to make it possible to manufacture 1.2 and 1.3 nm integrated circuits using ASML’s UVE equipment. It’s just a guess, but it seems unlikely that they will resort to the multiple patterning because this procedure compromises the performance per wafer and the cost of the semiconductors. TSMC would lose competitiveness. One last note: the multiple patterning Broadly speaking, it consists of transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. Image | ASML More information | Innovation Origins In Xataka | Bill Gates has X-rayed Intel. And his diagnosis is overwhelmingly accurate.

There are more and more people convinced that we are wrong about Pompeii. And they have more and more compelling arguments

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“It was daytime anywhere in the world, but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any other night.” Those words of Pliny the Youngerremain almost 2,000 years later the best description of the hell on Earth that was, according to traditional historiography, the days of August 24 and 25 on the slopes of Vesuvius. Preserved under thick layers of volcanic ash and pumice, Pompeii has given us many surprises since 1748 when Charles III ordered the systematic exporation of the city. But what no one could have expected is that on August 24, 79, the Pompeians would dress in wool. With wool? These are the conclusions of the latest work by the tropos group of the University of Valencia: after analyzing 14 tracings of different victims of Pompeii, the researchers they came to the conclusion that the majority of the victims were wearing two layers (tunic and cape) and that both were made of wool. Furthermore, it was a very heavy wool. That is, with a very dense plot. The cold of Pompeii… in August? As I’m sure you have noticed, at the beginning of the article, just when I was about to say the date of the eruption, I added “according to traditional historiography.” And it is not a rhetorical device. Traditionally, following the letters that Pliny the Younger sent to Tacitus explaining the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, it has been assumed that the eruption took place on August 24. However, in recent years evidence of a possible autumn eruption has been accumulating. The last one was a charcoal inscription with the date October 17. In that sense, the discovery that the Pompeians were dressed in wool could be understood as an argument in favor of the autumn eruption. Although it doesn’t have to. And yes, it is true that it sounds strange to be dressed in two layers of wool in a normal August in the Gulf of Naples. However, the authors do not agree. In Live Science, without going any further, several experts explained that “they wore wool because it was what was worn.” It is a common, resistant and, above all, fashionable textile. In fact, the same UV hastened to add that it is well possible that wool was used as “protection” against a “harmful environment” (ash, gas, heat) and not only against the cold. So we don’t know when Vesuvius erupted, right? The truth is that no and that, if you allow me, is very interesting. Pompeii is, without a doubt, the most studied Roman site in the world and, despite everything, there are many things that escape us. That fascinating combination between knowing or not knowing is exactly what attracts us most to the tragic city that in two nights in the year 79 ceased to be so. Image | University of Valencia In Xataka | 2,000 years later, Pompeii continues to reveal fascinating things: the latest is a blue room for unknown uses

Bermuda shouldn’t be there, but there is a compelling reason for it to remain after 30 million years

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Bermuda is an anomaly in themselvessince it is normal that they were not there. To understand it, you have to know that this volcanic archipelago was formed 30 million years ago, and the normal thing, after so much time of inactivity, is that the oceanic crust would have cooled and sank. But this has not happened, and science now believes it knows why. The study. A priori the islands should be submerged, but They are still there elevated about 500 meters above what would correspond and Yale University wanted to find the solution. And the truth is that they have found it hidden 20 kilometers under our feet. An x-ray of 400 earthquakes. To solve the mystery, researchers did not use excavators but seismic waves. Analyzing the data of almost 400 earthquakes recorded by the BBSR station in the Bermudathe team managed to create a map of the innermost layers beneath the archipelago. What they found is a unique structure in the world: a lower layer about 20 kilometers thick located right between the planet’s crust and mantle. And its function is really important, since it acts as a floating support that keeps the Bermuda on the surface without sinking. And all thanks to the fact that it has a much lower density than the material that surrounds it that generates a buoyant force. Something unique. Beyond understanding why Bermuda is still there, we also see that this is a very unusual structure. So much so that it is unlike anything seen in other similar archipelagos, such as Hawaii. Its origin. When it comes to finding out how that plate is in its current location, there are several theories currently in force among the scientific community. The first of them is based on the fact that a remnant of volcanic activity from 30 million years ago was “sealed” under the crust. The second theory that is used focuses on a chemical process where sea water penetrates the rocks of the mantle, altering them and making them less dense, and, therefore, causing them to float. But whatever the origin, the study confirms that Bermuda sits on a tectonic anomaly that defies geological models. The end of myths. The truth is that Bermuda has always been a great mystery, starring for example in the ‘Bermuda Triangle‘ where it is said that things like airplanes disappear. Something that we try to explain with the meteorological phenomena that develop in this location. But what seems to have finally turned out is how Bermuda was in that location when it should have been on the seabed for many years. Although this has only made geologists have to rethink how tectonic plates work under the oceans. In Xataka | Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean

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