According to Tom's Hardware's weekly Premium roundup, AI and its data-center buildout continue to affect every corner of the semiconductor industry. Tencent has reportedly reached a deal to lease high-performance AI chips from Oracle for $7 billion over five years. The estimated per-hour lease price is about 43% less than a standard Nvidia H100 rental on a one-year contract, and the terms point to Hopper-class GPUs. The roundup notes the arrangement may give Chinese firms a rental loophole around export controls.
Separately, Qualcomm has reportedly reached a deal to license patents behind Huawei's LogicFolding chip-stacking method — a reversal of the historical direction of such licensing. The agreement is subject to approval and reportedly covers AI, networking, compute, and other technologies. The roundup also highlights a proposed class-action lawsuit by two former Groq employees and shareholders against Groq's former board and CEO, alleging the board's actions around the company's $20 billion deal with Nvidia cost stockholders billions; Nvidia is not a defendant.
Other items in the roundup include a Synopsys-OpenAI partnership to build a chip-design-specialized model, GPT-Synopsys, and new neon recycling systems from Gigaphoton and Kanten Techno, which address the DUV lithography supply disruptions that followed the conflict in Ukraine.