"The number of discrete GPU developers from the U.S. and Western Europe shrank to three companies in 2025," notes Tom's Hardware, "from around 10 in 2000." (Nvidia, AMD, and Intel...) No company in the recent years — at least outside of China — was bold enough to engage into competition against these three contenders, so the very emergence of Bolt Graphics seems like a breakthrough. However, the major focuses of Bolt's Zeus are high-quality rendering for movie and scientific industries as well as high-performance supercomputer simulations. If Zeus delivers on its promises, it could establish itself as a serious alternative for scientific computing, path tracing, and offline rendering. But without strong software support, it risks struggling against dominant market leaders.
This week the Sunnyvale, California-based startup introduced its Zeus GPU platform designed for gaming, rendering, and supercomputer simulations, according to the article. "The company says that its Zeus GPU not only supports features like upgradeable memory and built-in Ethernet interfaces, but it can also beat Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5090 by around 10 times in path tracing workloads, according to slide published by technology news site ServeTheHome." There is one catch: Zeus can only beat the RTX 5090 GPU in path tracing and FP64 compute workloads. It's not clear how well it will handle traditional rendering techniques, as that was less of a focus. In speaking with Bolt Graphics, the card does support rasterization, but there was less emphasis on that aspect of the GPU, and it may struggle to compete with the best graphics cards when it comes to gaming. And when it comes to data center options like Nvidia's Blackwell B200, it's an entirely different matter.

Unlike GPUs from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia that rely on proprietary instruction set architectures, Bolt's Zeus relies on the open-source RISC-V ISA, according to the published slides. The Zeus core relies on an open-source out-of-order general-purpose RVA23 scalar core mated with FP64 ALUs and the RVV 1.0 (RISC-V Vector Extension Version 1.0) that can handle 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit data types as well as Bolt's additional proprietary extensions designed for acceleration of scientific workloads... Like many processors these days, Zeus relies on a multi-chiplet design... Unlike high-end GPUs that prioritize bandwidth, Bolt is evidently focusing on greater memory size to handle larger datasets for rendering and simulations. Also, built-in 400GbE and 800GbE ports to enable faster data transfer across networked GPUs indicates the data center focus of Zeus.

High-quality rendering, real-time path tracing, and compute are key focus areas for Zeus. As a result, even the entry-level Zeus 1c26-32 offers significantly higher FP64 compute performance than Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5090 — up to 5 TFLOPS vs. 1.6 TFLOPS — and considerably higher path tracing performance: 77 Gigarays vs. 32 Gigarays. Zeus also features a larger on-chip cache than Nvidia's flagship — up to 128MB vs. 96MB — and lower power consumption of 120W vs. 575W, making it more efficient for simulations, path tracing, and offline rendering. However, the RTX 5090 dominates in AI workloads with its 105 FP16 TFLOPS and 1,637 INT8 TFLOPS compared to the 10 FP16 TFLOPS and 614 INT8 TFLOPS offered by a single-chiplet Zeus...
The article emphasizes that Zeus "is only running in simulation right now... Bolt Graphics says that the first developer kits will be available in late 2025, with full production set for late 2026."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader arvn for sharing the news.

Intel has appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO in an effort to turn around the struggling chipmaker, following the resignation of Pat Gelsinger. CNBC reports: Tan was previously CEO of Cadence Design Systems, which makes software used by all the major chip designers, including Intel. He was an Intel board member but departed last year, citing other commitments. Tan replaces interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and MJ Holthaus, who took over in December when former Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger was ousted. Tan is also rejoining Intel's board. [...] Intel shares rose over 12% in extended trading on Wednesday.

Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett urged the rehiring of Pat Gelsinger, who was abruptly fired two months ago, arguing he should "finish the job he has aptly handled over the past few years."

"Pat Gelsinger did a great job resuscitating the technology development team," Barrett wrote, criticizing the company's current leadership under "a CFO and a product manager." He suggested firing the Intel board rather than splitting the company.

Barrett's comments come in response to proposals from four former board members advocating for Intel's separation into design and manufacturing businesses. Barrett dismissed these board members as "two academics and two former government bureaucrats" lacking semiconductor industry expertise.

The former CEO praised Intel's technological resurgence under Gelsinger, noting its capabilities now match industry leader TSMC's 2nm technology, with additional advances in imaging technology and backside power delivery to complex chips. "Intel is backâ"from a technology point of view," Barrett wrote, arguing the best path forward is building on current momentum rather than organizational restructuring that would disrupt the company's 100,000-plus employees across multiple continents.

Nvidia and Broadcom are conducting manufacturing tests using Intel's advanced 18A chip production process, according to Reuters, signaling potential confidence in the struggling chipmaker's contract manufacturing ambitions. The previously unreported tests could lead to significant manufacturing contracts for Intel, whose foundry business has suffered delays and lacks major chip designer customers.

AMD is also evaluating Intel's 18A technology, which competes with Taiwan's dominant TSMC, according to the report. The current tests focus on determining capabilities of Intel's process rather than running complete chip designs. Intel faces additional setbacks, with qualification of critical intellectual property for 18A taking longer than expected, potentially delaying some customer chip production until mid-2026.

Speaking of some concept devices that Lenovo has unveiled, the company today teased its ThinkBook "codename Flip" AI PC Concept at Mobile World Congress, featuring a flexible 18.1-inch OLED display that can transform between three configurations: a traditional 13.1-inch clamshell, a folded 12.9-inch tablet, or a laptop with an extra-tall vertical screen.

Unlike the motorized ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 expected in June, the Flip uses the display's flexibility to fold behind itself, eliminating motors while gaining 0.4 inches of additional screen space. Users can mirror content on the rear-facing portion when folded or enjoy the full 2000x2664 resolution display in vertical orientation. The concept also features a SmartForcePad trackpad with LED-illuminated shortcut layers. While still in prototype phase, Lenovo has specs in mind: Intel Ultra 7 processor, 32GB RAM, PCIe SSD storage, and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity.

According to The Columbia Dispatch, Intel's promised $28 billion semiconductor project in central Ohio has been delayed again until 2030, with operations beginning sometime shortly thereafter in either 2030 or 2031. From the report: By the time it opens, Intel's first factory will have faced at least five or six years of delays, as it was originally scheduled to begin operating in 2025. Intel's second Ohio factory won't be completed until at least 2031 and will begin running in 2032, according to the company. The new timeline comes as Intel continues to struggle financially, which was a key factor in the latest delay for the company's Ohio factories. The company was alerting its employees of the delays in a message Friday.

The changes were made so Intel can align its factory operation with market demand and better "manage our capital responsibly," Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president, chief global operations officer and general manager of Intel Foundry Manufacturing wrote in a message to workers. The changes will ensure Intel's Ohio fabs will be finished in a "financially responsible manner that sets up Ohio One for success," Chandrasekaran wrote. "I wanted to be upfront and transparent with you all about our current plan. In no way does this diminish our long-term commitment to Ohio," Chandrasekaran wrote. "(W)e will continue to scale our hiring as we approach our operational dates. Intel is proud to call Ohio home, and we remain excited about our future here."

At its "Second Gen" event today, Framework detailed three new computers: an updated Framework Laptop 13 with AMD Ryzen AI 300, a 4.5-liter Mini-ITX desktop powered by Ryzen AI Max, and a colorful, convertible Framework Laptop 12 designed with students in mind. The latter is defined by Framework as a "defining product." Tom's Hardware reports: Framework Desktop: The Framework Desktop is a 4.5L Mini-ITX machine using AMD's Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" chips with Radeon 8060S graphics. While this is a mobile chip, Framework says putting it in a desktop chassis gets it to 120W sustained power and 140W boost "while staying quiet and cool." Framework says this should allow 1440p gaming on intense titles, as well as workstation-class projects and local AI. [...] The base model, with a Ryzen AI Max 385 and 32GB of RAM, starts at $1,099, while the top-end machine with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with 128GB of RAM begins at $1,999. Framework is only doing "DIY" editions here, so you'll have to get your own storage drive and bring your own operating system (the company is calling it "the easiest PC you'll ever build"). The mainboard on its own will be available from $799. Pre-orders are open now, and Framework expects to ship sometime in Q3.

Framework Laptop 12: The Laptop 12 is designed to bring the flexibility from the Laptop 12 but make it smaller, cheaper, and in more colors (with an optional stylus to match). These machines are made of ABS plastic molded in thermoplastic polyurethane, all around a metal frame. Framework says that it's "our easiest product ever to repair," but that more information on that will come closer to its launch in mid-2025. I'm really looking forward to this repair guide. It comes in five colorways: lavender, sage, gray, black, and bubblegum. The laptop will come with 13th Gen Intel Core i3 and i5 processors, which aren't the latest, but better than entry-level junk. You'll get up to 48GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and Wi-Fi 6E. It has a 1920 x 1200 touch screen that the company claims will surpass 400 nits of brightness. There's no pricing information yet, and Framework says there's more to share on pricing and specs later in the year. Pre-orders will open in April ahead of the mid-year launch.

Framework Laptop 13: The Framework Laptop 13 is getting a significant refresh with AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series. It doesn't look all that different on the outside, with a 13.5-inch design that largely resembles the one from way back in 2021. But there are new features. Beyond the processors, the Framework Laptop 3 is getting bumped up to Wi-Fi 7 and is getting a new thermal system, a "next-generation" keyboard, and new colorways for the Expansion Cards and bezels (though I still don't know why you would want a bezel in anything other than black). [...] The new Framework Laptop 13 with AMD Ryzen AI 300 starts at $899 for a DIY Edition without storage or an OS, and $1,099 for a pre-built model. If you're buying the mainboard to put in an old system, that's $449. (Framework is keeping the Ryzen 7040 systems around starting at $749). No word for now on any new Intel models.

Microsoft has updated its CPU compatibility list for Windows 11 24H2, excluding pre-11th-generation Intel processors for OEMs building new PCs. The Register reports: Windows 11 24H2 has been available to customers for months, yet Microsoft felt compelled in its February update to confirm that builders, specifically, must use Intel's 11th-generation or later silicon when building brand new PCs to run its most recent OS iteration. "These processors meet the design principles around security, reliability, and the minimum system requirements for Windows 11," Microsoft says.

Intel's 11th-generation chips arrived in 2020 and were discontinued last year. It would be surprising, if not unheard of, for OEMs to build machines with unsupported chips. Intel has already transitioned many pre-11th generation chips to "a legacy software support model," so Microsoft's decision to omit the chips from the OEM list is understandable. However, this could be seen as a creeping problem. Chips made earlier than that were present very recently, in the list of supported Intel processors for Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2.

This new OEM list may add to worries of some users looking at the general hardware compatibility specs for Windows 11 and wondering if the latest information means that even the slightly newer hardware in their org's fleet will soon no longer meet the requirements of Microsoft's flagship operating system. It's a good question, and the answer -- currently -- appears to be that those "old" CPUs are still suitable. Microsoft has a list of hardware compatibility requirements that customers can check, and they have not changed much since the outcry when they were first published.

For the first time since 2004, PassMark's global CPU benchmark data shows a decline in average processor performance, with laptop CPUs dropping 3.4% and desktop CPUs falling 0.5% year-over-year. Tom's Hardware reports: We see the biggest drop in laptop CPU performance results. PassMark recorded an average result of 14,632 across 101,316 samples last year. But, in 2025, the average score sat at an average of 14,130 points between 25,541 samples, decreasing the average score by 3.4%. The average desktop PC result in 2024 netted 26,436 points for 186,053 samples. But for 2025, the average score currently sits at 26,311 points for over 47,810 samples -- a 0.5% drop from last year. While that drop is small, we should only see a continued progression of faster performance.

[...] Passmark itself mused on X (formerly Twitter) that it could be that people are switching to more affordable machines that deliver lower power and performance. Or maybe Windows 11 is depressing performance scores versus Windows 10, especially as people transition to it with the upcoming demise of the latter. We've certainly seen plenty of examples of reduced performance in gaming with some of the newer versions of Windows 11, particularly as Intel and AMD struggled to upstream needed updates into the OS. [...] PassMark also muses that bloatware could contribute to the sudden decline in performance, but that seems like a longshot.

Lyft says it will launch a fleet of robotaxis, using self-driving technology from Intel's Mobileye, in Dallas in "as soon as 2026," with plans to scale to "thousands" of vehicles in additional markets in the months to follow. From a report: To signal its seriousness, the company tapped Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate, to run fleet operations. Lyft's news comes after Uber dropped new details about its plan to feature Waymo's robotaxis on its platform in Austin and Atlanta later this year. And Tesla recently shared plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin this summer.

Fortune remembers that in 2011 Steve Jobs had told author Walter Isaacson that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates would "be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."

But The Indendepent notes that in his new memoir Gates does write about two acid trip experiences. (Gates mis-timed his first experiment with LSD, ending up still tripping during a previously-scheduled appointment for dental surgery...) "Later in the book, Gates recounts another experience with LSD with future Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and some friends... Gates says in the book that it was the fear of damaging his memory that finally persuaded him never to take the drug again." He added: "I smoked pot in high school, but not because it did anything interesting. I thought maybe I would look cool and some girl would think that was interesting. It didn't succeed, so I gave it up."

Gates went on to say that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who didn't know about his past drug use, teased him on the subject. "Steve Jobs once said that he wished I'd take acid because then maybe I would have had more taste in my design of my products," recalled Gates. "My response to that was to say, 'Look, I got the wrong batch.' I got the coding batch, and this guy got the marketing-design batch, so good for him! Because his talents and mine, other than being kind of an energetic leader, and pushing the limits, they didn't overlap much. He wouldn't know what a line of code meant, and his ability to think about design and marketing and things like that... I envy those skills. I'm not in his league."

Gates added that he was a fan of Michael Pollan's book about psychedelic drugs, How To Change Your Mind, and is intrigued by the idea that they may have therapeutic uses. "The idea that some of these drugs that affect your mind might help with depression or OCD, I think that's fascinating," said Gates. "Of course, we have to be careful, and that's very different than recreational usage."
Touring the country, 69-year-old Gates shared more glimpses of his life story:

• The Harvard Gazette notes that the university didn't offer computer science degrees when Gates attended in 1973. But since Gates already had years of code-writing experience, he "initially rebuffed any suggestion of taking computer-related coursework... 'It's too easy,' he remembered telling friends."

• "The naiveté I had that free computing would just be this unadulterated good thing wasn't totally correct even before AI," Gates told an audience at the Harvard Book Store. "And now with AI, I can see that we could shape this in the wrong way."

• Gates "expressed regret about how he treated another boyhood friend, Paul Allen, the other cofounder of Microsoft, who died in 2018," reports the Boston Globe. "Gates at first took 60 percent ownership of the new software company and then pressured his friend for another 4 percent. 'I feel bad about it in retrospect,' he said. 'That was always a little complicated, and I wish I hadn't pushed....'"

• Business Insider adds that according to his memoir, Gates "eventually gave his additional 4% stake to [Steve] Ballmer to convince him to quit business school for Microsoft. 'He joined in 1980 and became the 24-hour-a-day partner I needed,' Gates wrote."

• Benzinga writes that Gates has now "donated $100 billion to charitable causes... Had Gates retained the $100 billion he has donated, his total wealth would be around $264 billion, placing him second on the global wealth rankings behind Elon Musk and ahead of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg."

• Gates told the Associated Press "I am stunned that Intel basically lost its way," saying Intel is now "kind of behind" on both chip design and fabrication. "They missed the AI chip revolution, and with their fabrication capabilities, they don't even use standards that people like Nvidia and Qualcomm find easy... I hope Intel recovers, but it looks pretty tough for them at this stage."

• Gates also told the Associated Press that fighting a three-year antitrust case had "distracted" Microsoft. "The area that Google did well in that would not have happened had I not been distracted is Android, where it was a natural thing for me. I was trying, although what I didn't do well enough is provide the operating system for the phone. That was ours for the taking."

• The Dallas News reports that in an on-stage interview in Texas, Mark Cuban closed by asking Gates one question. "Is the American Dream alive?" Gates answered: "It was for me."

During the fourth quarter of 2024, AMD surpassed Intel in datacenter sales for the first time in history -- despite weaker-than-expected sales of its datacenter GPUs. Tom's Hardware reports: AMD's revenue in Q4 2024 totaled $7.658 billion, up 24% year-over-year. The company's gross margin hit 51%, whereas net income was $482 million. On the year basis, 2024 was AMD's best year ever as the company's revenue reached $25.8 billion, up 14% year-over-year. The company earned net income of $1.641 billion as its gross margin hit 49%. But while the company's annual results are impressive, there is something about Q4 results that AMD should be proud of.

Datacenter business was the company's primary source of earnings, with net revenue reaching record $3.86 billion in Q4, marking a 69% year-over-year (YoY) increase and a 9% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) rise. Operating income also saw substantial improvement, surging 74% YoY to $1.16 billion. By contrast, Intel's datacenter and AI business unit posted $3.4 billion revenue, while its operating income reached $200 million. But while the quarter marked a milestone for AMD, market analysts expected AMD to sell more of its Instinct MI300-series GPUs for AI and HPC. You can view AMD's 2024 financial results here.

The DeepComputing RISC-V Mainboard that Framework announced last year for its 13-inch laptops is now available for $199. Liliputing reports: If you already have a Framework Laptop 13 with an Intel or AMD motherboard, the new board is a drop-in replacement. But if you don't have a Framework Laptop you can also use the mainboard as a standalone computer: Framework sells a $39 Cooler Master case that effectively turns its mainboards into mini desktop computers. The RISC-V Mainboard comes from a partnership between Framework and DeepComputing, the Chinese company behind the DC-ROMA laptops, which were some of the first notebook computers to ship with RISC-V processors.

The board features a StarFive JH7110 processor, which is a 1.5 GHz quad-core chip featuring SiFive U74 RISC-V CPU cores and Imagination BXE-4-32 graphics, 8GB of onboard RAM, and a a 64GB SD card for storage (there's also support for an optional eMMC module, but you'll need to bring your own). Since the board is designed to fit in existing laptop frames, it's the same size and shape as AMD or Intel models and has four USB ports in the same locations. But these ports are a little less versatile than the ones you might find on other Framework Laptop 13 Mainboards [...]. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack. You can check out the new board via the Framework Marketplace.

Further reading: Late last year, Framework CEO Nirav Patel delivered one of the best live demos we've ever seen at a tech conference -- modifying a Framework Laptop from x86 to RISC-V live on stage.

Microsoft is charging business customers a $400 premium for Surface devices equipped with Intel's latest Core Ultra processors compared to models using Qualcomm's Arm-based chips, the company has disclosed. The Intel-powered Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop, starting at $1,499, come with a second-generation Core Ultra 5 processor featuring eight cores, 16GB of memory and 256GB storage.

Comparable Qualcomm-based models begin at $1,099. The new Intel devices will be available to business customers from February 18, though versions with cellular connectivity will launch later. Consumer Surface devices will only be offered with Qualcomm processors. Microsoft also unveiled a USB 4 Dock supporting dual 4K displays and the Surface Hub 3, a conference room computer available in 50-inch or 85-inch touchscreen versions.

During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, Intel co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus announced that Intel has decided to cancel its Falcon Shores AI chip. Instead, it'll opt to use it as an internal test chip while shifting focus to Jaguar Shores for AI data center solutions. TechCrunch reports: "AI data center ... is an attractive market for us," Holthaus said during the call. "[B]ut I am not happy with where we are today. We're not yet participating in the cloud-based AI data center market in a meaningful way ... One of the immediate actions I have taken is to simplify our roadmap and concentrate our resources." The focus instead will be on Jaguar Shores, which Holthaus called Intel's opportunity to "develop a system-level solution at rack scale ... to address the AI data center more broadly."

Holthaus tempered expectations for Falcon Shores last month, when she implied that it was an "iterative" step over the company's previous dedicated AI data center chip, Gaudi 3. "One of the things that we've learned from Gaudi is, it's not enough to just deliver the silicon," Holthaus said during Thursday's earnings call. "Falcon Shores will help us in that process of working on the system, networking, memory -- all those component[s]. But what customers really want is that full-scale rack solution, and so we're able to get to that with Jaguar Shores."

"As I think about our AI opportunity, my focus is on the problems our customers are trying to solve, most notably the need to lower the cost and increase the efficiency of compute," Holthaus said. "As such, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work, and I can see clear opportunities to leverage our core assets in new ways to drive the most compelling total cost of ownership across the continuum."

TSMC founder Morris Chang says Apple CEO Tim Cook rejected Intel as a chip manufacturer in 2011 because the company lacked foundry expertise, despite being Apple's main supplier for Mac processors at the time. During a pause in TSMC-Apple talks to evaluate Intel's proposal, Cook told Chang that "Intel just does not know how to be a foundry," leading Apple to eventually choose TSMC as its exclusive chip supplier, the TSMC founder revealed in an interview.

Amid the ongoing Linux 6.14 kernel development cycle, Phoronix spotted a pull request for ACPI updates which "will allow for faster suspend and resume cycles on some systems."

Wikipedia defines ACPI as "an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components" for things like power management and putting unused hardware components to sleep. Phoronix reports: The ACPI change worth highlighting for Linux 6.14 is switching from msleep() to usleep_range() within the acpi_os_sleep() call in the kernel. This reduces spurious sleep time due to timer inaccuracy. Linux ACPI/PM maintainer Rafael Wysocki of Intel who authored this change noted that it could "spectacularly" reduce the duration of system suspend and resume transitions on some systems...

Rafael explained in the patch making the sleep change:

"The extra delay added by msleep() to the sleep time value passed to it can be significant, roughly between 1.5 ns on systems with HZ = 1000 and as much as 15 ms on systems with HZ = 100, which is hardly acceptable, at least for small sleep time values."
One 2022 bug report complained a Dell XPS 13 using Thunderbolt took "a full 8 seconds to suspend and a full 8 seconds to resume even though no physical devices are connected." In November an Intel engineer posted on the kernel mailing list that the fix gave a Dell XPS 13 a 42% improvement in kernel resume time (from 1943ms to 1127ms).

Intel is advocating for modular PC designs to improve repairability, reduce e-waste, and align with the right-to-repair movement. A trio of executives makes their case for such designs in a recent blog post. The Register reports: Intel's approach to the problem is to draft three proposals targeting different market segments, saying that a one-size-fits-all approach would not be able to address the nuanced demands of these varied segments. Those three segments comprise "Premium Modular PC" (actually a laptop design); "Entry/Mainstream Modular PC" (another laptop); and "Desktop Modular PC."

The first envisages a three-board system, comprising a core motherboard plus universal left and right I/O boards, the latter engineered to be common across fan-less Thin & Light designs with a 10W power envelope, and premium fanned designs for up to 20W or 30W. The Entry/Mainstream Modular PC is similar, with a core motherboard and left and right I/O boards, although in this segment, Intel says these can be redesigned to allow multiple SKUs of the design. The circuit boards are also cost-optimized here to cater to the mainstream segment, it says.

The Desktop Modular PC design appears from Intel's diagram to use a midplane that has the Platform Controller Hub (PCH) silicon, with other modules connecting to this. These include CPU, memory, and GPU modules, removable using slide rails, along with hot-swappable storage, all designed to fit inside a 5 liter desktop chassis. Intel also said it is introducing subsystem-level replaceable modules. In practice, this means something like a Type-C connector on a flexible printed circuit (FPC) or an M.2 circuit board. The idea is that the module can easily be swapped out if the port or connector is damaged.

"Nothing horrible or unexpected happened last week," Linux Torvalds posted tonight on the Linux kernel mailing list, "so I've tagged and pushed out the final 6.13 release."

Phoronix says the release has "plenty of fine features": Linux 6.13 comes with the introduction of the AMD 3D V-Cache Optimizer driver for benefiting multi-CCD Ryzen X3D processors. The new AMD EPYC 9005 "Turin" server processors will now default to AMD P-State rather than ACPI CPUFreq for better power efficiency....

Linux 6.13 also brings more Rust programming language infrastructure and more.
Phoronix notes that Linux 6.13 also brings "the start of Intel Xe3 graphics bring-up, support for many older (pre-M1) Apple devices like numerous iPads and iPhones, NVMe 2.1 specification support, and AutoFDO and Propeller optimization support when compiling the Linux kernel with the LLVM Clang compiler."

And some lucky Linux kernel developers will also be getting a guitar pedal soldered by Linus Torvalds himself, thanks to a generous offer he announced a week ago: For _me_ a traditional holiday activity tends to be a LEGO build or two, since that's often part of the presents... But in addition to the LEGO builds, this year I also ended up doing a number of guitar pedal kit builds ("LEGO for grown-ups with a soldering iron"). Not because I play guitar, but because I enjoy the tinkering, and the guitar pedals actually do something and are the right kind of "not very complex, but not some 5-minute 555 LED blinking thing"...

[S]ince I don't actually have any _use_ for the resulting pedals (I've already foisted off a few only unsuspecting victims^Hfriends), I decided that I'm going to see if some hapless kernel developer would want one.... as an admittedly pretty weak excuse to keep buying and building kits...
"It may be worth noting that while I've had good success so far, I'm a software person with a soldering iron. You have been warned... [Y]ou should set your expectations along the lines of 'quality kit built by a SW person who doesn't know one end of a guitar from the other.'"

Tech news and research site SemiAccurate is reporting that an unidentified company is seeking to acquire Intel in its entirety. The publication -- citing a confidential email that it reviewed and a subsequent confirmation from a second source -- said the prospective buyer has not publicly disclosed its interest but has sufficient resources to purchase Intel at current valuations (about $85 billion).