I wrote 172 articles this year, mostly about the semiconductor industry, for @CRN (and there are a few more coming). Here are my favorite stories from 2024:

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said Wednesday that the company sold its stake in chip designer Ampere Computing “because we no longer think it is strategic for us to continue design, manufacturing and using our own chips in our cloud data centers.”

@DylanOnChips Good piece. The timing of the acquisition relative to the Arm legal backdrop is an important angle. It affects how to interpret Ventana in Qualcomm’s long-run architecture strategy.

A Synopsys executive said the engineering software giant’s new blockbuster alliance with Nvidia will allow its channel partners to “solve larger problems faster” for customers because of its plan to significantly boost application performance with GPUs.

Qualcomm said Wednesday that it has acquired Ventana Micro Systems, a startup that is focused on developing server CPU technology based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture.

Qualcomm said Ventana’s expertise in RISC-V, a free and open alternative to the Arm and x86 instruction set architectures, will enhance its CPU engineering capabilities and complement “existing efforts to develop custom Oryon CPU technology.”

Qualcomm said Wednesday that it has acquired Ventana Micro Systems, a startup that is focused on developing server CPU technology based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture.

AMD said Tuesday that its new EPYC Embedded 2005 CPUs offer big advantages in performance, energy use, size and features compared to rival products from Intel.

1. President Donald Trump announced in late August that the U.S. government is taking a 10 percent equity stake in Intel more than two weeks after he called for the chipmaker CEO’s resignation. For details on all these stories, check out my roundup here:

2. Lip-Bu Tan in late July said that his decision to require volume commitments from customers before he makes further investments in Intel Foundry is part of a “new financial discipline” he has instituted for the contract chip-making business.

When people fear medical bills more than medical problems, they make absurd trade-offs. Like swapping the ambulance ride for their buddy’s hatchback. Take care of your health tax free by opening an HSA at HSA Bank. Have a Bronze healthcare plan? You’re now HSA eligible.

3. Taiwanese foundry giant TSMC alleged in late November that a former executive is at risk of sharing trade secrets with Intel after he took a job at the rival chipmaker this year.

4. The leader of Intel’s AI strategy and road map, Sachin Katti, departed the company in November roughly six months after Tan appointed him to the job.

5. Intel said in late July that it “plans to end the year with a core workforce of about 75,000 employees” due to layoffs and attrition, which would amount to nearly one-quarter of its workers leaving in a matter of 12 months.

6. Nvidia announced in September that it will invest $5 billion in Intel common stock as part of a joint development deal that will cover “multiple generations” of products.

7. Intel in October shared a variety of details about its forthcoming Panther Lake PC system-on-chip and Clearwater Forest server CPU—two products that represent a critical and long-awaited step in its heavily scrutinized comeback plan.

8. Intel lost several top executives this year as Lip-Bu Tan appointed company veterans and outsiders to key leadership roles across its AI, data center and sales groups.

9. Intel said in August that it was increasing investments in partners in the second half of the year to give them “more value” and “more benefits” as part of a “simplified” Intel Partner Alliance program the semiconductor giant launched in October.

The 10 Biggest Intel News Stories Of 2025 10. Intel continued its push to spin off non-core businesses this year with moves to turn its computer vision and programmable chip products into stand-alone companies, but the chipmaker ended up changing course with its networking unit.

These are the 10 hottest semiconductor startups of 2025, according to @DylanOnChips 👀: @AxeleraAI, @CelestialAIinc, @CornelisHPC, @dMatrix_AI, @FuriosaAI, @NextSilicon, @Rebellions_inc, @tenstorrent, Tsavorite Scalable Intelligence and @XsightLabs

AMD said Tuesday that its new EPYC Embedded 2005 CPUs offer big advantages in performance, energy use, size and features compared to rival products from Intel.

It's been a very eventful year for Intel! Here is my detailed roundup of Intel's 10 biggest news stories, which range from TSMC suing a company executive to the U.S. gaining a 10 percent stake in Intel.