r&d

According to South Korean media ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is adjusting the original purpose of its NRD-K Line 2 at the Giheung campus from a research and development facility to a wafer foundry line, with the main target product being the 2nm base chips required for NVIDIA's HBM. This production line is expected to be operational in the second half of 2028, adopting a "Send-Fab" model, which involves receiving wafers from other mass production lines and performing specific processes.NRD-K is the most advanced composite research and development campus built by Samsung Electronics to seize future semiconductor technology, with a total investment of approximately 20 trillion won, planning for three production lines, of which the first line is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. This adjustment aims to proactively respond to the expansion of HBM demand driven by investments in AI infrastructure. Samsung plans to first apply the 2nm process to custom HBM and HBM5 to maintain performance advantages.Industry insiders point out that the scale of NRD-K Line 2 is relatively small, making it suitable for operation in the Send-Fab format. However, there are still about two years until the production line is operational, and the final purpose may be adjusted again based on market conditions. Samsung had previously considered using this production line for DRAM production, but after modifications to the relevant plans this month, DRAM capacity will be more concentrated in the Pyeongtaek campus. Equipment procurement orders have not yet been officially issued.

At the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" themed forum held in Hong Kong, Tencent Cloud's industry architect Alan Nie delivered a keynote speech titled "Cloud + AI Dual Engine: Tencent Cloud Empowers New Growth in Web3."Alan Nie pointed out that Web3 enterprises face three major bottlenecks in global infrastructure, R&D efficiency, and business intelligence. Tencent Cloud deeply integrates the "Cloud + AI" dual engine to provide low-latency infrastructure covering the globe. Among them, the Singapore data center is the only cloud provider in the world that offers four availability zones, and the self-developed TDSQL-C database can achieve elastic scaling in seconds, with Redis single-node performance reaching over 300,000.In terms of AI empowerment, Tencent Cloud launched CodeBuddy (AI Pair Programmer) and WorkBuddy (Personal AI Assistant), which can automatically generate code, batch process office documents, organize meeting minutes, and support multi-agent parallel execution of complex tasks. In financial scenarios, the automation research report reproduction cycle has been shortened from three days to half a day; in on-chain data analysis scenarios, storage costs have been reduced to one-tenth of the original, with query responses reaching millisecond levels.Alan Nie stated that Tencent Cloud is committed to using the "Cloud + AI" dual engine to help Web3 enterprises build the next generation of smart economic infrastructure.

The Nasdaq-listed blockchain ASIC chip development company AGM Group announced that it has completed the issuance and delivery of a total of $2 million in convertible notes. The related fundraising transaction was conducted in two phases, with $1.5 million paid at the first delivery, and the remaining $500,000 completed in the second delivery on December 18.AGM Group also disclosed that it had previously reached an investment agreement to raise a total of $6 million through the issuance of convertible notes in three phases.

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Tomasz K. Stańczak shared Stateless Ethereum on X and provided the relevant link stateless.fyi. Stańczak stated that this research is part of a R&D direction of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), where some content may not ultimately be realized, but certain projects have a high likelihood of implementation.Previous news, the Ethereum Foundation appointed Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as co-executive directors.

ChainCatcher news, according to Matthew Sigel, Director of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, one of the world's top ten oil companies, Petrobras, has announced the launch of a new R&D project that includes Bitcoin mining and tokenization.

ChainCatcher news, Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano announced that Yuga Labs has acquired the technology of the token proof protocol tokenproof, and some members of tokenproof will join Yuga Labs' R&D department The Workshop.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, a development company led by early Bitcoin developer Adam Back, Blockstream, has opened a new R&D center in Lugano, Switzerland, aimed at promoting fintech innovation on the Bitcoin Liquid and Lightning networks.According to the Blockstream team, the center will provide resources, guidance, and project funding through collaboration with local startups and partners to accelerate Layer 2 technology innovation.

ChainCatcher message, Sonic Labs (formerly Fantom) co-founder Andre Cronje stated: "The real cost of running a blockchain (even a semi-successful one) for all L2s or application chains is as follows: the upfront cost for oracles and stablecoins is $7.5 million, with an annual cost of $3.5 million; the upfront cost for RPC, indexing, and dashboards is $200,000, with an annual cost of $700,000; VRF, Keepers, wallet support, and governance cost $500,000 annually; explorers, custody, and risk management cost $800,000 annually, totaling $13.2 million. The above applies only to Sonic.Here is our cost situation from last year: R&D $10.9 million; ecosystem $10.7 million; legal $410,000; compliance $3.8 million; infrastructure $2.4 million; marketing $1.4 million; bounties $1.2 million; sponsorship $400,000; media $350,000; regulation $200,000; events $100,000; total cost $35.6 million. (The above does not include exchange listings, fortunately, we do not need to do this this year.)"

ChainCatcher news, on April 9th, the Web3 Festival held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre entered its fourth day. UXUY officially announced the establishment of its Asia AI R&D Center in Hong Kong, which will create the world's first AI-based multi-chain trading ecosystem compliance and anti-witch products, and will hold the UXUY ♥️ HongKong opening ceremony at the Wan Tong Insurance Building in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.Jordan, co-founder of UXUY, stated: One year ago today, UXUY secured its first round of funding in Hong Kong. Over the past year, we not only received incubation and investment from Binance Labs but also built a bridge between the Bitcoin Lightning Network and the multi-chain ecosystem, with user numbers exceeding 100,000. Today, we return to Hong Kong to establish the Asia AI R&D Center, leveraging Hong Kong's proactive policies, open environment, and innovative talent advantages to seamlessly integrate AI solutions into Web3 products. We believe Hong Kong will become UXUY's most important R&D base.In the era of artificial intelligence, the global employment environment will face unprecedented challenges. UXUY responds to the call of OpenAI and WorldCoin founder Sam Altman, actively promoting crypto equality and using AI to defend "human rights." Through innovative products and services, we strive to ensure that every person on Earth becomes a beneficiary.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jin10 reports, the national key R&D program "Blockchain" key special project "Demonstration Application of Trusted Carbon Trading and Carbon Neutral Management Based on Blockchain," led by Yunnan Electric Power Company and participated by Shanghai Environment Exchange, has been approved for establishment by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. This project is the first national key R&D program project for blockchain carbon trading applications that has successfully been established. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, Lucas Nuzzi, head of research at CoinMetrics, disclosed on social media that Alameda was on the brink of bankruptcy in the second quarter of this year, later obtaining loans secured by FTT as collateral, which may have triggered the liquidity crunch at FTX.Lucas Nuzzi speculated that crypto investment firms like Three Arrows Capital faced significant losses in the second quarter of this year, and the reason Alameda survived was that it secured FTX funds based on FTT as "collateral," totaling 172 million FTT, worth approximately $4.19 billion. This "loan" needed to be repaid within four months, and if not repaid, all FTT would be liquidated, so SBF and Alameda had to find a way to avoid this situation.However, rescuing Alameda could weaken FTX's balance sheet, making it insolvent. If the price of FTT did not collapse and trigger a bank run, everything would be fine, which is also why SBF has been shaping his image as "having enough funds and being friendly to politicians" recently. But Binance may have discovered that FTX was using FTT as collateral to support Alameda, and thus chose to sell off FTT, forcing FTX to face liquidity issues.The above statements are Lucas Nuzzi's personal opinions and speculations. (source link)