In context: Intel's recent challenges are undoubtedly familiar to anyone who has paid even the slightest attention to the semiconductor market. These issues were a key reason the company recently appointed semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO. Some even speculated that Intel might spin off its chip-making foundry business.
Why it matters: As powerful as AI may be, many industries are still struggling to find clear-cut applications that make a measurable, demonstrable difference. Thankfully, that is not the case when it comes to chip design software. In fact, since their introduction just a few years ago, AI-powered features have become a mainstay of EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools from companies such as Cadence and Synopsys.
AMD has slashed the price of the Ryzen 5 9600X by $95, bringing it down to $185. At this new price point, the 6-core CPU delivers strong performance, making it an affordable entry into Zen 5. For those willing to spend a bit more, the Ryzen 7 9700X has also been discounted, now available for $285, down from $359 MSRP.
Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air continues to be one of the best laptops for most users. This latest model sports the M4 chip alongside excellent build quality, long battery life, and now 16GB of memory as standard – addressing one of the biggest criticisms of previous base models.