SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY

Search headlines

Find the stories shaping the conversation.

Search mode
Refine results
Active filters Keyword All time

Results for " fire " 3,808 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle

Political watchdog fines Newsom for failing to report $5.5M in solicited donations on time

The California Fair Political Practices Commission said most of the violations were for failing to report that Gov. Gavin Newsom and his his staff directed inquiries from companies and foundations to offer help after the Los Angeles wildfires to the California Fire Foundation.

latimes.com logo
Jun 18 • 10:26 PM EDT • Politics • latimes.com
Puerto Rico roiled by widening political crisis as top official comes under fire

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González is mired in a new political crisis, with allegations of public corruption, government interference and conflicts of interest.

wral.com logo
Jun 18 • 6:38 PM EDT • Politics • wral.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (6%)
wow
65%
ahah
35%
What are the health implications of the Everglades wildfires, and will World Cup spectators and players be affected?

Dr. Roberto Lucchini works with first responders exposed to carcinogens in the World Trade Center attacks. He discusses how airborne toxins from South Florida fires could impact residents, visitors.

news.fiu.edu logo
Jun 18 • 12:20 PM EDT • Health • news.fiu.edu
Dem Senate hopeful under fire for resurfaced comments calling cops 'opportunistic cowards'

Graham Platner's anti-law enforcement Reddit posts resurfaced as the far-left populist seeks to unseat Sen. Susan Collins in Maine's Senate race.

foxnews.com logo
Jun 18 • 12:05 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
The Business Deal That Tore Apart Earth, Wind & Fire

Questlove’s HBO documentary sheds new light on the band’s decadeslong conflicts over money and credit.

wsj.com logo
Jun 18 • 11:59 AM EDT • Business • wsj.com
Adobe adds its AI assistant to Premiere, Illustrator and InDesign

Adobe is updating its Firefly AI assistant with new chops, and adding it to Premiere, Illustrator, InDesign and Frame.io.

techcrunch.com logo
Jun 18 • 9:00 AM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com
Death Toll From Israeli Fire in Gaza Since Ceasefire Passes 1,000, Says Health Ministry

CAIRO, June 18 (Reuters) - The number of Palestinians killed ⁠by ⁠Israeli fire in Gaza ⁠has reached more than 1,000 since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last October, the enclave's health ministry said on Thursday, as at least three people were reported killed ‌in the latest strike. Medics said ‌an ...

usnews.com logo
Jun 18 • 8:40 AM EDT • Health • usnews.com
The 14-point US-Iran peace plan, annotated

The memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the US and Iran aims to expand on the ceasefire and get traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.

cnn.com logo
Jun 17 • 5:34 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
😐 Neutral (9%)
wow
100%
Trump defends his Iran deal, criticizes longtime ally Israel as G-7 ends

In a sprawling news conference at the G-7 summit in France, the president touted the economic benefits of the ceasefire and threatened force if it fails.

washingtonpost.com logo
Jun 17 • 4:32 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Noah Hiles: What happens if the Pirates don’t improve? Ben Cherington should hope we don't find out

It’s been a rough June for the Pirates. Don Kelly’s club entered Wednesday with a 5-9 record on the month. A few of their recent victories...

post-gazette.com logo
Jun 17 • 2:00 PM EDT • Sports • post-gazette.com
Behavioral health in the workplace: Supporting fire fighter well-being

Across the fire service, crews depend on strong relationships and mutual trust every day. Researchers say workplace culture can have a measurable impact on

iaff.org logo
Jun 17 • 1:40 PM EDT • Health • iaff.org
Macy’s Fourth of July show to feature Post Malone, Blake Shelton, Salt-N-Pepa and Shaboozey

Macy's is set to celebrate America's 250th birthday with a spectacular July Fourth fireworks show featuring performances by Post Malone, Blake Shelton, Salt-N-Pepa, Noah Kahan, Bebe Rexha and Shaboozey.

seattletimes.com logo
Jun 17 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • seattletimes.com
Tropicana Atlantic City celebrates summer with fireworks, entertainment, dining and movie experiences

Tropicana Atlantic City is celebrating summer with an exciting lineup of entertainment, fireworks, dining specials, movie premieres and community-focused

shorelocalnews.com logo
Jun 17 • 10:22 AM EDT • Entertainment • shorelocalnews.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (23%)
love
64%
ahah
36%
Far-right general upends Italian politics

Ahead of next year’s election, Meloni has to decide whether to embrace firebrand ex-paratrooper Roberto Vannacci.

politico.eu logo
Jun 17 • 8:25 AM EDT • Politics • politico.eu
After devastating fire, USF marine scientists race to keep ocean monitoring on track

A fire at the USF Marine Science Laboratory displaced the Ocean Circulation Lab, which maintains its buoy program.

theinvadingsea.com logo
Jun 17 • 7:53 AM EDT • Science • theinvadingsea.com
Governor Sherrill Secures SBA Economic Injury Disaster Assistance for Businesses and Nonprofits Affected by Belleville Fire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 17, 2026 Governor Sherrill Secures SBA Economic Injury Disaster Assistance for Businesses and Nonprofits Affected by Belleville Fire Business Recovery Center Opened June 16 in Belleville TRENTON – Small businesses and private nonprofit organizations affected by the devastating May 3, 2026 fire in Belleville Township may now apply[...]

insidernj.com logo
Jun 17 • 7:33 AM EDT • Business • insidernj.com
Texas plane crash leaves one dead, more injured after business jet catches fire on highway

A business jet carrying six people crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas, killing one person on a flight from Mexico, police announced on Tuesday.

foxnews.com logo
Jun 17 • 2:06 AM EDT • Business • foxnews.com
USF marine science research destroyed in St. Pete lab fire caused by lightning strike

A lightning strike sparked a devastating fire at the USF College of Marine Science Lab last month, destroying decades of critical research and tens of millions of dollars in equipment in St. Petersburg.

fox13news.com logo
Jun 16 • 10:42 PM EDT • Science • fox13news.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (3%)
wow
58%
angry
42%
OHSU sues OPB, seeking to withhold records about fired executive

Oregon’s flagship research hospital and medical school on Tuesday sued Oregon Public Broadcasting to prevent the release of records about its firing of a prominent executive four months into his job.

opb.org logo
Jun 16 • 9:32 PM EDT • Health • opb.org
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (9%)
ahah
53%
wow
47%
An EPA Researcher Details the Agency's Assault on Science

In late January, the Trump administration began shutting down projects within the EPA’s independent science division that touched on climate change and environmental justice. Air quality researcher Thomas Luben, who had worked at the agency for 18 years, was fired for objecting.

e360.yale.edu logo
Jun 16 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • e360.yale.edu
Wales' papers: New move to curb use of phones and science teaching under fire

A review of the front page stories from the daily and weekly newspapers in Wales.

ca.news.yahoo.com logo
Jun 16 • 5:50 PM EDT • Science • ca.news.yahoo.com
Why the Vikings Quarterback Competition Could Backfire

The Minnesota Vikings concluded their mandatory minicamp last week, but Kevin O’Connell said the starting quarterback competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy would continue into training camp. Just how long into training camp it would continue was a little vague. Equally ambiguous was O’Connell’s explanation about how snaps may be divided between the two […]

sports.yahoo.com logo
Jun 16 • 4:06 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
‘Fireworks’ spotted in stellar explosion 15 million light-years away

Galaxy M83 is home to some unexpected pyrotechnics from the aftermath of a supernova.

popsci.com logo
Jun 16 • 2:51 PM EDT • Science • popsci.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (9%)
ahah
70%
wow
30%
Georgia Governor Primary Runoff Election 2026 Live Results

See live results from the 2026 Georgia Governor primary runoff election as Republican votes are counted by candidate and county.

nbcnews.com logo
Jun 16 • 1:11 PM EDT • Politics • nbcnews.com
High-Signal Publisher
Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Orion,’ Starring Andrew McCarthy, Debby Ryan and Drew Van Acker, Set for Theatrical Release via Blue Harbor Entertainment (EXCLUSIVE)

A festival favorite film is now headed to theaters. “Orion,” a sci-fi thriller starring Andrew McCarthy (“Pretty in Pink,” “St. Elmo’s Fire”), Drew Van Acker (“Pretty Little Liars,” “Titans”) and Debb...

yahoo.com logo
Jun 16 • 10:10 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
New Online Doctoral Program for PAs Bridges Healthcare Research and Leadership

First grads include former firefighter, military service member in Hawaii and ‘Triple Deac’.

atriumhealth.org logo
Jun 16 • 9:25 AM EDT • Health • atriumhealth.org
Here Are Tuesday’s Best Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Dynatrace, Emerson Electric, Exxon Mobil, Flutter Entertainment, Genuine Parts, nVent Electric, Palantir Technologies, Roku, and More

Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading modestly higher after a stunning opening to the week, as all major indices rocketed higher. The announcement of a cease-fire deal with Iran, which the leaders in that country acknowledged, called for reopening the Strait of Hormuz toll-free. While details will still be worked out over the next ... Here Are Tuesday’s Best Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Dynatrace, Emerson Electric, Exxon Mobil, Flutter Entertainment, Genuine Parts, nVent Electric, Palantir Technologies, Roku, and More

247wallst.com logo
Jun 16 • 7:52 AM EDT • Entertainment • 247wallst.com
We’re about to find out how powerful Brian Kemp really is with Georgia Republicans

Tuesday will prove whether he has the juice to overcome a Trump endorsement in the Senate race and overcome a firehose of cash in the race to succeed him.

politico.com logo
Jun 16 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • politico.com
Official | Hervé Renard replaces Sabri Lamouchi as Tunisia manager

Hervé Renard has been appointed Tunisia national team manager after the FTF – the Tunisian FA – opted to fire Sabri Lamouchi just one game into the 2026 World Cup, the FTF has confirmed. The deci...

sports.yahoo.com logo
Jun 16 • 4:40 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Seattle visits Portland, looks to break road skid

Seattle Storm (3-12, 0-7 Western Conference) at Portland Fire (7-9, 1-5 Western Conference) Portland, Oregon; Wednesday, 10 p.m. EDT BOTTOM LINE: Seattle Storm will look to break its six-game road skid when the Storm play Portland Fire. The Fire are 1-5 against Western Conference opponents.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Jun 16 • 2:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
☹️ Negative (-8%)
love
50%
wow
50%
RFK Jr under fire for ‘bullying’ letter to scientific journal

Health advocates criticized Kennedy’s move demanding answers from journal that removed ‘flawed’ vaccine study

theguardian.com logo
Jun 15 • 6:35 PM EDT • Health • theguardian.com
The Ceasefire Agreement with Iran Is Not Even Close to a “Deal”

The fact that there’s still a sixty-day window on the table for nuclear negotiations doesn’t really inspire hope.

esquire.com logo
Jun 15 • 5:48 PM EDT • Politics • esquire.com
☹️ Negative (-16%)
wow
100%
Newsom says he's on Trump's 'hit list' as Justice Department interviews governor's friends

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the Trump administration appears to be investigating him and his wife. The Democrat said agents interviewed his friends and associates.

calmatters.org logo
Jun 15 • 3:24 PM EDT • Politics • calmatters.org
Firefighters called to equipment fire at Wilmington business

New Hanover County Fire Rescue crews are responding to a piece of equipment that caught fire at a business on N. Kerr Avenue Monday afternoon.

wect.com logo
Jun 15 • 3:04 PM EDT • Business • wect.com
Scientists Break Major Barrier: Are We Closer Than Ever to Real Invisibility? - Futura-Sciences

From H. G. Wells to Stealth Mode Invisibility has long been a topic that fires up our imagination. From the colorful camouflage suits designed to outsmart surveillance cameras, to military-grade technology meant to dodge radar, humanity’s efforts to disappear are almost as old as fiction itself. While we’re still far...

futura-sciences.com logo
Jun 15 • 3:00 PM EDT • Science • futura-sciences.com
NASA’s Chandra Finds Unexpected Fireworks in Aftermath of Stellar Explosions

Over a 14-year period from 2000 to 2014, astronomers pointed NASA’s X-ray observatory at the M83 galaxy. They discovered that about half of the X-ray sources

science.nasa.gov logo
Jun 15 • 2:45 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov
Iran deal presents political nightmare for Netanyahu

Donald Trump's ceasefire agreement with Iran leaves the Israeli PM trapped in a new political and security dilemma.

bbc.com logo
Jun 15 • 2:15 PM EDT • Politics • bbc.com
The Iran war’s end is being greatly exaggerated

There are many questions unresolved in the latest ceasefire deal and many ways the conflict could begin again.

vox.com logo
Jun 15 • 2:00 PM EDT • Politics • vox.com
New ASU certificate lets students add AI expertise to any major

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is rapidly transforming nearly every industry, creating a growing need for students to add key technical skills to their major.

news.asu.edu logo
Jun 15 • 12:37 PM EDT • Science • news.asu.edu
Cleanup begins after fire destroys homes, business in Columbia [photos]

Columbia Borough residents are assessing the damage after three homes and a business were completely destroyed in a fire that spread through a block in Columbia Borough on Saturday afternoon.

lancasteronline.com logo
Jun 15 • 12:00 PM EDT • Business • lancasteronline.com
2-Alarm Fire Breaks Out At Restaurant In Milford, Fire Officials Say

The business will be temporarily closed until repairs and cleaning are complete.

patch.com logo
Jun 15 • 8:49 AM EDT • Business • patch.com
Health concerns linger as debris remains in Tracy neighborhoods after warehouse fire

County officials say environmental testing is underway as residents continue finding debris and wait for answers about potential health impacts.

kcra.com logo
Jun 14 • 10:08 PM EDT • Health • kcra.com
After 207 years, Cincinnati's oldest business moving to historic Tri-State mansion

Bromwell's Fireplace Specialists, founded in 1819, announced plans to relocate from downtown Cincinnati to the historic Hauck summer home in Sharonville.

local12.com logo
Jun 14 • 3:43 PM EDT • Business • local12.com
Is SMIC N+3’s Metal Pitch Smaller than Intel 18A’s?

Almost four years ago, we published that SMIC had started shipping 7 nm (N+1) chips. Now, SMIC is shipping its third-generation 7 nm (N+3) process in Huawei’s Kirin 9030, with a minimum metal pitch of 32.5 nm, about 10% tighter than the 36 nm minimum metal pitch shipping in Intel’s latest Panther Lake CPUs on 18A. The headline is true, but incomplete cherry picked metric. N+3 reaches the density of TSMC N6 through aggressive DUV multi-patterning and design-technology co-optimization (DTCO), but it pays for that in complexity, efficiency and process control. We found this and more in our reverse engineering and teardown where we cover SMIC’s N3 process technology, Huawei’s packaging, memory, architecture, and more. SemiAnalysis has been building a state-of-the-art teardown lab in Oregon capable of analyzing the world’s most advanced and important chips over the last year and half. We have already generated revenue on advanced datacenter chip teardowns including our recent reverse engineering of a major TSMC customer’s COUPE CPO optical engine + EIC 3D stack. This is the first public report from the SemiAnalysis Teardown Engineering & Evaluation Lab, or STEEL for short. The lab is aggressively scaling up and out and we’re excited to announce it publicly. This is a bit of inconvenient timing for TechInsights as they are private equity owned and currently being sold while having enjoyed virtually no credible competition for decades. This has led to TechInsights underinvesting in CAPEX. SemiAnalysis exceeds TechInsights in revenue despite no venture or private equity ownership and being founded only 6 years ago. Because we have no external investors and are founder led, we move faster, build faster, and we can release client chip teardowns for free regularly, while focusing on datacenter for our major clients. Here’s the first public image from our lab, the HiSilicon Kirin 9030 Pro SoC: This report will detail our teardown of the Kirin 9030 and our findings on SMIC’s N+3 process, the most advanced in China. For comparison, we’ll show our teardown of the MediaTek Helio G99, made on TSMC N6. Through this comparison, we can look at the effect of export controls – SMIC N+3 and TSMC N6 are comparable nodes, but one is heavily export-controlled, the other free to use the West’s most advanced equipment. Here we see both China’s progress and constraints. SMIC N+3 reaches TSMC N6-class logic density, but it requires far more aggressive DUV multi-patterning, so it does not match N6 on process maturity or cost. The Kirin 9030 Pro performs similarly to three-year-old Android flagships, and trails far behind the current flagship SoCs from Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung. The efficiency gap is even wider. Export controls have not stopped Huawei and SMIC from shipping advanced silicon, but they have forced a different path. Without EUV, SMIC is leaning harder on DUV multi-patterning, DTCO, and increasingly complex integration. The roadmap continues forward through tighter design rules and backside power, but each step adds cost and process risk. Huawei’s τ scaling and LogicFolding show another path: stacking active logic and recovering density through advanced packaging and system-technology co-optimization (STCO). To understand the Kirin 9030, we must first understand Huawei’s SoC history. HiSilicon is Huawei’s chip design arm, responsible for the Kirin smartphone SoCs, Kunpeng server CPUs, Ascend AI accelerators, and switch/router networking silicon. Before export controls, Huawei was TSMC’s largest customer – the only customer on TSMC’s first EUV node, N7+, and among the first on N5, alongside Apple. That ended in late 2020. Huawei switched to Qualcomm SoCs in its flagship smartphones, though export controls limited them to 4G-only variants. In late 2023, Huawei returned to in-house silicon with the Kirin 9000s, a successor to the Kirin 9000, fabricated on SMIC N+2 instead of TSMC N5. In the following years, they released the Kirin 9010 and 9020 on the same N+2 process. These chips used Huawei’s in-house TaiShan CPU cores and Maleoon GPU. We have not torn down a Kirin 9020 ourselves, so the predecessor die shot is from Kurnal. The die shots show how Huawei spent its silicon budget: which functional blocks are where, and how their areas compare to the predecessor. First, a quick guide to the major blocks on the die. The total die area is nearly identical, but the 9030 uses that area more aggressively. A denser process lets Huawei fit an extra middle CPU core, more GPU and NPU cores, and larger caches into the same footprint. In contrast, the Helio G99 is a much smaller, low-cost SoC, built for budget smartphones rather than a flagship device. While the Kirin 9030 is ~140 mm², the G99 is only ~29 mm², roughly one-fifth the area. The underlying TSMC process technology, however, is directly comparable as a baseline for analyzing SMIC’s. The Kirin 9030 is an evolutionary refresh, not a clean-sheet design. Its CPU, GPU and NPU cores carry over the 9020’s families, and the gains come from three levers: the SMIC N+2-to-N+3 process step, DTCO and floorplan work, and incremental microarchitecture. Area is where the first two show up, and the 9030 scales well here. Performance and efficiency are the harder test. Huawei’s design holds up better than its node would suggest, but the chip still trails, both because N+3 sits behind the leading-edge nodes and because its cores, while competent, remain a few generations behind the newest designs. The new prime core is an incremental update. The main changes are a 10% frequency increase from 2.5 GHz to 2.75 GHz and a doubling in the L2 cache from 1 MiB to 2 MiB. Despite the increased cache, the core size decreased by 7.6%. Excluding the private L2 cache, the core size decreased by 21%. This is a large reduction for an incremental node. Compared with the TaiShan New V120 core in the Kirin 9020, the Kirin 9030’s middle core is almost unchanged architecturally, yet each core shrinks by ~22%. Most of that comes from the move from N+2 to N+3, with layout likely accounting for the rest. Visually, the most noticeable change is the increase from 3 middle cores to 4. There is also a 20% increase in the shared L3 cache of the big cluster. This helps to improve multi-core performance without sacrificing much in terms of area. Even with each core shrinking, the big CPU cluster’s total area is essentially unchanged. The per-core savings went back into an additional middle core and larger caches. The tiny cores shrank less than the prime core (excluding its L2 cache) and less than the middle cores. This is likely because fixed overhead is a larger share on a small core. We cannot resolve any architectural changes from the die shot alone, but the per-clock and efficiency gains shown below point to more than pure process and layout scaling. The area reduction was offset by a doubling of the shared L2 cache from 2 MiB to 4 MiB, leaving the total tiny CPU cluster area slightly larger. Area is the easiest improvement to see from a die shot, but it is only one part of PPA (power, performance, area). For modern logic, power and performance matter just as much, and often more. Since Dennard scaling broke down in the mid-2000s, voltage and frequency have not scaled in step with transistor dimensions, so each node has had to fight harder for gains in performance and efficiency. The starkest comparison is not Kirin 9020 versus Kirin 9030 Pro. Apple’s efficiency cores run circles around Huawei’s prime core. Apple’s low-power core delivers 20% higher integer performance while drawing only 1 W, compared with 4.5 W for Huawei’s prime core. N+3 matches TSMC N6, but N6 is several generations old. Apple and Qualcomm build on N4 and N3P, which are denser and sit on a better voltage-frequency curve, giving them a larger transistor budget and more performance per watt. The 9030’s own cores did improve. The middle and tiny cores gained 17% and 14% in per-clock integer performance over the 9020, with floating-point flat on the middle core and up 11% on the tiny. The tiny core improves cleanly, with performance rising while power falls and efficiency increases by 45% in integer and 24% in floating point. The middle core is mixed: integer performance rises but power rises faster, cutting integer efficiency by 7%, while lower power lifts floating-point efficiency 16%. Per-clock gains at the same or lower frequency are microarchitectural, so the cores are tuned, not just shrunk. Both also failed to hold their rated maximum frequencies, pointing to thermal, power, or stability limits. Per clock, the middle core sits around Arm Cortex-A720 and the tiny core near the Cortex-A520; absolute performance trails because Huawei clocks them much lower. The prime core is roughly Cortex-X2 class per clock, a 2021 design. Apple’s 2020 M1 Firestorm core is still 35% higher per clock and 57% faster in absolute integer performance at a similar 4.5 W. The current leading edge is further ahead again: the Apple M5 P-core is 60% higher per clock and 2.7× faster, the Arm C1 Ultra 45% higher and 2× faster. Matching older high-end cores per clock is a genuine design achievement. What Huawei cannot match is the voltage-frequency curve and transistor budget of leading-edge nodes, which let Apple, Qualcomm and others spend more transistors in the same area on wider cores, larger caches and deeper buffers while running at lower voltage. Huawei’s LogicFolding roadmap is one answer, stacking active logic to recover density and shorten signal paths. We return to it later. The GPU compute units (CUs) changed more visibly than the CPU cores, moving to a more rectangular layout for both the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) clusters and the CU overall. Even with ray-tracing support added, a CU shrank ~28%. However, that shrink is offset by the increase from 4 to 6 CUs and the area outside the CUs grew 33%. Overall, the GPU cluster is larger by ~10%. The GPU is where Huawei makes its biggest gains. The Maleoon 935 is not competitive with current flagships, but it is a large step up from the 920 and reaches older-flagship territory. In 3DMark it is 70% faster in Wild Life Extreme (WLE) and 79% faster in Steel Nomad Light (SNL) than the 920; with 11% higher clocks and 50% more CUs, the ~67% theoretical uplift roughly matches WLE and is beaten by SNL. It edges ahead of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in WLE and SNL, and the Dimensity 9200 and Apple A16 in WLE, but stays far behind newer parts: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Dimensity 9500 are ~2.4–2.6× faster in WLE and ~3.2× faster in SNL. The Maleoon 935 is Huawei’s first GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing; there it lands slightly ahead of the Exynos 2200, and on par with the Apple A16, with current flagships up to 3.7× faster. The Neural Processing Unit (NPU) saw the largest structural changes of any block, moving from a Lite and a Tiny core in the Kirin 9020 to a Lite and two Tiny cores in the Kirin 9030. Both core types also show significant layout changes. This is a reversal in Huawei’s NPU design. The Kirin 9000 5G, its last flagship chip on TSMC N5, used two Lite and one Tiny core. The series of SoCs on SMIC N+2 moved to one Lite and one Tiny core, likely for area savings. With the Kirin 9030, Huawei has shifted back toward a larger multi-core NPU cluster, but with the additional area going to a Tiny core rather than a Lite core. We’re diving deep into the most advanced datacenter and AI hardware hitting the market. To learn more about what’s in the pipeline or to commission a custom teardown, contact sales@semianalysis.com. Interested in joining us on this ride and think you can be a difference maker? Check out our Careers page. Before diving into the process stack, the package and memory are worth separating from the SoC itself. The Pro variant of the Kirin 9030 carries 12 GB of Samsung DRAM, with two stacks of four dies each. The dies were identified as the K4L2E165YD, a 12 Gb LPDDR5X-9600 device fabricated on Samsung’s 1a node, the fourth generation of its 10 nm-class DRAM after 1x, 1y and 1z. 1a has shipped in volume since 2022, so this is current memory rather than older-node inventory. The 16 GB Pro Max variants we obtained were found with both CXMT and Samsung packages. The CXMT package is marked CXDD7JEDM, with two stacks of four dies, packaged in week 45 of 2025. The inferred die dimensions from X-ray computed tomography (CT) are consistent with a known density of ~0.3 Gib/mm² for the CXMT G4 process, roughly equivalent to other manufacturers’ 1z processes. The Kirin 9030 uses a typical integrated package-on-package (iPoP) stack: multiple DRAM dies in a memory package sit above an organic redistribution layer (RDL) interposer, which sits above the SoC and package substrate. The full package is then mounted to the printed circuit board (PCB) through ball-grid array (BGA) solder bumps. The memory package substrate is a thin bismaleimide-triazine (BT) laminate carrying the LPDDR5X stack. The organic RDL interposer over the SoC routes the PoP signals around the die and carries possible dummy thermal copper pillars. The package substrate, a thicker Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF) build-up over a BT core, fans the flip-chip bumps out to BGA pitch and embeds the power planes. The whole stack is organic. The only silicon is the SoC and the LPDDR5X dies; there is no silicon interposer. Keeping it all-organic brings the package’s coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) close to the PCB’s, reducing board-level warpage, and avoids the cost of a silicon interposer the SoC’s bandwidth does not need. In an iPoP stack, the memory package connects to the organic RDL interposer through an array of solder bumps. Underfill fills the gap around those bumps, adding stiffness and protecting the joints from mechanical stress. The Pro and Pro Max variants differ here, which we cover behind the paywall. The die shot and architecture tell us how Huawei allocated its silicon budget. The process tells us what SMIC can manufacture. We use the Helio G99 as the process reference for TSMC N6. Both SMIC N+3 and TSMC N6 are evolutions of previous 7 nm-class nodes. We used targeted TEM cross-sections through logic and memory regions, imaged in both fin-cut and gate-cut directions. Each cross-section caption gives its horizontal field width (HFW), the real width of the imaged area. We start at the transistor fins, then move up through standard cells, local interconnect, and SRAM. SMIC has not overtaken Intel or TSMC. It uses aggressive DUV scaling and DTCO to reach N6-class density, but that density doesn’t translate into comparable performance and efficiency, for two reasons: the node gap to leading-edge nodes, and Huawei’s core designs. Fin Profile One of the most important knobs in a FinFET process is the fin profile: the shape of an individual fin and the channel where current passes from source to drain. The ideal fin is tall, narrow, and nearly vertical. A taller fin increases effective channel width, while a narrower fin improves electrostatic control by thinning the body the gate must control. Push either too far, and the process pays for it: weaker drive current, fragile fins, taper, footing and line-edge variation that hit yield and device variability. The Intel 22 nm, 14 nm, and 10 nm fin cross-sections show how FinFET nodes have improved over time. 22 nm fins were a first-generation structure, relatively short, wide and strongly tapered. The shape limits current density and reduces gate control uniformity across the height of the fin. At 14 nm and 10 nm, Intel pushed the fins taller and narrower while also making the sidewalls more vertical. Rather than shrinking the device, these changes increase the effective channel width per fin and improve electrostatic control. The trade-off is that taller fins at tighter pitches are much more difficult to manufacture. Now, let’s compare the Helio G99 on TSMC N6 with the Kirin 9030 on SMIC N+3. Both processes are in the same class, with fin pitch of 30-32 nm on N+3 and 34 nm in our N6 cross-section. The pitch for N6 is especially interesting as N7’s HD library is generally listed with a 33 nm fin pitch, and N6 did not shrink pitches directly. Its density gains came from DTCO instead of tighter pitches. The 34 nm pitch was stable across our sampled region and serves more as a comparison against the SMIC N+3 we have not investigated further. Pinning down N+3’s fin patterning scheme takes more than one core unit. The CPU cores show a dense ~32 nm pitch, with the pitch between N-P fin pairs alternating between 78 and 88 nm. Logic alone may be consistent with dual-pitch mandrels of 120 and 110 nm, but this is a complex and unusual approach. Combining the pitch from the the 8T SRAM, which has more complex repeat unit, with the CPU core sequence allows us to reverse engineer the patterning steps with more confidence. As both the logic and SRAM should share the same base grid, a single CD mandrel lithography pattern with 128 nm pitch undergoing SAQP produces a die-wide ~32 nm grid (128 nm/4), which supports the pitch sequencing seen in both logic and SRAM cells. In the sampled cross-sections, N+3 shows a taller, narrower, higher-aspect-ratio fin than N6. The measured fin aspect ratio is ~9.5:1 on N+3 versus 7.8:1 on N6. N+3 also shows less top rounding, with an estimated radius of ~2 nm, compared with 2.8 nm on N6. Even though the fin widths differ, the ratio of top rounding to fin width tells the same story, with N+3 at 0.37 and N6 at 0.44. In a geometric sense, lower is better; a perfectly rectangular fin would have no top-rounding penalty. These are single-digit-nanometer features measured from a handful of cuts, so treat the absolute numbers as approximate. The important result is the relative gap: N+3’s fins are consistently taller, narrower and less rounded than N6’s. We’re diving deep into the most advanced datacenter and AI hardware hitting the market. To learn more about what’s in the pipeline or to commission a custom teardown, contact sales@semianalysis.com. Interested in joining us on this ride and think you can be a difference maker? Check out our Careers page. Standard Cell A standard cell is the basic building block of chip layout: a fixed-height row pairing one NMOS and one PMOS transistor that share a gate, tiled in a grid to build logic blocks. The key dimensions are contacted gate pitch (CGP), cell height (CH), fin count, and the lower-metal routing grid. To measure density, we use the Bohr metric: a weighted average of NAND2 gate area (60%) and scan flip-flop area (40%). This represents a realistic mix of combinational and sequential logic. This metric has its limitations, especially for complex cell layouts like TSMC’s FinFLEX, which alternates cells with different fin counts. Even so, it is the best metric for a pure process-level comparison. Another important measurement is the fin pitch; it refers to the distance between two fins of the same transistor. In a FinFET process, multiple fins are used in each transistor to increase the drive current and thus performance. TSMC N6 ships both a high-density (HD) library with 2 PMOS and 2 NMOS fins per cell, and a high-performance (HP) library with 3 of each. More fins under the shared gate mean more effective channel width. HP cells switch harder at the cost of area. Designers mix the two on a die, primarily spending HP cells on timing-critical paths, and matching their PPA targets. In the Cortex-A55 core of the Helio G99, we found a cell height of 240 nm for the HD cell. MediaTek has used HD cells in the G99 to minimize die size and thus cost. As an SoC for budget smartphones at ~$100, this is essential. By contrast, we found only one library in the Kirin 9030, with 2 NMOS and 2 PMOS fins. This suggests a narrower library strategy than TSMC N6, where both HD and HP libraries are widely used. This likely reflects the smaller customer base and the more constrained domestic design and electronic design automation (EDA) ecosystem. In all three CPU cores of the Kirin 9030, we found cell heights of 228 nm, 5% smaller than on N6. This is also a reduction of 9.5% over SMIC N+2’s cell height of 252 nm. SMIC N+3 and TSMC N6’s HD library both feature a CGP of 57 nm. For SMIC, this is a 9.5% shrink over N+2. In the past, CGP and cell height alone may have been enough to compare transistor density. Now, however, we must consider scaling boosters and DTCO as well. SMIC’s density gain does not come from EUV. It comes from using every available DTCO booster aggressively. First is fin depopulation: reducing the number of NMOS and PMOS fins in each cell. The first FinFET nodes started with 3 or 4 fins for each transistor. SMIC N+3 and TSMC N6 HD both use only 2 fins per transistor, trading drive strength for density. Next is contact over active gate (COAG). By landing the gate contact directly over the active gate, instead of out over the isolation region, the cell height drops. N+3 integrates COAG while N6 does not. Our N+3 gate-cut cross-sections indicate COAG, with the gate contact sitting over the active region, while N6 shows an off-gate contact. Last is single diffusion break (SDB). Diffusion breaks are inserted between cells in the same row to provide electrical isolation, but they also introduce local layout effects (LLE), layout-dependent shifts in electrical characteristics. In the past, a double diffusion break was used, consuming the space of two CGPs. SMIC N+3 and TSMC N6 instead use SDB, saving area but increasing LLE sensitivity. This must be controlled at the process level and accurately modeled in the process design kit (PDK) so that EDA tools can account for it. Overall, SMIC N+3 has a transistor density of 113.4 MTr/mm², slightly above TSMC N6 at 107.7 MTr/mm². Even without EUV, SMIC has achieved density beyond TSMC’s mature N6 node which utilizes EUV. Metal Stack The smallest critical dimension in the teardown is M0; SMIC N+3 uses a 32.5 nm local metal pitch. That is smaller than the 36 nm M0 pitch on Intel 18A in Panther Lake. However, this does not mean that SMIC has a better process than Intel 18A or TSMC N3P. M0 is a local intra-cell routing layer. Its usefulness depends on the full interconnect stack: M1 and M2 pitch, track count, via and line resistance, design rules, mask count, overlay control, and routing flexibility. The 32.5 nm M0 is consistent with self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP), whose four-population line-width loading we read coarsely as alternating widths of 21.5 to 24 nm; M1 and M2, at 38 and 40 nm, are consistent with self-aligned double patterning (SADP), a single A/B split. On TSMC N6, M0, M2, and M3 sit at a relaxed ~40 nm and are consistent with SADP-class double patterning, with no need for quadruple patterning. That said, we measure M2 for example at ~43 nm, likely inflated by sparse routing. We do not assign any specific layer to EUV from our cross-sections; the distinction we can draw is double versus quadruple patterning, not lithography wavelength. Transistor-level density in the front-end-of-line (FEOL) sets an upper bound, but the design is ultimately limited by what the interconnect stack can route. The lowest metals are the most important for standard-cell density, but the semi-global and global layers determine how usable that density is at the block and chip level. Two axes are commonly used for chip cross-sections: the fin-cut and the gate-cut. The micrograph above is a fin-cut and shows metals 0 through 3. This axis lets us see the even-numbered metals, with M0 right above the fins. There are two kinds of M0 lines. The first are the power rails; these are wide wires for the VDD and VSS running horizontally at the top and bottom edges of each standard cell. The wide wires measure 55 nm across, more than double the other M0 lines. Their width minimizes resistance and reduces IR drop. The second kind are intra-cell wires, short segments within the cell that connect terminals to M1. These have alternating widths between 21.5 and 24 nm. The M0 pitch is 32.5 nm, a 19% reduction versus N+2 and N6. At this pitch, DUV patterning requires more aggressive multi-patterning, increasing mask count, overlay sensitivity, process complexity and cost. M0 is below what a single DUV-defined spacer (SADP) can resolve, so SMIC cascades a second spacer step (SAQP). The cross-section reflects the cost: the M0 trenches are visibly more re-entrant (narrower at the bottom than the top) than M1 or M2 on the same chip and carry a bright barrier-rich foot where the trench meets the etch-stop layer. That shape is partly the intended damascene profile, as a slightly narrow bottom helps void-free copper fill, but its magnitude at M0 is driven by the tight pitch and the higher trench aspect ratio. Intel 18A supports an M0 pitch of 32 nm, although Panther Lake has only shipped with a looser 36 nm pitch. This is due to Intel’s heavy usage of HP libraries. Among leading-edge nodes, 18A has the loosest M0 pitches due to PowerVia. With power routing moving to the backside, congestion is reduced, and the entire front-side metal stack can be used for signal routing. M2 is the first true inter-cell routing layer. It runs horizontally like M0 but spans across multiple cells to carry block-level signals. The M2 pitch sets the cell’s track height – the number of M2 tracks that fit between the VDD and VSS rails, defining what the library calls a 6-track or 7.5-track cell. This layer is the most important, limiting the routing of entire blocks. SMIC N+3 features a 5.7-track cell. The M2 pitch is 40 nm, a 5% decrease over N+2 and the same as N6. This shrink keeps the pitch at the edge of what is possible with double patterning. Future nodes will need to increase the number of masks for M2 as reducing the number of tracks is much harder due to the limitations in routing. The micrograph above is in the perpendicular direction, the gate-cut, and shows metals 0 through 4. This allows us to see and measure the odd-numbered vertical metal layers. The M1 pitch is 38 nm, 9.5% less than N+2 and 33% less than N6. The M1-to-gate ratio matters because it sets local routing flexibility. N+2 and N+3 use a 3:2 ratio, while N6 uses a 1:1 ratio, explaining the huge differences in M1 pitch. The more M1 lines there are compared with the gates, the more flexibility there is for power and signal crossing within the cell. Routing flexibility enables more complex and better cells. Clean fractional ratios are also preferred as a grid is periodic and improves layouts. The 3:2 ratio gives SMIC more local routing flexibility than a strict 1:1 grid, but it also complicates layout and patterning. This is a DTCO choice, with SMIC increasing process complexity to recover density and routability without EUV. This 3:2 ratio is not very popular in the leading-edge nodes. TSMC has only used it on N7+, the N5 family, and the short-lived N3(B). They have switched back to a 1:1 ratio for N3E. Intel has only used it on the 10 nm/Intel 7 family, with Intel 4, 3 and 18A all using a 1:1 ratio. Samsung is the only one still using a 3:2 ratio at the leading edge, using it in the SF4 and SF3 families. It remains to be seen if SMIC will remain at a 3:2 ratio or move to a 1:1 ratio with its future nodes. The industry is still actively exploring these local-routing ratios. At VLSI 2026, imec will be presenting work on even higher ratios, including a 2:1 scheme that can reduce area by up to 14%. We will be covering the conference in a future newsletter article. Subscribe We’re diving deep into the most advanced datacenter and AI hardware hitting the market. To learn more about what’s in the pipeline or to commission a custom teardown, contact sales@semianalysis.com. Interested in joining us on this ride and think you can be a difference maker? Check out our Careers page. The final local interconnect layer for N+3 is M3, with a pitch of 44 nm. The M3 pitch is the same as on N+2 and 10% larger than on N6. The semi-global layers carry the majority of block-level signal routing. They have a coarser pitch than the lower local layers. On leading-edge nodes, they are designed to sit at the limit of DUV single patterning. M4 through M11 pitches were found divided between 80–82 nm (M4–M6), 128 nm (M7–M10), and 148 nm (M11). Given limited sampling, it is possible these are divided further in dense routing areas. At the top are two giant metal layers, M12 and M13. These have kept the same pitches as N+2 at 1920 nm and 4600 nm respectively. While the lower layers’ pitches are generally fixed by the process and library, the upper layers vary much more in pitch and count, depending on the design. Even two smartphone SoCs on the same process can have wildly different metal stacks. The Helio G99 carries fewer routing layers, reaching coarse metal pitches of 850 nm by M9, while the larger and higher-performance Kirin 9030 keeps fine pitches until M11. SRAM At the leading edge, SRAM is much more difficult to scale than logic. TSMC’s latest nodes have seen little to no bitcell scaling, while logic still has more DTCO levers to pull. While looking for other logic libraries in the GPU compute units, we stumbled upon the SRAM. The most common type of SRAM has 6 transistors (6T), but this cell had 8 transistors (8T) instead. 8T SRAM adds two transistors to form a dedicated read port. Unlike a 6T cell, where reading disturbs the storage, the decoupled read port removes read-disturb, improving read stability and letting the cell be pushed harder for performance. At first glance, the cut looked like an unusual logic library, with each cell row having 3 fins of one polarity and 5 fins of another. The rows also alternated in orientation. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) resolved our confusion. The cut had not landed on the GPU logic, but on the SRAM macro beside it. The unusual fin pattern was due to the SRAM library. We return to EDS in the process flow analysis behind the paywall. SRAM libraries are not like traditional logic libraries. Due to the unequal number of PMOS and NMOS transistors, they require specialized rules and layout libraries. They do not need the flexibility of logic libraries, so they are hyper-optimized for one purpose: dense, reliable memory. The SRAM cell we found is a 1:2:2-2:2 cell. This means there is 1 fin per pull-up (PU) PMOS transistor, and 2 fins per pull-down (PD) and pass-gate (PG) NMOS transistor. These 2 PU, 2 PD and 2 PG transistors would usually form a single 6T high-current cell (HCC). An 8T HCC adds a read-pull-down (RPD) and a read-pass-gate (RPG) NMOS transistor, each with two fins. We measured a cell height of 406 nm, which brings the bitcell size to 0.0463 µm². That is a theoretical peak density of 21.6 Mib/mm². We estimate that a 6T HCC would have a cell height of 292 nm and a size of 0.0337 µm². This is ~12% larger than a 6T HCC on Intel 3 and 4. We also estimate the 6T high-density cell (HDC) to have a cell height of 228 nm and a size of 0.0260 µm². This is coincidentally the same as the logic standard-cell height measured earlier. The estimate puts the cell near Samsung 7LPP/5LPP and slightly below TSMC N7/N6. That is a theoretical peak density of 38.5 Mib/mm². 6T HDC is arguably the most important cell as it is used for the largest caches in a chip, the L3 caches and system-level cache (SLC). Both the Kirin 9020 and 9030 have split the SLC into 4 banks to raise total SLC bandwidth. In the Kirin 9030, the SLC increased from 2 MiB to 3 MiB per bank. Correspondingly, the number of arrays within the bank also increased by 50%, from 16 to 24. Each array can store 128 KiB and forms an orderly pattern on the die shot. From the Kirin 9020 to the Kirin 9030, the area of a 128 KiB SLC array decreased from 0.0477 mm² to 0.0392 mm², an 18% shrink. The achieved density is 25.5 Mib/mm², 66% of the theoretical maximum. While the SLC was quite similar across both chips, the L3 has seen some major changes, particularly in terms of its layout. The total capacity also went up from 10 MiB to 12 MiB. Much like the SLC, the L3 is also split into 4 banks. In the Kirin 9020, an L3 bank consisted of 16× 128 KiB arrays and 16× 32 KiB arrays. However, an L3 bank in the Kirin 9030 instead consists of 48× 64 KiB arrays. In the Kirin 9020 L3, a 128 KiB array was 0.0513 mm² and a 32 KiB array was 0.0154 mm². The size of the 128 KiB array is different on the L3 and SLC as the assist circuitry for the two arrays differs depending on their purpose. In the Kirin 9030 L3, a 64 KiB array is 0.0210 mm². Although not a like-for-like comparison, normalized for capacity, it is 18% smaller than the 9020’s 128 KiB L3 array and 31% smaller than its 32 KiB L3 array. The achieved density is slightly lower than the SLC, at 23.8 Mib/mm², 62% of the theoretical maximum. Unlike the L3 and SLC, the prime cores’ private L2 cache uses a 2-bank design. As the prime cores’ L2 is latency-critical, it likely uses 6T HCC instead of 6T HDC. The 9020 has 16 arrays in each bank while the 9030 has 32. Each array has a capacity of 32 KiB. A 32 KiB array in the L2 shrank from 0.0171 mm² to 0.0142 mm², ~17% smaller. The density is 17.6 Mib/mm², ~59% of the theoretical maximum for 6T HCC. SRAM scaled well from N+2 to N+3, shrinking by ~19%, close to the theoretical logic shrink. The caveat is that N+2’s bitcells were unusually large, bigger than comparable 7 nm-class nodes, so part of the gain is catch-up rather than true scaling. With the insights from STEEL’s teardowns, we will be doing a deep dive into SRAM in a future newsletter article. Subscribe Everything above came out of a single STEEL teardown: die annotation, block-level area analysis and TEM cross-sections through logic and SRAM. We’re diving deep into the most advanced datacenter and AI hardware hitting the market. To learn more about what’s in the pipeline or to commission a custom teardown, contact sales@semianalysis.com. Future Roadmap The same cross-sections that pin down N+3 also show where SMIC can go next. Although N+3 is already close to the practical limits of DUV multi-patterning in several layers, SMIC still has a few scaling levers left. A theoretical N+4 would likely start with cell height. N+3 uses 5 M0 tracks between its power rails. Moving to 4 M0 tracks, as on SMIC N+2 and TSMC N6, could reduce cell height by roughly 15%. The routing grid is only one side of the shrink; the front end also must fit into the smaller cell. One possible FEOL lever is reducing the p-to-n isolation spacing from two diffusion grid units to one. Intel used this scaling booster on Intel 4, and TSMC did so on its N3 family. This path trades layout flexibility for density. Fewer M0 tracks reduce local routing resources, while tighter p-to-n spacing raises integration and design-rule difficulty. M2 is also constrained by the cell height shrink. For SMIC to maintain a ~5.7-track cell, M2 would need to move toward ~35 nm. That would move another layer into SAQP territory. SMIC could also reduce the CGP from 57 nm to 54 nm. Intel reached a similar CGP on Intel 10 nm/Intel 7 without EUV. The local interconnect is also tougher. If SMIC keeps the 3:2 M1-to-gate ratio, M1 would need to shrink to 36 nm and would likely require SAQP as well. If SMIC moves to a 1:1 ratio, M1 could relax to 54 nm, but it would give up routing flexibility. Under this theoretical path, we estimate that SMIC N+4 could reach a cell height of 198 nm and a CGP of 54 nm, implying a Bohr density of 137.8 MTr/mm², on par with TSMC N5 or Samsung SF4. However, the difficulty is cumulative. Each step is individually plausible, but together they make N+4 harder than the transition from N+2 to N+3. It will likely take longer, cost more, and carry less process margin. A theoretical N+5 would require a larger integration shift. One possible path is backside contacts (BSCon), moving power routing and source/drain contacts to the backside, which would reduce front-side routing pressure and enable another reduction in cell height. The front-side metal pitches could relax to reduce the process complexity. M0 would likely relax slightly to ~34 nm, and M2 and M4 pitches could relax further. CGP is unlikely to shrink much further. Even with EUV, 48 nm has been the practical limit for yield and process control. This approach would allow N+5’s cell height to fall to 170 nm and its CGP to 53 nm. This implies a Bohr density of 163.6 MTr/mm², on par with Intel 18A’s HP library. However, this would not make N+5 cost-competitive with the leading edge. It would reach a similar density through a much more expensive route. The integration difficulty rises sharply, with new process flows for backside alignment, wafer thinning, contact reveal, and backside metallization. Past this point, standard density and interconnect scaling become increasingly unattractive. That is where Huawei’s roadmap stops looking like a normal foundry roadmap and starts looking like a packaging roadmap. At ISCAS 2026, Huawei unveiled its tau (τ) scaling law, reframing process scaling in the time domain. τ is the time cost of data movement and processing: switching delays in transistors, RC signal propagation delays in circuits, compute, memory, and networking latency. Outside Huawei’s terminology, this is called system-technology co-optimization. This is Huawei’s answer to its lack of EUV lithography. Without EUV, planar density cannot keep pace with TSMC, Intel, or Samsung. If transistor density cannot shrink further, Huawei’s alternative is to shorten wires, reduce buffering, and stack logic vertically. “LogicFolding”, Huawei’s implementation of this new scaling idea, is, in practice, an aggressive 3D stacking approach. AMD V-Cache places SRAM above or below a CPU die. AMD’s MI350X places active interposer dies (AIDs) underneath accelerator and compute dies (XCDs), with the AIDs handling cache, IO interfaces, the network-on-chip (NoC) and embedded metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors. With LogicFolding, parts of the same logic block are split across multiple active dies bonded face-to-face at ultra-fine pitch. This allows Huawei to shorten some critical paths and reduce buffer overhead, not merely add cache capacity or offload the IO and interconnect. Shortening wires is where the higher clocks come from. A large share of a modern core’s delay and energy budget goes into driving long interconnects and the repeater buffers along them. LogicFolding distributes a block’s critical-path gates across multiple stacked tiers bonded at a very fine pitch, so the bond interface behaves like an additional metal layer and the longest paths get shorter. That is how Huawei expects to recover frequency and efficiency it cannot get from the process alone. Huawei’s roadmap shows its intent. Prime core frequency is targeted to rise from 2.75 GHz in the Kirin 9030 to roughly 5 GHz by 2031, far beyond what planar scaling alone could deliver. Prime cores with 3.1 and 3.39 GHz clocks are being tested in its labs, although their power consumption is unknown. Beyond that, chips are in the design, simulation or pathfinding phase, meaning the frequencies are targets. However, the direction matters more: LogicFolding also helps with performance, not just density. The catch is that Huawei’s density claim is not directly comparable to foundry densities. A stacked design can report more transistors per package footprint by adding active layers, even if each patterned die remains well behind TSMC or Intel in front-end density. This is how Huawei can claim to reach foundry 14A-equivalent density by 2031. This is not a like-for-like foundry comparison, with Huawei using stacked logic and measuring density per package footprint. On a normalized Bohr-density basis, SMIC N+3 is ~114 MTr/mm², 38% less than Intel 18A’s HD library. Huawei’s 3D roadmap closes the gap by stacking active logic, reaching 215 MTr/mm² by 2030. In 2031, the roadmap density jumps to 295 MTr/mm², implying either a third active layer, partial EUV insertion or aggressive planar DUV scaling. Huawei’s methodology makes other foundries look much denser as well. Applying it to AMD’s MI450X with an N2 top die on an N3P base die yields a theoretical density of 460.2 MTr/mm² in 2026, compared with Huawei’s 295 MTr/mm² in 2031. This Kirin 9030 does not use LogicFolding, remaining in a conventional mobile SoC package. Instead, it forms the baseline for how far Huawei and SMIC can push planar scaling. Future teardowns of Kirin and Ascend chips will show both planar logic density and Huawei’s hybrid bonding solutions. Export controls changed China’s optimization problem rather than ending it. EUV restrictions raised the cost and complexity of leading-edge manufacturing without freezing it. SMIC reaches N6-class logic density through DUV immersion, SAQP and DTCO, while Huawei shifts more of the burden onto architecture, packaging and system-level integration. Future nodes will be tougher. N+3 still had room to tighten local metals and reduce cell height and CGP. Further scaling without EUV leaves fewer levers. More aggressive multi-patterning adds masks and overlay error. SMIC can keep pushing DUV, but each step will get more expensive and less forgiving. The design side is just as critical. Huawei had domestic EDA tools and flows before the Kirin 9030, with the Kirin 9000s, 9010 and 9020 making that clear. Huawei was able to ship multiple consumer SoCs on SMIC N+2 and N+3 while cut off from the Western EDA stack. US export controls restricted EDA tools for advanced chips in 2022 but did not target tools for more mature chips. In 2025, the US government briefly placed much broader restrictions on EDA software from Synopsys, Cadence, and others, before lifting them less than two months later as part of a trade deal tied to rare earths. Huawei has been unable to access those tools because it remains on a US trade blacklist. That forced Huawei, SMIC and Chinese academic institutions to build their own tools and flows. Researchers at Peking University recently announced a prototype EDA tool for Huawei’s LogicFolding architecture, which requires a new flow to handle the multilayer layout and floorplan. This is not the same as replacing the full Synopsys or Cadence stack, but it shows where domestic EDA is headed: toward tighter co-optimization between architecture, process and packaging. These advances are also diffusing into the Chinese ecosystem. SMIC is licensing its N+2 and N+3 processes to HLMC/Hua Hong at the government’s direction rather than by choice. If the same process learning feeds into Ascend accelerators for AI training and inference, the choke point shifts from one named fab to an ecosystem. Alibaba’s T-Head silicon arm and Cambricon, a Chinese AI chip designer that is expected to supply ByteDance, could also be major beneficiaries. Sanctions aimed at SMIC alone become less effective once the manufacturing knowledge has spread to other fabs and design houses. China is not closing the gap with Intel, Samsung and TSMC. The teardown shows the opposite in several places: no EUV, no backside power, higher process complexity, and visible trade-offs. But China is still advancing. If domestic chips become good enough for phones, inference, networking and security-sensitive workloads, they can matter strategically without matching TSMC at the leading edge. Behind the paywall, we show what else STEEL can do, with material and process flow analysis of SMIC N+3, and analysis of the Kirin 9030 package. We’re diving deep into the most advanced datacenter and AI hardware hitting the market. To learn more about what’s in the pipeline, access the full Kirin 9030 and SMIC N+3 analysis or to commission a custom teardown, contact sales@semianalysis.com.

newsletter.semianalysis.com logo
Jun 14 • 3:14 PM EDT • Technology • newsletter.semianalysis.com
Office suite catches fire at Point Loma Business Center

Firefighters quickly contained an early morning commercial fire at a business office building in Point Loma, preventing further damage and ensuring no injuries were reported.

fox5sandiego.com logo
Jun 14 • 12:22 PM EDT • Business • fox5sandiego.com
Cal Fire expands aerial fleet amid jetfuel concerns

Cal Fire is enhancing its firefighting capabilities with new aircraft and increased staffing as it prepares for another challenging fire season in California, even as the state faces budget issues and uncertainty around fuel this summer.

kcra.com logo
Jun 14 • 11:25 AM EDT • Politics • kcra.com
Multiple homes and a business destroyed in Columbia fire, 8 people displaced

Three homes and a business were completely destroyed in a fire that spread through a block on S. 4th Street in Columbia Borough Saturday afternoon, according to borough officials.

lancasteronline.com logo
Jun 14 • 11:10 AM EDT • Business • lancasteronline.com
6 said killed in Gaza strikes as Hamas health ministry says war toll surpasses 73,000

Terror group says it responded to 15-point Board of Peace blueprint aiming to push ceasefire to next stage, although sources say disagreements remain over disarmament issue

timesofisrael.com logo
Jun 14 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • timesofisrael.com
Lexington embroiderer sells T-shirts to support uptown businesses devastated in fire

A Lexington embroidery business owner is selling custom T-shirts to help the uptown businesses destroyed in last month’s fire. The message behind the shirt and more ways you can help:

wxii12.com logo
Jun 14 • 7:08 AM EDT • Business • wxii12.com
Coast FIRE offers a flexible path to financial independence

FIRE is known as a path to financial freedom but also has a reputation for extremes. Some who have tried say they've found a more relaxed method.

businessinsider.com logo
Jun 14 • 5:35 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Yankees news: Cam gets his revenge in Toronto

Schlittler’s fire against Blue Jays; Stanton suffers setback; Fried making progress in rehab.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Jun 14 • 5:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Active Minds Launches National Youth-Led Mental Health Movement to Equip 100,000 High School Student | The South Pasadenan

Altadena and Pasadena youth lead a new mental health movement with Active Minds and Google.org to build resilience following the devastating Eaton Fire.

southpasadenan.com logo
Jun 14 • 1:36 AM EDT • Health • southpasadenan.com
Mainers are turning to plants for health care as conventional treatment is harder to get

Maine companies sell herbal supplements, tinctures and other products made from plants, and Mainers also make their own products at home.

bangordailynews.com logo
Jun 14 • 1:00 AM EDT • Health • bangordailynews.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (6%)
wow
52%
love
48%
Bark dust piles catch fire at Cornelius landscape supply business

Cornelius firefighters knocked down a compost fire on Saturday after crews spotted heavy smoke while heading back from another call.

kptv.com logo
Jun 14 • 12:55 AM EDT • Business • kptv.com
☹️ Negative (-5%)
love
60%
ahah
40%
Scientists found a surprising problem with sugar-free diets

A surprising new study suggests that completely eliminating sugar may backfire. Mice on a sucrose-free low-fat diet showed worse blood sugar control, increased inflammation, disrupted gut bacteria, and signs of fatty liver compared with mice that consumed some sucrose. Researchers say the results highlight the importance of a balanced diet and a healthy gut microbiome rather than focusing solely on cutting out sugar.

sciencedaily.com logo
Jun 13 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Tracy residents worry about health risks after warehouse fire

Residents in Tracy are concerned about lingering smoke and toxic chemicals in the air following the Medline warehouse fire

kcra.com logo
Jun 13 • 1:54 AM EDT • Health • kcra.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (5%)
ahah
63%
wow
37%
Tracy Medline Warehouse Fire: Here are the public safety, health and employment impacts

A massive fire that destroyed a medical distribution facility in Tracy has left about 1,000 employees out of work and raised concerns about the supply of critical medical goods, as officials and companies work to limit ongoing impacts.

abc7news.com logo
Jun 13 • 1:40 AM EDT • Health • abc7news.com
😐 Neutral (14%)
After closing following a fire 14 months ago, iconic Routt County restaurant is back in business

The new Antlers Café and Bar owner, Chris Braden, is serving up his signature chicken fried steak for customers returning to the historic spot in Yampa following a fire that closed the business for 14...

steamboatpilot.com logo
Jun 12 • 4:36 PM EDT • Business • steamboatpilot.com
Trump’s Too Busy with His UFC Birthday Party to Sign a Ceasefire Agreement with Iran

Luckily, Vice President J. Divan Vance isn’t on vacation this weekend, so he’ll reportedly fill in for the president on Sunday to sign the terms.

esquire.com logo
Jun 12 • 10:58 AM EDT • Politics • esquire.com
'Toxic gases, carcinogens': Tracy medical warehouse fire raises air quality concerns as smoke billows

San Joaquin County officials are warning residents about potential health risks as thick black smoke from the Tracy medical warehouse fire continues to billow on Friday. County public health officials said respiratory irritants, toxic gases, carcinogens, and "at least one neurotoxin" are present in the smoke and could impact nearby communities downwind.

kcra.com logo
Jun 12 • 10:06 AM EDT • Health • kcra.com
Scientists Created Nuclear Fireballs in a Lab—on Purpose

When a nuclear accident happens, it’s vital that scientists have accurate fallout models.

popularmechanics.com logo
Jun 12 • 9:00 AM EDT • Science • popularmechanics.com
Dodgers notes: Shohei Ohtani, Justin Wrobleski, Tanner Scott

Shohei Ohtani has set the baseball world on fire on the mound despite his most recent start on Wednesday, and he’s been picking up the pace with the lumber as well since May 12. Ohtani capped off the three-game set in Pittsburgh with his second home run in as many games while reaching base four […]

sports.yahoo.com logo
Jun 12 • 8:06 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (13%)
wow
66%
ahah
34%
Yakima Health District board fires executive director following extended leave

Andre Fresco had led the Yakima Health District since 2012. He and his family moved from Tennessee, where he served as health director for Montgomery County and managed the Rutherford

yakimaherald.com logo
Jun 11 • 3:00 PM EDT • Health • yakimaherald.com
'Flip flop': Democrat firefighter in tight House race blasts popular Trump policy his national union supports

Democrat Bob Brooks criticized Trump's overtime tax break on a podcast despite his national firefighters union's support, prompting GOP flip flop accusations.

foxnews.com logo
Jun 11 • 1:35 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Are GOP California conspiracy theories preparation for November?

Or could Trump’s fraud claims backfire in the midterms?

theweek.com logo
Jun 11 • 12:39 PM EDT • Politics • theweek.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (18%)
love
37%
wow
33%
ahah
30%
Mother demands police mental health reform in AZ

Attorneys outline a lawsuit against Chandler police, detailing how an officer-in-training fired four shots at a man experiencing a severe crisis.

fox10phoenix.com logo
Jun 11 • 12:10 PM EDT • Health • fox10phoenix.com
Inside America’s Ugly Birthday Battle

Trump advisers broke an agreement to fund the bipartisan semiquincentennial celebrations, saying they will not “light taxpayer money on fire.”

theatlantic.com logo
Jun 11 • 8:30 AM EDT • Politics • theatlantic.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (13%)
ahah
50%
wow
50%
Mary Means Business: Firearm training simulator open in Columbus

Golden Triangle Trigger Time is officially open in Columbus.

cdispatch.com logo
Jun 11 • 7:59 AM EDT • Business • cdispatch.com
Community Days returns with expanded entertainment, parade and biggest fireworks show yet

DuBOIS — For 33 years, DuBois Community Days has brought residents together for a weekend of entertainment, food, family activities and hometown pride.

thecourierexpress.com logo
Jun 11 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • thecourierexpress.com
Charles Barkley dares ESPN to fire him after his controversial Cardi B joke during NBA Finals

Charles Barkley reacted to the controversy surrounding the joke he made about Cardi B during the NBA Finals.

ew.com logo
Jun 10 • 6:54 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Low-cost laptops with smartphone RAM in metal chassis: Intel reveals details of Project Firefly

The DRAM crisis is making entry-level laptops more and more expensive – or forcing manufacturers to use very old components. Intel Wildcat Lake and Project Firefly are set to change this and provide serious competition for the Apple MacBook Neo. Intel now reveals more details about Project Firefly.

notebookcheck.net logo
Jun 10 • 4:53 PM EDT • Technology • notebookcheck.net
Intel’s Project Firefly Takes The Best of Phones To Build Laptops In A Slim 12.9mm Metal Chassis With No Vents

Intel's Project Firefly aims to deliver premium-grade budget laptops with Wildcat Lake SoCs and a metal chassis, targeting affordability.

wccftech.com logo
Jun 10 • 3:56 PM EDT • Technology • wccftech.com
How Alvarez became Europe's most sought-after striker

Julian Alvarez heads to the World Cup aiming to fire Argentina to back-to-back triumphs at a time when he is the subject of one the most sensational transfer bids ever made.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Jun 10 • 8:48 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave's world map is partially inspired by medieval Spain, even if the Dagdan Empire setting looks much older

The next Fire Emblem is mixing Greek and Roman influences with names borrowed from medieval Spain, but the map is completely different.

eurogamer.net logo
Jun 10 • 6:48 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
New OMB rule could break science in the United States

The drug that saved your mother. The treatment your doctor recommended. The clinical trial that bought someone you love more time. None of it was inevitable. It required a system built to operate outside politics and sustained over decades, because science doesn’t operate on the timeline of a politician. That system is now under direct threat. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a new rule to regulate all federal grants, not just science, but housing, education, defense, NASA and everything in between, that would fundamentally change how research is conducted in the United States. There have been a lot of fires in the past 16 months, and if everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency. But this is a very big deal. These rules would strip away the independence that has kept science from becoming a political tool. The good news is there’s still something we can all do. How the grant system was designed to work When I was a new faculty member, I was full of millions of ideas, so I sat down and wrote an NIH proposal. I worked on it for months and thought it was so good. Then I sent it to my mentor. It came back covered in comments. Places where my reasoning wasn’t as airtight as I’d thought, methods that could be stronger, gaps in my thinking that I had been too close to the work to see. It stung, as honest feedback always does, but peer review almost always makes the work better. In fact, it’s the backbone of how American science has functioned for generations. At NIH, submitted proposals go to a panel of scientists who have experience in the field. These are the people who can read research methods and spot their weaknesses, who understand when an experiment is designed well and when it isn’t. Applications are scored rigorously, and often only the top 3-20% of proposals receive funding. The people making funding decisions are required to justify them based on these reviews. To be clear: this is not a perfect system, and good science still goes unfunded more often than any of us would like due to limited resources. There is also criticism that peer review may undervalue bold ideas that are risky but could have high payoffs. But the peer review system is nonetheless a meaningful part of the grant selection process. While thoughtful and careful changes could improve the system, the changes being proposed by OMB will not make things better. The rule that could change everything Through this OMB proposal, the system that helps decide what gets funded is being dismantled. There are many troubling elements buried in this proposal, but three provisions stand out in particular. Each would be damaging alone. Together, they would change what kind of science gets done in America, and who it serves. 1. Political appointees would decide which science gets funded, and peer review would be explicitly sidelined or ignored. The guidelines your doctor follows, the standards that determine what’s in your air and water, the drugs that get approved for your family: all of it starts with a funding decision. Right now, that decision is made by scientists who can evaluate whether the work is actually sound and whether it could move the needle forward. Under this proposal, funding decisions could be made by political appointees. The careful, expertise-driven review process that shapes grant funding would be effectively sidelined. That means that a poorly designed study could get funded simply because someone in a political office liked the sound of it, while rigorous, important work doesn’t get funded because it no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities. In other words, critical work that benefits all of us could now be missed just because it has become politically inconvenient. 2. Grants could be canceled at any point, without warning, in the middle of ongoing work. Say your tax dollars have been paying for a cancer study for two years. The grant was awarded for five years, so the team is mid-experiment. There are three additional years’ worth of answers that could change how the disease is treated for hundreds of thousands of people. With this new rule, the federal government could cancel the remaining funding tomorrow, walk away from the commitment it made with your money, and have no legal obligation to finish what it started. This is a huge waste of money. There are rarely other sources of funding for this work, which means the team, the graduate students, postdocs, and research staff who have dedicated years of their careers to this project could lose their jobs. Patients who have contributed their time to studies may not see it turn into useful learnings for others. Every hour of work already completed could result in nothing useful. Science can take decades to get to tangible outcomes. It needs a stable funding system to flourish. 3. Researchers would have a harder time communicating their findings without pre-approval from the federal government. There is a saying from Sir Mark Walport: “Science isn’t finished until it’s communicated.” Science is no use to anyone if it is kept locked away in the labs that produced the data. The proposed rule could make communicating research findings harder in a number of ways: Make it harder for scientists to widely share their findings in scientific journals. Publication costs, including journal fees that allow for broad public access, could not be paid for by federal funds which is often how scientists pay these costs. Restrict researchers from engaging publicly about how their findings should inform policy or public health guidelines. This would restrict scientists from doing the work that transforms years of lab work into decisions that actually affect people’s lives. Make it harder for scientists to attend conferences. Conferences would now need to be approved by the federal agency at the time of grant award. This disadvantages conferences or publications that are not politically aligned. Conferences are a key way in which scientists learn about work happening in their field so they can collaborate and build on each other’s findings. What good is science with a muzzle? The long-term impact These changes could (and hopefully would) be reversed under the next administration. But by then, damage has been done. Once projects are halted or denied funding by political appointees, people leave their science careers for other paths or even leave the country to do their amazing science elsewhere. You cannot pause a scientific study the way you pause a subscription you decided isn’t useful anymore. You cannot freeze a research team that depends on salaries to feed their families, causing a scramble for replacement funding that, in most cases, simply does not exist. When the money stops, everything stops, and all the work in progress and its potential are lost. Despite all of the language about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, this new proposed rule increases the administrative burden tremendously. Every researcher watching this unfold will make a rational decision: don’t start anything that will take a decade to finish. This includes not building a team around funding that could vanish, or asking the big questions that need patience and stability to answer. The most consequential science, the kind that produces the treatments and the breakthroughs that reach your doctor’s office twenty years from now, is exactly the science that would be abandoned first. This is still a proposal, so we can all do something Some worry this rule is already a done deal. But by law, OMB is required to open a public comment period. Those comments matter because they inform members of Congress, they can be used in litigation, and they create a public record. So here’s what you can do: Submit a public comment. The public comment period on this proposed change is open until July 13. Anyone can submit a comment, and OMB is required to respond to substantial ones. Each comment must be different to count as distinct; identical comments will be counted only once. Comment as an individual, not on behalf of your organization. Here’s a full resource to help you, with useful examples, but in general: Share a story about how science or federal funding has benefitted you or is involved in your work. Are you or someone you loved a cancer survivor? Do you know someone with Alzheimer’s? Have you received NIH/NSF or other federal funding? All of these can be stories you use to highlight why you care. Explain why you’re worried about these proposed changes. You can use the wording found here or in other resources to help you. Ask them to withdraw this proposed rule. Contact your elected representatives. Congress allocates money to federal agencies to spend, and it has oversight of how that process works. You can let your representatives know this proposed change concerns you and ask them to intervene. There are levers they can push that can help at this moment. Let others know why federal funding matters. This isn’t just about science, but ALL federal grants, including for education systems, defense projects, and more. The process, including the importance of federal funding, is invisible to many. We can all make it more visible by sharing how science benefits us and why we value it. You can also share this article, or any of the resources linked here, to help spread awareness! Bottom line We are quickly losing ground in scientific research in the U.S. More changes, like the proposed rule by OMB, would decimate our ability to conduct research here, leaving us all worse off: fewer treatments for pancreatic cancer, less research on pollution impacts, fewer answers for patients with rare disease, and more unaddressed health needs. The impact will be very real for all of us, regardless of where we stand politically. Using our voices for science is more important than ever. Love, LM Big thanks to Dr. Megan Ranney for reading this over and providing brilliant insights, as always. Dr. Liz Marnik, PhD, is Executive Director of The Evidence Collective at YLE and a science communicator and immunologist working at the intersection of public trust, science, and public health. You can find her on Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe

yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com logo
Jun 10 • 6:04 AM EDT • Science • yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
Asian stocks fall as US and Iran exchange fire

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

theguardian.com logo
Jun 10 • 2:33 AM EDT • Business • theguardian.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (3%)
ahah
50%
wow
50%
Fire would love to be part of the battle for Chicago’s sporting soul

Sporting director Gregg Broughton has big ambitions for the Chicago Fire to be a major player in the Windy City.

nytimes.com logo
Jun 9 • 11:00 PM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com
Navy Admiral Fired by Hegseth Advances to Runoff to Replace Mace

Nancy Lacore would face a tough fall election in a district drawn in 2021 to be more Republican. She is seeking to replace Representative Nancy Mace, who ran unsuccessfully for governor instead of running for re-election.

nytimes.com logo
Jun 9 • 8:51 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Google just fired a warning shot in the AI subscription price wars

Google just made it significantly cheaper to enjoy its budget AI subscription tier.

techcrunch.com logo
Jun 9 • 8:26 PM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Price And Box Art Revealed

Lookin' good

nintendolife.com logo
Jun 9 • 1:00 PM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave boxart, screenshots

Following today’s Nintendo Direct, the official boxart has come in for Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. We also have a new set of screenshots. Here’s an overview of the game: The Heroic Games are about to begin! A brand-new entry in the Fire Emblem series is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 system. Discover an intertwining story of strength and steel...

nintendoeverything.com logo
Jun 9 • 11:06 AM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Final Fantasy Resonance Preview: Final Fantasy Goes HD-2D, and It's Glorious

Final Fantasy Resonance is a turn-based, HD-2D RPG that brings in characters and elements from classic Final Fantasy games of yore, and we are fired up after playing a couple hours of it.

ign.com logo
Jun 9 • 11:00 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com
Nintendo Confirms Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Switch 2 Release Date

Nintendo has shown off more of the upcoming Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, and finally given the game a release date.

ign.com logo
Jun 9 • 10:17 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave gets Nintendo Switch 2 release date, Dagdan Collection revealed

After it was announced close to a year ago, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave received its release date on Nintendo Switch 2 today. The game will be available on September 17, 2026. A special edition has also been revealed, pictured above. We originally found out about Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave during a Nintendo Direct last September. Nintendo only committed to a...

nintendoeverything.com logo
Jun 9 • 10:17 AM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
From Classroom to Racetrack: How Charlie Baur is Building a Motorsports Career in a Business Discipline

Charlie Baur can trace his racing story back to a Christmas morning in Michigan — the kind that starts with snow on the ground and ends with a throttle in a kid’s hands. “I remember being 3 years old and then for Christmas that year, my parents had gotten me a 120 cc snowmobile,” Baur said. Long before sprint cars, he was a Michigan kid on snowmobiles, dirt bikes, four-wheelers and jet skis — and a regular at car shows and races with his family. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur That early exposure became a calling. At 12, he sat in a sprint car for the first time and knew he’d found the next chapter. He started in quarter midgets, moved to go-karts, and the day before he turned 16 — one day shy of the minimum age required by track insurance — he made his first sprint car start after convincing officials to let him race. Five years later, Baur is still pushing forward, now racing sprint cars on both pavement and dirt while pursuing an automotive business education at Northwood University — with a clear-eyed understanding that motorsports encompasses more than what happens under the lights on Saturday night. “It’s a business,” said Charlie, a 20-year-old who calls Fenton, Michigan, home when he’s not at a racetrack or at Northwood’s residential campus in Midland, Michigan. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Racing is the product — but preparation is the job To the average fan, race day begins around dinner time. For a team, race day can be a 12-hour shift — plus the work that came before it. And Baur’s racing operation is a family affair. “The team is my parents and myself,” he said, explaining they own the cars, maintain equipment and manage the business side — from sponsor relations to budgeting. On race weekends, the core group includes Baur and his parents (Eric and Stefanie), plus a couple of additional hands (Alex Photiou and Robert Flannigan) who help with the intensity and pace of trackside work. That structure has shaped how he thinks about efficiency and professionalism. “We’ve always kind of had the mentality of we’re never working on the car for maintenance at the track,” he said. “Our goal is to do as little work as possible to the car because it should be ready when that car rolls out of the trailer to go racing.” That mindset shows up in routines: bolt checks, tire procedures, safety equipment and a repeatable process designed to limit errors. “Once I fire the car up and put my helmet on, that’s when it’s go time,” he said. “You can plan as much as possible for how the race is going to play out, but until you take the green flag … you don’t know how it’s going to go.” Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur First-generation driver, student of the game In racing, “first-generation” matters — and Baur wears that label with pride. “A lot of the drivers are third or fourth generation,” he said. “My family has never been in motorsports. So for me, we’ve always looked at it as we’re new to it and we want to be as different as possible. From a marketing standpoint, it helps us stand out.” It also pushes him to seek out mentors — especially veteran drivers who have seen every scenario, solved every problem and won in multiple eras. Baur credits accomplished driver Jason Blonde, a 10-time champion, for becoming his driver coach and helping him develop as a competitor. “To me, learning from Jason helps me because he has had lots of success and knows what to do,” Baur said. “You have to humble yourself and say, ‘I don’t know what to do; can you help me out?’” That willingness to learn extends off the track, too. Baur says one of his biggest challenges is not a mechanical limitation, but credibility. “It’s my age,” he said. “Some people won’t take me seriously because I’m so young. Even though … I do know what we’re talking about and have a general idea.” His answer has been to out-prepare, out-communicate and treat the operation like a real enterprise — because it is. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Northwood’s role: Turning passion into a plan Baur is majoring in automotive aftermarket management and pursuing an accelerated path that pairs undergraduate study with graduate work. He’s also exploring how to align his studies with motorsports-focused coursework as Northwood advances related programs and pathways. He sees the value clearly: motorsports needs business-literate professionals who understand budgets, sponsorship, marketing, operations and long-term strategy — and who can translate between the language of the shop and the language of the boardroom. That’s why his Northwood experience isn’t limited to the classroom. He has been involved with the Northwood University International Auto Show and serves as motorsports chair — a leadership role that demands outreach, contracts, coordination and a steady professional demeanor. “There’s so much outside work that makes the auto show successful that people don’t realize,” he said. “And it is truly student led.” He’s also participated in industry experiences through Northwood at major events such as AAPEX, SEMA and PRI, along with other automotive networking events — opportunities he describes as a fast track to understanding how business really gets done. “You learn a lot in the classroom,” he said. “But if you learn it and you can’t apply it to the real world, it loses its value. Or if you learn it and can apply it, but you don’t know anyone, it is still of no value.” In his words, Northwood helps him win because it “gives me the tools to succeed” — including flexibility and faculty support as he balances travel and racing commitments with academics. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Racing as an ecosystem — and a talent gap waiting to be filled Baur is blunt about what he sees across the motorsports world: a deep bench of experienced professionals, and not enough young talent entering the pipeline. “I go to car shows, I go to these different events, and typically … the average age is between 45 to 55,” he said. “There’s not a lot of young people going into the motorsports world.” That reality reinforces Northwood’s communications focus: positioning motorsports not as a narrow lane, but as a wide ecosystem of business careers — sponsorship, logistics, data, media, leadership, hospitality and innovation — with real demand for prepared graduates. It also shapes how Baur talks to younger students who love racing but aren’t sure what their future looks like. “If you have a passion for motorsports, there’s gonna be a spot for you somewhere,” he said, emphasizing that driving is only one of many career paths — and that local tracks and hands-on experience are often the best first step. But if someone is interested in driving as a career path, it will take a team to make that happen. Baur’s team includes Stahl’s Motors and Music Experience, Rhino Racing, Randy Wise Buick GMC Chevrolet, Western Michigan Fleet Parts, Mother’s Polish, Schaeffer’s Oil, Hepfner Racing Products, Ameriguard Storage Centers, Justice Brothers, Race 1 Wraps, TBM Brakes, Behind Your Design, CharlieBaur.com and Northwood University. “There are so many people who invest not only in myself but in my race team and who believe in us to succeed,” he added. Pictured: Charlie Bauer’s sprint race car. Looking ahead: A headline worth chasing Ask Baur to imagine 2035, and he’ll give you two answers — one dream, one blueprint. “In a perfect world,” he said, “winning the Indy 500.” Realistically, he wants to build a life where business ownership and racing reinforce each other and where he can pay forward the help he has received by mentoring younger drivers, especially those trying to break into motorsports without a family legacy. “When I retire from full-time racing, I want to be able to provide the same opportunities that were presented to myself to the next generation of drivers,” Baur said. “I know how difficult it is to get your foot in the door.” For now, the focus is simple: keep building the operation, keep learning the business, and keep showing up prepared — because in sprint car racing, as in life, process matters. And once the helmet goes on? “It’s go time,” Baur said. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Learn more Students interested in motorsports careers — whether in competition, team operations, marketing, finance, sponsorship, data, or management — can explore opportunities through Northwood University’s Center for Automotive and Mobility Studies. For Charlie Baur’s latest motorsports adventures, follow Charlie_Baur and Charlie Baur Racing on social media. To learn more about Northwood’s Bachelor of Business Administration in Automotive and Mobility Studies and motorsports management concentration, visit www.northwood.edu/programs/automotive-mobility-studies/. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Pictured: Charlie Baur at Butler Motor Speedway on May 31, 2026. Share this page

northwood.edu logo
Jun 9 • 8:30 AM EDT • Business • northwood.edu
Coca-Cola Park says America 250 fireworks show will be one for Lehigh Valley’s record books

The finale will be the largest in the park's history, creating what organizers describe as the most expansive skyward celebration staged in the Lehigh Valley.

lehighvalleylive.com logo
Jun 9 • 6:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • lehighvalleylive.com
How many times has Trump claimed an Iran deal is around the corner?

It’s been more than two months since President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran, saying at the time that the two sides were close to a deal.

cnn.com logo
Jun 9 • 12:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
83-year-old Hillsborough County business owner cleaning up ruins after fire destroys inventory

A business owner in his 80s has been left picking up the pieces after a fire destroyed his entire inventory.

wfla.com logo
Jun 8 • 8:41 PM EDT • Business • wfla.com
More than 1 million Jeep vehicles recalled over fire risk as owners warned not to park inside

Stellantis is recalling over 1 million Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator vehicles over an electrical defect that could spark a fire, urging owners to park outdoors.

foxbusiness.com logo
Jun 8 • 8:35 PM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com
DC Wrap: Iran and Israel exchange fire; Blanche formally nominated for AG

A look at the day's biggest stories in national politics

spectrumlocalnews.com logo
Jun 8 • 5:02 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Scott Pelley sits down with The New York Times for his first interview since being fired from ‘60 Minutes’
cnn.com logo
Jun 8 • 3:52 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
'SNL' icon Jim Downey recalls O.J. Simpson calling every Sunday to complain about 'Weekend Update' jokes at his expense

Before Jim Downey and Norm Macdonald were fired from 'SNL,' O.J. Simpson would call the head of NBC to complain about the duo's 'Weekend Updates' jokes about him.

ew.com logo
Jun 8 • 2:30 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Ray Romano was ‘stiff’ in “Everybody Loves Raymond” season 1, felt nervous after getting fired from “NewsRadio”

Starring in his own show was "a little terrifying," the comedian recently admitted.

yahoo.com logo
Jun 8 • 11:32 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
FCC chair calls Scott Pelley ‘out of touch’ for claiming '60 Minutes' firing was unexpected

FCC chair Brendan Carr called Scott Pelley 'completely out of touch' after the veteran journalist claimed he wasn't expecting to be fired from '60 Minutes' for criticizing new CBS News leadership.

ew.com logo
Jun 8 • 11:12 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Five alarm fire ravages business on Lyell Ave

Rochester firefighters rushed to respond to a five alarm fire late Sunday night at the Pallet Express on Lyell Avenue near Glide Street.

wxxinews.org logo
Jun 8 • 9:57 AM EDT • Business • wxxinews.org
Business fire injures 1 on Chicago's Northwest Side

Firefighters responded to a business fire near West Eddy and Pulaski in Avondale, where one person was taken to the hospital as investigators work to determine what sparked the blaze.

fox32chicago.com logo
Jun 8 • 8:25 AM EDT • Business • fox32chicago.com
Structure fire prompts road closures in Barkhamsted

Crews are responding to a fire at 4 Old North Road early Monday morning.

wfsb.com logo
Jun 8 • 5:44 AM EDT • Business • wfsb.com
Diana DiZoglio not focused on political aspirations beyond Massachusetts auditor

Entrenched in what she calls a “dumpster fire” amid her fight to conduct the legislative audit, Diana DiZoglio says she is not focused on future political aspirations beyond state auditor.

bostonherald.com logo
Jun 8 • 5:18 AM EDT • Politics • bostonherald.com
Crews still battling five-alarm fire at business on Lyell Avenue hours later

Firefighters have been battling a massive fire at a business on Lyell Avenue near Glide Street for hours, calling a fifth alarm.

whec.com logo
Jun 8 • 4:53 AM EDT • Business • whec.com
Oil prices rise more than $2 on Israel strikes on Lebanon

Oil ​prices were up ‌more than $2 a barrel in ​early trading ​on Monday after ⁠Israel on ​Sunday launched strikes ​on the Beirut area for the ​first time ​since the U.S. announced ‌a ⁠ceasefire plan for Lebanon.

reuters.com logo
Jun 7 • 6:31 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com