Chris Stokel-Walker

Staff Writer

Freelance Contributor

Articles by: Chris Stokel-Walker

Nvidia Rubin rack

Photonics and high-speed data movement is the next big AI bottleneck — following copper, power, DRAM, and NAND

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium Generative AI is pushing demand in all areas of the industry, and data interconnects, such as Silicon Photonics, may well be the next big bottleneck that hyperscalers need to be paying attention to.

Tesla

Chip scarcity assaults auto industry amid the worsening Nexperia and DRAM crisis — fragile sector rocked by undersupply, which may end worse than the 2021 shortage

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium Automakers let their safety stocks dwindle just as chipmakers shifted focus to AI.

TSMC

A deeper look at the tightened chipmaking supply chain, and where it may be headed in 2026 — "nobody's scaling up,” says analyst as industry remains conservative on capacity

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium We interview two industry analysts to gauge the current state of the chipmaking ecosystem, including constraints across the entire supply chain, and where it might be headed next.

Copper in data center rack

Why copper markets are feeling the pinch due to aggressive AI data center expansion — expansive buildout to demand 1.1 million tonnes of copper annually by 2030, close to 3% of global demand

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium Alongside energy, water and computer chips, the supply squeeze is being felt further up the chain, too.

AWS logo on a phone

The web's infrastructure has a concentration problem, exposing us all to crushing outages — from AWS and Azure to Cloudflare, the perils of having a centralized internet are being felt by all

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium First it was AWS. Then Azure went down – and with it, large chunks of the web, apps and services we use every day. Are hypescaler cloud providers a victim of their own success?

Data Center

Massive AI data center buildouts are squeezing energy supplies — New energy methods are being explored as power demands are set to skyrocket

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium A perfect storm of massive data centre buildout and new innovations in energy could materially change what our supplies look like in the future.

Intel HQ with logo and garden

The state of Intel: What the company's $5 billion deal with Nvidia could mean for the floundering chipmaker — Investments, capex, and the beating heart of x86

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium An eye-watering and mind-boggling deal saw computer chips’ new king supplant what used to be the old name in town – but what does it all mean for Intel?

A dark render of a data center

How the AI revolution is triggering a hardware arms race and pushing up prices

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium Tech giants and hyperscalers are paying billions to build out large data centers for AI, creating supply chain bottlenecks and intense competition for technological dominance.

China and the US chess board

The U.S. and China are engaged in a race over chip development — both countries are racing to build infrastructure

By Chris Stokel-Walker published

Premium Both superpowers are building up chip development capabilities while trying to reduce dependencies upon one another.