Jon Martindale

Staff Writer

Freelance Writer

Articles by: Jon Martindale

Jensen Huang on a screen talking to an audience

The new frontier: Meet the power players cashing in on the AI gold rush

By Jon Martindale published

Premium Many of the world's richest people are the founders and CEOs of the top tech firms cashing in on the big AI boom, with some particular standouts "earning" tens of billions of dollars in a single day.

Larry Ellison in the oval office.

OpenAI signs contract to buy $300 billion worth of Oracle computing power over the next five years — company needs 4.5 gigawatts of power, enough to power four million homes

By Jon Martindale published

Instantly boosting Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to the world's richest man, but questions remain about how either company will afford such a deal.

DDoS attack illustration

DDoS scrubbing service ironic target of massive attack it was built to prevent — hit with 1.5 billion packets per second from more than 11,000 distributed networks

By Jon Martindale published

A DDoS scrubbing service has been hit with a massive attack from over 11,000 distributed networks, with peak traffic of 1.5 billion packets per second.

Interior of a PC with an RTX 3080 Ti and Threadripper CPU.

Lucky bidder scoops $8,000 PC for $23 at auction — Mislabelled Fractal Design case listing had 24-core Threadripper 3960X, 256GB of memory, and an RTX 3080 Ti inside

By Jon Martindale published

A lucky online auction bidder has scored an $8,000 PC for just $23, bidding on a mislabelled Fractal Design case that actually had a full system inside.

Nvidia Blackwell Ultra server stack.

Nvidia claims software and hardware upgrades allow Blackwell Ultra GB300 to dominate MLPerf benchmarks — touts 45% DeepSeek R-1 inference throughput increase over GB200

By Jon Martindale published

Big increases in performance when running a range of popular open source models.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

Intel confirms Arrow Lake refresh set for 2026, Nova Lake later that year — company admits there are 'holes to fill on the desktop front,' says it is 'confident in the roadmap'

By Jon Martindale published

Though the next-generation chip launch looks set to extend into 2027, too.

General Atomics laser mounted on top of a prop plane.

World's first laser communication link between a plane and satellite ran at 1 Gbps — 10-watt laser which has a 3,417 mile range and 2.5 Gbps max data rate

By Jon Martindale published

Showcasing an important alternative to radio-based, high-speed communication.

Michelle Johnston Holthaus

Intel ousts CEO of Products as part of the latest executive shake-up, ending 30-year career — company also establishes new custom chip design unit

By Jon Martindale published

This continues shake ups under the new CEO who has previously announced plans to flatten executive structure, making more departments and people answer to him directly.

OpenAI logo on a phone in front of an Indian flag.

Despite whispers of a bubble, OpenAI is planning a gigawatt-scale data center in India

By Jon Martindale published

Premium As the second-largest market for ChatGPT, OpenAI looks to secure local infrastructure and investment.

Chinese AI social media laws

Chinese social media firms comply with strict AI labelling law, making it clear to users and bots what's real and what's not

By Jon Martindale published

It's part of a broader push by the Cyberspace Administration of China to have greater oversight over the AI industry and the content it produces.

Noctua case with 3D printer side panel.

Noctua's 3D printable side panel quiets Framework's Desktop — drop 5-7 decibels using this freely available mod

By Jon Martindale published

The Framework Desktop is plenty quiet already, but with a Noctua 3D printed side panel, duct, and fan, it can run even quieter.

PlayStation 5

Gaming consoles are becoming more expensive as they age for the first time in history — gamers blame tariffs for PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch price increases

By Jon Martindale published

Tariffs and inflation are largely to blame

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Intel confirms it has already received $5.7 billion from US government, CFO claims the deal was to halt the sale of its chip fabs

By Jon Martindale published

The $5.7 billion investment will see the US government take a 10% stake in Intel, with the Commerce Department said to be ironing out the details.

Satya Nadella and Sam Altman on video conference together.

OpenAI and Microsoft's contract negotiations threaten investment and potential IPO — companies battle over AGI secrecy and Azure exclusivity

By Jon Martindale published

Premium Microsoft and OpenAI butt heads over ongoing contract negotiations

Young woman programming.

AI is eating entry-level coding and customer service roles, according to a new Stanford study — junior job listings drop 13% in three years in fields vulnerable to AI

By Jon Martindale published

After tracking payroll data, it found 13% fewer entry-level employment opportunities over the past three years.

Howard Lutnick giving the double finger gun gesture.

U.S. gov't seizes $7.4 billion semiconductor research fund created under Biden admin, calling it 'illegal' — Lutnick says fund 'served as a semiconductor slush fund that did nothing but line the pockets of Biden loyalists with American tax dollars'

By Jon Martindale published

Despite allusions to nepotism and corruption, the Commerce Department hasn't made clear what it wants to do with the newly clawed-back funds.

AMD

AMD's already taken down mistakenly released FSR 4 source code, but the internet never forgets — forked Github repositories remain accessible

By Jon Martindale published

AMD has confirmed it didn't mean to leak FSR 4 source code, but with forks created and files already downloaded, it might not be able to do much to claw them back.

Sam Altman with his arms folded.

OpenAI's rocky GPT-5 launch is the beginning of an uphill battle for AI, as Meta announces another restructuring

By Jon Martindale published

News Analysis As the hype train slows down, the AI industry is thinking about where it's headed next

ARM logo on a heatsink in a server system.

Arm hires Amazon's AI chip developer, ostensibly to help create its own processors — Rami Sinno returns to the company, boasts Trainium and Inferentia on resume

By Jon Martindale published

This is the latest move in Arm's chip designer hiring spree that's been ongoing for the past year.

Chinese man working in a datacenter.

China mandates domestic firms source 50% of chips from Chinese producers — Beijing continues to squeeze companies over reliance on foreign semiconductors

By Jon Martindale published

A new report says China has started mandating that data centers use 50% homegrown silicon.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI looking pensive off-camera

ChatGPT users revolt over GPT-5 release — OpenAI battles claims that the new model's accuracy and abilities fall short

By Jon Martindale published

News Analysis OpenAI has capitulated and reinstated older models, and promised not to kill them off again in the future.

Ebuyer website on August 13

Major UK PC retailer, Ebuyer, bought out of administration by notorious backer — PC component listings mostly nuked in favor of furniture, garish iPhone cases, and air fryers as Frasers Group takes the helm

By Jon Martindale published

Long-time PC and component retail website, Ebuyer, has been bought out by Frasers Group, which owns House of Fraser, Game, and Jack Wills, among other companies.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan in a dark suit in the shade.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has become a lightning rod of controversy amid US and China geopolitical tensions — here's why

By Jon Martindale last updated

Ties to hundreds of Chinese companies and fined US firms raise serious questions about his nationalistic ties.

Trump holding the signed GENIUS act while White house officials clap.

Stablecoins gain critical mass after GENIUS Act cements rules — banks and companies rush to register new coins

By Jon Martindale published

US banks and financial institutions are keen to take advantage of the stablecoin provisions put into US law by the GENIUS Act, though regulation remains murky.

Donald Trump centred, looking pleased

Trump's 100% chip tariffs will likely hurt smaller manufacturers, as major companies court exemptions

By Jon Martindale published

News Analysis The proposed 100% semiconductor tariff sounds devastating to chipmakers. But many major players remain unaffected, leaving smaller manufacturers vulnerable to the steep proposal.