🤖 Micron's Virginia fab begins producing America's most advanced DRAM memory

Micron announced this week that it has begun manufacturing 1α (1-alpha) DRAM at its Manassas, Virginia, facility. This action brings the company's most advanced DDR4-compatible process technology to U.S. soil for the first time. The expansion, which Micron says will quadruple DDR4 wafer output at the site, represents a $2 billion-plus investment supported by $275 million in finalized CHIPS and Science Act funding, and production is expected by the end of the year.

The company is the only manufacturer of memory in the United States, and the Manassas fab specifically serves long-lifecycle customers in the automotive, defense, aerospace, industrial, networking, and medical device sectors.

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🤑🤑 A United Nations Capital Development Fund webinar has outlined a vision for a new international payments system, and Ripple and Stellar sit at its core.

In this video both networks are “directly mentioned and clearly shown in the international payments diagram as central parts of the global payments network.”

📑 The presentation describes an open, regulated payment inter-network designed to connect every major financial network on the planet. It places XRP alongside SWIFT, Visa, and Mastercard as equal participants in this global infrastructure.

“It’s not a new system, but it connects existing systems,” — the speaker said.

➡️ The goal is to build a system in which a payment initiated on any network should reach any other network, regardless of which platform processes it.

Ripple and Stellar were named directly alongside traditional financial giants. It’s not as alternatives, but as equal participants in the same infrastructure.

❗️The webinar describes payments “to anyone, anywhere, on any network.” Ripple and Stellar are already in the roadmaps for the next phase of global finance.

#Stellar

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🇦🇲🇪🇺 Armenia, EU to introduce visa-free regime within two years

“The issue of visa liberalization between Armenia and the EU will be resolved in no more than two years...” — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

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🇮🇳🇺🇸 India Calls US ‘Reliable’ Energy Partner as It Seeks More Fuel

India sees the US as a “significant and reliable” energy partner, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called ties between the two nations as “one of the most important” globally.

Both nations are “strategically aligned on energy,” Rubio told reporters in New Delhi during a joint press briefing with Jaishankar on Sunday. The two sides want “a world that can not just produce, but deliver the energy resources that are necessary to power a modern economy.”

#BRICS

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🇧🇾🇫🇷 Lukashenko and Macron Hold Rare Phone Call

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko held a rare phone call on Sunday. The leaders discussed relations between Belarus and the European Union as well as regional issues during the call, which was initiated by France.

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🇨🇳 China launches Shenzhou-23 spaceflight mission to Tiangong space station, from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

China has launched its Shenzhou-23 mission in which an astronaut will spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the и by 2030.

#BRICS

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🤖 Nvidia says its forecast for $200 billion CPU market includes China

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said ​on Saturday that his forecast of a $200 billion market for CPUs includes China, signalling Nvidia still sees significant long-term demand ‌in the market amid ongoing U.S.-China technology tensions.

Central processing units have taken centre stage as companies and businesses gravitate towards agentic AI — systems that perform autonomous functions — broadening demand beyond graphics processing units, or GPUs, that are used to train large models.

#BRICS

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🇪🇬 Egypt Eyes First Aerial Survey in 40 Years to Map Mineral Riches

Egypt will carry out its first comprehensive aerial mining survey in more than four decades, part of efforts to unlock mineral discoveries and attract foreign investment. Xcalibur Smart Mapping will work with Egypt’s Nuclear Materials Authority and local company Drone Tech, using advanced aircraft and geophysical technologies to map the North African country’s mineral wealth.

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🤖 Chinese humanoid robot stuns with ballet performance alongside human dancers

Chinese robotics company UBTECH unveiled its Walker C1 by making it perform ballet movements from Swan Lake alongside human dancers. The full-size humanoid demonstrated advanced balance, precise motion control, and coordinated body movement during the live presentation.

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🤖 Huawei Touts Chipmaking Breakthrough to Shorten Gap With TSMC

Huawei Technologies Co. said it has come up with a new pathway to shorten its gap with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., potentially achieving a breakthrough in making advanced semiconductors without cutting-edge equipment.

Right now there is about a five-year gap between what TSMC is capable of and what Huawei together with its manufacturing partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. can produce. Huawei will start making 1.4-nanometer chips by 2031 with its own “LogicFolding” technology, Huawei’s semiconductor chief He Tingbo said on Monday, while TSMC has previously said that it will begin mass production of the same product in 2028.

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🇨🇳 Chinese Firms Speed Up Plans to Build New Coal Power Plants: GEM

Chinese firms are accelerating the pace at which they propose new coal-fired power plants, even as the government moves to rein in growth after the rapid expansion in recent years.

Companies requested approval for 51 gigawatts of new plants in the first quarter of the year, according to Global Energy Monitor, ahead of the record pace set in 2025 that saw 162 gigawatts of new proposals over the full year. Construction has boomed since a spate of power shortages in 2021 and 2022 as the government touts coal’s role as a reliable back-up to intermittent renewables.

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