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Intel is taking a more subdued approach to CES these days — forgoing a splashy event staged in a big hotel showroom in the wake of Covid-19, and a wider change in PR strategy after years of making bullish investments in next-generation tech like drones and moonshots like Volocopter and using them as showpieces at those events. Remember the year when Intel imported a whole Volocopter aircraft on to the stage, and placed its then-CEO into it, for its “first US flight”?

Yet the Vegas mega-show remains a key moment for Intel. It’s not just a bellwether for the state of the consumer electronics industry, but it’s an important marketing opportunity as a swathe of consumer electronics companies size up and buy in components for their devices. Today, the company unveiled a host of news related to processors and computer specifications using them, including a new 13th generation of its Intel Core processor, an all-new 24-core processor, the i9, and — addressing the fact that there is over-penetration of computers among business and developed world users — a new N-series specifically for what it describes as “entry-level” education and mainstream laptops, desktops and edge-native applications.

The breadth here is intentional: Intel made its name decades ago for its revolutionary approach to computer processors, which helped usher in a new generation of smaller devices, but it has arguably met some very stiff competition at the higher end of the market, and some would say missed the boat on mobile years ago. These new releases aim to address all of this: providing leadership in the bigger processing race of tomorrow but also hoping for a role in the making of devices for the mass market of today, not least after announcing in September 2022 that it would sunset its iconic Celeron and Pentium processor brands.

“The 13th Gen Intel Core mobile processor family delivers unrivaled, scalable performance for leadership platforms across all laptop segments,” said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group at Intel, in a statement. “With our industry-leading technologies and unmatched global partner ecosystem, people can expect a high-caliber mobile experience in new and unique form factors so they can game or create from anywhere.”

The 13th generation Intel core mobile processor family being unveiled today is spearheaded by the i9-13980HX, which is Intel’s first 24-core processor designed for laptops. Intel claims it is now the world’s fastest mobile (that is, laptop) processor clocking up speeds of 5.6 gigahertz (GHz) turbo frequency and 11% faster and 49% faster performance respectively for single-purpose and multitasking usage. As a measure of what the race is like in processors today, this is less about Intel really setting a new bar as much as it is about keeping up: it notes in a disclaimer that it’s worlds-fastest claim is only valid as of December 2022.

The 24 cores are divided up into 8 Performance-cores and 16 Efficient-cores, it says, and also are complemented by 32 threads and “enhanced Intel Thread
Director” with memory support of up to 128 gigabytes total covering two classes of SDRAM, DDR5 (up to 5,600 megahertz) and DDR4 (up to 3,200 MHz). The state of features today expected by consumers in these devices is laid bare too with a wide range of other support including superfast Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+) support; Bluetooth LE Audio and Bluetooth 5.2 support for faster speeds, multiple devices and lower power consumption (so critical given earlier Bluetooth does drain battery); Thunderbolt 4 support for 40 gigabits per second transfer speeds; and more.

The H-, P- and U-series mobile processors are addressing IoT, “enthusiast” and thinner devices. Intel says that more than 300 models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, Republic of Gamers, Samsung and others are going to be released this year based on the them.

All of the processors in the 13th generation will also include a Movidius vision processing unit (VPU), built in collaboration with Microsoft to integrate closely with its Windows Studio Effects to handle processing of more AI-based tasks to speed up overall CPU and GPU performance of machines. That collaboration is a notable mark of how hardware and software have had to tie up closer to evolve, and how hardware is becoming increasingly a software play, for more complex applications and faster speeds. Without its own chip-based vertical strategy in-house, Microsoft is an obvious partner.

“Together with Intel we continue to innovate to deliver powerful PC performance and experiences with Windows 11 and all of the products Intel is announcing today,” said Panos Panay, EVP and product head for Microsoft, in a statement. “We’re excited for customers to benefit from substantial optimizations, like improved Windows support for Intel Hybrid Guided Scheduler, and meaningful new experiences, like with the Intel Movidius VPU unlocking a new era of AI acceleration, starting with Windows Studio.”

Intel is describing its new N-series chips, meanwhile, as a direct replacement for the Penium and Celeron lines. “Purpose-built” for the education segment, entry-level computing and IoT edge-native applications, this also means that they will be marketed as more cost-effective and aimed and overall lower-priced and lower-specced devices, while being more modern than the previous generations and being a more evolutionary product for the company.

With new Gracemont-based cores, Intel 7 process technology means 28% better application performance and 64% better graphics performance at the peak compared to the older (now sunset) processors; up to 10-hours of HD video playback (if nothing else is being used) with better camera and display support as well as upgraded WiFi and Bluetooth (they are based also on the i3 tech). Intel said that some 50 new ChromeOS and Windows designs from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and ASUS are due to be launched this year based on these chips.

IoT is also getting addressed with these new N-series chips, which will be appearing, Intel said, in devices used in retail signages, kiosks, point of sale systems, portable medical imaging devices, office automation equipment like copiers, and in safety and security devices.

In addition to the chip news, Intel has also continued iterating on its laptop and portable computing specifications, this year with new developments called Intel Evo.

These are based on the new 13th generation processor and focus on extended battery life to improve both the speed of charging but also how long devices can run unplugged; improved performance for videoconferencing and other video and collaboration applications; and better bridging between laptops and other keyboard computing and mobile handsets and tablets, which it’s terming “Intel Unison.” Again, in the endgame of vertical integration, this was an essential move for Intel, in an environment where those who do still use laptops are always doing it in complement with handsets, something that device makers are keen to make as easy as possible, not least to lose those users as customers of the former products.

Intel Evo will also work with hardware made by accessory providers, covering Thunderbolt 4 docks, monitors, storage and wireless headsets, mice, keyboards and other access points. Whether those will ultimately feel like gimmicks or buggy hardware that no one ultimately uses remains to be seen: at the end of the day, the easiest and most foolproof tools tend to win the day.

Intel unveils high-end 13th-gen 24-core processors plus N-series workhorse to fill the the Pentium and Celeron gap by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Downturn be damned — last month, Union Square Ventures announced that it had raised a $200 million climate fund, less than two years after raising its first climate fund.

The new fund is certain to add fuel to climate tech as 2023 kicks off after a banner 2022. Nine months ago, it seemed unlikely that the market would repeat the red-hot performance of 2021, during which $44.8 billion was invested across 1,130 deals, according to PitchBook. When the final tallies roll in, it’s possible that 2022 matched or exceeded those figures.

For USV’s general and limited partners, there were many reasons to raise a new fund. Notably, the firm’s existing limited partners were interested in another climate fund for the impact — and because they are looking for a safe investment, said Mona Alsubaei, a member of USV’s investment team.

“A lot of investors, including GPs and LPs, are moving away from where it’s risky,” she told TechCrunch. “If you look at climate, it addresses some of the core issues with the market downturn right now, including energy, food and minerals. If you invest in climate, you invest in those.”

Here’s what USV plans to do in 2023 with its $200M climate fund by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch

Nvidia’s on demand cloud gaming service, known as GeForce Now, is headed to select Hyundai, BYD and Polestar electric vehicles, the company said Tuesday ahead of CES 2023 in Las Vegas. The announcement, while lacking details on timelines or vehicle models, is notable because it marks the first time Nvidia is expanding its GeForce Now service beyond phones, smart TVs and computers and into cars.

Nvidia’s in-car games offering comes as automakers sink more resources into so-called “software-defined vehicles,” in hopes of finding new sources of revenue beyond building, selling and financing cars, trucks and SUVs. While Tesla was the first to pioneer in-car gaming and recently added Steam games to its vehicles, other automakers have picked up the pace. A number of automakers, including Stellantis, announced at CES last year plans to add Amazon Fire TV streaming into upcoming vehicles. In October, BMW partnered with AirConsole to bring games to its BMW 7 series EVs this year.

One can see the appeal of integrating such entertainment with newer vehicles, particularly for electric vehicles. Have to wait 30 minutes to charge your car? Put your feet up and stream some Wheel of Time. Got hyper kids in the back of a long car ride? Distract them with Cyberpunk 2077 or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Automakers and suppliers may also be looking towards to a future when driving tasks become more automated.

Danny Shapiro, Nvidia’s VP of automotive, told TechCrunch customers could stream games into stationary vehicles that are connected to WiFi or even cars in motion if there’s a high bandwidth connection. To make this happen, Nvidia leverages its large network of servers and partner networks around the world to enable game-playing in the cloud. Games are essentially being played on a server in one of Nvidia’s data centers and then streamed to someone’s device.

“It’s like Netflix but interactive,” Shapiro said in a recent interview. “It’s not just buffering content and sending it down. Somebody would have a gaming controller, and those button clicks are transmitted to the server. The game is played, rendered and then streamed back to the device. So there’s a lot of technology we’ve developed to basically reduce the latency and enable somebody to play a game in the cloud with the exact same experience as they would expect on their PC or running on their local TV.”

Hyundai, BYD and Polestar all rely on Nvidia’s Drive platform for infotainment and autonomous vehicle development, but GeForce Now is hardware agnostic, said Shapiro.

GeForce Now features more than 1,000 titles from leading PC game stores like Steam, the Electronic Arts app, Ubisoft, Epic Games Store and GOG.com, as well as free-to-play games like Fortnite, Lost Ark and Destiny 2, according to Nvidia.

Nvidia helps Hyundai, BYD, Polestar join the in-car gaming revolution by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Simulators have been a godsend when it comes to testing robots. Real-world testing is lengthy, expensive and potentially dangerous, so anything you can do to work out as many kinks as possible ahead of time is a big win. Isaac Sim has thus far proven a success for Nvidia, as the chipmaker has looked to aggressively enter the world of robotics and automation, while roboticists search for a way to run simuations of real life working conditions.

Today at CES, the company announced some key improvements to the system. Accessible via the cloud for robotics developers every where, the system is adding a very important piece of the puzzle: humans. Well, virtual humans. After all, for all of the talk about robots replacing human jobs, the two are going to be working side by side for the foreseeable future.

“To minimize the difference between results observed in a simulated world versus those seen in the real world,” Nvidia notes, “it’s imperative to have physically accurate sensor models.”

People shouldn’t be considered obstacles, exactly, but it’s important to hue to as close to that first Asimov law as possible. Humans in the sim are tasked with same sort of roles you’d find human workers filling – stuff like pushing carts and stacking packages. Robots need to do their job without colliding with their much softer coworkers.

The system is also adding the ability to render real time sensor data, built atop Nvidia’s RTX tech. That includes lidar simulation with ray tracing to better simulate different lighting conditions and the impact of reflective materials. Different existing robots and warehouse parts can also be added in, to properly recreate the setting for fulfillment systems.

Isaac Sim supports ROS 2 Humble and Windows, as well as existing Isaac ROS software. The new platform features are available to use starting today.

Nvidia’s robot simulator adds human coworkers by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Mercedes Benz is joining the metaverse. Or at least its assembly facilities are.

The automaker is one of Nvidia’s latest customers to use Omniverse Enterprise, a software platform used to build and operate metaverse applications. Nvidia said Tuesday ahead of the official kickoff of CES 2023 that Mercedes will use Omniverse to design, plan and optimize its factories. Specifically, Mercedes is preparing to manufacture its new electric vehicle platform at its plant in Rastatt, Germany.

Using Omniverse, the automaker is able to build a digital twin of the factory and simulate new production processes without disrupting existing vehicle production. Nvidia says having a virtual workflow will let Mercedes quickly react to supply chain disruptions and reconfigure the assembly line as needed.

Danny Shapiro, Nvidia’s VP of automotive, told TechCrunch Mercedes has already been working with Nvidia to test out autonomous vehicle technology in simulation.

“Now what they’re talking about is using our Omniverse technology, bringing that down to the production level, and creating a digital twin of the entire factory,” said Shapiro. “So modelling all the vehicles going through the assembly, all the robots, all the factory workers, and being able to design and plan the production and the assembly plant before it is actually live. And so this is helping them streamline, moving over from an existing A class production into a new generation vehicle.”

A complete factory simulation could help automakers assess potential bottlenecks, create more ergonomic working conditions or determine where a robot might fail to complete a task before the facility actually starts production. Shapiro said Mercedes plans to scale this strategy to its factories globally in the future.

Mercedes likely won’t be the only automaker doing so. As we recently predicted, automakers in the coming years will rely on digital twins for everything from designing vehicle interiors to making factories more efficient to crash testing cars.

Shapiro noted that automakers can use Drive SIM, Nvidia’s simulation platform, to collaborate on vehicle design in virtual reality. In the future, he expects automakers to use simulation to create retail experiences and offer virtual walkthroughs of cars from a customer’s home.

“We think about this whole lifecycle of a digital twin, from design to engineering to manufacturing to retail,” said Shapiro, nodding towards a potential announcement in the automotive retail realm in the coming months.

Mercedes to use Nvidia’s digital twin tech to modernize its factories by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn and Nvidia announced Tuesday ahead of CES 2023 a partnership to develop automated and autonomous vehicle platforms.

Under the two-part partnership, Foxconn will become a primary supplier of electronic control units for automakers. Those ECUs, which are an essential component for all modern vehicles, will be built with Nvidia’s Drive Orin system-on-a-chip (SoC), a supercomputing AI platform that supports autonomous driving functions. As part of the partnership, Foxconn agreed to build its own branded electric vehicles with the Drive Orin ECUs and Nvidia’s suite of sensors like cameras, radar, lidar and ultrasonics (called Drive Hyperion) that are needed for highly automated driving capabilities.

Foxconn didn’t respond in time to clarify which future vehicles would feature Nvidia’s tech; the company has not yet built its own vehicles and is in the process of manufacturing EVs for Fisker and Lordstown Motors. The electronics manufacturer most well-known for making Apple’s iPhones recently unveiled two EV concepts — a pickup and a crossover hatchback. Details about the vehicles when first unveiled were scant, but Foxconn’s partnership with Nvidia signals that the cars will be built with autonomous driving capabilities.

Nvidia said the partnership will allow it to leverage Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities to scale Drive Orin. At the same time, Foxconn’s use of the Drive Hyperion architecture and the Drive Orin SoC will allow the new automaker to speed up its time-to-market and cut production costs.

That’ll be a necessary for any company, including Foxconn, that is new to building vehicles. While the company has plenty of experience manufacturing consumer electronics, one need to only consider the spate of struggling EV startups that have popped up in the past few years.

And in 2023 and beyond, automakers aren’t just building cars — they’re building supercomputers on wheels. Best to outsource where they can.

Last year at CES, BYD and Lucid Motors said they rely on Nvidia’s self-driving toolkit for their cars current and future advanced driver assistance systems.

Foxconn’s EVs will be built with Nvidia’s self-driving toolkit by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Economic uncertainty, market volatility, rising interest rates, inflation and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict affected the M&A market the third quarter of 2022 to the point that deal volumes declined across the globe. Most experts agree that a recession is here or likely imminent, and even if one is not, it still is a scenario that companies must prepare for.

That said, while private equity deal activity declined only by a bit in Q3, when compared to the years prior to COVID, it actually increased slightly. As for Q4, there was already chatter, particularly in the lower U.S. mid-market, that deal volumes might increase due to the rush to close deals before the year ended.

As private equity firms continue to pursue deals, they should look to their due diligence firms and operators to ensure extra steps are taken to accurately assess and vet potential acquisition targets given the economic climate and the possibility of a recession.

Due diligence providers will need to go beyond their standard reporting checklists and expand their assessments of three key areas:

Cash flows;
Strength of the customer base and third-party vendors;
Accounting and financial reporting software.

If the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a focus on reallocations and prompted a closer look at EBITDA and gross profits, a recession will call for a deeper focus on cash flows and the potential for surviving ongoing market swings.

Cash flow analysis

It has become important for any due diligence provider to stress test a company’s ability to sustain losses and maintain sustainable liquidity and cash.

While conducting a cash flow analysis is not standard practice for due diligence providers, it should be now. Analyzing a company’s cash flows will help providers determine whether it is ready for a deal ahead of a recession. During a recession, a capital-intensive company would inevitably see its cash flows being strained to pay its debt load, and it’s likely to need more cash to carry out operations. The company would likely be in a negative cash position. Whether it be due to inherited debt or lease commitments, a cash flow analysis can help PE firms anticipate and prepare for such possibilities.

A cash flow analysis should begin by evaluating sales by discounts, returns and allowances, all related to cash, and evaluate for seasonality. It should then do the reverse for vendors and suppliers when evaluating purchases and operational expense transactions.

3 ways PE firms can ensure relevant due diligence for M&A targets ahead of a recession by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch

Nvidia announced some new features for its cloud gaming service during its virtual CES press conference. The company is upgrading its premium plan by adding new servers with better hardware components. Users on the $19.99 plan should expect better performance for more demanding games.

The company is now using GeForce RTX 4080-class graphics processing units on its high-end servers. Before today, users paying for the most expensive subscription plan could access servers with server-grade GPUs that are equivalent to GeForce RTX 3080 GPUs.

As a reminder, GeForce Now lets you play your own games from the cloud. The game is running in a data center near you and the video feed is then relayed to your device. GeForce Now supports Windows, macOS, Android (as well as Android TV) and some web browsers (including Safari on the iPhone and iPad).

GeForce Now customers still have to buy games on Steam, the Epic Games Store and other digital stores — they own the games even if they stop subscribing to the service. But the biggest issue with the service is that some game publishers refuse to let Nvidia support their games on GeForce Now. There are currently 1,500 supported games, including Fortnite, League of Legends, Cyberpunk 2077 and many Ubisoft games. But you can’t play Overwatch 2 or Elden Ring for instance.

Customers can try out GeForce Now for free. There is a queue system and you are limited to 60-minute gaming sessions. If you want to use the service on a daily basis, a ‘Priority’ membership lets you launch a game right away and play for up to six hours at a time for $9.99 per month. You are limited to a 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second.

Last year, Nvidia added a premium tier called GeForce Now RTX 3080 for $19.99 per month. Because of today’s update, this tier is getting a new name. The company is now calling it GeForce Now Ultimate.

In addition to access to more powerful servers, GeForce Now Ultimate supports 4K resolution. If you have a gaming monitor, the Ultimate membership now also supports 240Hz (up from 120Hz). Users can also enable Nvidia’s proprietary features, such as DLSS 3 and Nvidia Reflex.

If you have an Nvidia G-Sync monitor, GeForce Now will adapt the streaming rate depending on how many frames per second you get in your Nvidia Reflex-compatible game. That’s neat! But if you have an Nvidia G-Sync monitor, you likely also have a gaming PC so you may not need GeForce Now.

Existing GeForce Now RTX 3080 members are going to be automatically upgraded to the GeForce Now Ultimate plan in late January. GeForce Now Ultimate will still cost $19.99 per month.

Nvidia upgrades GeForce Now with RTX 4080 performance for premium users by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch

Last week, Solana (SOL) fell to its lowest level since February 2021. But its price has risen over 12% in the past 24 hours on Tuesday after almost nine days of consecutive losses that brought its price to around $8 on Friday.

Amid Solana’s movement, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, bitcoin and ether, both shifted less than 1% in the past 24 hours, showing some stability.

Solana has been volatile for a number of reasons in recent weeks, including one of its most prominent backers being the now-disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and top NFT projects planning to leave its blockchain.

But some are crediting the recent spike to interest from Solana community members in Bonk (BONK), a new meme token that airdropped about 50% of its 56 trillion token supply to users last week. Airdropping is when a cryptocurrency sends a free supply of its token to a number of crypto wallets in a way to gain users or reward loyal community members. In this case, Bonk was airdropped to

“We’re here to reward everyone that made #Solana what it is today,” the Solana-focused dog coin tweeted about a month ago before gaining traction.

About 20% of Bonk’s total airdrop supply went to Solana NFT collections, which consisted of almost 300,000 individual NFTs. The shiba inu dog-themed cryptocurrency has risen about 96% in the past 24-hours, according to CoinGecko data.

Even some major Solana projects have considered (or did) adopt the newly launched token from large decentralized exchanges like Orca to NFT markets like Magic Eden.

While Bonk gains steam, it’s highly likely that it will have a similar fate to other meme or dog-focused crypto tokens that often see a pump, followed by a steep dump and little to no recovery. In the meantime, however, it has helped the Solana ecosystem gain momentum in a time when many crypto players saw it as a goner.

As there has been some slight recovery for Solana, its future remains uncertain even amid its dog coin-related hype. As of today, Solana has dropped from being the fifth-largest token in early November to 15th-largest and is the number one trending cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap.

Solana price spikes as newly launched dog coin BONK gains community hype by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

In fundraising, a founder’s greatest challenge is not selling any particular product or strategy. Instead, it is often unwinding and re-aligning the investor’s biases.

The competition is not your market competitor or incumbent. More often, it is the investor’s set of operating heuristics, many of which are quickly influenced by market conditions.

Fundraising in healthcare, especially in a macro environment like the one we’re in, is an opportunity to differentiate and take control of the narrative. When markets start to dip, most companies hunker down and focus on surviving. In moments like these, healthtech companies can take advantage of the status quo gettting upset and rise to the top of a crowded field, signaling to the market why they are the horse to bet on.

Reframe the macro view

When the market seems to be trending downward, it’s an opportunity for founders to take control of the narrative and re-frame how investors view market conditions based on a deep analysis of their sector.

Broadly compared to other industries, healthcare often remains resilient during times of economic distress. When everything is going well, it’s easy to forget and even easier to underappreciate the acyclicality of the healthcare market as a whole. But a quick look at data from the Bureau of Labor shows that employment in the sector continued to grow during the last recession, a testament to how robust the sector is.

While employment may not be a comprehensive barometer for all healthcare activity, the demand for real solutions to real pain points in healthcare will continue to be inelastic. If you’re in services, frame your business around this labor demand; if you’re developing solutions for software, operations and RCM, leverage this growing gap between the need and the adoption of technology.

In this environment, funds will be looking for acyclical markets to invest in. This is an opportunity for you to capture this capital pool.

Get granular

In a market inundated with “digital health” startups and “infrastructure solutions,” it’s vital to differentiate yourself.

Move beyond generic labels that no longer tickle the interest of healthcare investors, and instead map out the progression of your company in three acts, from seed to IPO, even if you’re already a late-stage company:

5 tips for healthcare startups fundraising in a down market by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch