This week on Tom's Hardware Premium: August 22, 2026 — foundries, supercomputers, China, and how to not overpay on a motherboard

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Joe Shields, a PC components expert, provided guidance on purchasing a new motherboard. He suggested focusing on the essential features rather than extravagant aspects like 20+ phase MOSFET VRMs or RGB shrouds. He advised against overspending on memory and other components, as prices have skyrocketed in the past year.

The article also discussed how focus has shifted from traditional supercomputers to AI systems, particularly in China. China's Lineshine became the world's fastest supercomputer, but the relevance of supercomputers in the AI era is being questioned. Experts Chris Stokel-Walker, Julian Kinkel, and Jack Dongarra discussed the changing landscape of supercomputers.

Samsung's global foundries were examined, including their facilities in Taylor, Texas, and Pyeongtaek. The article highlighted the foundry's yield issues and the pressure to deliver on its $16.5 billion deal with Tesla for manufacturing AI6 chips. Despite being a distant second to TSMC in foundry revenue, Samsung is accelerating its products and roadmaps due to the AI era.

The analysis also covered China's domestic heroes, including SMIC, which posted a record $3 billion quarter and expects wafer prices to increase. SMIC expects to dominate the domestic market with its homegrown AI accelerators, despite US sanctions.

Lastly, the optical components market was projected to reach $144.4 billion by 2030, driven by demand for co-packaged optics, photonics chips, transceiver modules, and new techniques. LG entered the chip packaging business with a Laser Direct Imaging (LDI) tool, marking its first step into advanced packaging.