Daily Tech News 17 July 2026

Top Story

TSMC has committed another $100 billion for four new leading-edge 2nm fabs in Arizona. (Tom's Hardware)

I'm not sure exactly why they chose Arizona apart from the fact that China is unlikely to successfully invade, but that seems like a good enough reason.

Tech News

India has fined Hewlett Packard 1.4 billion rupees for price fixing. (Ars Technica)

About tree fiddy in real money.
AMD's Ryzen 7700X3D is the company's latest though not newest CPU with what they term "3D-Vcache" - an additional 64MB cache chip stacked on top of the CPU die. (Tom's Hardware)

The problem is that it's not much faster than the existing 7700X unless you're specifically using it to play games, and not much faster than the existing 7600X3D if you are playing games, and both of those chips are around $100 cheaper than the 7700X3D's $329.
1Password now lets Claude use your passwords - without giving it access to the passwords themselves. (Nerds.xyz)

Claude sends a request to 1Password, the user approves it, and Claude ends up with access to the desired service without ever seeing the password. It's a pretty elegant solution to a situation set up mostly by crazy people.
Why is OpenAI selling a ChatGPT basketball? (Tech Crunch)

Good question. Next question.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Roast loin of... What?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:44 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 04:44 AM (6wpGE)

2 Hi Pixy!

Posted by: JQ at July 17, 2026 04:44 AM (rdVOm)

3 Hi, m!

Posted by: JQ at July 17, 2026 04:45 AM (rdVOm)

4 Hola Tech Morons. Top o the morning

Posted by: Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego at July 17, 2026 04:45 AM (Wejm4)

5 Morning all.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 17, 2026 04:48 AM (BLOW1)

6 1 rupee is ~1 cent U.S.

So... HP needs to check under their couch cushions.

Posted by: JQ at July 17, 2026 04:48 AM (rdVOm)

7 Hey Pixy, if your question was not rhetorical, TSMC put the new lines in Arizona because they opened a massive facility there a few years ago. And I suspect AZ and the US government threw lots of money at them.

Posted by: Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego at July 17, 2026 04:49 AM (Wejm4)

8 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 04:49 AM (u82oZ)

9 Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego

Are they using cooling fluids other than water for the Data Center? Seems important for AZ agriculture.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 04:52 AM (u82oZ)

10 It's almost 2 a.m. here.

Finally (!) whole house is cooled enough to close windows and go to bed...

TGIF!!!

Posted by: JQ at July 17, 2026 04:52 AM (rdVOm)

11 Singing and dancing pastor ( and no, it's not me 😉

takes internet by storm. Faithpot site :

https://tinyurl.com/3b8744vv

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 17, 2026 04:55 AM (Cjc4c)

12 Scripture from the Old and New Testament about God's faithfulness . "Faithpot" site:

https://tinyurl.com/2wyr4few

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 17, 2026 04:58 AM (Cjc4c)

13 TSMC put it in Arizona because that causes the most collateral damage.
You wouldn’t want to put a water intensive industry in Missouri or West Virginia, too much of the wrong sort of water.

Posted by: Accomack at July 17, 2026 05:00 AM (GbONR)

14 A reflection on " A future with hope" Deuteronomy 16:13-17:

https://tinyurl.com/f37rjf4z

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 17, 2026 05:02 AM (Cjc4c)

15 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at July 17, 2026 05:03 AM (K861k)

16 >>>I'm not sure exactly why they chose Arizona apart from the fact that China is unlikely to successfully invade

And Canada. Canada is unlikely to successfully invade Arizona.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:08 AM (6wpGE)

17 3 Hi, m!
Posted by: JQ at July 17, 2026 04:45 AM (rdVOm)

Hi, back, JQ! Good to see you here.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:09 AM (6wpGE)

18
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at July 17, 2026 05:13 AM (AMvSw)

19
I am NOT going to stay up until 4:00 this morning. not Not NOT! Good night for real, you lovely people.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 17, 2026 05:15 AM (mmrXZ)

20 16: Canada is kind of busy right now, with it being on fire and all.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at July 17, 2026 05:15 AM (K861k)

21 FenelonSpoke

Ill bet you have singing and dancing skills from your drama background. But not the Rockettes style dancing.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:16 AM (u82oZ)

22 Mexico is also unlikely to invade Arizona, since they're already there. Waste of effort to do it again.

Posted by: SciVo at July 17, 2026 05:16 AM (Sy6m/)

23 Hey salty, I’m not sure how much water is required in current technologies for semiconductor manufacturing. Or how many contaminants are produced.

Posted by: Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego at July 17, 2026 05:19 AM (Wejm4)

24 And Arizona is right smack next to California, so TSMC can laugh and point at California taxing authorities.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:20 AM (6wpGE)

25 23 Hey salty, I’m not sure how much water is required in current technologies for semiconductor manufacturing. Or how many contaminants are produced.
Posted by: Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego at July 17, 2026 05:19 AM (Wejm4)

Maybe they can desalinate the Gulf of California.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:23 AM (6wpGE)

26 Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:16 AM (u82oZ

LOL. I was more in the straight drama or comedy line.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 17, 2026 05:23 AM (D+BhG)

27 m

In that case, go long on reverse osmosis membranes.

Data centers need cooling. There is very active research in new coolants, but water is the cheapest available.

According to Copilot: Chip manufacturing is highly water-intensive, requiring significant amounts of ultrapure water for various processes, with facilities using up to 10 million gallons per day, equivalent to the daily consumption of 33,000 households. TSMC's new facility in Arizona aims to reclaim about 65% of its water usage.

Still a lot of water needed.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:28 AM (u82oZ)

28
TSMC =
Taiwan
Semiconductor
Manufacturing
Company Limited

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:29 AM (6wpGE)

29 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at July 17, 2026 05:32 AM (V0/Sp)

30 m

I had no idea such a large amount of very pure water was needed to make chips.
No wonder China has problems with manufacturing of high end chips. Takes even more effort to purify their water.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:33 AM (u82oZ)

31 G'Day everyone
Was up for a bit in middle of the night but didn't look at clock
Should be outta here within 2 hours

Posted by: Skip at July 17, 2026 05:33 AM (Ia/+0)

32 new lingo for me

fab
noun
- a microchip fabrication plant: the process will reduce the environmental damage caused by chip fabs.
- a particular fabrication process in a manufacturing plant: it can only be made using five-layer fabs

verb (fabs, fabbing, fabbed) [with object]
- produce (a microchip).

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:33 AM (6wpGE)

33 Long past time to build nuclear plants to do nothing but produce fresh water and extract the minerals in the salts.

Posted by: Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego at July 17, 2026 05:34 AM (Wejm4)

34 >>> I'm not sure exactly why they chose Arizona

Because they think the cheap land will offset the cost of air conditioning.

Posted by: fluffy at July 17, 2026 05:35 AM (V0/Sp)

35 27 Data centers need cooling. There is very active research in new coolants, but water is the cheapest available.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:28 AM (u82oZ)

Hope it's getting better all the time.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:36 AM (6wpGE)

36 For those of you keeping score, I just heard an oriole chittering loudly in the backyard.

Good to know the jelly isn't all going to chipmunks and grackles.

Posted by: fluffy at July 17, 2026 05:37 AM (V0/Sp)

37 "India has fined Hewlett Packard 1.4 billion rupees for price fixing.

About tree fiddy in real money."

Well, $1.4 Million USD. Enough to get the attention of a small to medium sized company, but barely a mosquito bite to a company as large as HP.

When fines are only a "cost of doing business", then the punishments need to be something they can't ignore.

Perhaps pass a law that removes legal protection for the company's copyrights and patents inside your company specific to the devices they were selling related to the conviction for cartel-like behaviour.

"Hey everyone, it's open season on HP's ink, its printer cartridges, its printers, and its software and firmware with regards to same. Reverse engineer and copy all you want so you can make your own clones of these things to use and sell. We'll slap down any attempt to seek damages in our own courts, applications from courts from other countries."

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at July 17, 2026 05:37 AM (O7YUW)

38 And Arizona is right smack next to California, so TSMC can laugh and point at California taxing authorities.

Something about Arizona building a tech platform and has partnered with other semi-conductor manufacturers to cluster there (e.g. intel). CHIPS Act, Phoenix building Silicon Desert infrastructure to secure supply-chain.

Also lack of hurricanes, earthquakes and floods which is critical for delicate manufacturing parts.

Also university system to attract new workers

Posted by: Community Notes at July 17, 2026 05:38 AM (pawvM)

39 @20/Puddleglum: "Canada is kind of busy right now, with it being on fire and all."

https://youtu.be/1EBfxjSFAxQ

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at July 17, 2026 05:39 AM (O7YUW)

40 Wikipedia, TSMC

In December 2022, TSMC announced its plans to triple its investment in the Arizona plants in response to the growing tensions between the US and China and the supply chain disruption that has led to chip shortages. ...

In April 2024, the Biden administration announced a preliminary agreement to award TSMC Arizona up to $6.6 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, alongside up to $5 billion in proposed loans, to support TSMC's planned investment of more than $65 billion across three fabrication plants in Phoenix. ...

In July 2025, [C.C.] Wei [President, Chairman, and CEO of TSMC] indicated that TSMC would speed up its production timelines toward the completion of a "gigafab" cluster totalling six facilities after an additional $100 billion investment in Arizona.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:41 AM (6wpGE)

41 Long past time to build nuclear plants to do nothing but produce fresh water and extract the minerals in the salts.

In the meantime, redirect the windmills to power desalination since reverse-osmosis plants can (but shouldn't) run intermittently. This is where they can experiment with battery and water storage for smoothing out the power delivery without screwing up the grid.

Thermal desalination, nah.

Posted by: Community Notes at July 17, 2026 05:43 AM (U4c/V)

42 m

I predict ground water levels will drop. This will affect everyone in AZ.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:43 AM (u82oZ)

43 Community Notes

AZ can use gravity water storage as a liquid battery. But again. water loss is the rate-limiting step.

Where is there too much water? Louisiana? Hurricanes are an issue.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:46 AM (u82oZ)

44 in response to the growing tensions between the US and China

I guess we will be seeing a lot of H1Bs out of Taiwan settling in Phoenix.

Posted by: Community Notes at July 17, 2026 05:48 AM (U4c/V)

45 Good night all. If you missed the news in ONT comment #291, Captain Josepha Sabin's daughter passed from the recent sudden heart event; too long without oxygen to the brain. She is survived by a husband and a twin.

Posted by: SciVo at July 17, 2026 05:50 AM (Sy6m/)

46 Put Elon Musk on the water-production problem.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:51 AM (6wpGE)

47 45 Good night all. If you missed the news in ONT comment #291, Captain Josepha Sabin's daughter passed from the recent sudden heart event; too long without oxygen to the brain. She is survived by a husband and a twin.
Posted by: SciVo at July 17, 2026 05:50 AM (Sy6m/)

Thank you, SciVo.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:51 AM (6wpGE)

48 9 Pete Bogs Agentic alter ego

Are they using cooling fluids other than water for the Data Center? Seems important for AZ agriculture.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 04:52 AM (u82oZ)

Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Posted by: According to the Prophecy at July 17, 2026 05:52 AM (967/Q)

49 AZ can use gravity water storage as a liquid battery. But again. water loss is the rate-limiting step.

Up until 2021, Nestlé, now BlueTriton Brands, was bottling water from the Phoenix municipal water supply. That angered a lot of people, but Phoenix went out of their way to provide enough water so that Nestlé could competitively bottle there since 2018.

In other words, Phoenix is very aware of the value of water, and unlike most other cities is pro-active. I'm guessing that since Nestlé discontinued there, citing competitive reasons in the bottled water market moved elsewhere and that the water capacity is now available for TSMC.

Capacity not being used is money wasted. Phoenix needed a new customer.

Posted by: Community Notes at July 17, 2026 05:54 AM (pUU4E)

50 Community Notes

The Western Kansas winter wheat harvest declines year over year as the underlying Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted.

Water use in the West continues to be a big deal. Even mega-engineering projects may not be enough.

One immediate result is higher beef prices. In Western Kansas, most of the calves were sent to meat-packing plants this spring due to lack of fodder.
Takes 3 years from calf to market normally.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:54 AM (u82oZ)

51 @44/Community Notes: "I guess we will be seeing a lot of H1Bs out of Taiwan settling in Phoenix."

And if the U.S. Government is smart, they'll help with converting those to permanent residency and citizenship with a quickness, since these folks have mad skills that the USA will want to secure in a permanent fashion.

Also, build out some Buc-ee's near those new fabrication plants, stat.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at July 17, 2026 05:54 AM (O7YUW)

52 Any 'puter techies available at the moment?

I've been having an issue with my laptop for the last few days. Every so often, when surfing the net, everything freezes up. I cannot open tabs, I cannot close down the browser. The only thing that gets me surfin' again is Cntl-Alt-Delete and selecting task manager. I don't even have to do anything when the task manager window opens. I just have to immediately close it and everything returns to normal...until it happens again

wash-rinse-repeat many times per day.

Occurs using Brave or Chrome.

Any idea what may be going on and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by: one hour sober at July 17, 2026 05:55 AM (J4Dwc)

53
If you missed the news in ONT comment #291, Captain Josepha Sabin's daughter passed from the recent sudden heart event; too long without oxygen to the brain.
____________

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 17, 2026 05:56 AM (O0L8i)

54 Community Notes

Good point on Phoenix water use, but a receding water table hints at a declining supply for the future.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:56 AM (u82oZ)

55 Corona - The Rhythm of the Night

"The Rhythm of the Night" is a song by Italian Eurodance group Corona.

Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:56 AM (6wpGE)

56 32 new lingo for me

fab
noun
- a microchip fabrication plant: the process will reduce the environmental damage caused by chip fabs.
- a particular fabrication process in a manufacturing plant: it can only be made using five-layer fabs

verb (fabs, fabbing, fabbed) [with object]
- produce (a microchip).
Posted by: m at July 17, 2026 05:33 AM (6wpGE)

adjective
fabulous
- a microchip fabrication plant during Pride Month.
- a DEI employee of said plant

Posted by: According to the Prophecy at July 17, 2026 05:57 AM (967/Q)

57 Hadrian the Seventh

Thank you for that. Sigh. That will hit her hard. She was so proud of her.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 17, 2026 05:57 AM (u82oZ)

58 Belated BOING!

In the heat of the kitchen, cooking tons, when Mrs. BD gets a call from a pup and his wife that some of their 5 pups have come down with a nasty stomach virus.

Gotta find freezer space!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 17, 2026 05:57 AM (yMCWt)

59 Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 17, 2026 05:56 AM (O0L8i)

So sorry to hear that.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 17, 2026 05:58 AM (rZCVI)

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