Artificial intelligence took center stage at CES 2026 as AMD's Lisa Su unveiled new details about its Helios rack-scale AI platform and next-generation Instinct MI400-series GPUs, underscoring the company's push to scale AI and high-performance computing (HPC) from enterprise data centers to hyperscale deployments. Su called it the "world's best AI rack." At the heart of AMD's announcement is Heli...
Artificial intelligence took center stage at CES 2026 as AMD's Lisa Su unveiled new details about its Helios rack-scale AI platform and next-generation Instinct MI400-series GPUs, underscoring the company's push to scale AI and high-performance computing (HPC) from enterprise data centers to hyperscale deployments. Su called it the "world's best AI rack." At the heart of AMD's announcement is Helios, the company's first rack-scale system solution for AI and HPC workloads. Built on AMD's upcoming Zen 6-based EPYC Venice processors, Helios integrates 72 Instinct MI455X accelerators delivering a combined 31TB of HBM4 memory and an aggregate bandwidth of 1.4PB/s. AMD says the platform is capable of up to 2.9 FP4 exaFLOPS for AI inference and 1.4 FP8 exaFLOPS for AI training, positioning it for the most demanding large-scale AI deployments. Due to its significant power and cooling requirements, Helios is designed for modern AI data centers with advanced infrastructure. AMD described the system as a foundation for next-generation AI clusters rather than a drop-in upgrade for legacy facilities. Instinct MI400 Series Targets Precision-Specific Workloads Alongside Helios, AMD outlined its broader Instinct MI400X accelerator family, which will be the first GPUs produced using TSMC's 2nm-class (N2) manufacturing process. The lineup spans multiple variants tailored to specific workloads and precision needs, all based on the CDNA 5 architecture. The MI440X and MI455X focus on low-precision AI workloads such as FP4, FP8, and BF16, while the previously announced MI430X supports both AI and traditional HPC tasks with full FP32 and FP64 precision. By specializing each accelerator for a defined precision envelope, AMD says it can reduce redundant logic and improve power efficiency and cost effectiveness. The MI440X also powers AMD's new Enterprise AI platform — a standard rack-mounted server pairing a single EPYC Venice CPU with eight MI440X GPUs. AMD is positioning this system as an...
is a reviews editor who manages how-tos and various projects. She’s worked as an editor and writer (and occasional sci-fi author) for more years than she cares to admit to. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. CES 2026: all the news, gadgets, and innovations from the biggest tech show A new line of small appliances and devices from IAI Smart, bill...
is a reviews editor who manages how-tos and various projects. She’s worked as an editor and writer (and occasional sci-fi author) for more years than she cares to admit to. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. CES 2026: all the news, gadgets, and innovations from the biggest tech show A new line of small appliances and devices from IAI Smart, billed as Emerson Smart products, are now available that will let you operate fans, heaters, smart plugs, and air fryers with your voice — with no apps, Wi-Fi, or smart home connection at all. Using the company’s SmartVoice technology, the devices react to wake-up words for verbal commands, using built-in microphones. Most of the appliances will also offer a built-in speaker so that they can react audibly to the commands. IAI Smart emphasizes the ease of use that this offers. “Our guiding principle is simple: make smart home technology easier for everyone,” said Jason Jiang, CEO of IAI Smart. “Voice control should be effortless, and now it is.” And because everything is on-device, personal information never leaves the home. The first devices with this technology include: SmartVoice Tower Fans, which come in 29-inch ($89.99), 40-inch $99.99), and 42-inch models ($119.99), and which will offer three speeds, 15-hour sleep timers, LED touch displays, over 40 voice commands, and (if you’re into aromatherapy) an integrated scent diffuser. SmartVoice Fan-Heaters, which come in 25-inch ($129.99) and 32-inch ($169.99) models and which will supply wide-angle 1500-watt heating with anti-tipping features and auto-shutoff timers. Like the tower fans, they will reach to over 40 voice commands. The SmartVoice Electric Plug offers a model with two AC plugs and a USB-A and USB-C port. Image: IAI Smart SmartVoice Electric Plugs come in three iterations: a single-plug version ($24.99), a dual-plug version ($29.99), and a dual plug that also includes USB-A and USB-C ports ($34.99). The plugs will ...
The more European countries act as colonies, unable and unwilling to stand up to Trump, the more they’ll be treated as such There is no two without a three, as we say in Italian. After their complicit silence on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and their tacit acceptance of the US/Israel attack on Iran, Europeans now hesitate to condemn the US’s audacious military operation to bring about regime change...
The more European countries act as colonies, unable and unwilling to stand up to Trump, the more they’ll be treated as such There is no two without a three, as we say in Italian. After their complicit silence on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and their tacit acceptance of the US/Israel attack on Iran, Europeans now hesitate to condemn the US’s audacious military operation to bring about regime change in Venezuela. With few notable exceptions – such as Spain, the Netherlands and Norway – most European leaders have fudged their response . Spain, in fact, has acted without its EU partners, condemning the US attack alongside a group of Latin American countries. European governments seem unable to utter in the same breath that, although Nicolás Maduro was an illegitimate dictator, the US attack to topple him is a gross violation of international law. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, at least made reference to international law, while emphasising that they shed no tears for the end of Maduro’s regime. Others, such as the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, strangely talked about looking into the legality of the US military action, as if there were any doubt about its nature. Worse still, Trump-friendly Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni defined this act of external military intervention as “ legitimate” self-defence against narco-trafficking. Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...
When the Canadian comedian first arrived in the UK, she says she was instantly poor. But her career soon began to take off. She discusses provocation, perfectionism and telling people her secrets ‘Especially in this country, I think you needed me. You didn’t realise it but you needed me, to lift some of your own shame.” Katherine Ryan, the 42-year-old Canadian comedian who has made her home in the...
When the Canadian comedian first arrived in the UK, she says she was instantly poor. But her career soon began to take off. She discusses provocation, perfectionism and telling people her secrets ‘Especially in this country, I think you needed me. You didn’t realise it but you needed me, to lift some of your own shame.” Katherine Ryan, the 42-year-old Canadian comedian who has made her home in the UK for nearly 20 years, has brought her newly minted fourth child, Holland, to the Guardian offices and the baby is lying in a little blanket-nest on the table. Ryan whips off her breast pumps so they don’t make an annoying sound, but I hadn’t noticed the noise, as I was distracted by how adorable the baby is. The first thing you notice is the awesome capability of this woman, who can fully beam maternal love while crafting sequential thoughts in whole sentences, and never get distracted by anything. The second thing you notice is what she’s famous for – a natural, unaffected ballsiness, a rejection of artifice and contradiction. When she sprang on to the UK alternative comedy scene in 2008, her provocation was that she was very good-looking and didn’t pretend not to know it. “Trying to be glamorous or pretty was seen as man-pleasing,” she recalls of the early 2010s, “which was the opposite of what a funny person would do. It was a trend to be self-deprecating. If you went on stage in a glamorous outfit with your little push-up bra and heels, like, ‘I think I’m stunning,’ that would be seen as really off-putting, but I did it because that’s what I liked.” Continue reading...
In a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” says Cdr Mauricio López, of the monitoring department. “It’s creating a serious environmen...
In a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” says Cdr Mauricio López, of the monitoring department. “It’s creating a serious environmental problem.” Just beyond Argentina’s maritime frontier, hundreds of foreign vessels – known as the distant-water fishing fleet – are descending on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned strip of the high seas in the South Atlantic, to plunder its rich marine life. The fleet regularly becomes so big it can be seen from space, looking like a city floating on the sea. View image in fullscreen The distant-water fishing fleet, seen from space, off the coast of Argentina. Photograph: Alamy The charity Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has described it as one of the largest unregulated squid fisheries in the world, warning that the scale of activities could destabilise an entire ecosystem. “With so many ships constantly fishing without any form of oversight, the squid’s short, one-year life cycle simply is not being respected,” says Lt Magalí Bobinac, a marine biologist with the Argentinian coast guard. There are no internationally agreed catch limits in the region covering squid, and distant-water fleets take advantage of this regulatory vacuum. Steve Trent, founder of the EJF, describes the fishery as a “free for all” and says squid could eventually disappear from the area as a result of “this mad fishing effort”. The consequences extend far beyond squid. Whales, dolphins, seals, sea birds and commercially important fish species such as hake and tuna depend on the cephalopod. A collapse in the squid population could trigger a cascade of ecological disruption, with profound social and economic costs for coastal communities and key markets such as Spain, experts warn. “If this speci...
Keir Starmer is set to face fresh battles over his EU “reset” with his plans to lay a bill that could lead to closer regulatory ties with Brussels. The legislation aims to introduce an alignment mechanism for the agrifoods and electricity trading deals agreed with EU leaders but still under negotiation. The bill will hand ministers powers to go beyond what the UK has agreed so far, giving future a...
Keir Starmer is set to face fresh battles over his EU “reset” with his plans to lay a bill that could lead to closer regulatory ties with Brussels. The legislation aims to introduce an alignment mechanism for the agrifoods and electricity trading deals agreed with EU leaders but still under negotiation. The bill will hand ministers powers to go beyond what the UK has agreed so far, giving future administrations the power to potentially align standards in other sectors and keep pace with new EU regulation. The government plans for the bill to run in parallel with the negotiations with Brussels, meaning MPs will start voting on it before the deal is finalised. Government sources said they were braced for major battles but it would be an opportunity for Starmer to defend closer ties with Europe as a way of reviving the UK economy. The bill is expected to be introduced in the next few months and carried over into the next parliamentary session. The Liberal Democrats have already vowed to amend the bill to bring forward a binding vote on a customs union. More than a dozen Labour MPs rebelled when the Lib Dems held their last opposition day vote on the issue. Opposition politicians are likely to raise significant objections if the bill hands ministers sweeping powers, potentially leading to obstruction in the House of Lords. The Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson, Lisa Smart, said: “On a bill of this scale and scope, it would be a shameful betrayal of voters to simply sketch out the vague thrust then fill the details out later with the stroke of a ministerial pen.” Starmer’s spokesperson said on Monday it was possible the UK could negotiate further sector-by-sector access – often likened to a “Swiss-style” deal – and that it might be prepared to pay for it. “The deals we’re striking involve huge benefits to British taxpayers by supporting British businesses, backing British jobs and putting more money into people’s pockets, and in total, they’ll add nearly £9bn to our ec...
In Budapest, it was a call to flout the Hungarian government’s ban on Pride that catapulted the city’s mayor into the headlines. In Barcelona it was a bold plan to rid the city – one of Europe’s most visited – of tourist flats by late 2028. And in Paris, it was a drastic makeover; one that included making the Seine swimmable and turning its car-clogged riverbanks into pedestrian-friendly areas. Th...
In Budapest, it was a call to flout the Hungarian government’s ban on Pride that catapulted the city’s mayor into the headlines. In Barcelona it was a bold plan to rid the city – one of Europe’s most visited – of tourist flats by late 2028. And in Paris, it was a drastic makeover; one that included making the Seine swimmable and turning its car-clogged riverbanks into pedestrian-friendly areas. The mayors’ actions – and the global conversation they elicited – hinted at how, in much of the world, the role of mayor has been recast. Gone are the stereotypes of endless ribbon cutting ceremonies and flesh-pressing events; instead mayors are increasingly being thrust on to the frontlines of some of society’s thorniest challenges. View image in fullscreen Thousands take to the streets of central Barcelona to demand lower housing costs. Photograph: Albert Llop/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock “I think mayors around the world have started to realise that we have a new role, one that didn’t exist before,” said Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona. “We’ve realised that the global problems we’re all facing require local solutions.” When he took the reins in Barcelona in 2023, Collboni noticed that one topic came up repeatedly in his discussions with other mayors: the soaring cost of housing. The observation swiftly snowballed into Mayors for Housing, an unprecedented alliance of 17 mayors across the continent seeking solutions to the crisis. “We’re the ones on the frontlines of citizens’ daily lives,” said Collboni. “So it’s not surprising that we’re also the ones saying that things can’t continue this way.” From Zohran Mamdani to Sadiq Khan, the increasingly global profile of mayors has led to heightened scrutiny of their actions, propelling some of them into the crosshairs of the culture wars. In Paris, for example, mayor Anne Hidalgo’s years-long effort to create 15-minute neighbourhoods and make the city greener was lauded by progressives around the world, while far-right and ce...
The bosses of FTSE 100 companies will have made more money in 2026 before midday on Tuesday than the average worker will all year, according to figures laying bare the yawning income gap. Median annual pay for FTSE 100 chief executives is £4.4m, the High Pay Centre thinktank calculated, 113 times higher than the £39,039 earned by the median full-time worker. That means UK bosses will exceed the av...
The bosses of FTSE 100 companies will have made more money in 2026 before midday on Tuesday than the average worker will all year, according to figures laying bare the yawning income gap. Median annual pay for FTSE 100 chief executives is £4.4m, the High Pay Centre thinktank calculated, 113 times higher than the £39,039 earned by the median full-time worker. That means UK bosses will exceed the average annual pay of staff in less than 29 hours of work, or by about 11.30am on Tuesday if they started work on Friday 2 January. The median salary for FTSE 100 chief executives equates to £1,353.23 an hour, or nearly £23 a minute. The High Pay Centre assumed that those bosses work about 62.5 hours a week. Last year, the current and former chief executive of the engineering company Melrose Industries, Peter Dilnot and Simon Peckham, were the highest paid across the FTSE 100. They took home nearly £59m between them, mostly thanks to long-term incentive plans. Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca who spent the previous two years as the FTSE 100’s highest paid boss, was pushed into third after earning £14.7m. Paul Nowak, the general secretary at the Trades Union Congress, said: “While millions of low- and middle-income workers are still struggling with the cost of living, those at the very top keep helping themselves to a huge slice of the pie.” He urged the government to “act to rein in boardroom greed” by giving workers a seat on executive pay committees. The High Pay Centre said a decline in union membership had contributed to the widening chasm between CEO and worker pay. In December, the Labour government passed the Employment Rights Act, which will introduce a law that gives unions reasonable access to speak to workers and will require employers to inform new staff of their right to join a union. Andrew Speke, the interim director at the High Pay Centre, said the figures showed a gulf in how the work of most people was valued compa...
Twenty-five years after I revealed the practices of the industrial food giants, the profits – and dangers – of mass producing meat and milk have only grown Cats have long been kept at American dairy farms to kill rats, mice and other rodents. In March 2024, a number of barn cats at dairies in the Texas panhandle started to behave strangely. It was like the opening scene of a horror movie. The cats...
Twenty-five years after I revealed the practices of the industrial food giants, the profits – and dangers – of mass producing meat and milk have only grown Cats have long been kept at American dairy farms to kill rats, mice and other rodents. In March 2024, a number of barn cats at dairies in the Texas panhandle started to behave strangely. It was like the opening scene of a horror movie. The cats began to walk in circles obsessively. They became listless and depressed, lost their balance, staggered, had seizures, suffered paralysis and died within a few days of becoming ill. At one dairy in north Texas, two dozen cats developed these odd symptoms; more than half were soon dead. Their bodies showed no unusual signs of injury or disease. Dr Barb Petersen , a veterinarian in Amarillo, heard stories about the sick cats. “I went to one of my dairies last week, and all their cats were missing,” a colleague told her. “I couldn’t figure it out – the cats usually come to my vet truck.” For about a month, Petersen had been investigating a mysterious illness among dairy cattle in Texas. Cows were developing a fever, producing less milk, losing weight. The milk they did produce was thick and yellow. The illness was rarely fatal but could last for weeks, and the decline in milk production was hurting local dairy farmers. Petersen sent fluid samples from sick cows to a diagnostic lab at Iowa State University, yet all the tests came back negative for diseases known to infect cattle. She wondered if there might be a connection between the unexplained illnesses of the cats and the cows. She sent the bodies of two dead barn cats to the lab at Iowa State, where their brains were dissected. Continue reading...
watch now In this video LGEN-GB Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email Executive Decisions with Steve Sedgwick How an insatiable curiosity propelled Sir Nigel Wilson from council estate to Canary Wharf’s top job Canary Wharf Group Chairman Sir Nigel Wilson reflects on how his family values and intellectual curiosity shaped his ...
watch now In this video LGEN-GB Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email Executive Decisions with Steve Sedgwick How an insatiable curiosity propelled Sir Nigel Wilson from council estate to Canary Wharf’s top job Canary Wharf Group Chairman Sir Nigel Wilson reflects on how his family values and intellectual curiosity shaped his rise from a council estate to the boardroom, why building consensus and learning from mistakes matters in leadership and how staying true to the common good has guided his toughest decisions. 41:02 17 minutes ago Steve Sedgwick Sir Nigel Wilson, chairman of Canary Wharf Group, began life on a council estate in northeast England and rose to become one of the U.K.'s most prominent CEOs. "I was very lucky because I grew up on a modern council estate where modern schools had been built, and so we had young teachers who were totally enthusiastic and enjoyed the intellectual curiosity I had," Wilson told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick on the " Executive Decisions " podcast. His life took a dramatic turn when he earned a scholarship to MIT. "My dad went over to the pub with me and said, 'I just want to tell you all my son got into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,' and the people in the pub went, 'But there's a tech at Darlington. Why is he not going to Darlington?'" Wilson recalled. After graduating from MIT, Wilson spent time in academia before moving into the corporate world, working at McKinsey, Dixons, and later serving as CFO and CEO of Legal & General . Wilson credits his intellectual curiosity — a drive to tackle complex industry challenges — for guiding his career moves and shaping his leadership philosophy. "The world should be a wonderful place because there's tons of opportunities to do great things out there. We're just not doing enough of those great things right now, but the opportunity set is there to do it and really make a difference. And we can," he said. Watch ...
Key Points Comfort Systems is deeply embedded in the AI boom and is making revenue. Comfort Systems recently hit a record backlog, with the CEO citing "unprecedented demand" for its services. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) is a designer of small modular reactors that could become a critical energy source for artificial intelligence (AI) processes. The ...
Key Points Comfort Systems is deeply embedded in the AI boom and is making revenue. Comfort Systems recently hit a record backlog, with the CEO citing "unprecedented demand" for its services. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) is a designer of small modular reactors that could become a critical energy source for artificial intelligence (AI) processes. The nuclear energy stock has been one of the favorites in the industry thanks to Sam Altman's connection as a significant investor and former chairman of the board. Oklo shares more than tripled last year, but it is a highly speculative company with no commercial revenue to speak of at this time. Oklo also has an $11 billion market cap, which is a lot for a company that isn't making any revenue. While AI is a megatrend that can produce many winners, investors can minimize their risk while having a high potential upside with more viable AI stocks. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Comfort Systems USA (NYSE: FIX) is also benefiting from the AI boom, but unlike Oklo, it already makes billions of dollars every quarter. How Comfort Systems USA fits in the AI industry AI chips are the big story, but those chips must be in the right environment to function, let alone perform optimally. One of the requirements for AI chips is that they are in frigid environments, or else they will overheat. Companies can't put every data center in Antarctica, so they have resorted to intense air conditioning to keep the chips nice and cool. Comfort Systems USA has been a commercial provider of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and electrical contracting services for almost 30 years. AI data centers have suddenly boosted the demand for Comfort Systems USA's services, and that has translated into significant gains. The growth stock more than doubled in 2025 and is up by roughly 1,900% over the past ...