The biggest change to chip wiring since the 1960s is shipping first from Intel — but the patent wall is being built by TSMC, a Belgian research lab, and a company that sold its last factory in 2015.
Apple killed its decade-long microLED display project in 2024. The same year, a Sunnyvale startup hit 200 femtojoules per bit shooting data between AI chips with the same physics — and now holds 84% of US patents in the niche.