You're listening to Tech Beat, and here's what matters in technology right now.
Kioxia and SanDisk have unveiled a new quad-level-cell three-dimensional flash memory chip that could change the economics of data storage. It hits a four point eight gigabyte-per-second interface — an industry first — and opens a credible path toward a one petabyte solid-state drive for data centers. That's a lot of storage in a very small space, and the power efficiency gains matter just as much as the raw numbers.
Shifting to the AI competition heating up between the US and China, the Chinese lab Z dot AI has released GLM five point three, claiming it's the top open-weight coding model available. The benchmark numbers are real, but they tell a more complicated story — the model trails closed frontier systems and at least one open rival. It's a strong release, but the headline outruns the evidence somewhat.
And finally, Tim Cook's departure from Apple as CEO on September first is prompting reflection on what kind of leader he actually was. His own stated hope — that people remember him as good and decent — says something about how he always understood the job. Not as a visionary throne, but as a responsibility to people.
That's the beat for now. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
