James Proud

[James Proud @jamesproud]

History repeatedly shows that American science and engineering solve impossible tasks. I started Substrate because I believed that this impossible task is one worth trying.

[Substrate @substrate]

Substrate is building a next-generation foundry to return America to dominance in semiconductor production. To achieve this, we will use our technology—a new form of advanced X-ray lithography—to power them.

America invented semiconductors. We will lead again.

[James Proud @jamesproud]

@MichaelDell @DellTech @nvidia @CoreWeave Congratulations and good luck!

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

We go where we need to be, and today that was @NASAKennedy.

Some of my senior engineers and I spent time at @blueorigin with @JeffBezos and @davill, speaking with the workforce and seeing the damage at LC-36 firsthand. I appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from those working through the aftermath and better understand the challenges ahead.

There is a lot of work to do, but this is exactly why people choose careers in aerospace, whether at NASA, Blue Origin, or across the industry. The talent in this field thrives under pressure and performs at its best when solving the toughest problems.

We have been saying for months at NASA that we are not going to sit on our hands and wait for the capabilities necessary to achieve the nation’s most pressing objectives. We are going to take an active role alongside our partners, just as we did in the 1960s, to overcome setbacks, remove obstacles, and deliver the intended outcomes.

@NASA is committed to helping the Blue team recover, continue to advance their lunar lander and get New Glenn back to launching as soon as safely possible.

America’s greatest achievements in space were never the result of avoiding setbacks. They came from overcoming them. We have done it before, and we will do it again🇺🇸

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

Onboard views from Starship and Super Heavy V3, which are equipped with upgraded cameras capable of streaming 4K video through every phase of flight via @Starlink

[James Proud @jamesproud]

Congratulations to the @googledeepmind team. @jeffdean's work on "TPU brains helping design next-generation TPU bodies" is a powerful demonstration of where AI co-design is heading in semiconductors.

[Substrate @substrate]

We are honored to see our work with @googledeepmind's AlphaEvolve featured alongside major breakthroughs from @googleresearch and @googlecloud, as well as other impactful commercial applications.

[Sundar Pichai @sundarpichai]

TPU 8t, optimized for training and TPU 8i, optimized for inference.

Looking good!

[James Proud @jamesproud]

@joshwoodward Congratulations! Any ETA on preview model support, like Deep Think?

[Zane Hengsperger @zanehengsperger]

when spacex was getting started, the first and last men to walk on the moon testified before congress against it.

gene cernan told congress commercial space companies "do not yet know what they don't know."

he said the boeings and lockheed martins were "the folks who have been working on everything we've done for the last 50 years. they know how it can be done."

neil armstrong said he was "not confident" the newcomers could achieve their goals.

together with jim lovell they warned it would put america on "a long downward slide to mediocrity."

spacex now launches more rockets than every country on earth combined.

the experts will always tell you it can't be done. build it anyway!

[James Proud @jamesproud]

@DrFrederickChen Big fan of your work for years, Fred. This is misrepresenting what is written in our post. We intentionally showed how our simulation stack can predict defects, such as bridging. The defect shown on the right was a focus defect, not stochastics related.

[Pushmeet Kohli @pushmeet]

Thanks for the feedback @jamesproud.

Really happy to see AlphaEvolve enabling you and your team at @substrate to discover new and more effective solutions.

This is exactly why our teams @GoogleDeepMind and @googlecloud are so invested in the future of AI agents.

[Substrate @substrate]

A metal one (M1) layer, first simulated by AlphaEvolve-optimized models and then printed in a single exposure with our X-ray lithography tool at a 12 nm half-pitch, resolution equivalent to the 2 nm node. The M1 layer is the most demanding of an advanced semiconductor device.

[Substrate @substrate]

Over the past few months, we have integrated @googledeepmind's AlphaEvolve into our computational lithography. Enabled by AlphaEvolve's algorithmic leaps, we are now printing complex patterns in a single exposure that would otherwise require multiple. https://t.co/0ujvA4ALWz

[James Proud @jamesproud]

There is a lot of discussion around recursive loops of self-improvement for AI. Using AlphaEvolve at Substrate has given us a clear glimpse into this future, and is now accelerating the ultimate recursive loop: AI improving itself all the way down to the atoms.

[James Proud @jamesproud]

Thank you to @jeffdean for helping us join early tests, to @demishassabis, @pushmeet, and the @googledeepmind team for pushing the frontier of science and engineering with magical models, and to the @googleai and @googlecloud teams for supporting our work at Substrate.

[James Proud @jamesproud]

There is a lot of discussion around recursive loops of self-improvement for AI. Using AlphaEvolve at Substrate has given us a clear glimpse into this future, and is now accelerating the ultimate recursive loop: AI improving itself all the way down to the atoms.

[Substrate @substrate]

Over the past few months, we have integrated @googledeepmind's AlphaEvolve into our computational lithography. Enabled by AlphaEvolve's algorithmic leaps, we are now printing complex patterns in a single exposure that would otherwise require multiple. https://t.co/0ujvA4ALWz

[Demis Hassabis @demishassabis]

Ramsey numbers are notoriously hard. Amazing to see AlphaEvolve improve bounds for 5 classical Ramsey numbers - some for the first time in 10+ years - by discovering search procedures itself. A big milestone in AI for maths - congrats to the team!

[James Proud @jamesproud]

@dps Congratulations @dps and @hbarra!

[Sholto Douglas @_sholtodouglas]

Default case right now is a software only singularity, we need to scale robots and automated labs dramatically in 28/29, or the physical world will fall far behind the digital one - and the US won’t be competitive unless we put in the investment now (fab, solar panel, actuator supply chains).

[Rolling Stone @RollingStone]

Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of the Grateful Dead who for decades was one of the driving forces behind the revered band and their legacy, has died at age 78 https://t.co/L5KscguzMd

[James Proud @jamesproud]

@substrate The presentation was ultimately never published online after the conference alongside the proceedings. And it's also unlikely to be a coincidence that the same authors are producing coatings specifically designed for 13.5 nm light wavelength EUV optics... https://t.co/ZQC893UN3I

[James Proud @jamesproud]

Yesterday, @Reuters reported that China had completed a domestically built EUV tool. In the piece, they stated that "China still faces major technical challenges, particularly in replicating the precision optical systems that Western suppliers produce." https://t.co/JvLjRgMQhN

[James Proud @jamesproud]

@substrate We should not just take the history of EUV's development and apply it directly to China's capabilities and timelines. China is conducting a whole-of-nation effort; it will succeed before the end of the decade. America needs a radical leap ahead to regain and maintain leadership.