The focus is no longer just AI-generated worlds, but how those worlds become structured digital products
Updated
February 20, 2026 6:50 PM
The inside of a pair of HTC VR goggles. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
As AI tools improve, creating 3D content is becoming faster and easier. However, building that content into interactive experiences still requires time, structure and technical work. That difference between generation and execution is where HTC VIVERSE and World Labs are focusing their new collaboration.
HTC VIVERSE is a 3D content platform developed by HTC. It provides creators with tools to build, refine and publish interactive virtual environments. Meanwhile, World Labs is an AI startup founded by researcher Fei-Fei Li and a team of machine learning specialists. The company recently introduced Marble, a tool that generates full 3D environments from simple text, image or video prompts.
While Marble can quickly create a digital world, that world on its own is not yet a finished experience. It still needs structure, navigation and interaction. This is where VIVERSE fits in. By combining Marble’s world generation with VIVERSE’s building tools, creators can move from an AI-generated scene to a usable, interactive product.
In practice, the workflow works in two steps. First, Marble produces the base 3D environment. Then, creators bring that environment into VIVERSE, where they add game mechanics, scenes and interactive elements. In this model, AI handles the early visual creation, while the human creator defines how users explore and interact with the world.
To demonstrate this process, the companies developed three example projects. Whiskerhill turns a Marble-generated world into a simple quest-based experience. Whiskerport connects multiple AI-generated scenes into a multi-level environment that users navigate through portals. Clockwork Conspiracy, built by VIVERSE, uses Marble’s generation system to create a more structured, multi-scene game. These projects are not just demos. They serve as proof that AI-generated worlds can evolve beyond static visuals and become interactive environments.
This matters because generative AI is often judged by how quickly it produces content. However, speed alone does not create usable products. Digital experiences still require sequencing, design decisions and user interaction. As a result, the real challenge is not generation, but integration — connecting AI output to tools that make it functional.
Seen in this context, the collaboration is less about a single product and more about workflow. VIVERSE provides a system that allows AI-generated environments to be edited and structured. World Labs provides the engine that creates those environments in the first place. Together, they are testing whether AI can fit directly into a full production pipeline rather than remain a standalone tool.
Ultimately, the collaboration reflects a broader change in creative technology. AI is no longer only producing isolated assets. It is beginning to plug into the larger process of building complete experiences. The key question is no longer how quickly a world can be generated, but how easily that world can be turned into something people can actually use and explore.
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The quiet infrastructure shift powering the next generation of data centers
Updated
February 12, 2026 1:21 PM
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) port on a motherboard, coloured yellow. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
Modern data centers operate on a simple yet fundamental principle: computers require the ability to share data extremely quickly. As AI and cloud systems grow, servers are no longer confined to a single rack. They are spread across many racks, sometimes across entire rooms. When that happens, moving data quickly and cleanly becomes harder.
Montage Technology, a Shanghai-based semiconductor company, builds the chips and connection systems that help servers exchange data without delays. This week, the company announced a new Active Electrical Cable (AEC) solution based on PCIe 6.x and CXL 3.x — two important standards used to connect CPUs, GPUs, network cards and storage inside modern data centers.
In simple terms, Montage’s new AEC product helps different parts of a data center “talk” to each other faster and more reliably, even when those parts are physically far apart.
As data centers grow to support AI and cloud workloads, their architecture is changing. Instead of everything sitting inside one rack, systems now stretch across multiple racks and even multiple rows. This creates a new problem: the longer the distance between machines, the harder it is to keep data signals clean and fast.
This is where Active Electrical Cables come in. Unlike regular copper cables, AECs include small electronic components inside the cable itself. These components strengthen and clean up the data signal as it travels, so information can move farther without getting distorted or delayed.
Montage’s solution uses its own retimer chip based on PCIe 6.x and CXL 3.x. A “retimer” refreshes the data signal so it arrives accurately at the other end. This allows servers, GPUs, storage devices and network cards to stay tightly connected even across longer distances inside large data centers.
The company also uses high-density cable designs and built-in monitoring tools so operators can track performance and fix issues faster. That makes large data centers easier to deploy and maintain.
According to Montage, the solution has already passed interoperability tests with CPUs, xPUs, PCIe switches and network cards. It has also been jointly developed with cable manufacturers in China and validated at the system level.
What makes this development important is not just speed. It is about scale. AI models, cloud services and real-time applications demand massive amounts of data to move continuously between machines. If that movement slows down, everything else slows with it.
By improving how machines connect across racks, Montage’s AEC solution supports the kind of infrastructure that next-generation AI and cloud systems depend on.
Looking ahead, the company plans to expand its high-speed interconnect products further, including work on PCIe 7.0 and Ethernet retimer technologies.
Quietly, in the background of every AI system and cloud service, there is a network of cables and chips doing the hard work of moving data. Montage’s latest launch focuses on making that hidden layer faster, cleaner and ready for the scale that modern computing now demands.