Microsoft has introduced native NVMe SSD support in its Windows Server 2025 build, now available as an opt-in feature for users. After 12 years of NVMe's existence and years of support in the Linux kernel and Linux-based operating systems, native support has been added to the Windows Server stack. Previously, Microsoft converted NVMe drive commands into SCSI commands, which resulted in processing latency and overhead, slowing down read/write speeds in typically high-performing storage configurations. With native NVMe support, the entire stack and I/O processing have been redesigned to achieve optimal SSD performance.

System administrators don't need data to recognize the significant performance improvements that native NVMe support will bring. Windows Server 2025's native NVMe support fundamentally transforms storage performance by enabling direct multi-queue access to modern hardware. It delivers up to 3.3 million IOPS on PCIe Gen 5 SSDs and exceeds 10 million IOPS on HBAs, while reducing latency through streamlined, lock-free I/O paths. This leap in efficiency is essential because traditional SCSI-based processing, originally designed for rotational disks with a single-queue model limited to 32 commands, cannot fully utilize flash storage.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 9850X3D processor is slowly hitting the retailer space, and the pricing has been leaked by @momomo_us. At $553, the new "Granite Ridge" Ryzen 9000 X3D SKU is priced roughly $70 more than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D at its launch. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads, 96 MB of L3 cache, and a boost clock up to 5.6 GHz, with a 120 W power envelope. This represents a 400 MHz increase over the Ryzen 7 9800X3D model, which has the same cache and core configuration. At Switzerland retailer Orderflow.ch, the CPU is listed for 473.55 CHF, which is 20% higher than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

Officially, AMD's Ryzen 9000 series supports DDR5 memory speeds up to 5600 MT/s, but this model could push that number to 9,800 MT/s if earlier reports are accurate. AMD is likely using higher-binned dies it has saved over the past few months to offer a better alternative to Intel's upcoming "Arrow Lake Refresh," scheduled for early 2026, and "Nova Lake," scheduled for late 2026. As Intel has confirmed it will ship with native support for DDR5 memory speeds reaching 7200 MT/s on CUDIMM modules, AMD is fighting with a faster CPU clock and supposedly better memory speeds to offer good competition in the consumer DIY PC space.

According to sources close to Reuters, China has developed a working prototype of an EUV machine, which is currently undergoing testing. This domestic achievement involved Chinese companies successfully reverse-engineering ASML's EUV lithography scanners and creating a functional version using second-hand components. The new EUV prototype reportedly takes up an entire factory floor, comparable in size to modern High-NA EUV machines from ASML. Chinese companies are said to have obtained parts from older ASML machines on secondary markets. The Chinese government initially set a goal of producing working chips from the prototype by 2028.

Leading this initiative is the Chinese technology giant Huawei, which is working to establish a domestic AI supply chain to bypass foreign tech restrictions. In Guanlan, China, Huawei established a comprehensive facility for manufacturing semiconductors using 7 nm technology for its custom processors. Dissatisfied with SMIC's limited output capacity, Huawei has assumed control of the entire silicon production process, from sourcing materials and chemicals to wafer fabrication equipment and chip design. The company is making an unprecedented effort to develop every component of the AI supply chain domestically, from wafer fabrication equipment to model building, and now EUV scanners for more advanced nodes.

It seems that the Japanese foundry Rapidus is gearing up for strong competition with TSMC. The company has developed a panel-level packaging (PLP) prototype using a glass interposer, with plans to move towards mass production by 2028. At this week's SEMICON Japan 2025 in Tokyo, the prototype will be showcased. It replaces conventional round silicon wafers with large square glass panels, intended for use in high-performance AI packages that combine multi-chip GPUs and more than a dozen of HBM dies. This approach could reduce material waste and enable larger, denser multi-chip assemblies necessary for next-generation AI accelerators, without breaking the traditional laws of 300 mm wafer.

The company is developing 600x600 mm glass panels, which offer a significantly larger usable area than 300 mm silicon wafers and enable the production of more interposers from a single sheet. Glass substrates provide advantages in electrical performance and flatness compared to organic package materials, making them appealing for dense interconnects. However, glass also introduces new manufacturing challenges, such as fragility and potential warpage as panel sizes increase. Intel has notably discontinued its in-house development of glass substrates and has chosen to license the technology to others. The company can thus monetize its innovations, though large-scale Intel-based technology production is not anticipated until after 2030.

AMD has quietly introduced a new RDNA 4 SKU targeting lower overall GPU power consumption. According to the updated website listing, AMD has released the Radeon RX 9060 XT Low-Power GPU SKU, designed to fit within a reduced TDP envelope. With a TDP of 140 W, AMD recommends a minimum power supply of 450 W. The card features 32 Compute Units (CUs), 2,048 Stream Processors (SPs), 32 ray tracing accelerators, 64 AI accelerators, 128 texture units, and 64 ROPs, all on a die with 29.7 billion transistors. This is 20 W lower than the standard Radeon RX 9060 XT SKU, which also has 32 CUs and 2,048 SPs but operates at a 160 W TDP.

Memory and I/O specifications remain consistent for this class. The RX 9060 XT LP comes with up to 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit memory interface, supported by 32 MB of AMD Infinity Cache, and offers an advertised memory speed of up to 20 Gbps for a peak bandwidth of up to 320 GB per second. Display outputs include DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b. The card supports modern codecs and formats, including AV1 encode and decode, H.264 and H.265 encode and decode, and 4K HDMI support.

Microsoft has implemented a mandatory consent framework for Windows 11 that stops AI agents from accessing personal files without explicit user permission. The company has updated its agentic AI features documentation for experimental preview builds, specifying six protected folders as off-limits by default: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. Each AI assistant must request access individually, rather than receiving system-wide permissions. This opt-in design ensures that standard installations remain unaffected unless users decide to activate the feature and approve specific agents.

The permission system functions on a per-agent basis, meaning that approval for one AI tool does not automatically apply to others that might be installed. When an agent tries to access files, Windows presents a consent interface where users can choose to grant permanent access, require reauthorization for each interaction, or deny requests entirely. Each AI assistant has its own settings portal, allowing users to modify these permissions later if needed. Additionally, the platform is testing discrete connectors that manage interactions with system applications like File Explorer and Settings, separate from core folder permissions. This modular design allows users to, for instance, permit an agent to adjust system settings while restricting access to personal photos or documents.

Mozilla, the company behind one of the last non-Chromium browsers, Firefox, has appointed Anthony Enzor-DeMeo as the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company plans to transform Firefox into a "modern AI browser." This announcement provides a glimpse into the future direction of the Firefox browser, sparking concerns within the community that one of the last independent browser projects will adopt AI features that may not be widely desired. While modernization of browsers is generally positive, the Firefox user base tends to prefer fast and lightweight solutions over AI-enhanced software. Below, you can find the entire new message from the new CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo:

The cloud accelerator market share study was conducted at UBS bank, one of the leading research hubs and close followers of market trends. According to UBS, NVIDIA commands 71.2% of the cloud accelerator location share, which includes GPUs and other types of ASICs. The study also included AMD, and other ASICs. For the AMD front, the situation is entirely different as the data shows AMD only captures 5.8% of the cloud accelerator location share. The remaining portion is split between ASICs designed by the likes of AWS, Meta, Broadcom, MediaTek, and many others, which command 22.3%.

For NVIDIA, the company has managed to penetrate its GPUs in 258 datacenter locations, serving as cloud GPU providers. This is a significant number considering that some of these customers are ordering tens and even hundreds of thousands of GPUs at once, especially as the demand expands. NVIDIA is still the backbone of the entire AI infrastructure, and even its older GPUs, which include A100 and H100, are capturing a significant part of the GPU cloud market share. As "Blackwell" SKUs, designed for a million GPU scale systems, are scaled, and we enter the "Rubin" era, NVIDIA's lead may only expand.

The modern-day SSD business is divided into two main perspectives: some predict that NAND flash shortages will ease, while others speculate that the situation will worsen. Kingston belongs to the latter group, with the company's datacenter SSD business manager, Cameron Crandall, discussing this on The Full Nerd Network podcast. According to him, the NAND flash shortage is expected to significantly worsen in the next 30 days, leading to an increase in SSD prices from current levels. In 2025 alone, Kingston reports that NAND flash prices have surged by 246% from the first quarter until now, with 70% of that increase occurring in just the last 60 days. This indicates that many price hikes have already been integrated into the supply chain.

Edward Crisler, the PR manager for Sapphire, advised PC gamers and potential buyers not to rush into panic buying. He stated, "The good news is, I don't think the real pain we're experiencing now and for the next six months or so will last much longer than that." However, he also highlighted that the main challenge is the uncertainty of the situation. This uncertainty is causing OEMs to increase NAND flash contracts, where no one besides NAND flash manufacturers can predict what is exactly going on in the supply chain, and just how long the massive demand will outpace supply.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, the server market reached a record $112.4 billion dollars in revenue during the third quarter of the year. This quarter showed another high double digit-growth rate by reaching a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 61% in vendor revenue compared to the same quarter of 2024. Revenue generated from x86 servers increased 32.8% in 2025Q3 to $76.3 billion while Non-x86 servers increased 192.7% YoY to $36.2 billion.

Revenue for servers with an embedded GPU in the third quarter of 2025 grew 49.4% year-over-year representing more than half of the server market revenue. The fast pace at which hyperscalers and cloud service providers have been adopting servers with embedded GPUs has fueled the server market growth which almost doubled in size compared to 2024 with revenue of $314.2 billion dollars for the first three quarters of 2025.

The global DRAM shortage has driven up the prices of individual RAM kits, but PC OEMs have largely remained unaffected. Acer and ASUS indicated this week that rising memory costs are starting to influence notebook pricing, though retail price changes are still limited for now. Some brands, such as Dell, may begin raising prices on select high-end and business models, but neither Acer nor ASUS has officially changed their MSRPs in any way. Company executives warned that as new orders enter the market in the coming quarters, memory inflation will increasingly be reflected in end-product pricing. However, pricing remains stable for the time being, and there are no price changes.

Much of the near-term price stability comes from long-term supply agreements that protect OEMs and ODMs from paying spot market rates. Acer's CEO noted that memory historically accounted for about 8% to 10% of a PC's bill of materials, and that a 30% to 50% rise in memory costs so far has resulted in only an approximate 2% to 3% impact on the total BOM cost. Since many manufacturers secure memory through contracts that renew on quarterly or multi-year cycles, wider price fluctuations effects are likely to appear gradually, with more noticeable changes expected from the second quarter and into the third quarter of 2026 as contracts reset.

Intel Foundry announced that it has managed to install the world's most advanced EUV machine—ASML's TWINSCAN EXE:5200B High-NA EUV scanner—in its facilities. The company is producing its 14A node using High-NA EUV lithography, marking the first industry transition from Low-NA. In collaboration with ASML, Intel has completed acceptance testing at Intel Foundry for its 14A node to enhance wafer output. The TWINSCAN EXE:5200B is ASML's second version of High-NA EUV scanners, following the TWINSCAN EXE:5000, which Intel initially used for its 14A trial runs. Intel previously reported processing over 30,000 wafers in a single quarter, achieving simplified manufacturing by reducing the steps needed for a specific layer from 40 to fewer than 10, resulting in significantly faster cycle times.

The new TWINSCAN EXE:5200B achieves an output of 175 wafers per hour in standard conditions, where Intel plans to tune it to over 200 wafers per hour. The machine also advances overlay precision, enabling accurate alignment of distinct lithography layers down to 0.7 nanometers. This achievement builds on Intel's High NA EUV experience, which began in 2023 with the installation of the industry's first commercial High NA tool at its Oregon research and development facility. Intel is currently shipping 14A PDK 0.5 to customers, who are reportedly very satisfied with the node's development. The company itself has praised the 14A node development as it has been achieving far better yield and performance parameters at this stage of development than the 18A node.

Intel announced significant changes in its senior leadership today, particularly in a key visionary role second only the CEO. Since Sachin Katti's departure a few weeks ago, the chief technology officer position has been vacant. Pushkar Ranade has now been appointed as the interim CTO. He will reportedly "help formulate the company's advanced technology strategy and to consolidate and develop critical emerging technologies, such as quantum computing, advanced interconnects, and novel materials within the new CTO Office." Pushkar Ranade has contributed to various Intel node developments and has been with the company for more than a decade, working on projects from the 65 nm node development to 7 nm SoCs. As interim CTO, he will assist CEO Lip-Bu Tan in executing his vision for a revitalized Intel.

Intel also made a few other leadership changes. Robin Colwell assumes the role of leading Intel's senior government affairs, where she will have worldwide engagement with policymakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders. Additionally, Annie Shea Weckesser joins as senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, leading the company's newly integrated global marketing and communications organization. She will unify corporate reputation, brand strategy, and market engagement. Intel's CEO Lip-Bu Tan pointed out that that all new executives offer the specialized knowledge and strategic vision essential for Intel's sustained success.

KIOXIA is introducing a new storage solution with its Exceria G3 SSD series, an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD lineup that combines PCIe 5.0 speeds with QLC NAND memory to offer more affordable options for fast PCIe 5.0 storage. Scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2025, these M.2 2280 drives will be available in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities. They promise sequential read speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s and write speeds reaching 9,600 MB/s for the larger model. By integrating the latest interface standard with its eighth-generation BiCS FLASH QLC memory, KIOXIA aims to attract users looking to upgrade from older SATA and PCIe 3.0 drives, without pushing them into the higher-priced tier dominated by TLC NAND.

While QLC memory has historically lagged behind TLC in endurance and performance, the 2 TB G3 surpasses KIOXIA's Exceria Plus G4 in sequential writes and random IOPS, achieving 1.6 million read operations and 1.45 million write operations per second. This improvement is due to the BiCS8 architectural enhancements, which enable KIOXIA to rate the drives at 600 TBW for the 1 TB model and 1,200 TBW for the 2 TB version. These durability figures are comparable to most modern TLC offerings. The 1 TB variant is also impressive, with 10,000 MB/s read speeds, 8,900 MB/s write speeds, and 1.3 million IOPS for random reads. Naturally, performance decreases with smaller capacities. Pricing is still unknown, but the point here is affordability, so that might be something to look forward to.

The good-old "spinning rust"—commonly referred to as Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)—may be another leg in the depleted computing infrastructure caused by the AI boom. According to DigiTimes, contract negotiations for the fourth quarter of 2025 concluded with traditional HDD prices settling about 4% higher quarter-over-quarter, marking the largest rise in the past eight quarters. That is over the largest increase in recent years, indicating that the demand is again outpacing supply even in the slower storage segments like HDD. The massive demand reportedly comes from particularly strong uptake for desktop 3.5-inch drives in China and continued heavy procurement of high-capacity units by major U.S. cloud service providers and hyperscalers.

In China, there is a preference for domestically produced CPUs and operating systems, combined with an increase in local PC assembly, which has brought HDDs back into first-class role in certain PC configurations after years of being replaced by SSDs. Additionally, concerns about SSD data retention have led some customers and policymakers to favor HDDs for specific workloads. Large cloud operators are also expanding their exabyte-class storage for AI, analytics, and archival needs. Manufacturers report that utilization rates are at or near full capacity as demand extends beyond traditional surveillance and backup applications. Especially with AI infrastructure, storing massive data for model training has prompted AI labs to use some HDD-based storage infrastructure where speed isn't needed.

Marvell recently showcased its custom silicon IP advancements at the Marvell Analyst Day 2025. The company has developed SRAM IP that surpasses industry standards in terms of power efficiency and density. Initially launched in June, their 2 nm SRAM IP now reveals performance figures that highlight its superiority over standard solutions. In a 256K instance comparison, Marvell reports an 80% reduction in total power consumption, a 37% smaller area, and cycle times that are 22% faster. Additionally, Marvell's memory layout is more rectangular, facilitating easier integration into dense SoCs.

Further comparisons with top alternatives show that Marvell's custom SRAM uses 50% less area at the same bandwidth, reduces standby power by 66%, and delivers 17 times more bandwidth per mm² when normalized by area. These improvements are attributed to redesigned clocking and port structures that enhance bandwidth from on-die SRAM. Marvell argues that this architectural approach results in significantly higher bandwidth density and lower power consumption compared to standard dense SRAM IP. In an era where logic scaling continues to outpace memory in modern semiconductor nodes, having custom IP that aggressively boosts SRAM density and reduces power usage is a massive advantage.

AMD's AIB partners are speaking up as they express more design freedom for their GPUs. According to Sapphire, AMD-exclusive GPU AIB, they are limited in their ability to modify the card and must adhere to chipmaker's official design rules. However, they now want more freedom to make GPUs focus on overclocking, extremely silent operation, and other traits that PC enthusiasts will appreciate. In a Hardware Unboxed interview with Ed Crisler, PR Manager at Sapphire Technology for North America, the AIB has expressed some frustration over their design rule limits.

Sometimes I really wish the chip makers would get out of the way and let us partners just make our cards. Give us the chip. Give us the RAM. Tell us what we have to provide to make it work with the board. And then let us make the cards. Let us have our fun. Let us go nuts. Let there be real differentiation. Sometimes it feels like this market becomes too too much the same.

Samsung is reportedly considering halting its consumer SATA III SSD production lines due to a growing shortage of NAND flash in the supply chain. According to Moore's Law is Dead, industry insiders have been discussing Samsung's potential stop of regular SATA III SSD production. Most NAND flash is being allocated to datacenter customers, such as AI labs and hyperscalers, leaving limited supply for the lower-margin consumer market, including PC gamers and tech enthusiasts. However, this likely only impacts regular SATA III SSDs and not Samsung's popular M.2 PCIe NVMe drives, which have been a consumer favorite for years. Additionally, there are reports that Samsung is converting its NAND flash production lines in Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong to focus on DRAM production. The upcoming Pyeongtaek Fab 4 (P4) is also expected to operate as a DRAM-only facility using Samsung's latest 1c process.

Earlier industry sources suggest that Samsung is becoming cautious about the NAND market, while demand for standard DRAM has surged. This shift makes NAND flash a less attractive segment, causing the entire supply chain to slow down as inventories are depleted. The demand for AI infrastructure has rapidly depleted inventory across the supply chain, and NAND flash is no exception. The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has led to NAND flash shortages, which could persist for years. It was noted that the price of a 1 Terabit TLC NAND increased from $4.80 in July 2025 to $10.70 in November 2025, marking an increase of over 100% in less than six months. Other types of NAND flash, such as MLC and QLC, have also seen their spot prices more than double.

Microsoft's Copilot AI chatbot is arguably one of the most controversial add-ons ever implemented in the Windows 11 operating system. However, the controversy doesn't stop at PC operating systems. It seems to extend to TVs as well. According to Reddit user u/defjam16, his LG TV webOS received an update that installed Microsoft's Copilot AI app, with no option to remove it. Although users can choose to ignore it, the push for increased AI integration in everyday products is becoming unavoidable, even on TVs. What exactly can a Copilot AI app do in your TV? We don't know either.

Microsoft is likely promoting its Copilot on TVs to capture more of the AI app market, aiming to become the go-to platform for AI inquiries. Since webOS is a Linux-based TV operating system LG uses, it is also possible that Microsoft is preparing the Copilot AI app for a wider rollout to Linux users, who are now officially commanding a 3% market share among PCs. Other TV operating system platforms are also at "risk" of getting a dedicated Microsoft Copilot AI app, which is especially bad for people not wanting their TV to do any AI processing.

SK Hynix held an internal company meeting, where the company reportedly presented some tough pills to swallow for many gamers. The company now forecasts the tight memory supply to last through 2028 for the commodity DRAM, which includes DDR5/DDR4, GDDR6/GDDR7, and LPDDR5x/LPDDR6. All the aforementioned DRAM variants are essential for PC and console components, making millions of gamers at risk of absorbing a massive price increase as a result. As memory supplier inventories deplete, production capacity will not increase to meet demand as it has in the past. This marks a departure from the usual response by memory manufacturers, who typically ramp up capacity in response to demand.

However, an interesting thing that SK Hynix has noted is that this situation will exclude the company's most advanced memory solutions—HBM and SOCAMM. These products are expected to get an additional capacity expansion, without tight supply impacting this part of the DRAM supply chain. These products are even in high demand as they are mostly consumed in higher volume than the regular commodity DRAM, due to their integration into AI products such as GPUs and servers.

Huawei's next-generation Ascend 950 AI accelerator has been pictured for the first time, showcasing the company's custom silicon and HBM memory. The chip combines Huawei's first self-developed HBM memory with a new generation of AI acceleration. Huawei aims to compete through scale rather than focusing solely on single-chip performance. Although it currently trails NVIDIA in per-chip performance, Huawei's system-scale solutions can still be competitive. The company has announced the Ascend 950 family for early 2026, featuring two variants.

The 950PR model includes 128 GB of in-house HBM with around 1.6 TB/s of bandwidth, while the 950DT model increases memory to 144 GB and boosts bandwidth to nearly 4 TB/s. Both chips target one PetaFLOP of FP8, and two PetaFLOPS of FP4. Huawei's competitive strategy emphasizes dense packaging and aggressive networking, rather than relying solely on raw per-chip performance. We have no information on the node selection, but it will likely be SMIC's newest N+3 node with 5 nm-class features. Chinese SMIC has officially achieved volume production of its newest 5 nm node relying on the deep ultraviolet (DUV) to manufacture its silicon. Since the first customer for N+3 was Huawei with Kirin 9030 SoC, it is only logical that the more important Ascend AI accelerator family is manufactured using the same node.

Intel has conducted early tool qualification tests on wet etch systems from ACM Research as part of its preparations for the next-generation 14A node, which is scheduled for volume production in 2027. These evaluations have drawn external political attention because ACM has significant research and manufacturing facilities in China and has faced U.S. restrictions on its overseas company departments. The situation is further complicated by a past investment in ACM through Walden International, a firm associated with Lip-Bu Tan, who now leads Intel. Intel has not yet announced a decision to adopt ACM's tools for 14A production, nor provided any statement.

The new tool testing has led to political scrutiny and calls for stricter procurement rules for companies that have received government support. Although ACM Research is a U.S. company, its research and operations expansion in China pose a security threat to government-backed Intel, which is striving to maintain American semiconductor independence. At the same time, Intel has already confirmed its use of ASML's High-NA EUV lithography, another tool from the West that is prohibited from being sold to Chinese entities. ASML operates 12 offices across China, primarily for operational purposes, but it is not under the same level of scrutiny. We are awaiting any possible updates to determine if there are additional underlying reasons why Intel and ACM Research are facing challenges in this situation.

Framework has published an official company blog post announcing that it is preparing a 50% price increase for its DDR5 memory upgrade configurations. In an effort to remain transparent with customers, the company has stated that it intends to raise the price of DDR5 memory available in Framework Laptop DIY Edition orders by 50%. This decision is a direct response to the significantly higher costs the company is facing from its DRAM suppliers and distributors. As a result, the company cannot absorb all of these cost increases on its own and needs to pass some of them on to the consumer.

The company will not increase the prices of its existing pre-configured systems that include DRAM, as these were acquired at earlier, standard prices. As the memory market becomes more volatile, this might be just the first wave of price hikes, since the company cannot absorb the added costs of new memory orders. Since Framework manufactures various components, from laptops to mini-PCs, the company uses a mix of DDR5, LPDDR5X, and GDDR. All of these are in tight supply due to the AI boom depleting any remaining DRAM inventory.

Chinese company SMIC has officially achieved volume production of its newest 5 nm-class node called SMIC N+3. This is officially China's most advanced semiconductor node produced without any extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools, relying on the deep ultraviolet (DUV) to manufacture its silicon. In the latest analysis of the Huawei Kirin 9030 SoC, the TechInsights has confirmed that the chip has officially been manufactured using the new advanced node, bringing Chinese semiconductor independence one step closer to reality. This node is a full generation ahead of the older SMIC N+2, which is 7 nm-class node Huawei has been using to manufacture its Ascend series of AI accelerators and other infrastructure parts.

However, this is not without drawbacks. Since SMIC uses DUV to print silicon designs, the company faces significant challenges in realizing its silicon ambitions. For printing smaller nodes, EUV scanners offer more possibilities due to their much smaller wavelength of 13.5 nm, compared to the smallest DUV immersion scanner wavelength of 193 nm. TechInsights has confirmed that SMIC's N+3 node, despite achieving impressive DUV multi-patterning implementation, encounters significant yield challenges, particularly due to the aggressively scaled metal pitch. As a result, the Huawei Kirin 9030 SoC is likely produced at an operating loss, with a significant portion of dies being discarded or used for downgraded chips.

NVIDIA's recent generations of GPUs, such as "Hopper" and "Blackwell," have been known for stalling their high-performance computing (HPC) oriented FP64 double-precision performance. However, the company is not inherently abandoning the HPC space and has confirmed for HPCWire that 64-bit floating point data is not going away. According to Dion Harris, the senior director of HPC and AI hyperscale infrastructure solutions at NVIDIA, the company is "definitely looking to bring some additional [FP64] capabilities in our future gen architectures. We are very serious about making sure that we can deliver the required performance to power those simulation workloads."

The acceleration of 64-bit floating-point data paths is crucial for the HPC community, particularly in the life sciences. When a workload demands sustained high-precision support, NVIDIA's recent generations have not met expectations. For comparison, NVIDIA's current most powerful B300 "Blackwell Ultra" accelerator achieves only 1.2 TeraFLOPS of FP64 performance. In contrast, the older H200 "Hopper" reaches an impressive 34 TeraFLOPS of FP64 compute at its peak. For FP8 low-precision, the B300 delivers 9 PetaFLOPS, while the H200 provides 3.958 PetaFLOPS.

AMD has officially expanded its Radeon AI PRO R9000 workstation lineup with two new Navi 48-based cards built on the RDNA 4 architecture. The two models are the Radeon AI PRO R9700S and the Radeon AI PRO R9600D. Both models feature 32 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit interface, delivering a peak memory bandwidth of 640 GB/s. These additions offer a consistent hardware platform for professional customers who require larger frame buffer sizes for compute and visualization tasks.

The Radeon AI PRO R9700S maintains the full Navi 48 configuration with 64 CUs and 4,096 SPs. AMD rates the card at up to 47.8 TeraFLOPS of FP32 performance when the boost clock reaches 2,920 MHz, with a total board power of 300 W. The Radeon AI PRO R9600D, on the other hand, reduces the Navi 48 configuration to 48 active CUs and 3,072 SPs, offering approximately 24.8 TeraFLOPS of FP32 throughput at a boost clock of 2,020 MHz, while targeting a lower 150 W board power.

Nintendo is confronting a significant jump in memory costs that is already affecting its hardware business. This quarter the company faces roughly a 41% increase for the 12 GB LPDDR5X modules used in the Switch 2, while 256 GB of NAND flash has risen by about 8%. Those increases raise the bill of materials for every product that depends on these components and have coincided with a pullback in the company's share price to levels not seen since May. The increased spending on components comes at a time when the new console must demonstrate its long-term commercial viability. Nintendo needs to keep investing in an ecosystem that is becoming increasingly costly to sustain.

A larger portion of the per-unit cost being linked to more expensive DRAM is forcing tighter internal storage management and increasing reliance on external media, which are also trading at high prices. This raises the overall cost of ownership for gamers who purchase large third-party titles or need extra storage capacity. Since the Switch 2's profit margins were not particularly wide to begin with, absorbing a 41% increase in DRAM costs and an 8% rise in NAND costs will significantly reduce Nintendo's ability to fund promotions, subsidize bundles, or invest in additional marketing without impacting profitability. A price increase might also be necessary, as Nintendo cannot absorb all these costs.

Quantum Art, a developer of full-stack quantum computers based on trapped-ion qubits and a proprietary scale-up architecture, today announced that it has closed a $100 million Series A funding round. The investment accelerates the company's path toward commercializing its systems, achieving quantum advantage, scaling its platform to enable quantum processors with thousands of qubits, and supporting Quantum Art's expansion from early revenues into significant commercial scale.

Bedford Ridge Capital led the round. The financing brings Quantum Art's total funding to date to $124 million following a seed round in 2022. The funding accelerates the development of Perspective, a 1,000-qubit multi-core system aimed at achieving quantum advantage, and supports prototyping of the company's third-generation 2D architecture targeting thousands of qubits for high-impact, real-world applications.

Google's custom AI infrastructure is beginning to draw external interest, and the company has reportedly developed two new TPU versions: one designed for AI inference and another optimized for training. With the eighth generation of TPU designs, Google has introduced the TPUv8ax "Sunfish" for training AI models like Gemini, and the TPUv8x "Zebrafish" for large-scale model inference. For "Sunfish," Google has partnered with Broadcom and its custom design team, which handles end-to-end design, memory, supporting hardware, and packaging, providing Google with a finished product ready for integration into its extensive server infrastructure.

For the inference-focused "Zebrafish" TPUv8x, Google has enlisted MediaTek's assistance, but only in a limited capacity. Google is sourcing wafers and memory directly from suppliers, while MediaTek contributes to supporting chips and packaging efforts, areas where Google has limited expertise. This means that a lot of chip design efforts are now processed in-house, easing reliance on external partners. However, since Google is not yet up to speed with the full-stack chip design, some help is still needed. The concrete performance figures and memory capacities are still unknown. However, we expect another leap over the TPUv7 "Ironwood," which carries 4,614 TeraFLOPS at FP8 precision and 192 GB of HBM memory.

NVIDIA has reportedly developed a chip-tracking technology that will pinpoint the exact locations its GPUs are deployed in. According to a report from Reuters, this technology is a software tool that detects exactly where and how its chips are used to fight GPU smuggling networks from escaping the official U.S. sanctions. For example, NVIDIA's latest "Blackwell" GPUs have been banned from selling to Chinese entities, and GPU smugglers in other countries have been able to stock up on these and export them, bypassing the official U.S. sanctions. Just recently, NVIDIA got a green light from the Trump administration to sell its H200 "Hopper" GPUs to Chinese customers, but that excludes the more powerful "Blackwell" generation.

NVIDIA for ReutersWe're in the process of implementing a new software service that empowers data center operators to monitor the health and inventory of their entire AI GPU fleet. This customer-installed software agent leverages GPU telemetry to monitor fleet health, integrity and inventory.

OneXPlayer has launched an official Kickstarter campaign placeholder for its latest "Super X" 14-inch laptop/tablet hybrid. This device features an uncommon configuration with two form factors and offers an option for liquid cooling, making it the first two-in-one device to support an external liquid cooling unit. At the heart of the system is an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU, featuring 16 cores and 32 threads running at boost speeds of 5.1 GHz. The APU is paired with a Radeon 8060S, equivalent to a desktop RTX 4060, providing the laptop with significant computing power in a 14-inch form factor.

This is where things get interesting. AMD allows a configurable TDP option for its APUs, and once the Super X device is connected to external water cooling, the cTDP increases to 120 W from its original base of 45 W. This flexibility allows the Super X unit to stay cool while operating in both laptop and tablet modes, and to boost to higher sustained frequencies when the external liquid cooling unit is connected. The Frost Bay liquid-cooling unit comes as a separate purchase, but allows the system to reach its full potential under high-intensity loads. The AMD "Strix Halo" APU can be paired with 128 GB of RAM, where 96 GB can be allocated dynamically for the GPU so it can run LLMs locally.

According to sources close to Wired, Intel has signed a new agreement with SambaNova, an AI chip startup, to acquire the company under undisclosed terms. The signed term sheet is non-binding, meaning it can be canceled under any condition, and a final deal has not yet been reached. Intel's current CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has been serving as chairman of the board for SambaNova Systems, effectively giving him insider knowledge of the company's operations. The company has raised a total of $1.14 billion in funding as of early 2025, meaning that a lot of investors have shown confidence into its technology.

SambaNova develops AI chips based on its Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU), which takes a novel approach to enable trillion-parameter inference on its SambaRack rack-scale solutions. The latest 4th generation RDU features 1,040 RDU cores, 653 TeraFLOPS of BF16 (similar to FP16) compute, 520 MB of on-chip memory, 64 GB of HBM3, and is paired with a 1.5 TB external DDR memory pool to accommodate large language models for inference. Since it is a private company, we don't have sales figures officially published anywhere.

December 13, 20:35 UTC: Bloomberg reports that the deal is worth about $1.6 billion, including debt. Additionally, the deal is reportedly nearing its final stages.

Microsoft has laid out its 2026 Windows 11 vision board, highlighting what the Redmond giant has in store for its operating system. According to Microsoft, the 2026 is shaping up to be a year of optimizations, as the company is now shifting towards performance delivery, alongside new features. "We're committed to making Windows the best place to play, and we will continue refining system behaviors that matter most to gaming: background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers," said Microsoft in its latest blog post.

Perhaps the most important pillar of this is the background workload management, which adds overhead to a system. Recently, we observed that the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) on a regular Windows 11 build reduces background overhead, with RAM usage dropping significantly by 9.3%. Similarly, an increase in FPS of up to 8.6% can also be observed, thanks to more optimized background workload management. Features such as power and scheduling will also contribute a few percentage points of improvement, potentially making the OS overhead a negligible factor.

The latest Steam Client beta build dated to December 4th has unofficially been backported to Windows 7 SP1 x64 and Windows 8.x x64. While these operating systems have long been abandoned by Microsoft, an enthusiast "EAZY BLACK" has managed to make an unofficial backport of Steam's Client beta build. Both Windows 7 SP1 x64 and Windows 8.x x64 are platforms that Valve officially stopped supporting in early 2024. This means that any future support will come solely from the gaming community, as a dedicated effort to ensure that no one is left behind, even if they are using an unsupported operating system.

The distribution comes as compact 230 MB packages hosted on w7revived.chefkiss.dev and mirrored by BobPony. Each package is accompanied by an intriguing security warning that Windows builds must be first updated to their latest versions, which happened years ago on both Windows 7 and Windows 8. A screenshot shared with the post shows Steam operating on Windows 7 with the About dialog visible and several Half-Life titles listed, indicating that core features are functioning. Community reaction has been mixed, with many users expressing gratitude for renewed compatibility.

ASUS has officially denied a recall of its limited edition GeForce RTX 5090 ROG MATRIX graphics card, which was reportedly facing some quality issues. However, ASUS was quick to dispute these claims. In the past, an ASUS reportedly representative informed Swedish e-tailer "Inet" that they had identified a quality issue with the RTX 5090 32 GB ROG Matrix Platinum 30th Anniversary Edition, preventing planned deliveries while they worked on an undated replacement. However, in ComputerBase update from Christian Wefers, part of ASUS Public Relations, the situation is now clearer:

Christian WefersThere is no product recall for the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 5090. We proactively adjusted the original timeline to allow additional time for product improvements and to ensure an optimal customer experience. The products will arrive at our partners within the next few days. Availability may vary by region.

The Trump administration has approved a framework allowing NVIDIA to resume exports of its H200 data center accelerators to China, subject to a revenue-sharing condition that allocates 25% of sales proceeds to the U.S. government. Rather than lifting export restrictions outright, the arrangement requires that recipients be vetted through Commerce Department licensing, so shipments will be controlled and limited to approved commercial customers. The decision reopens a major market for high-end accelerators while maintaining a regulatory channel to monitor distribution.

The H200 chip remains a powerful solution for large-scale AI workloads even today. Manufactured using TSMC's N4 process, it combines NVIDIA's "Hopper"-derived architecture with 141 GB of HBM3E memory and 4.8 TB/s memory bandwidth, making it ideal for large model training and dense inference tasks. Although it doesn't match the performance of NVIDIA's current "Blackwell" family and other upcoming accelerators, the H200 is a mature product that has been shipping since spring 2024 and benefits from a well-developed driver and software ecosystem. Its raw compute power is roughly double that of solutions like the Huawei Ascend 910C, making it very competitive even today.