A recent Reuters investigation has uncovered evidence suggesting Chinese universities and research institutes may have circumvented US sanctions on high-performance NVIDIA GPUs by purchasing servers containing the restricted chips. The sanctions tightened on November 17, 2023, prohibit the export of advanced NVIDIA GPUs like the consumer GeForce RTX 4090 to China. Despite these restrictions, Reuters found that at least ten China-based organizations acquired servers equipped with the sanctioned NVIDIA GPUs between November 20, 2023, and February 28, 2024. These servers were purchased from major vendors such as Dell, Gigabyte, and Supermicro, raising concerns about potential sanctions evasion. When contacted by Reuters, the companies provided varying responses.

Dell stated that it had not observed any instances of servers with restricted chips being shipped to China and expressed willingness to terminate relationships with resellers found to be violating export control regulations. Gigabyte, on the other hand, stated that it adheres to Taiwanese laws and international regulations. Notably, the sale and purchase of the sanctioned GPUs are not illegal in China. This raises the possibility that the restricted NVIDIA chips may have already been present in the country before the sanctions took effect on November 17, 2023. The findings highlight the challenges in enforcing export controls on advanced technologies, particularly in the realm of high-performance computing hardware. As tensions between the US and China continue to rise, the potential for further tightening of export restrictions on cutting-edge technologies remains a possibility.

Global PC shipments grew around 3% YoY in Q1 2024 after eight consecutive quarters of declines due to demand slowdown and inventory correction, according to the latest data from Counterpoint Research. The shipment growth in Q1 2024 came on a relatively low base in Q1 2023. The coming quarters of 2024 will see sequential shipment growth, resulting in 3% YoY growth for the full year, largely driven by AI PC momentum, shipment recovery across different sectors, and a fresh replacement cycle.

Lenovo's PC shipments were up 8% in Q1 2024 off an easy comparison from last year. The brand managed to reclaim its 24% share in the market, compared to 23% in Q1 2023. HP and Dell, with market shares of 21% and 16% respectively, remained flattish, waiting for North America to drive shipment growth in the coming quarters. Apple's shipment performance was also resilient, with the 2% growth mainly supported by M3 base models.

Dell Technologies is strengthening its collaboration with NVIDIA to help enterprises adopt AI technologies. By expanding the Dell Generative AI Solutions portfolio, including with the new Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, organizations can accelerate integration of their data, AI tools and on-premises infrastructure to maximize their generative AI (GenAI) investments. "Our enterprise customers are looking for an easy way to implement AI solutions—that is exactly what Dell Technologies and NVIDIA are delivering," said Michael Dell, founder and CEO, Dell Technologies. "Through our combined efforts, organizations can seamlessly integrate data with their own use cases and streamline the development of customized GenAI models."

"AI factories are central to creating intelligence on an industrial scale," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA. "Together, NVIDIA and Dell are helping enterprises create AI factories to turn their proprietary data into powerful insights."

NVIDIA today announced a new wave of networking switches, the X800 series, designed for massive-scale AI. The world's first networking platforms capable of end-to-end 800 Gb/s throughput, NVIDIA Quantum-X800 InfiniBand and NVIDIA Spectrum -X800 Ethernet push the boundaries of networking performance for computing and AI workloads. They feature software that further accelerates AI, cloud, data processing and HPC applications in every type of data center, including those that incorporate the newly released NVIDIA Blackwell architecture-based product lineup.

"NVIDIA Networking is central to the scalability of our AI supercomputing infrastructure," said Gilad Shainer, senior vice president of Networking at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA X800 switches are end-to-end networking platforms that enable us to achieve trillion-parameter-scale generative AI essential for new AI infrastructures."

NVIDIA's next-generation AI GPU, the B100 "Blackwell," is now in the hands of the company's biggest ecosystem partners and customers for evaluation, and one of them is Dell. Jeff Clarke, the OEM giant's chief operating officer, speaking to industry analysts in an investor teleconference, said that he is excited about the upcoming B100 and B200 chips from NVIDIA. B100 is codename for the AI GPU NVIDIA designs for PCIe add-on card and the SXM socket, meant for systems powered by x86 CPUs such as the AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon Scalable. The B200 is its variant meant for machines powered by NVIDIA's in-house Arm-based processors, such as the successor to its Grace CPU, and its combination with an AI GPU, called Grace Hopper (GH200).

Perhaps the most interesting remark by Clarke about the B100 is that he doesn't think it needs liquid cooling, and can make do with high-airflow cooling like the H100. "We're excited about what happens at the B100 and the B200, and we think that's where there's actually another opportunity to distinguish engineering confidence. Our characterization in the thermal side, you really don't need to direct-liquid cooling to get to the energy density of 1000 W per GPU. That happens next year with the B200," he said. NVIDIA is planning a 2024 debut for "Blackwell" in the AI GPU space with the B100, with B200 slated for 2025, possibly alongside a new CPU.

TrendForce underscores that the primary momentum for server shipments this year remains with American CSPs. However, due to persistently high inflation and elevated corporate financing costs curtailing capital expenditures, overall demand has not yet returned to pre-pandemic growth levels. Global server shipments are estimated to reach approximately. 13.654 million units in 2024, an increase of about 2.05% YoY. Meanwhile, the market continues to focus on the deployment of AI servers, with their shipment share estimated at around 12.1%.

Foxconn is expected to see the highest growth rate, with an estimated annual increase of about 5-7%. This growth includes significant orders such as Dell's 16G platform, AWS Graviton 3 and 4, Google Genoa, and Microsoft Gen9. In terms of AI server orders, Foxconn has made notable inroads with Oracle and has also secured some AWS ASIC orders.

Dell Technologies will introduce the broadest portfolio of commercial AI laptops and mobile workstations designed to bring organizations and employee productivity into the AI era. "The next generation of PCs is emerging at a pivotal time - with upcoming refresh cycles and new capabilities on the PC creating the perfect storm," said Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy. "Dell's commercial AI PCs and workstations, coupled with its ecosystem of peripherals, software and services, offer an AI continuum designed to enhance the user experience today and set organizations up for success in the future."

"Every company that wants to remain competitive will have to implement AI in some way, and AI PCs will be central to that," said Sam Burd, president, Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. "From running complex AI workloads on workstations to using day-to-day AI-powered applications on laptops, the AI PC will be an important investment that pays dividends in productivity and paves the way to a smarter, more efficient future. Dell's advantage starts with offering more AI PCs across the commercial portfolio from day one, giving customers the ability to start future proofing for AI today."

With generative AI and hybrid work environments becoming the new standard, nearly every professional, whether a content creator, researcher or engineer, needs a powerful, AI-accelerated laptop to help users tackle their industry's toughest challenges - even on the go. The new NVIDIA RTX 500 and 1000 Ada Generation Laptop GPUs will be available in new, highly portable mobile workstations, expanding the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture-based lineup, which includes the RTX 2000, 3000, 3500, 4000 and 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPUs.

AI is rapidly being adopted to drive efficiencies across professional design and content creation workflows and everyday productivity applications, underscoring the importance of having powerful local AI acceleration and sufficient processing power in systems. The next generation of mobile workstations with Ada Generation GPUs, including the RTX 500 and 1000 GPUs, will include both a neural processing unit (NPU), a component of the CPU, and an NVIDIA RTX GPU, which includes Tensor Cores for AI processing. The NPU helps offload light AI tasks, while the GPU provides up to an additional 682 TOPS of AI performance for more demanding day-to-day AI workflows.

Eurocom, a pioneer in high-performance mobile computing solutions, is thrilled to announce that its 780 W AC Adapter, specifically designed to power the most powerful laptops Eurocom offers, now supports the formidable MSI Titan 18HX gaming laptop. This groundbreaking accessory addresses the power limitations of the stock 400 W AC adapter that ships with the MSI Titan 18HX, ensuring peak performance for demanding tasks and resource-intensive applications.

Mark Bialic, President of Eurocom: "Our mission has always been to empower users with high-performance, upgradeable solutions. The 780 W AC Adapter for the MSI Titan 18HX exemplifies our commitment to excellence." The DC cable is detachable, allowing customers to use the same AC adapter with multiple laptops unlike any other AC adapter available on the market. Eurocom has added a variety of detachable DC cables with different connections at the laptop end for flawless integration. An optional splitter box is available for laptops that support dual DC Cables.

TrendForce's latest findings reveal global monitor shipments declined 7.3% in 2023 down to 125 million units—a figure below pre-pandemic levels. Looking ahead to 2024, given the low shipment base in 2023, alongside the potential for a gradual economic recovery and the typical 4 to 5-year PC replacement cycle, PCs purchased during the pandemic are expected to be upgraded between the second half of 2024 and 2025. This is anticipated to drive a 2% increase in global monitor shipments in 2024, reaching approximately 128 million units.

The top three commercial monitor brands experienced over twenty percent decline in shipments
A surge in unfulfilled business orders in Europe and America in the first half of 2022 elevated the shipment baseline for commercial brands that year. However, by 2023, commercial market demand saw a significant contraction, leading to a YoY shipment decrease of 20.4% for Dell, 20.7% for HP, and 21.4% for Lenovo—each dropping by over twenty percent.

In a surprising turn of events, SK Hynix has hinted at the possibility of the Compression Attached Memory Module (CAMM) standard, initially designed for laptops, being introduced to desktop PCs. This revelation came from a comment made by an SK Hynix representative at the CES 2024 in Las Vegas for the Korean tech media ITSubIssub. According to the SK Hynix representative, the first implementation is underway, but there are no specific details. CAMM, an innovative memory standard developed by Dell in 2022, was certified to replace SO-DIMM as the official standard for laptop memory. However, the transition to desktop PCs could significantly disrupt the desktop memory market. The CAMM modules, unlike the vertical DRAM sticks currently in use, are horizontal and are screwed into a socket. This design change would necessitate a complete overhaul of the desktop motherboard layout.

The thin, flat design of the CAMM modules could also limit the number that can be installed on an ATX board. However, the desktop version of the standard CAMM2 was announced by JEDEC just a month ago. It is designed for DDR5 memory, but it is expected to become mainstream with the introduction of DDR6 around 2025. While CAMM allows for higher speeds and densities for mobile memory, its advantages for desktops over traditional memory sticks are yet to be fully understood. Although low-power CAMM modules could offer energy savings, this is typically more relevant for mobile devices than desktops. As we move towards DDR6 and DDR7, more information about CAMM for desktops will be needed to understand its potential benefits. JEDEC's official words on the new standard indicate that "DDR5 CAMM2s are intended for performance notebooks and mainstream desktops, while LPDDR5/5X CAMM2s target a broader range of notebooks and certain server market segments." So, we can expect to see CAMM2 in both desktops and some server applications.

CES always gives us an exciting look at what's next for hardware, and with gaming at the forefront of technological innovation, it's no surprise that CES 2024 has revealed some truly next-generation Windows 11 gaming PCs. Microsoft and our partners are leading the way in combining traditional power with advancements in AI, and this selection of new announcements are a perfect way to future-proof your gaming experience on PC.

Every PC on this list is designed to run the latest games - including those on PC Game Pass, which will help you to jump into some of the greatest games on the platform the moment you switch on your new machine. Even better, every single computer listed below comes with at least one free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, giving players access to hundreds of high-quality PC, console and cloud games.

Raising the bar and becoming a CES 2024 Innovation Award Honoree, Dell Technologies is introducing the world's first 40-inch 5K monitor certified for five-star eye comfort, the Dell UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor (U4025QW). Marking nine years of being an industry leader in PC monitors, Dell continues to push the boundaries of display innovation, bridging the gap for those who demand ultimate performance with the best technology and design.

Whether you're a content creator, data scientist or engineer, or you just need a monitor to keep you in your flow—a device with the best value in precision and efficiency is critical to keeping you productive in any work environment. Known for outstanding visuals, the U4025QW is a must-have for professionals who require clarity and remarkable color. This ultrawide curved VESA DisplayHDR 600 certified monitor comes with IPS Black Panel technology for greater color contrast and intricate detail in 5K resolution (5120x2160).

With our XPS portfolio, we have a long history of taking risks, being inquisitive and asking big design questions. At CES 2022, we showcased our vision of the future with XPS 13 Plus—an elegant and modern device, designed with simplicity at the core. The design turned heads and continues to do so today, with headlines calling it elegant, stylish, stunning, beautiful and our personal favorite—referring to the design as "the future is here."

This bold design has forever changed the ID of the XPS brand. Now, we are unifying the design across our XPS portfolio, introducing new screen sizes with the XPS 16 and XPS 14 and revamping the XPS 13 Plus to XPS 13. This trio of laptops share elements that eliminate distractions and place the focus on productivity.

Binarly's research team has discovered a collection of security vulnerabilities known as "LogoFAIL", which affects image parsing components within the UEFI firmware of a wide array of devices. These vulnerabilities are especially concerning because they are embedded within the reference code provided by Independent BIOS Vendors (IBVs), affecting not just a single vendor but a broad spectrum of devices that utilize this code. LogoFAIL is particularly dangerous because it allows attackers to bypass crucial security measures such as Secure Boot and Intel Boot Guard by executing a payload during the device's boot process. This is achieved by storing malicious images on the EFI System Partition or within unsigned sections of firmware updates. This method can compromise system security deeply without altering the runtime integrity of the bootloader or firmware, unlike other threats such as BlackLotus or BootHole.

The potential reach of LogoFAIL vulnerability is rather wide, with millions of consumer and enterprise-grade devices from various vendors, including ones like Intel, Acer, and Lenovo, being vulnerable. The exact list of affected devices is still undetermined, but the prevalence of the IBVs' code across numerous devices suggests that the impact could be widespread, with both Windows and Linux users being affected. Only PCs that don't allow any logotype displayed in the UEFI during the boot process are safe. Apple's Macs are secure as they don't allow any add-on images during boot, and some OEM prebuilt PCs, like the ones from Dell, don't allow images in the UEFI. Some makers like Lenovo, AMI, and Insyde have already published notes about cautiously uploading custom images to the UEFI and providing BIOS updates. Consumers and enterprises must check with their OEMs and IBVs for BIOS microcode updates to patch against this vulnerability.Below, you can see the proof of concept in a YouTube video.

Generative AI (GenAI) is the decade's most promising accelerator for innovation with 78% of IT decision makers reporting they're largely excited for the potential GenAI can have on their organizations.¹ Most see GenAI as a means to provide productivity gains, streamline processes and achieve cost savings. Harnessing this technology is critical to ensure organizations can compete in this new digital era.

Dell Technologies and AMD are coming together to unveil an expansion to the Dell Generative AI Solutions portfolio, continuing the work of accelerating advanced workloads and offering businesses more choice to continue their unique GenAI journeys. This new technology highlights a pivotal role played by open ecosystems and silicon diversity in empowering customers with simple, trusted and tailored solutions to bring AI to their data.

Dell Technologies announces financial results for its fiscal 2024 third quarter. Revenue was $22.3 billion, down 10% year-over-year. The company generated operating income of $1.5 billion and non-GAAP operating income of $2 billion, down 16% and 17% year-over-year, respectively. Diluted earnings per share was $1.36, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.88. Cash flow from operations for the third quarter was $2.2 billion, driven by profitability and strong working capital performance. The company has generated $9.9 billion of cash flow from operations throughout the last 12 months.

Dell ended the quarter with remaining performance obligations of $39 billion, recurring revenue of $5.6 billion, up 4% year-over-year, and deferred revenue of $29.1 billion, up 7% year-over-year, primarily due to increases in software and hardware maintenance agreements. The company's cash and investment balance was $9.9 billion.

Dell Technologies and Imbue, an independent AI research company, have entered into a $150 million agreement to build a new high-performance computing cluster for training foundation models optimized for reasoning. Imbue is one of the few independent AI labs that develops its own foundation models, and trains them to have more advanced reasoning capabilities—like knowing when to ask for more information, analyzing and critiquing their own outputs, or breaking down a difficult goal into a plan and then executing on it. Imbue trains AI agents on top of those models that can do work for people across diverse fields in ways that are robust, safe, and useful. Imbue's goal is to create practical tools for building agents that could enable workers across a broad set of domains, including helping engineers write new code, analysts understand and draft complex policy proposals, and much more.

AMD's lineup of Radeon and Instinct GPUs, including the flagship RX 7900 XTX/XT, the professional-grade PRO W7900, and the upcoming Instinct MI300, are facing sales prohibitions in China, according to an alleged sales advisory guide from Dell. This restriction mirrors the earlier ban on NVIDIA's RTX 4090, underscoring the increasing export limitations U.S.-based companies face for high-end semiconductor products that could be repurposed for military and strategic applications. Notably, Dell's report lists several AMD Instinct accelerators, which are integral to data center infrastructure, and Radeon GPUs, which are widely used in PCs, indicating the broad impact of the advisory.

The ban includes discrete GPUs like AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT, which, despite their data-center potential, may still be sold under specific "NEC" eligibility. This status allows for continued sales in restricted regions like sales of NVIDIA's RTX 4090. However, the process to secure NEC eligibility is lengthy, potentially leading to supply shortages and increased GPU prices—a trend already observed with the RX 7900 XTX in China, where it's become a high-end alternative in light of the RTX 4090's scarcity and inflated pricing. The Dell sales advisory also lists that sales of the aforementioned products are banned in 22 countries, including Russia, Iran, Iraq, and others listed below.

NVIDIA today announced that Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lenovo will be the first to integrate NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking technologies for AI into their server lineups to help enterprise customers speed up generative AI workloads. Purpose-built for generative AI, Spectrum-X offers enterprises a new class of Ethernet networking that can achieve 1.6x higher networking performance for AI communication versus traditional Ethernet offerings. The new systems coming from three of the top system makers bring together Spectrum-X with NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs, NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and NVIDIA AI Workbench software to provide enterprises the building blocks to transform their businesses with generative AI.

"Generative AI and accelerated computing are driving a generational transition as enterprises upgrade their data centers to serve these workloads," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Accelerated networking is the catalyst for a new wave of systems from NVIDIA's leading server manufacturer partners to speed the shift to the era of generative AI."

Dell Technologies, Intel and the University of Cambridge announce the deployment of the co-designed Dawn Phase 1 supercomputer. Leading technical teams built the U.K.'s fastest AI supercomputer that harnesses the power of both artificial intelligence (AI) and high performance computing (HPC) to solve some of the world's most pressing challenges. This sets a clear way forward for future U.K. technology leadership and inward investment into the U.K. technology sector. Dawn kickstarts the recently launched U.K. AI Research Resource (AIRR), which will explore the viability of associated systems and architectures. Dawn brings the U.K. closer to reaching the compute threshold of a quintillion (1018) floating point operations per second - one exaflop, better known as exascale. For perspective: Every person on earth would have to make calculations 24 hours a day for more than four years to equal a second's worth of processing power in an exascale system.

"Dawn considerably strengthens the scientific and AI compute capability available in the U.K., and it's on the ground, operational today at the Cambridge Open Zettascale Lab. Dell PowerEdge XE9640 servers offer a no-compromises platform to host the Intel Data Center GPU Max Series accelerator, which opens up the ecosystem to choice through oneAPI. I'm very excited to see the sorts of early science this machine can deliver and continue to strengthen the Open Zettascale Lab partnership between Dell Technologies, Intel and the University of Cambridge, and further broaden that to the U.K. scientific and AI community," said Adam Roe, EMEA HPC technical director at Intel.

I'm a big believer that the workstation industry has always been fast-paced and exciting. We've had a front row seat for more than 25 years helping creators, engineers, architects, researchers and more bring their ideas to life and make an impact on the world. Workstations have played a critical role here, viewed as a necessary tool to make the impossible possible. Now the world is buzzing with AI and generative AI (GenAI), and workstations are in the spotlight in a different way.

New Dell Technologies research shows that 65 to 75% of organizations are already reporting quantified outcomes with GenAI initiatives. As a result, approximately three-fourths of organizations are identifying incremental funding to support GenAI initiatives. This is consistent with the interest that we're seeing with workstations. Our Dell Precision workstations are no longer just tools, they're the engines of innovation. They let companies develop and fine-tune complex GenAI models locally before deploying them at scale.

Professionals working in harsh environments require not only rugged durability but portable solutions that don't weigh them down in the field. Dell Technologies' new Rugged product achieves this combination. In fact, it is the world's lightest 10-inch fully rugged Windows tablet. Featuring a robust ecosystem of accessories and hot-swappable batteries for extended performance, the 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet was designed for workers who spend most of their time away from a desk. So, whether you're on the factory line, in a machine shop or atop a snowy mountain, the 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet will make for the ultimate companion.

Dell's Most Portable Fully Rugged Tablet
Marrying durability and mobility, the 7030 Rugged Extreme Tablet is Dell's most portable fully rugged tablet. Its lightweight 2.2-pound chassis and convenient accessories mean the tablet won't feel unwieldy, so your muscles get relief during a long shift on the warehouse floor, at the scene of an accident or when navigating construction sites.

TrendForce reports that the ever-expanding dimensions of OLED products, combined with the ambitious plans of several top-tier brands, mean that 2023 could see OLED monitor shipments hitting a staggering 508,000 units—an astronomical YoY surge of 323%. Come 2024, the OLED landscape will be richer with more diverse product sizes and specifications. Add to that the debut of the 27-inch and 31.5-inch OLED panels by two leading Korean panel makers, and the arena is set for a showdown. Such dynamics are predicted to catapult OLED monitor shipments past the coveted one million unit threshold.

In terms of market share, Samsung is on track for a spirited push in OLED monitor shipments in 2H23, potentially capturing a market share of 27%—echoing LGE's performance. Not to be left behind, Dell is ardently pushing its 34-inch offering, hoping to clinch a market presence above 20%. Meanwhile, ASUS, having strategically positioned itself in the OLED monitor sector recently, is eyeing a market share nearing 9% this year.

Dell Technologies expands its Dell Generative AI Solutions portfolio, helping businesses transform how they work along every step of their generative AI (GenAI) journeys. "To maximize AI efforts and support workloads across public clouds, on-premises environments and at the edge, companies need a robust data foundation with the right infrastructure, software and services," said Jeff Boudreau, chief AI officer, Dell Technologies. "That's what we are building with our expanded validated designs, professional services, modern data lakehouse and the world's broadest GenAI solutions portfolio."

Customizing GenAI models to maximize proprietary data
The Dell Validated Design for Generative AI with NVIDIA for Model Customization offers pre-trained models that extract intelligence from data without building models from scratch. This solution provides best practices for customizing and fine-tuning GenAI models based on desired outcomes while helping keep information secure and on-premises. With a scalable blueprint for customization, organizations now have multiple ways to tailor GenAI models to accomplish specific tasks with their proprietary data. Its modular and flexible design supports a wide range of computational requirements and use cases, spanning training diffusion, transfer learning and prompt tuning.