VAIO, the premier Japanese computer brand known for exceptional quality notebooks equipped with the latest technology, expands its FE Series to offer new high-performance laptops with an impressively long battery life to work, create, game, and watch entertainment from anywhere, for longer. Equipped with 12th Gen Intel Core processors, Windows 11, and THX Spatial Audio, the new VAIO FE laptops deliver maximum performance and immersive entertainment experiences in a slim, portable design. With powerful computing capabilities and up to 10 hours of battery life, the VAIO FE Series laptops are perfect for on-the-go lifestyles. Priced affordably, VAIO is available at Walmart and Walmart.com and coming soon to Sam's Club.

With a sleek, elegant design and new vibrant colors, VAIO FE laptops have Full HD anti-glare screens, wider viewing angles, and a crisp, clear display for impeccable picture quality. VAIO FE notebooks come fully equipped with two built-in speakers, front-facing camera, fingerprint scanner for extra security, and a precision touchpad. This power packed feature set, along with the THX Spatial Audio technology brings a near-cinema quality experience to enjoying music, movies, streaming or gaming.

With the course of the COVID-19 pandemic constantly changing, China is sticking with its "Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy" and has been slow to lift the lockdown on its cities that have been recently affected by the outbreaks of the disease. Hence, the manufacturing industries of the major Chinese cities are facing delays in the resumption of normal operation, and a production gap has emerged in 2Q22. For the electronics ODMs, this production gap will be difficult to bridge in 2H22. Additionally, the ongoing global inflation is keeping prices of goods at a very high level, and this trend will dampen the peak-season demand surge during the second half of the year. The effect of the inflationary pressure has been especially noticeable in the demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones, notebook computers, and tablet computers. This, in turn, is also impacting the MLCC market in terms of demand and inventory. Currently, the general inventory level has risen above 90 days for MLCCs of all sizes. Therefore, TrendForce forecasts that prices of consumer-spec MLCCs will fall further by 3-6% on average in 2H22.

On the other hand, demand remains fairly strong in application segments such as high-performance computing solutions (which include servers), networking equipment, industrial automation solutions, and energy storage systems. Furthermore, IDMs in the semiconductor industry will be adjusting the allocation of production capacity as the market for consumer electronics continues to experience a slowdown in 2H22. As a result, the undersupply situation for certain ICs will ease. Moreover, demand will be propped up in the high-end segment of the MLCC market and other application segments (e.g., automotive electronics and industrial equipment). All in all, thanks to the demand related to automotive electronics, servers, networking equipment, etc., TrendForce forecasts that the annual total MLCC shipments will increase by 2% YoY to around 2.58 trillion pieces for 2022.

Based on a report by the Nikkei, Japan and the US have joined forces to speed up the development of semiconductor production at 2 nm nodes in Japan by 2025. It's not exactly clear how this is going to happen, but the two nations are said to have signed a bilateral chip technology partnership. The heavy lifting is said to be done by private companies from both nations, but in terms of research and actual chip production. Part of the reason for the move, is that Japan wants to be able to manufacture cutting edge ICs domestically for next-generation chips.

The research is said to be kicking off as soon as this summer, although no decisions have been made with regards to the manufacturing structure, with the Nikkei suggesting two alternatives, based on information from the Japanese Ministry of Economy. There will either be a joint partnership between Japanese and US businesses, or it could be a wholly Japanese owned setup. It appears that one major reason for this project is the production of ICs for the Japanese defence industry, as advanced electronics are needed in a lot of related products, ranging from fighter jets and missiles, to radar systems and communication systems. However, the article also suggests that the 2 nm node is suitable for everything from components for quantum computers to smartphones. Japan already makes advanced silicon wafers and many other parts and components used in semiconductor manufacturing, but the nation has fallen behind in the actual manufacturing of leading edge semiconductors over the past few years.

PowerColor is readying a Japan-specific Pink Edition variant of the Radeon RX 6600 XT Hellhound graphics card. For the most part, this is a Spectral White color-scheme variant of the RX 6600 XT Helhound, but with pink replacing the blue bits, to match the colors of the Japanese Spring. We're not sure what's the design message PowerColor is trying to convey with its combination of a butch, violent branding of a predator and "Hellhound" name, combined with flowers and petals, but here's one for those who can find meaning. It's possible that the two 100 mm fans of the cooler light up in pink, out of the box. VideoCardz theorizes that this could even the RX 6650 XT Hellhound Pink Edition, but there's no way of telling, for now.

According to TrendForce, Taiwan is crucial to the global semiconductor supply chain, accounting for a 26% market share of semiconductor revenue in 2021, ranking second in the world. Its IC design and packaging & testing industries also account for a 27% and 20% global market share, ranking second and first in the world, respectively. Firmly in the pole position, Taiwan accounts for 64% of the foundry market. In addition to TSMC possessing the most advanced process technology at this stage, foundries including UMC, Vanguard, and PSMC also have their own process advantages. Under the looming shadow of chip shortages caused by the pandemic and geopolitical turmoil in the past two years, various governments have quickly awakened to the fact that localization of chip manufacturing is necessary to avoid being cut off from chip acquisition due to logistics difficulties or cross-border shipment bans. Taiwanese companies have ridden this wave to become partners that governments around the world are eager to invite to set up factories in various locales.

Kyocera Corporation (hereinafter "Kyocera;" President: Hideo Tanimoto) today announced a plan to build the largest manufacturing facility it has ever operated in Japan, expanding production capacity for components including organic semiconductor packages and crystal device packages. A signing ceremony held April 20, 2022 was attended by Kagoshima Governor Koichi Shiota, Satsumasendai City Mayor Ryoji Tanaka, and Kyocera officials. Construction is scheduled to begin next month at the company's Sendai Plant Campus in Kagoshima.

Three converging factors are creating strong demand for Kyocera's organic semiconductor packages and crystal device packages. Smart vehicles are expanding the need for automotive cameras and high-performance processors used in Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. New communications infrastructures, including fifth-generation (5G) base stations and datacenters, are being deployed worldwide. In addition, the rising trend toward digitalization is expanding demand for electronic products ranging from personal computers and smartphones to consumer goods, industrial automation, and others. Kyocera will open the new facility in October 2023 to serve these growing trends, aiming for a 4.5-fold increase in production capacity for organic packages at the Sendai Plant Campus, as well as a substantial increase in capacity for crystal device packages. Kyocera will contribute to the community by stimulating economic development in Kagoshima, creating new employment opportunities through expanded production of semiconductor components in response to global demand.

Kioxia Corporation, the world leader in memory solutions, today held a groundbreaking ceremony for its state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication facility (Fab2) at its Kitakami Plant in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Utilizing AI-based cutting-edge manufacturing, the new facility will contribute towards possible expansion of production of its proprietary 3D flash memory BiCS FLASH at the Kitakami Plant. Construction of the Fab2 facility is scheduled to be completed in 2023. The Fab2 facility will have an earthquake-absorbing structure and environmentally friendly design that utilizes advanced energy saving manufacturing equipment and renewable energy sources. In addition, an administration building will be constructed to accommodate the control management and technical departments in response to the increased staff.

"As a leader in memory, this Fab2 facility will become Kioxia's key manufacturing hub to produce our memory products at scale. We are planning to introduce automated in-facility transfers and advanced production control to make Fab2 a truly world-class smart fabrication facility," said Nobuo Hayasaka, President and CEO, Kioxia. "Fab2 will be able to intelligently coordinate and optimize its production with Fab1 at Kitakami Plant as well as our fabs in the Yokkaichi Plant, enabling the company to seize opportunities in the growing memory market in a timely manner." Under its mission of uplifting the world with memory, Kioxia is focused on developing initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of its memory and SSD business, which it has developed over the past 35 years since inventing NAND flash memory in 1987. Kioxia remains committed to creating consistent and sustainable growth through timely capital investments that meet growing market demand.

A game-changing new material promises to keep your "battery health" meter stuck at a 100% for up to 5 years. Lihium-ion rechargeable batteries that power most of today's digital civilization, come with two limitations—one that they can only be recharged a finite number of times; and two, that their capacity reduces over time. On some smartphones, such as the iPhone, this is reported to end-users as "battery health."

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) discovered a new material called [wait for it] bis-imino-acenaphthenequinone-paraphenylene (BP) co-polymer. This serves as a binder material on the anode (positive electrode). A binder is a substance used to coat an electrode to prevent the material of the electrode from falling apart or getting destroyed by the electrolyte. Li-ion cells use graphite anodes that are delicate, and were being coated by poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF), but this material had a durability of 500 recharge cycles at full (rated) capacity, and yielding only 65% of capacity the battery is "capable" of (with bare electrodes). Beyond 500 cycles, the PVDF binder wears, taking the electrode with it, which the capacity. JAIST's research has found its material to be capable of sustaining 1,700 recharge cycles while maintaining the battery's recharge capacity at 95 percent. For a smartphone that gets recharged once a day, that's nearly 5 years of full "battery health." The JAIST paper can be accessed here.

Since the launch of AMD's Ryzen processors, the CPU market share has been reshaped in AMD's favor. Intel's offerings were matched by team red, and AMD quickly broke into the consumer market. However, according to the latest round of reports, it seems like that is no longer the case. As per the Japanese DIY market analysis from BCNR, sales of Intel processors started rising in mid-2021, and the company is managing to grab some market share from AMD. After nearly two years of dominance in the Japanese market, AMD is now behind Intel in sales, and team blue is getting back to its older setting.

Another source that is generally a pretty good indicator of the market share of Intel and AMD processor is PassMark. As users submit their benchmark runs, the PassMark software developer has updated the CPU market share statistics chart, mainly showing the desktop segment. It also concludes the same thing as BCRN: Intel is again gaining share in the CPU market. As it always goes hand-in-hand, AMD is losing the CPU marker share naturally. This is due to many reasons, and it seems like Intel's marketing and supply tactics are paying off. Intel now sits at 60% share, while AMD is set at 40%.

China is reacting to new outbreaks of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus with partial lockdowns. This could further delay the availability of laptops with 12th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA's Ti graphics cards, which debuted at the beginning of the year. The first factories have already been closed in Suzhou in the east of the country. Supply chain and logistics bottlenecks, a shortage of certain chip types and price increases are already on the horizon.

Intel Corporation today announced that Christoph Schell has been appointed executive vice president and chief commercial officer to lead the Sales, Marketing and Communications Group (SMG), starting March 14. Schell will succeed Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who will take on a new role as general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group (CCG).

"Christoph has an exceptional track record of driving innovative and disruptive go-to-market strategies around the globe. He brings expertise in understanding business segments, verticals and the solutions and services customers want," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "We are harnessing our core strengths as an advantage to grow in our traditional markets and accelerate our entry into new ones. I'm confident Christoph is the right leader to take on this critical role and guide the talented SMG organization to achieve our growing ambitions."

Schell joins Intel from HP Inc., where he was most recently chief commercial officer. With his go-to-market team, he led customer and partner success, category management and customer support globally. During his 25 years with the company, Schell held various senior management roles across the globe, including president of 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing. Prior to rejoining HP in 2014, Schell served as executive vice president of Growth Markets for Philips, where he led the lighting business across Asia Pacific, Japan, Africa, Russia, India, Central Asia and the Middle East. He started his career in his family's distribution and industrial solutions company and worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble.

Things are apparently anything but smooth for TSMC when it comes to its US expansion in Arizona, as reports claim that the construction of its new fab in Arizona is going to be late. This is largely due to labour shortages caused by the pandemic, which in turn is set to delay the entire project. As such, it's being suggested that the installation of manufacturing equipment will be delayed from late Q3 this year until Q1 next year. The knock on effect of this is that production is unlikely to start in Q1 2024 and will most likely be delayed to sometime in the second half of 2024. As a comparison, TSMC normally spends two years to build and configure their fabs in Asia, whereas their first expansion outside of Asia is set to take at least two and a half years.

Another issue is said to be related to finding the right staff, since not only TSMC, but also Intel is looking for competent staff in Arizona. Intel might be the winner here, as TSMC is said to already have complaints from some of its employees, especially from western countries. The main complaint is about excessively long meetings that can add several hours to their workdays. Other complaints revolve around long working hours, as the company employs 12 hour shifts for its engineers and they are often on call over weekends. The company has apparently become increasingly demanding when it comes to its workforce, although TSMC has apparently improved in some ways, based on changes to the Taiwanese labour laws.

KS Distribution is very pleased to announce the release of the first full size wireless headphone model from Japanese high-end audio specialists final - the UX3000. The UX3000 is the first wireless overhead headphones from final featuring ANC, with hybrid noise-cancellation technology - adding to the new wireless range from final alongside the ZE3000 true wireless earphones for an impressive line-up of audio focused Bluetooth listening. By fully utilizing the know-how of final's dynamic driver design technology, and thoroughly optimizing the acoustic characteristics of the driver unit itself, the UX3000 delivers sound unlike any other Bluetooth wireless headphone - providing a hi-fi listening experience on the move.

In addition to the common SBC, aptX and AAC codecs, the UX3000 supports aptX LL - a low-latency codec that delivers high-quality sound with minimal interruptions and time delay. Allowing you to enjoy music, games and videos instantly and with ease.The headband can be folded for compact storage, making it easy to carry around, and the soft pouch enclosed provides gentle protection to prevent scratches during transport. Soft-textured Shibo (an old Japanese word meaning a wrinkle on the surface of paper or leather) coating offers a beautiful surface that is superb at dirt resistance and fingerprint resilience - on top of giving an overall premium feel to the UX3000.

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation ("Toshiba") today announced that it will construct a new 300-milimeter wafer fabrication facility for power semiconductors at its main discrete semiconductor production base, Kaga Toshiba Electronics Corporation, in Ishikawa Prefecture. Construction will take place in two phases, allowing the pace of investment to be optimized against market trends, with the production start of Phase 1 scheduled for within fiscal 2024. When Phase 1 reaches full capacity, Toshiba's power semiconductor production capacity will be 2.5 times that of fiscal 2021.

Power devices are essential components for managing and reducing power consumption in every kind of electronic equipment, and for achieving a carbon neutral society. Current demand is expanding on vehicle electrification and the automation of industrial equipment, with very strong demand for low-voltage MOSFETs (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors) and IGBTs (insulated-gate bipolar transistors) and other devices. To date, Toshiba has met this demand growth by increasing production capacity on 200-milimeter lines, and expediting the start of production on 300-milimeter production lines from the first half of fiscal 2023 to the second half of fiscal 2022. Decisions on the new fab's overall capacity and equipment investment, the start of production, production capacity and production plan will reflect market trends.

Due to the pandemic, laptops shipments reached a record high of 240 million units in 2021, according to TrendForce's investigations. However, the market has been abuzz recently and, as the global population of the fully vaccinated has exceeded 50%, relevant demand driven by the pandemic is expected to gradually weaken. Shipment volume will decrease by 3.3% year-on-year, revised down slightly to 238 million units. Chromebooks will account for approximately 12.3% of shipment volume, though it accounted for approximately 15.2% in 2021. The momentum of shipments has slowed down significantly which indicates that demand derived from the economic effect of remote working and teaching has subsided.

As we know, the Japanese government has offered some subsidies for the TSMC/Sony joint venture to build a chip fab in the Kumamoto Prefecture, but now it seems like the Japanese government has decided to ask for assurances. The Japanese government is said to have put aside US$5.2 billion, a relatively small amount even compared to India, to help semiconductor manufacturers that want to build new fabs in Japan. Of that, US$3.49 million is already said to be earmarked for the TSMC/Sony joint venture, in exchange for around 10 years of production in Japan.

The rules are apparently not quite finalised as yet, as the government is said to be getting public comments on the specific rules that should apply to the subsidies. One of the conditions could be that the foundry would have to ramp up production in times of shortages, others might include the protection of key Japanese technologies, or ongoing investment into the fab(s), although the latter is usually something that is done simply out of good business practice. Time will tell how things play out, but it seems like the Japanese government has given a bit more thought to its subsidies than what has been announced by some other nations so far.

It might not have been announced in time for Christmas, but Bauhütte's new MSG-01H-BK might just be what you've been wanting your whole life, without knowing it. What we're looking at is a heated hand massager for gamers, that uses "air bags" to knead your tired hands and fingers after a long gaming session and it can massage both the right and left hand, plus fingers and has a dedicated thumb massage mode.

The manufacturer also suggests that using the heating mode without massage can be great before a gaming session, to help warm up the muscles in your hands and fingers. There are no less than 15 massage zones and you can choose between a general massage mode and a dedicated finger mode, both with three levels of pressure and a 10 minute automatic timer. If you're lucky enough to live in Japan, you can pick one up for US$145, which doesn't exactly sound like a bargain to us.

The Federal Trade Commission today sued to block U.S. chip supplier Nvidia Corp.'s $40 billion acquisition of U.K. chip design provider Arm Ltd. Semiconductor chips power the computers and technologies that are essential to our modern economy and society. The proposed vertical deal would give one of the largest chip companies control over the computing technology and designs that rival firms rely on to develop their own competing chips. The FTC's complaint alleges that the combined firm would have the means and incentive to stifle innovative next-generation technologies, including those used to run datacenters and driver-assistance systems in cars.

"The FTC is suing to block the largest semiconductor chip merger in history to prevent a chip conglomerate from stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies," said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova. "Tomorrow's technologies depend on preserving today's competitive, cutting-edge chip markets. This proposed deal would distort Arm's incentives in chip markets and allow the combined firm to unfairly undermine Nvidia's rivals. The FTC's lawsuit should send a strong signal that we will act aggressively to protect our critical infrastructure markets from illegal vertical mergers that have far-reaching and damaging effects on future innovations."

The two leading companies in the quantum computing industry have combined to create Quantinuum, thereby accelerating the development of quantum computing and innovation of quantum technologies in a platform agnostic manner to deliver real-world quantum-enabled solutions for some of the most intractable problems that classical computers have not been able to solve.

Cambridge Quantum, the pioneer in quantum software, operating systems, and cybersecurity, and Honeywell Quantum Solutions, which has built the highest-performing quantum hardware, based on trapped-ion technologies, today announced they have satisfied all of the conditions required to close the business combination and formed the new company, now called Quantinuum.

IBM today announced its new 127-quantum bit (qubit) 'Eagle' processor at the IBM Quantum Summit 2021, its annual event to showcase milestones in quantum hardware, software, and the growth of the quantum ecosystem. The 'Eagle' processor is a breakthrough in tapping into the massive computing potential of devices based on quantum physics. It heralds the point in hardware development where quantum circuits cannot be reliably simulated exactly on a classical computer. IBM also previewed plans for IBM Quantum System Two, the next generation of quantum systems.

Quantum computing taps into the fundamental quantum nature of matter at subatomic levels to offer the possibility of vastly increased computing power. The fundamental computational unit of quantum computing is the quantum circuit, an arrangement of qubits into quantum gates and measurements. The more qubits a quantum processor possesses, the more complex and valuable the quantum circuits that it can run.

The 58th annual edition of the TOP500 saw little change in the Top10. The Microsoft Azure system called Voyager-EUS2 was the only machine to shake up the top spots, claiming No. 10. Based on an AMD EPYC processor with 48 cores and 2.45GHz working together with an NVIDIA A100 GPU and 80 GB of memory, Voyager-EUS2 also utilizes a Mellanox HDR Infiniband for data transfer.

While there were no other changes to the positions of the systems in the Top10, Perlmutter at NERSC improved its performance to 70.9 Pflop/s. Housed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Perlmutter's increased performance couldn't move it from its previously held No. 5 spot.

TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) and Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation ("SSS") today jointly announced that TSMC will establish a subsidiary, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. ("JASM"), in Kumamoto, Japan to provide foundry service with initial technology of 22/28-nanometer processes to address strong global market demand for specialty technologies, with SSS participating as a minority shareholder.

Construction of JASM's fab in Japan is scheduled to begin in the 2022 calendar year with production targeted to begin by the end of 2024. The fab is expected to directly create about 1,500 high-tech professional jobs and to have a monthly production capacity of 45,000 12-inch wafers. The initial capital expenditure is estimated to be approximately US$7 billion with strong support from the Japanese government.

Under definitive agreements reached between TSMC and SSS, SSS plans to make an equity investment in JASM of approximately US $0.5 billion, which will represent a less than 20% equity stake in JASM. The closing of the transaction between TSMC and SSS is subject to customary closing conditions.

While the global electronics supply chain experienced a chip shortage, the corresponding shortage of foundry capacities also led various foundries to raise their quotes, resulting in an over 20% YoY increase in the total annual revenues of the top 10 foundries for both 2020 and 2021, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. The top 10 foundries' annual revenue for 2021 is now expected to surpass US$100 billion. As TSMC leads yet another round of price hikes across the industry, annual foundry revenue for 2022 will likely reach US$117.69 billion, a 13.3% YoY increase.

TrendForce indicates that the combined CAPEX of the top 10 foundries surpassed US$50 billion in 2021, a 43% YoY increase. As new fab constructions and equipment move-ins gradually conclude next year, their combined CAPEX for 2022 is expected to undergo a 15% YoY increase and fall within the US$50-60 billion range. In addition, now that TSMC has officially announced the establishment of a new fab in Japan, total foundry CAPEX will likely increase further next year. TrendForce expects the foundry industry's total 8-inch and 12-inch wafer capacities to increase by 6% YoY and 14% YoY next year, respectively.

DuckyChannel International Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer dedicated to delivering professional-grade mechanical keyboards and mice, is officially launching a new collaboration with popular Japanese brand SOU・SOU, a creative brand dedicated to innovation while taking cues from Japan's cultural history. Presenting the Ducky X SOU・SOU One 2 full size and One 2 Mini RGB, featuring SOU・SOU's iconic number element design. Vivid colors and dye-sublimation keycaps for users and fans to choose the right keyboard fitted to their needs.

Combining Kyoto tradition with modern innovation to experience Japanese culture, dye-sublimation uses heat to transfer dye onto durable PBT keycaps to apply images hat will never fade away after years of use! These keycaps are stain resistant. Ducky X SOU・SOU limited edition keyboard features a detachable USB Type-C cable, N-Key rollover, per-key RGB lighting, 2 form-factors of 60%, and 100% for users to choose. Ducky X SOU・SOU limited edition keyboard provides a wide range of Cherry MX switches ranging from tactile feedback MX Brown and MX Blue switches and linear feel MX Silver, MX Red, MX Black and MX Silent red switches. Users can experience more choices with multiple switch options! Find out more about the Ducky X SOU・SOU limited edition keyboard on DuckyChannel's website: www.duckychannel.com.tw/tw/Ducky-SOUSOU-One2Mini

Remember that rumour from last week about TSMC potentially building a fab in Japan and partnering up with Sony? Well, the deal is on and the fab is set to start construction in 2022, with production expected to start sometime in 2024. However, as mentioned, the fab isn't going to be using any cutting edge technology when it comes to the process node, since it's intended for imaging sensors and EV components.

The new fab is said to focus on 28 and 22 nm nodes, according to Tim Culpan, who writes for Bloomberg and who has been reporting on TSMC for at least the last decade. This is backed up by the Nikkei that reports that the US$7 billion fab will make chips in the 20-nm range, without going into further details beyond mentioning these nodes are over a decade old. That said, there are still plenty of products made on older nodes than that, as not everything has to be built on a cutting edge node and many components wouldn't benefit from a smaller node. Regardless, this fab won't help with the current shortage of components, but will hopefully lead to better availability of certain components in the future.