NVIDIA announced today it is opening its first Vietnam research and development center, signaling its confidence in the country's bright artificial intelligence future. The company is collaborating with the Vietnamese government to establish its new Vietnam Research and Development Center focused on AI. NVIDIA will use the R&D center to focus on software development, capitalizing on the country's strong talent pool of STEM engineers, and to engage industry leaders, startups, government agencies, universities and students to accelerate the adoption of AI.

"We are delighted to open NVIDIA's R&D center to accelerate Vietnam's AI journey," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "With our expertise in AI development, we will partner with a vibrant ecosystem of researchers, startups and enterprise organizations to build incredible AI right here in Vietnam."

A new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker shows shipments of personal computing devices are expected to grow 2.6% year over year in 2024 to 398.9 million units. The traditional PC market will remain flat in 2024 with 261 million units shipped while the tablet market is forecast to grow 7.2% year over year as a refresh cycle and project investments are expected to drive the market.

For traditional PCs, the global market excluding China is expected to grow 2.8% in 2024 as China continues to suffer through a confluence of macroeconomic challenges, including high youth employment, deflation, and a tumultuous real estate market. However, China's economic concerns have largely impacted just the PC market as tablet demand has proven to be more resilient thanks to Huawei's efforts.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER featuring the AD102 GPU, initially speculated to be an Asia-exclusive release, is now confirmed for worldwide distribution. This development comes as the GIGABYTE RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Windforce MAX OC 16 GB, the first model equipped with this configuration, has appeared on German online retailer listing, specifically at Mindfactory. Previously using AD103-275 GPU SKU for the regular GIGABYTE RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Windforce model, the "MAX" variant now comes with AD102-225 GPU SKU. Priced at over 950 Euros, it commands a premium over the standard Windforce model. The "MAX" designation not only indicates the different GPU but also boasts an official 30 MHz higher clock speed. The Max variant also employs the more robust cooling system typically found in the GeForce RTX 4080/4090 class. This is a departure from the smaller RTX 4070 Ti design used in the SUPER variant with the AD103 GPU.

While the performance and power consumption differences between the AD102 and AD103 versions may be negligible for most users, the adoption of larger cooling systems in many custom designs could prove beneficial. This enhanced thermal management might appeal to enthusiasts and overclockers looking to push their graphics cards to the limit. While the regular AD103 card measures 261x126x50 mm, the MAX model with its AD102 and beefier coolers measures 331x136x55.5 mm. Overclockers could push the performance of this card further, and we wait to see what will come out of the AD102-225 silicon on the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER platform.

The 63rd edition of the TOP500 reveals that Frontier has once again claimed the top spot, despite no longer being the only exascale machine on the list. Additionally, a new system has found its way into the Top 10.

The Frontier system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, USA remains the most powerful system on the list with an HPL score of 1.206 EFlop/s. The system has a total of 8,699,904 combined CPU and GPU cores, an HPE Cray EX architecture that combines 3rd Gen AMD EPYC CPUs optimized for HPC and AI with AMD Instinct MI250X accelerators, and it relies on Cray's Slingshot 11 network for data transfer. On top of that, this machine has an impressive power efficiency rating of 52.93 GFlops/Watt - putting Frontier at the No. 13 spot on the GREEN500.

Last month, we covered ASML's plans to leave the Netherlands after a crisis with the Dutch government that prevented skilled immigrants from entering and working inside ASML's facilities. However, it appears that ASML has managed to strike a potential deal with the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his office about the company's plans to stay in the country. In an effort dubbed "Operation Beethoven," the Dutch government aimed to keep the tech giant in the country, with a deal now seemingly in place. AMSL's roadblocks and reasons for potentially leaving the Netherlands were difficulty in obtaining building permits, constraints on the electrical grid, transportation bottlenecks, and a need for supporting infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and housing. The most prominent of them was importing foreign labor in the form of highly skilled engineers and scientists needed to develop next-generation lithography machines.

According to the NLTimes, ASML now plans to potentially expand in the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) in Eindhoven, with a creation of 20,000 new jobs in a 2.5 billion Euro investment from the Dutch government. "BIC is an interesting option for us, which we are now exploring together with the municipality of Eindhoven," noted ASML CFO Roger Dassen. Given that ASML needs to double its operations in the following decade to meet soaring demand, the company has many uncertainties. Questions of finding skilled immigrants and building infrastructure to support their needs remain the company's priority. In the Summer, the plan to support ASML's expansion will be voted in the Eindhoven City Council, which will decide the fate of ASML's stay in the Netherlands. An interesting comment from January from AMSL CEO Peter Wennik is, "Ultimately, we can only grow this company if there are enough qualified people. We prefer to do that here, but if we cannot get those people here, we will get those people in Eastern Europe or in Asia or in the United States. Then we will have to go there." The final decision still awaits.

Graphics card enthusiasts with a thing for earthy green hues, will likely appreciate Manli's latest products—its Gallardo graphics card range has expanded with two new models. The Asian and European market-focused manufacturer has already unleashed "refreshed" models that utilize NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40-series SUPER GPUs, but the newest entries sport a revised signature green flagship "Gallardo" design. VideoCardz has pored over the small details—it turns out that Manli has produced a slimmer profile: "perhaps something that is not obvious is that Manli has introduced the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Gallardo already. The new version marks a second revision, featuring an entirely different aesthetic compared to its predecessor. The most important change is that it no longer occupies a 3.5-slot space." Manli has evidently put together a "much slimmer 2-slot version" under a "M3604+N693" moniker.

The non-Ti model is likely coming out soon, but Manli has not yet announced official pricing or launch date details for their newly redesigned Gallardo Ada Lovelace cards—official product pages were created last week. Despite flagship status, VideoCardz notes that Manli has not implemented any factory overclocking—the Gallardo range is often associated with: "system integrators like Sycom for further customization." The spec sheet advertises integrated LED lighting with seven available color cycles, four 6 mm copper heat pipes with segmented heatsinks, and a metal backplate for reinforcement and protective purposes.

As of two days ago, the NVX System Integrators store (via Carousell Singapore) has allowed customers to pre-order the oft-leaked Intel Core i9-14900KS CPU—a S$1059 (~$794 USD) spend secures a "BX8071514900KS" Special Edition retail package for in-store pick only. Another pre-release discovery arrives courtesy of the ever vigilant tech watcher; momomo_us—SE Computer, a store located in the bustling streets of Kowloon, Hong Kong, has listed the incoming flagship Raptor Lake Refresh part with a price of HK$5500 (~$709.70 USD). An accompanying image appears to be a placeholder, since warehouse leaks have displayed "Special Edition" text on Intel's signature blue retail boxes.

Privileged members of the overclocking community are already playing around with Intel's selectively-binned 14th Gen Core processor—but mere mortals will have to wait patiently for an official retail rollout. VideoCardz has spent part of their weekend doing detective work—several early store listings point to a possible March 14 commencement. The graphics card news specialist has scoured online entities across Asia, France and Canada for price comparison purposes: "it appears that the KS 'Special Edition' variant is set to cost 19 to 30% more than the K variant. Pricing varies depending on the size of the retailer, where the offer was placed, and the region it is being sold." They thoroughly recommend that potential customers avoid pre-ordering the Intel Core i9-14900KS—asking prices could stabilize post-launch, and e-tailers rarely sell through the first batch of niche "KS" CPUs.

South Korean tech insiders believe that SK Hynix has sent "12-layer DRAM stacked HBM3E (5th generation HBM)" prototype samples to NVIDIA—according a ZDNET.co.kr article, initial examples were shipped out last month. Reports from mid-2023 suggested that Team Green had sampled 8-layer HBM3E (4th gen) units around summer time—with SK Hynix receiving approval notices soon after. Another South Korean media outlet, DealSite, reckons that NVIDIA's memory qualification process has exposed HBM yield problems across a number of manufacturers. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are competing fiercely on the HBM3E front—with hopes of getting their respective products attached to NVIDIA's H200 AI GPU. DigiTimes Asia proposed that SK Hynix is ready to "commence mass production of fifth-generation HBM3E" at some point this month.

SK Hynix is believed to be leading the pack—insiders believe that yield rates are good enough to pass early NVIDIA certification, and advanced 12-layer samples are expected to be approved in the near future. ZDNET reckons that SK Hynix's forward momentum has placed it an advantageous position: "(They) supplied 8-layer HBM3E samples in the second half of last year and passed recent testing. Although the official schedule has not been revealed, mass production is expected to begin as early as this month. Furthermore, SK Hynix supplied 12-layer HBM3E samples to NVIDIA last month. This sample is an extremely early version and is mainly used to establish standards and characteristics of new products. SK Hynix calls it UTV (Universal Test Vehicle)... Since Hynix has already completed the performance verification of the 8-layer HBM3E, it is expected that the 12-layer HBM3E test will not take much time." SK Hynix's Vice President recently revealed that his company's 2024 HBM production volumes for were already sold out, and leadership is already preparing innovations for 2025 and beyond.

Morris Chang, TSMC's founder and semiconductor industry icon, was present at the opening ceremony of his company's new semiconductor fabrication plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. According to a Nikkei Asia article, Chang predicted that the nation will experience "a chip renaissance" during his February 24 commencement speech. The Japanese government also announced that it will supply an additional ¥732 billion ($4.86 billion) in subsidies for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to expand semiconductor operations on the island of Kyūshū. Economy Minister Ken Saito stated: "TSMC is the most important partner for Japan in realizing digital transformation, and its Kumamoto factory is an important contributor for us to stably procure cutting-edge logic chips that is extremely essential for the future of industries in Japan."

Chang disclosed some interesting insights during last weekend's conference segment—according to Nikkei's report, he revealed that unnamed TSMC customers had made some outlandish requests: "They are not talking about tens of thousands of wafers. They are talking about fabs, (saying): 'We need so many fabs. We need three fabs, five fabs, 10 fabs.' Well, I can hardly believe that one." The Taiwanese chip manufacturing giant reportedly has the resources to create a new "Gigafab" within reasonable timeframes, but demands for (up to) ten new plants are extremely fanciful. Chang set expectations at a reasonable level—he predicted that demand for AI processors would lie somewhere in the middle ground: "between tens of thousands of wafers and tens of fabs." Past insider reports suggested that OpenAI has been discussing the formation of a proprietary fabrication network, with proposed investments of roughly $5 to $7 trillion. OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, reportedly engaged in talks with notable contract chip manufacturers—The Wall Street Journal posited that TSMC would be an ideal partner.

GIGABYTE, a global leader in high-performance computing solutions, collaborates with industry partner Xenon at SupercomputingAsia 2024, held at the Sydney International Convention and Exhibition Centre from February 19 to 22. This collaboration showcases cutting-edge technologies, offering diverse solutions that redefine the high-performance computing landscape.

GIGABYTE's Highlights at SCA 2024
At booth 19, GIGABYTE presents the G593-SD0, our flagship AI server, and the industry's first Nvidia-certified HGX H100 8-GPU Server. Equipped with 4th/5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, it incorporates GIGABYTE's thermal design, ensuring optimal performance within its density-optimized 5U server chassis, pushing the boundaries of AI computing. Additionally, GIGABYTE introduces the 2U 4-node H263-S62 server, designed for 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors and now upgraded to the latest 5th Gen, tailored for hybrid and private cloud applications. It features a DLC (Direct Liquid Cooling) solution to efficiently manage heat generated by high-performance computing. Also on display is the newly released W773-W80 workstation, supporting the latest NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada and catering to CAD, DME, research, data and image analysis, and SMB private cloud applications. At SCA 2024, explore our offerings, including rackmount servers and motherboards, reflecting GIGABYTE's commitment to innovative and reliable solutions. This offers a valuable opportunity to discuss your IT infrastructure requirements with our sales and consulting teams, supported by GIGABYTE and Xenon in Australia.

EdgeCortix, the Japan-based fabless semiconductor company focused on energy-efficient AI processing, announced today that the Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA), Japan Ministry of Defense, will include the groundbreaking edge AI startup alongside an elite group of leading Japanese companies to represent Japan's air and defense innovation landscape at ATLA's booth at the Singapore Airshow to be held February 20 - 25. The Singapore Airshow is one of the largest and most influential shows of its kind in the world, and the largest in Asia, seeing as many as 50,000 attendees per biennial show. Over 1,000 companies from 50 countries are expected to participate in the 2024 show.

EdgeCortix's flagship product, the SAKURA-I chip, will be featured among a small handful of influential Japanese innovations at the booth. SAKURA-I is a dedicated co-processor that delivers high compute efficiency and low latency for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads that are carried out "at the edge", where the data is collected and mission critical decisions need to be made - far away from a datacenter. SAKURA-I delivers orders of magnitude better energy efficiency and processing speed than conventional semiconductors (ex: GPUs & CPUs), while drastically reducing operating costs for end users.

DigiTimes Asia has reached out to insiders at fabrication toolmakers in an effort to delve deeper into claims made by industry analysts at the start of 2024—both SemiAnalysis and China Renaissance have proposed that TSMC is unlikely to adopt High-NA EUV production techniques within a five year period. The latest news article explores a non-upgrade approach for the next couple of years: "TSMC has not placed orders for high-numerical aperture (High-NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools and is unlikely to use the technology in 2 nm and 1.4 nm (A14) process manufacturing." Intel Foundry Services (IFS) will be one of the first semiconductor manufacturers to go online with ASML's latest and greatest machinery, although no firm timeframes have been confirmed. Team Blue's Taiwanese rival (and occasional business partner) is seemingly happy with its existing infrastructure, but industry watchdogs propose that cost considerations are key factors behind TSMC's cautious planning for the next decade.

The DigiTimes insider sources believe that TSMC will not budge until at least 2029, possibly coinciding with a 1 nm production node—analysts at China Renaissance reckon that High-NA EUV machines could be delivered in the future when facilities are readied for an "A10" codenamed process. TSMC published a very ambitious "transistor count" product timeline in early January (see below)—the first "1 nm" products are supposedly targeted for a 2030 rollout, but this schedule could change due to unforeseen circumstances. Intel is expected to "phase in" its fanciest ASML gear collection once the 18A process becomes old hat—Tom's Hardware thinks that 2026 - 2027 is a feasible timeframe.

News reports from Asia point to an ongoing price battle between major chip foundries in the region—sluggish market conditions in 2023 have caused the big industry names to adjust charges, in concerted efforts to retain customers. This situation has escalated in early 2024—news media outlets claim that mainland China-situated factories have plenty of new production capacity, and are therefore eager to get their order books filled. The reports point to: "Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), Hua Hong Semiconductor and Jinghe Semiconductor lowering the price of tape-out services to chip design companies in Taiwan." Industry insiders believe that several Taiwanese IC designers have jumped onto better deals, as offered by Chinese facilities—it is alleged that Samsung, GlobalFoundries, UMC and Powerchip have all experienced a worrying increase in customer cancellations (at the tail end of 2023). The loss of long-term clients has forced manufacturers—in South Korea and Taiwan—into a price war.

TrendForce's analysis of market trends stated: "Due to the mature manufacturing processes in China, unaffected by US export restrictions, the lowered wafer fabrication costs have become attractive to Taiwanese IC design companies seeking to enhance their cost competitiveness. Reports also indicate that this competitive pressure has forced Taiwan's foundries, UMC and PSMC, to follow suit by reducing their prices. UMC has lowered its 12-inch wafer foundry services by an average of 10-15%, while its 8-inch wafer services have seen an average price reduction of 20%. These price adjustments took effect in the fourth quarter of 2023." Samsung is reportedly slashing prices by ~10-15%, and is expressing a "willingness to negotiate" with key clients in early 2024. Reports state this is a major change in attitude for the South Korean chip giant—allegedly, leadership was unwilling to budge on 2023 tape-out costs. TrendForce reckons that TSMC's response was a bit quicker: "(having) already initiated pricing concessions last year, mainly related to mask costs rather than wafer fabrication. It was reported that these concessions primarily applied to the 7 nm process and were dependent on order volumes."

Global semiconductor capacity is expected to increase 6.4% in 2024 to top the 30 million *wafers per month (wpm) mark for the first time after rising 5.5% to 29.6 wpm in 2023, SEMI announced today in its latest quarterly World Fab Forecast report.

The 2024 growth will be driven by capacity increases in leading-edge logic and foundry, applications including generative AI and high-performance computing (HPC), and the recovery in end-demand for chips. The capacity expansion slowed in 2023 due to softening semiconductor market demand and the resulting inventory correction.

The recent attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea are affecting not only oil shipments, but also cargo ships from Asia to Europe. All major carriers such as CMA CGM, Cosco, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC and so forth are affected and all have delayed their shipments through the area. A coordinated security action called Operations Prosperity Guardian which includes over half a dozen nations so far, is getting ready to guide shipments through the affected area by Yemen, but it'll lead to slower shipments through the area.

TechPowerUp has already received reports from sources in Taiwan that their products are on some of these ships that are now stuck waiting for naval escorts through the area. However, it appears that there might be shortages of some computer components for the foreseeable future, alongside many other products that are being shipped this route and onwards via the Suez Canal. According to the BBC, it takes 25.5 days on average to ship goods from Taiwan to the Netherlands via the Red Sea and Suez Canal whereas the only alternative route via the Cape of Good Hope takes 34 days and adds extra fuel costs. Regardless of the extra shipping times and costs, it appears some shipping companies are willing to take the longer route to avoid being attacked. This is likely to have a knock on effect on prices for a lot of consumer goods in Europe, so if you haven't bought that hardware you've been holding off getting, now might be as good a time as any.

The recent U.S. government restrictions on AI hardware exports to China have significantly impacted several key semiconductor players, including NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, restricting them from selling high-performance AI chips to Chinese land. This ban has notably affected NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090 gaming GPUs, pushing them out of mainland China due to their high computational capabilities. In anticipation of these restrictions, NVIDIA reportedly moved a substantial inventory of its AD102 GPUs and GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards to China, which we reported earlier. This could have contributed to the global RTX 4090 shortage, driving the prices of these cards up to 2000 USD. In an interesting turn of events, insiders from the Chinese Baidu forums have disclosed that specialized factories across China are repurposing these GPUs, which arrived before the ban, into AI solutions.

This transformation involves disassembling the gaming GPUs, removing the cooling systems and extracting the AD102 GPU and GDDR6X memory from the main PCBs. These components are then re-soldered onto a domestically manufactured "reference" PCB, better suited for AI applications, and equipped with dual-slot blower-style coolers designed for server environments. The third-party coolers that these GPUs come with are 3-4 slots in size, whereas the blower-style cooler is only two slots wide, and many of them can be placed in parallel in an AI server. After rigorous testing, these reconfigured RTX 4090 AI solutions are supplied to Chinese companies running AI workloads. This adaptation process has resulted in an influx of RTX 4090 coolers and bare PCBs into the Chinese reseller market at markedly low prices, given that the primary GPU and memory components have been removed.Below, you can see the dismantling of AIB GPUs before getting turned into blower-style AI server-friendly graphics cards.

Retailers in East Asia have reportedly chosen to go live with marketing imagery depicting Intel's initial batch of 14th Gen Core SKUs—this is roughly two weeks ahead of an official October 17 "Raptor Lake Refresh" product launch. A couple of "official" slides have been forwarded to VideoCardz—the information on display provides a quick overview of basic specifications for Core i9, Core i7 and Core i5 models. The 6 GHz clock and 24 core configuration is believed to be the upcoming flagship Core i9-14900K SKU. The Core i7-14700K would fit the bill of sporting a 5.6 GHz and 20-core setup—leaked marketing info confirms that this new model has been bolstered with an additional four Gracemont E-cores. The Core i5-14600K seems to align with the 5.3 GHz and 14-core spec. A premature publication of information is not all that surprising—a couple of marketing slides breaking embargo is relatively minor when compared to actual working hardware getting demoed during summertime. ITHome reported on Raptor Lake Refresh and Meteor Lake appearing on the showroom floor at July's Bilibili World.

Stan Shih, the co-founder & honorary chairman of Acer Inc., thinks that the USA will have hard time catching up with Asian semiconductor production facilities. Yahoo Taiwan managed to extract some choice comments from the multi-faceted businessman—he believes that the US government's initiative to boost native chip making will not be enough to match existing overseas strongholds. A key area of focus was volume output—Shih reckons that North America is already too far behind Asian counterpart industries, with Acer's home base of Taiwan being particularly strong (in his opinion). Workplace culture and state of the art equipment are cited as the main pillars for success.

Shih observed that that US chip industry has historically been far too reliant on outsourcing (going back many decades) production to foreign facilities, and Asia's position has been fortified thanks to long established and optimized supply chains—he thinks that the American system is not mature enough to reach parity. On a semi-related note, TSMC is reportedly struggling to get its new US facility fully operational—company chairman Mark Liu (according to Tom's Hardware): "said that the Taiwanese company would delay mass production of its Arizona fab from early 2024 to 2025, partly due to a lack of cleanroom tools necessary to produce chips at scale." TSMC has been transferring staff from its home turf to plug staffing gaps at the Phoenix facility—Liu divulged his latest batch of complaints during an earnings conference (last Thursday): "We are encountering certain challenges, as there is an insufficient number of skilled workers with the specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."

ThundeRobot, a major player in China's laptop market, is set to release a new PC console, the MIX, which shares striking similarities with Alienware's bygone Steam Machine. The console, equipped with Intel's 13th Gen Core CPU and Nvidia's RTX 4060 GPU, is set to debut on July 21st, predominantly targeting the Chinese market. Though not as familiar a brand outside Asia, ThundeRobot enjoys a significant market share in the region as the third-largest supplier of consumer notebooks and gaming peripherals. Its product catalog rivals brands like Asus and Razer, with offerings spanning custom-branded gaming notebooks to gaming monitors, keyboards, mice, and controllers.

The upcoming MIX console boasts a compact size, nearly 60% smaller than an Xbox Series S, at only 1.7 liters. Despite the uncertainty around whether the console's RTX 4060 GPU is a mobile or desktop variant, ThundeRobot brags that it would feature one or more of Intel's new 13th Gen Raptor Lake HX-series mobile CPUs. The console's matte black finish and triangular front-right indentation echo the design of Alienware's Steam Machine, suggesting that ThundeRobot may have drawn some inspiration from the Alienware console PC. Priced at around 6000 Yuan, approximately $830, the compact yet potent MIX console is expected to launch soon in China, with no current plans for release in the United States.

Increasing its HPL score from 1.02 Eflop/s in November 2022 to an impressive 1.194 Eflop/s on this list, Frontier was able to improve upon its score after a stagnation between June 2022 and November 2022. Considering exascale was only a goal to aspire to just a few years ago, a roughly 17% increase here is an enormous success. Additionally, Frontier earned a score of 9.95 Eflop/s on the HLP-MxP benchmark, which measures performance for mixed-precision calculation. This is also an increase over the 7.94 EFlop/s that the system achieved on the previous list and nearly 10 times more powerful than the machine's HPL score. Frontier is based on the HPE Cray EX235a architecture and utilizes AMD EPYC 64C 2 GHz processors. It also has 8,699,904 cores and an incredible energy efficiency rating of 52.59 Gflops/watt. It also relies on gigabit ethernet for data transfer.

The bipartisan Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act of 2023 introduced by Representatives Blake Moore (R-UT-1) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA-16) finishes the job the CHIPS Act began by incentivizing investment in the domestic printed circuit board (PCB) industry. This bill is a necessary follow-on to the CHIPS Act: without a trusted, reliable domestic source of PCBs and substrates, computer chips don't connect to end use electronic devices.

Domestic PCB production shrunk over the past 20 years, falling from 30% to barely 4% of the world's supply. Ninety percent of the world's supply now comes from Asia…56% in China alone.

The NAND memory industry is not in great shape at the moment, with the big three (Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix) having reported significant financial losses in this area recently. If you include Kioxia and Western Digital as part of this collective picture, a grand total of over $10 billion has been lost in the flash memory segment. According to DigiTimes Asia this week, Pua Khein-Seng - the chief executive officer of Phison Electronics Corporation - has warned that parts of the industry could collapse due to potential company bankruptcies.

Khein-Seng informed attendees at a press conference that forced NAND price cuts are not feasible in the current market environment, and that supply chains could be affected if related companies start to shutdown - due to operational losses. He expects 3D NAND manufacturers to cutback on output in order to soften the market, and unit price increases are also a possibility. Phison has experienced a drop in revenues for the first quarter of 2023, but the CEO insists that his company is not willing to cutback on research and development costs - 80% of its annual expense budget will be invested in future projects. Khein-Seng states that rival companies have reduced spending on R&D by 20%, yet Phison remains committed to its clients by providing cutting edge technology (for example the E26 SSD memory controller).

VideoCardz has today received a tip-off from an anonymous source about a batch of Sapphire Radeon RX 7600 PULSE graphics cards - boxed products have been photographed sitting in a hardware store located "somewhere" in Asia. It is not immediately clear whether the Sapphire cards were pictured in a store-front setting, or an employee has taken a snap of stock stored in a backroom and shared it with their internet buddies. Previous leaks relating to AMD Radeon RX 7600 and 7600 XT cards have pointed to a May 25 launch day - so today's tip indicates that products have been readied well in advance of the anticipated release window.

The insider source claims that the Sapphire Radeon RX 7600 PULSE graphics card will be sold for about $249 in that particular territory. Specifications on the outer packaging can be read (if you zoom in enough) - the Pulse custom variant is labeled as being overclocked out-of-the-box, so it is highly likely that it will be fitted with a custom cooling solution. The packaging's blurb lists the presence of 32 RDNA3 CUs - indicating a full configuration of AMD's Navi 33 GPU die, consisting of 2048 stream processors. The Pulse card gets an Infinity Cache allocation of 32 MB, and a specification of (now typical) 8 GB GDDR6 video memory is confirmed.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment, spending on compute and storage infrastructure products for cloud deployments, including dedicated and shared IT environments, increased 16.3% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22) to $24.1 billion. Spending on cloud infrastructure continues to outgrow the non-cloud segment although the latter had strong growth in 4Q22 as well, increasing 9.4% year over year to $18.7 billion. For the full year, cloud infrastructure grew 19.4% to $87.7 billion, while non-cloud grew 13.6% to $66.7 billion. The market continues to benefit from high demand, large backlogs, rising prices, and an improving infrastructure supply chain.

The worldwide semiconductor industry is projected to invest more than $500 billion in 84 volume chipmaking facilities starting construction from 2021 to 2023, with segments including automotive and high-performance computing fueling the spending increases, SEMI announced today in its latest quarterly World Fab Forecast report. The projected growth in global factory count includes a record high 33 new semiconductor manufacturing facilities starting construction this year and 28 more in 2023.

"The latest SEMI World Fab Forecast update reflects the increasing strategic importance of semiconductors to countries and a wide array of industries worldwide," said Ajit Manocha, SEMI president and CEO. "The report underscores the significant impact of government incentives in expanding production capacity and strengthening supply chains. With the bullish long-term outlook for the industry, rising investments in semiconductor manufacturing are critical to laying the groundwork for secular growth driven by a diverse range of emerging applications."