Nintendo ceased selling products and wound down its operations in Russia last March, soon after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces. Other notable games software and hardware companies also announced their withdrawal at a similar time. Microsoft/Xbox, Sony/PlayStation, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, CD Projekt, Sega, Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive are among a group that discontinued the sale and distribution of games products in Russian territory markets. Lawmakers within Russia have taken a fairly lax stance on the import of consumer and industrial goods - it is legal to do so, even minus a rightsholder's approval. It seems that a couple of Nintendo of Russia employees have taken advantage of loose import regulations in the past few months.

According to a news piece published online by Kommersant (a Russian politics and business newspaper) a relatively new operation registered under the company name "Achivka LLC" is involved in the sale and distribution of Nintendo games in Russian territories. Nintendo Russia CEO Yasha Haddaji is reported to be the leader and majority owner of Achivka LLC, and former corporate events manager Ksenia Kachalova is listed as being a minority stakeholder in the company. The operation's premises appear to match the exact address for Nintendo of Russia. The firm is involved in the importing (from an unknown source) and selling of Nintendo games - the Kommersant article includes photographic evidence - a physical copy of Metroid Prime Remastered is demonstrated as bearing an Achivka stick-on label. The English translation of the company name is Achievement, which is an appropriate word association in the world of high score driven computer games.

Update Apr 18th: Nintendo has confirmed that Yasha Haddazhi, CEO of the Russian Office, remains as a current employee of the international company - but only on a temporary basis. Nintendo continues to distance itself from Achivka LLC and the selling of rebadged products in Russian territories. See below for more details.

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and Arm today announced a multigeneration agreement to enable chip designers to build low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs) on the Intel 18A process. The collaboration will focus on mobile SoC designs first, but allow for potential design expansion into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace and government applications. Arm customers designing their next-generation mobile SoCs will benefit from leading-edge Intel 18A process technology, which delivers new breakthrough transistor technologies for improved power and performance, and from IFS's robust manufacturing footprint that includes U.S.- and EU-based capacity.

"There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corporation. "Intel's collaboration with Arm will expand the market opportunity for IFS and open up new options and approaches for any fabless company that wants to access best-in-class CPU IP and the power of an open system foundry with leading-edge process technology."

Electronic Arts is getting ready to lay off upwards of six percent of its workforce, as the company restructures its game portfolio. The company had some 12,900 employees globally in March 2022 according to Games Industry.biz and should as such be laying off some 775 employees. This is far less than we've seen from other companies and it won't affect all of EA's subsidiaries equally. The EA CEO—Andew Wilson—sent out a memo to the company employees that have been posted publicly on EA's website. It seems like EA will make the cuts fairly quickly, as the company is expected to be done informing affected employees sometime early in its next fiscal year, which starts on April first.

It's unclear exactly where EA will be making the cuts and according to Games Industry.biz the company has already trimmed some 200 employees that were working in support, most of them specifically supporting Apex Legends. That said, Apex Legends, EA Sports FIFA 23 and The Sims are the only games mentioned in the announcement, so presumably those titles are safer than others. At the same time, TPU spoke to a contact at a different EA subsidiary and there had been no mention of any redundancies there and the person in question works on another successful series of games. We'll have to wait and see if EA drops any projects the company is working on or if some titles end up being discontinued earlier than expected, due to lack of support from the teams that built the games. Regardless, EA is about to re-focus on what should be its more successful titles, which may or may not be a successful strategy for the company.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has issued the news, via a tweet, of Raja Koduri's departure from the silicon giant. Koduri, who currently sits as Executive Vice President and Chief Architect, will be leaving the company at the end of this month. This ends a five year long tenure at Intel, where he started as Chief Architect back in 2017. He intends to form a brand new startup operation that will focus on AI-generative software for computer games. His tweeted reply to Gelsinger reads: "Thank you Pat and Intel for many cherished memories and incredible learning over the past 5 years. Will be embarking on a new chapter in my life, doing a software startup as noted below. Will have more to share in coming weeks."

Intel has been undergoing numerous internal restructures, and Koduri's AXG Graphics Unit was dissolved late last year. He was the general manager of the graphic chips division prior to its split, and returned to his previous role as Chief Architect at Intel. The company stated at the time that Koduri's new focus would be on: "growing efforts across CPU, GPU and AI, and accelerating high-priority technical programmes."

Reykjavík, Iceland - 21 March 2023 - CCP Games, creators of sci-fi spacefaring MMO EVE Online, announced today that $40M in financing has been secured from external partners. This financing will allow CCP Games to build upon the discoveries of its research & development team to enable the full-scale development of a new AAA title utilizing blockchain technology, set within the EVE Universe.

"Since its inception, CCP Games' vision has been to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Now, with advancements made within blockchain, we can forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways. This financing has marked an exciting frontier in our studio history as we begin our third decade of virtual world operations. We are humbled by the confidence from our partners in the development of this new title," said CCP Games CEO, Hilmar V. Pétursson.

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear has declared that he is resigning from his position effectively immediately. In his statement, posted via a Twitch Blog and his personal Twitter page on Thursday March 16, a decision to spend more time with his family is given as the main reason for quitting his executive role: "With my first child just born, I've been reflecting on my future with Twitch." Shear writes. "Twitch often feels to me like a child I've been raising as well. And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old it feels to me Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone."

Shear was a co-founding partner of a humble entity that would eventually evolve into Twitch.tv, he is stepping down after serving as leader since the company's inception: "My work on Twitch began in October 2006, when Justin, Michael, and I drove across the country from New York to San Francisco. Kyle would join us three short months later, when we got him a one way ticket to fly out to San Francisco during MIT's externship week." He continues the story: "Justin.tv, Inc. turned into Twitch Inc., Twitch Inc. became a fully owned subsidiary of Amazon, and along the way we have grown to more than 8 million streamers a month."

Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser granted a rare interview to Associated Press, presumably as part of promotional duties prior to the February 17 opening of its Super Nintendo World theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood. In an article published on March 13, AP News journalist Greg Keller threw in a surprise query about the $70 asking price for Nintendo's upcoming sequel to 2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Fan backlash to Nintendo of America's price hiking reached fever pitch earlier in 2023, and the company has not been very communicative with reasons for increasing the pricing of certain flagship Switch titles, until now.

Bowser's response was suitably neutral, but plenty can be read into it: "We look at what the game has to offer. I think fans will find this is an incredibly full, deeply immersive experience. The price point reflects the type of experience that fans can expect when it comes to playing this particular game. This isn't a price point that we'll necessarily have on all our titles. It's actually a fairly common pricing model either here or in Europe or other parts of the world, where the pricing may vary depending on the game itself." It is clear that he thinks that Tears of the Kingdom presents good value for money, given the standard of content being offered to the prospective player. It is possible that he is hinting that upcoming remakes of legacy Legend of Zelda games will be offered at sub-$70 prices. The recently released Metroid Prime Remastered debuted digitally at $39.99 on the Nintendo eShop, and physical copies have been sold for less at retailers.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly set an ambitious end of the year launch window for the company's mixed reality headset. Operations Chief Jeff Williams has also pushed in favor of a late 2023 debut of the much delayed VR/AR hybrid product. According to anonymous insider sources who have divulged juicy details to the Financial Times, the decision to launch in 2023 has caused an internal clash with the Apple Design team at its Cupertino, California headquarters.

The Apple Park design team has called for additional development time, this would push the headset's launch back by several years. Insiders claim that the design team would prefer to have more time to refine the product's aesthetics and functionality, with emphasis on creating a sleek and more lightweight visor. Doubts about the efficacy of the headset's proposed internal technology were also expressed, the designers would prefer to delay until Augmented Reality development reaches a satisfying level of maturity.

IQM Quantum Computers (IQM), the European leader in quantum computers, announced today it has been selected to deliver quantum processing units for the first Spanish quantum computer to be installed at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and integrated into the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, the most powerful in Spain. "This is another example of our European leadership, demonstrating our commitment to advancing the Spanish quantum ecosystem in collaboration with both public and private institutions. Through our office in Madrid, we are also able to provide the necessary support for this project."

IQM is a member of the consortium led by Spanish companies Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech and GMV that was selected by Quantum Spain, an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA) in December 2022, to build the first quantum computer for public use in Southern Europe.

NVIDIA has recently reported its Q4 earnings, and the earnings call following the report contains exciting details about the company and its plans to open up to new possibilities. NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang has stated that the company is on track to become an AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) provider, which technically makes it a cloud service provider (CSP). "Today, I want to share with you the next level of our business model to help put AI within reach of every enterprise customer. We are partnering with major service -- cloud service providers to offer NVIDIA AI cloud services, offered directly by NVIDIA and through our network of go-to-market partners, and hosted within the world's largest clouds." Said Mr. Huang, adding that "NVIDIA AI as a service offers enterprises easy access to the world's most advanced AI platform, while remaining close to the storage, networking, security and cloud services offered by the world's most advanced clouds. Customers can engage NVIDIA AI cloud services at the AI supercomputer, acceleration library software, or pretrained AI model layers."

In addition to enrolling other CSPs into the race, NVIDIA is also going to offer DGX machines on demand in the cloud. Using select CSPs, you can get access to an entire DGX and harness the computing power for AI research purposes. Mr. Huang noted "NVIDIA DGX is an AI supercomputer, and the blueprint of AI factories being built around the world. AI supercomputers are hard and time-consuming to build. Today, we are announcing the NVIDIA DGX Cloud, the fastest and easiest way to have your own DGX AI supercomputer, just open your browser. NVIDIA DGX Cloud is already available through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Microsoft Azure, Google GCP, and others on the way."

Intel Corporation today announced that its board of directors has reset its dividend policy, reducing the quarterly dividend to $0.125 per share (or $0.50 annually) on the company's common stock. The dividend will be payable on June 1, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 7, 2023. Intel also reaffirmed its first-quarter 2023 business outlook provided at its most recent earnings call, including revenue of between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion; gross margin of 34.1% on a GAAP basis and 39% on a non-GAAP basis; tax rate of (84%) on a GAAP basis and 13% on a non-GAAP basis; and earnings per share of $(0.80) on a GAAP basis and $(0.15) on a non-GAAP basis.

The decision to decrease the quarterly dividend reflects the board's deliberate approach to capital allocation and is designed to best position the company to create long-term value. The improved financial flexibility will support the critical investments needed to execute Intel's transformation during this period of macroeconomic uncertainty. Since first initiated in 1992, Intel's dividend has delivered more than $80 billion in cash returns to the company's stockholders, and the board is committed to maintaining a competitive dividend.

Back in December, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra announced that the company would be laying off around 10 percent of its staff and according to the Idaho Statesman, Micron will start at its Boise, Idaho fab. This is despite the company investing US$15 billion in a new leading-edge fab there. That said, it doesn't look like Boise will see any huge cuts in staff, as Micron hasn't issued a WARN notice, which is required when a company is planning on laying off more than 500 people within a 30-day period.

Micron issued a statement earlier this week, saying that its layoffs are a combination of "voluntary attrition, workforce reductions and reduced external hiring," which tends to mean that third party contractors will bear the brunt of the layoffs. Micron is also said to be cutting executive salaries, while also suspending bonuses for employees across the board. Further cost reductions include a halted share buyback program and a reduced production output, the latter due to lower demand. Micron has some 49,000 employees globally, with some 6,000 located in Idaho. The company expects to have completed its job cuts by the end of this month.

OpenAI's ChatGTP has reportedly reached an astonishing 100 million monthly active users in the heating wars of AI. This figure is achieved after a few months of availability, and big tech companies are pressured to respond. Today, we have information that Google will release a model similar to ChatGTP called Bard AI. Based on Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) that Google introduced over two years ago, the Bard AI solution will integrate with Google search to access the latest information around the web. Currently in preview for private testers, Bard AI will roll out to the public in the coming weeks as the demand for Large Language Models that are in chat format soars.

Google CEO Sundar PichaiBard seeks to combine the breadth of the world's knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses. Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2023 first quarter ended December 31, 2022. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion, down 5 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.88.

"As we all continue to navigate a challenging environment, we are proud to have our best lineup of products and services ever, and as always, we remain focused on the long term and are leading with our values in everything we do," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "During the December quarter, we achieved a major milestone and are excited to report that we now have more than 2 billion active devices as part of our growing installed base."

Intel Corporation today announced that Frank D. Yeary has been appointed as the new independent chair of its board of directors. This follows Dr. Omar Ishrak's decision to step down as chair. Ishrak will remain on Intel's board as an independent director and continue to serve on the audit and finance committee and corporate governance and nominating committee.

"I'm pleased to welcome Frank as chair of Intel's board. His expertise in unlocking stockholder value, focus on corporate governance and familiarity with Intel are powerful assets to both the board and the company as we execute our strategy," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. "I also want to thank Omar for his tremendous contributions as chair. He was instrumental in bringing me back to the company as CEO and has fostered a high-impact working dynamic across the board and management team. I look forward to his continued service as a valued member of the board."

Google's chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai today uploaded a blog post titled "A difficult decision to set us up for the future." This message highlights the decision to lay off around 12,000 working staff from Google's fleet of employees. That includes the US and international teams represented in the figure mentioned above. While we don't have information about the specific headcount deficit per country, US employees are expected to be hit first and international employees second, as the company has to comply with local state laws in which it employs the staff. The figure represents about 6% of its total staff. Given the recent economic climate and a slight downturn in tech, Google is joining other big companies in cutting head counts to adapt to the new economy. Below you can read a piece of Google's announcement.

Sundar PichaiI have some difficult news to share. We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We've already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices. This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I'm deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.

The rest of the announcement can be read in the Google blog post.

Amidst the global economic downturns, Microsoft is reportedly joining other tech giants in reducing the amount of the company's working staff. According to Sky News, citing its sources, Microsoft will lay off as many as 5% of its workers. The company's massive team of over 220,000 employees will affect a large group estimated to be close to 11,000 people. In addition, Sky News' Wall Street Analyst source suggests that the people familiar with the matter would not be surprised if the reported figure is higher. If finalized, the decision is expected to be made official by Microsoft's chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, on January 24.

The company's current market capitalization is $1.79 trillion, making it one of the world's most valuable companies. However, more than the investment in expanding Azure cloud services is needed to offset the stagnating consumer segment where Microsoft dominates with its Windows and Office services, so the company is forced to cut a part of its workforce. We don't have exact details on which segment is getting the highest deduction in staff; however, we expect to hear more at the company's Q4 2022 results call on January 24.

We are coming to you live from the 2023 International CES! AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su is kicking things off with her Keynote address, where her company is expected to announce its next generation Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" mobile processors, a much broader range of Ryzen 7000 desktop processors, including the fabled X3D processors; and much more!02:29 UTC: The show is about to begin with AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su taking centerstage, as CEA inaugurates its 2023 show.02:38 UTC: "Intelligence needs computing power"

The global Listan group of companies continues its impressive success story and announces today, with great pleasure, the acquisition of the innovative premium peripheral brand MOUNTAIN. The full acquisition makes MOUNTAIN the third wholly owned subsidiary alongside the popular products of be quiet! and Xilence brands. With MOUNTAIN as a brand for peripherals, the Listan Group expands into the category of high-quality input devices.

MOUNTAIN was founded in 2018 and was able to raise the bar in 2020 with its trend-setting Everest Max keyboard. Since then, MOUNTAIN has received hundreds of endorsements and awards from leading tech and gaming media around the world. Not to mention increased attention from influencers on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitch. The Makalu 67 lightweight gaming mouse was praised for its innovative exceptional design and, like the Everest Max, won the iF Design Award 2021. In October 2022, MOUNTAIN launched the DisplayPad and MacroPad. These are software-enabled controllers for streaming and content creation that further expand MOUNTAIN's ecosystem and customer reach.

Arm today announced the appointment of new Board members Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of XCOM Labs and former CEO and executive chairman of Qualcomm Inc., and Rosemary Schooler, former corporate vice president and general manager of Data Center and AI Sales for Intel. Both bring significant public company experience spanning technology development, business strategy and corporate governance to Arm as it continues to prepare for a public listing.

"The unique insights and depth of experience that Paul and Rosemary bring will help us expand and diversify our Board while providing enormous value to Arm at such a pivotal moment in our journey," said Rene Haas, CEO, Arm.

Intel's third quarter financials that the company released yesterday, weren't exactly what you'd call stellar. This has put Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in a bind, as he's been forced to announce cost cuts of US$3 billion annually, starting 2023, but that it'll grow to somewhere between US$8 to 10 billion by 2025. Although Gelsinger didn't reveal the specifics of what these cost cuts will entail, he did mention quite a few potentials, according to The Register. Gelisinger stated that Intel "need to balance increased investment in areas like leadership in [technology development], product, and capacity [at new plants under construction] in Ohio and Germany, with the efficiency measures elsewhere as we drive to have best in class structures."

Intel's CFO David Zinsner, told Barron's that the company will be cutting a "meaningful number" of employees from Intel's payroll. Zisner went on to say that Intel will also perform "portfolio cuts, right-sizing our support organizations, more stringent cost controls in all aspects of our spending, and improved sales and marketing efficiency". It sounds like almost no-one is safe at Intel, especially as portofolio cuts mean that some product lines will either be sold off, or simply just canned in favour of more profitable products. Intel is also betting hard on its IDM 2.0 strategy, where the company is decoupling its hardware and software design teams from its foundry business. Time will tell if this helps restart Intel as a business, but Gelsinger seems to believe that the changes he's implementing at Intel will help turn things around.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2022 fourth quarter ended September 24, 2022. The Company posted a September quarter record revenue of $90.1 billion, up 8 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.29, up 4 percent year over year. Annual revenue was $394.3 billion, up 8 percent year over year, and annual earnings per diluted share were $6.11, up 9 percent year over year.

"This quarter's results reflect Apple's commitment to our customers, to the pursuit of innovation, and to leaving the world better than we found it," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "As we head into the holiday season with our most powerful lineup ever, we are leading with our values in every action we take and every decision we make. We are deeply committed to protecting the environment, to securing user privacy, to strengthening accessibility, and to creating products and services that can unlock humanity's full creative potential."

Intel Corporation today reported third-quarter 2022 financial results. "Despite the worsening economic conditions, we delivered solid results and made significant progress with our product and process execution during the quarter," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "To position ourselves for this business cycle, we are aggressively addressing costs and driving efficiencies across the business to accelerate our IDM 2.0 flywheel for the digital future."

"As we usher in the next phase of IDM 2.0, we are focused on embracing an internal foundry model to allow our manufacturing group and business units to be more agile, make better decisions and establish a leadership cost structure," said David Zinsner, Intel CFO. "We remain committed to the strategy and long-term financial model communicated at our Investor Meeting."

Based on a report by Tom's Hardware, AMD's CEO Lisa Su is planning a trip to Taiwan in the next couple of months. It is said that she is planning to meet with multiple partners in Taiwan, such as ASUS, Acer and maybe more importantly, ASMedia, which will be the sole maker of chipsets for AMD, once the X570 chipset is discontinued. AMD is apparently also seeing various less well known partners that deliver parts for its CPUs, such as Nan Ya PCB, Unimicron Technologies and Kinsus Interconnects.

However, it appears that the main reason for Lisa Su herself to visit Taiwan will be to meet with TSMC, to discuss future collaboration with CC Wei, TSMC's chief executive. This is so AMD can secure enough wafer allocation on future nodes, such as its 3 nm and 2 nm class nodes. The move to these nodes is obviously not happening in the near future for AMD, but considering that TSMC is currently the leading foundry and is operating at capacity, it makes sense to get in early, as the competition is stiff when it comes to getting wafer allocation on cutting edge nodes. It's unclear which exact 3 nm class node AMD will be aiming for, but it might be the N3P node, which is said to kick off production sometime next year. Lisa Su is also said to have meetings with TSMC, SPIL and Ase Technology when it comes to advanced packaging for AMD's products. This includes technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) and fan-out embedded bridge (FO-EB), with AMD already being expected to use some of these technologies in its upcoming Navi 3x GPUs.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) today announced Dr. Lisa Su, AMD Chair and CEO, will deliver an in-person keynote address at CES 2023, the world's most influential technology event. Dr. Su will share AMD's vision—a perennial highlight of the CES season—on how high-performance and adaptive computing transforms lives by addressing the world's toughest problems.

"Over the last few years computing has become an essential and pervasive part of our daily lives, helping each of us adapt how we work and learn remotely, while keeping us connected and entertained," said Dr. Su. "I am excited for the opportunity to deliver a keynote at CES 2023 to highlight the next generation of high-performance and adaptive computing innovations, and products that will push the boundaries on what is possible and play an important role helping solve our most important challenges."