Montage Technology, a leading data processing and interconnect IC design company, announced today that its PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0 Retimer has successfully achieved mass production. This chip is a key upgrade based on Montage's PCIe 4.0 Retimer, providing a stable and reliable PCIe 5.0 and CXL 2.0 interconnect solution with high bandwidth and low latency for the cloud and high-performance computing market.

Montage's PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0 Retimer employs advanced signal conditioning technologies to improve signal integrity and increase the effective transmission distance of high-speed signals. Compliant with relevant PCI-SIG and CXL specifications, the chip meets mainstream package requirements, supports transfer rate up to 32 GT/s, and takes the lead in supporting ultra-low transmission latency of less than 5 ns. The chip supports various complex system topologies such as SRIS and Retimer cascading, offering an ideal solution to address the PCIe/CXL signal integrity challenges in next-generation servers, enterprise storage, and AI acceleration systems. The PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0 Retimer has passed extensive interoperability testing with a variety of compute, storage and networking products, such as CPU, PCIe switches, SSDs, GPUs and NICs, thus laying a solid foundation for the large-scale deployment of cloud computing and data centers.

With the latest crop of AIO liquid coolers getting some smarts such as displays on the pump-block that put out real-time monitoring information, DeepCool figured why not extend this to air coolers? The new Digital series air CPU coolers by DeepCool come with LCD displays that put out real-time monitoring information such as CPU temperature (as measured at the base-plate), and fan speed.

These are essentially upgrades to the company's aluminium fin tower-type CPU coolers with top-plates that have the display and some electronics, instead of what should normally be a die-cast aluminium plate with some optional lighting. Shown at CES were at least four models with a single fin-stack (type-U) design of various sizes, and one dual fin-stack (type-D) design. All of these have a glossy piano-black acrylic top-plate that's framed by an ARGB diffuser. The LCD segment display is somewhere toward the center. The electronics work independently, but you'll need a 4-pin PWM connection for the fan(s), which also power the electronics; and 3-pin ARGB for the lighting.

ASUS today announced the exciting 2023 version of the 16-inch Zenbook Pro 16X OLED (UX7602BZ) creator laptop, featuring a unique Intel processor and a brand-new ASUS Supernova system-on-module (SoM) Design. Developed in partnership with leading technology companies, this new laptop is the most powerful version ever released.

The breakthrough, ultra-compact ASUS Supernova SoM Design enables ultra-powerful performance from the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13905H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU with NVIDIA Studio drivers, and support for LPDDR5X DRAM that offers 7500 MHz memory frequency speeds, which is much higher than the previous LPDDR5. The new 2023 Zenbook Pro 16X OLED will noticeably improve video-editing performance and 3D rendering capacity—drastically shortening processing times for creative workflows.

ASUS today announced the all-new TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition, an all-AMD gaming laptop with a redesigned chassis and an incredibly immersive 16-inch display. The TUF Gaming A15, A17, F15 and F17 laptops also make a triumphant return, sporting the latest silicon from AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA to power players into the next generation of gaming performance.

TUF A16 Advantage Edition announced
Built for serious gaming with subtle styling, the TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is a sleek gaming laptop built to demolish the competition. Powered completely by AMD, the TUF Gaming A16 features up to an AMD Ryzen 9 Zen 4 processor and AMD Radeon RDNA 3 mobile graphics. "AMD and ASUS have partnered to deliver our latest 'Zen 4' and RDNA 3 technologies into the most innovative form factors," said Jason Banta, CVP and GM OEM PC. "The TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition delivers blistering gaming performance and outstanding power efficiency in a sleek portable chassis."

Alienware and Dell today reveal six new gaming laptops including: Alienware m18 and m16, Alienware x16 and x14, and Dell G16 and G15. And these aren't small updates either - the roster debuts updated form factors and materials, best-in-class performance upgrades, design and comfort enhancements, as well as an overhauled Alienware Command Center.

As what defines preeminent gaming experiences constantly evolves, Alienware and Dell continue to set itself apart with meaningful high-impact innovation that meets the changing needs of gamers. Whether you're a competitive or hobby gamer, if freedom without compromise is what you value most, look no further than our intrepid new fleet of high-performance laptops.

LG Electronics (LG) is introducing an expanded LG gram lineup, which offers more diversity than ever thanks to the arrival of the exciting, new gram Ultraslim and gram Style, at CES 2023. LG gram continues to provide both power and portability, packing premium specs into sleek, ultra-lightweight form factors delivering take-anywhere convenience and exceptional user experiences.

LG gram Ultraslim
Headlining the LG gram showcase at CES 2023 is the brand-new LG gram Ultraslim (model 15Z90RT), the thinnest gram model yet. A laptop designed for users seeking supreme portability, the Ultraslim has an ultra-light weight of just 998 grams and a depth (when closed) of only 10.99 millimeters; around the same thickness of a smartphone or notepad. Even though it is the most svelte gram in the 2023 lineup, the 15Z90RT still supplies impressive image quality and processing power, packing a 15.6-inch OLED display with Anti-glare Low Reflection (AGLR) coating and Intel 's 13th Gen Raptor Lake chip with Performance Cores (P-Cores). Further enhancing the excellent portability of the new model is the inclusion of an ultra-compact adapter.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, the world's top leading PC brand, proudly presents gaming laptops powered by 13th Gen Intel HX and H Core Processors and the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs at CES 2023. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs power the world's fastest laptops for gamers and creators. Built with the ultra-efficient NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, the RTX 40 Series GPUs bring a quantum leap in performance with AI-powered DLSS 3 and enable lifelike virtual worlds with full ray tracing. Plus, the Max-Q suite of technologies optimizes system performance, power, battery life, and acoustics for peak efficiency. While peaking performances, the laptops' neat contours also come with varied features to satisfy diversified gaming and entertainment needs.

Among them, the AORUS professional gaming series products, AORUS 17X and AORUS 15X are both equipped with top-notch hardware specifications, possessing powerful computing performances that allow players to pursue extreme speed. While AORUS 17 and AORUS 15 are the best portable choices with superior performance for players seeking entertainment and casual gaming, AORUS 16 is applied with a brand-new laptop design that offers comprehensive entertainment. And for the latest AORUS 17H gaming laptop, the top performance, lightweight, and thin size are all combined. All laptop models are being announced at CES 2023, unveiling the unprecedented masterpieces that all gamers have eagerly anticipated.

Client SSDs constituted a major driver of demand bit growth in the NAND Flash market for the past two years as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were spurring procurement activities related to working and studying from home. TrendForce currently projects that the attach rate of client SSDs among notebook computers will reach 92% in 2022 and around 96% in 2023. However, the demand surge related to the pandemic is subsiding, and the recent headwinds in the global economy have caused a demand freeze in the wider consumer electronics market. Hence, among the major application segments of the NAND Flash market, client SSDs are going to experience the most significant demand slowdown. This, in turn, will constrain demand bit growth as well. TrendForce projects that for the period from 2022 to 2025, the YoY growth rate of NAND Flash demand bits will remain below 30%.

The average NAND Flash content of client SSDs has already surpassed 500 GB this year. Quotes for 512 GB SSDs have fallen sharply and come to a level that is roughly comparable to the quotes that were given for 256 GB SSDs half-a-year ago. In fact, quotes for 512 GB SSDs are also near the level for HDDs with the same capacity. On the other hand, upgrading to 1 TB or higher for notebook SSDs could be challenging for PC OEMs mainly because the licensing fee for the Windows OS has a positive correlation with device specifications. Therefore, an increase in SSD capacity will raise the cost of a whole notebook computer. With PC OEMs being less keen on adopting SSDs that are 1 TB or higher, growth in the average NAND Flash content of client SSDs will also be more limited in the future.

On Jan. 10, Intel will officially welcome to market the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors and the Intel Xeon CPU Max Series, as well as the Intel Data Center GPU Max Series for high performance computing (HPC) and AI. Hosted by Sandra Rivera, executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group at Intel, and Lisa Spelman, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel Xeon Products, the event will highlight the value of 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors and the Intel Max Series product family, while showcasing customer, partner and ecosystem support.

The event will demonstrate how Intel is addressing critical needs in the marketplace with a focus on a workload-first approach, performance leadership in key areas such as AI, networking and HPC, the benefits of security and sustainability, and how the company is delivering significant outcomes for its customers and the industry.

Supermicro, a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing an expanded product line with exciting new ARM-based series of servers as part of the MegaDC family. Using Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max processors, the Mt. Hamilton platform leverages a single unified motherboard design, targeting cloud-native applications, such as Cloud Gaming, Video-on-Demand, CDN, IaaS, Database, Object-Storage, dense VDI, and Telco Edge (Distributed Unit and Centralized Unit) solutions. In addition, the new servers address several objectives for cloud-native workloads, specifically delivering high performance per watt while executing scalable workloads and those that require very low latency responses.

"Supermicro continues to bolster our product line by introducing ARM-based servers, using the Ampere Altra and Altra Max CPUs," said Ivan Tay, SVP of Product Management, Supermicro. "Expanding our already broad server product line gives customers even more choices for their specific workloads. We can quickly offer optimized application servers for customers worldwide using our Building Block Solutions approach."

Ahead of CES, Lenovo unveiled its latest generation of consumer devices loaded with standout features and enhancements designed to help people connect with their passions and achieve their daily goals. With five new performance-driving and portable IdeaPad laptops, a sleek and compact IdeaCentre desktop, and a 9-inch Lenovo tablet, these devices are designed for all the spaces and places in line with the on-the-go lifestyle of today's consumer. Whether working, studying, creating, or just catching up with friends out of town, these new products offer speed, versatility, and convenience to suit their needs wherever they are.

"As consumers continue to seek out the most effective ways of working and studying in a hybrid world where versatility and convenience are paramount, Lenovo's IdeaPad products continue to provide reliability and performance at incredible value," says Jun OuYang, Vice President of the Consumer Segment, Intelligent Devices Group, Lenovo. "This latest generation of products come with a range of striking new features and enhancements that significantly improve the user experience while still maintaining its reputation as an affordable product."

ASUS today announced Mini PC PL64, an industrial mini PC featuring a fanless design and powered by up to a 12th Generation Intel Core i7 (15 W) processor. Each PL64 unit has been subjected to a battery of reliability tests, and the fanless design ensures optimal performance even in ambient temperatures of up to 50°C. This mini PC features dual LAN ports, including 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, dual COM ports, five USB ports, along with triple 4K display support at 60 Hz.

Mini PC PL64 employs a new, almost-silent fanless design that minimizes dust ingress into the chassis to prolong product life. The fanless design and 15-watt CPU support make PL64 ideal for industrial applications where reliability, durability, and low noise are paramount. The cooling system in PL64 efficiently dissipates heat, enabling this mini PC to be deployed in hot environments reaching 50°C.

We don't normally cover TV's at TPU, but this one is so different to anything else out there, that we had to cover it. A US company that goes under the name Displace, will launch the Displace TV at CES 2023 in January and maybe the least strange part of this TV is that it'll have a CPU from AMD and a GPU from NVIDIA, although technically speaking, neither is actually inside the TV itself. The display itself doesn't seem to be particularly remarkable, as it's a 55-inch 4K display based around an unknown OLED panel. However, Displace claims that the sub 20 lbs (9.07 kg) panel features "proprietary active-loop vacuum technology" which allows it to be stuck to any wall without the need of mounting hardware.

If that wasn't crazy enough, the Displace TV is powered by an interchangeable battery pack and the company claims that the TV has a month's worth of battery life, assuming you don't use it more than six hours a day. The company provides four batteries and a charging station with the TV, as well as a base unit, which houses the AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU. The only other thing the company mentioned about the base station is that it supports Wi-Fi 6E. The Displace TV also supports gesture control, as well as voice control and a remote. For those that find a 55-inch TV a bit on the small side, Displace claims that up to four panels can be connected together to create a 110-inch 16K TV, although it seems like they've counted wrong here, as four times 4K resolution is only 8K, not 16K. It all sounds a bit too good to be true, but we'll have to wait and see if the company really shows up at CES and if it has a product that delivers on all its claims.

Today, Intel announced the 2023 release of the Intel oneAPI tools - available in the Intel Developer Cloud and rolling out through regular distribution channels. The new oneAPI 2023 tools support the upcoming 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel Xeon CPU Max Series and Intel Data Center GPUs, including Flex Series and the new Max Series. The tools deliver performance and productivity enhancements, and also add support for new Codeplay plug-ins that make it easier than ever for developers to write SYCL code for non-Intel GPU architectures. These standards-based tools deliver choice in hardware and ease in developing high-performance applications that run on multiarchitecture systems.

"We're seeing encouraging early application performance results on our development systems using Intel Max Series GPU accelerators - applications built with Intel's oneAPI compilers and libraries. For leadership-class computational science, we value the benefits of code portability from multivendor, multiarchitecture programming standards such as SYCL and Python AI frameworks such as PyTorch, accelerated by Intel libraries. We look forward to the first exascale scientific discoveries from these technologies on the Aurora system next year."
-Timothy Williams, deputy director, Argonne Computational Science Division

Global market intelligence firm TrendForce reports that the revenue generation momentum of the global IC design industry slowed down in 3Q22. The main factors behind this development were the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the ongoing inflation, and clients undergoing inventory corrections. The total revenue of the global top 10 IC design houses came to US$37.38 billion for 3Q22, showing a QoQ decline of 5.3%. Qualcomm remained first place in the ranking of the global top 10 IC design houses by revenue for 3Q22. Broadcom returned to second place by overtaking NVIDIA and AMD, who slipped to third and fourth respectively due to weakening demand for PCs and cryptocurrency mining machines.

Regarding US-based IC design houses that were in the top 10 group for 3Q22, Qualcomm recorded a QoQ increase for the sales of smartphone SoCs and 5G modem chips. It also made gains in the automotive electronics market by expanding its collaborations with partners in the automotive industry. As a result, Qualcomm's 3Q22 revenue figures for mobile and automotive offerings reflected QoQ increases of 6.8% and 22.0% respectively. The revenue growth of these two major product categories offset the marginal decline in the revenue for RF front-end chips. Qualcomm's IC design revenue as a whole climbed up by 5.6% QoQ to US$9.90 billion for 3Q22. The company sat firmly at the top of the ranking.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the ultimate overclocking motherboard Z790 AORUS TACHYON with the latest 13th gen Intel Core processors has smashed 10 world O.C. records including PCMark 7, 3D Mark…etc, as well as 16 GFP (Global First Place) of individual category test by different core numbers, and obtained 9 HFP (Hardware First Place) highest record in specific CPU ID vs. core count. Designed by world-famous overclocker, GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS TACHYON packs overclocker-exclusive features with top-quality components to become the dream motherboard for overclockers, which delivers unparalleled O.C performance with a more friendly and thoughtful interface to set its leading role on Z790 O.C. motherboards.

"It's inspiring that Z790 AORUS TACHYON breaks 10 overclocking world records and more than 20 various overclocking scores, which not only proves GIGABYTE's strong R&D strength but also demonstrates that GIGABYTE's devotion to providing formidable O.C motherboard. We believe this is just the beginning and will continue to create superior overclocking performance and records by Z790 AORUS TACHYON. We look forward to seeing more overclockers around the world using this motherboard to break more world records!" said Jackson Hsu, Director of the GIGABYTE Channel Solutions Product Development Division.

Ventana Micro Systems Inc. today announced its Veyron family of high performance RISC-V processors. The Veyron V1 is the first member of the family, and the highest performance RISC-V processor available today. It will be offered in the form of high performance chiplets and IP. Ventana Founder and CEO Balaji Baktha will make the public announcement during his RISC-V Summit keynote today.

The Veyron V1 is the first RISC-V processor to provide single thread performance that is competitive with the latest incumbent processors for Data Center, Automotive, 5G, AI, and Client applications. The Veyron V1 efficient microarchitecture also enables the highest single socket performance among competing architectures.

Apple's ongoing pursuit of leading performance in custom silicon packages continues with each new generation of Apple Silicon. Today, we have alleged Geekbench performance figures of the upcoming M2 Max chip, designed for the upcoming Mac devices. Featuring the same configuration with two E-cores and eight P-cores, the chip is rumored to utilize TSMC's 3 nm design. However, that is yet to be confirmed by Apple, so we don't have the exact information. In the GB5 single-thread test, the CPU set a single-core performance target of 1899 points, while the multi-core score was 8737. While last year's M1 Max chips can reach 1787 single-core and 12826 multi-core scores, these configurations are benchmarked in a Mac Studio, which has better cooling and allows for higher clocks to be achieved.

Apples to apples (pun intended) comparison with the M1 Max chip inside of a MacBook Pro version with presumably the same cooling capacity, which gets 1497 single-core and 11506 multi-core score, the new M2 Max chip is 19.4% faster in single-core results. Multi-core improvements should follow, and this M2 Max result should be different from the final product. We await more benchmarks to confirm this performance increase and the correct semiconductor manufacturing node.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud division is extensively developing custom Arm-based CPU solutions to suit its enterprise clients and is releasing new iterations of the Graviton series. Today, during the company re:Invent week, we are getting a new CPU custom-tailored to high-performance computing (HPC) workloads called Graviton3E. Given that HPC workloads require higher bandwidth, wider datapaths, and data types span in multiple dimensions, AWS redesigned the Graviton3 processor and enhanced it with new vector processing capabilities with a new name—Graviton3E. This CPU is promised to offer up to 35% higher performance in workloads that depend on heavy vector processing.

With the rising popularity of HPC in the cloud, AWS sees a significant market opportunity and is trying to capture it. Available in the AWS EC2 instance types, this chip will be available with up to 64 vCPU cores and 128 GiB of memory. The supported EC2 tiers that will offer this enhanced chip are C7gn and Hpc7g instances that provide 200 Gbps of dedicated network bandwidth that is optimized for traffic between instances in the same VPC. In addition, Intel-based R7iz instances are available for HPC users in the cloud, now powered by 4th generation Xeon Scalable processors codenamed Sapphire Rapids.

Back in September 2021, reports about Intel working on something called SDSi or software defined silicon, started to appear. Now, over a year later, the company has finally launched its SDSi products under the Intel On Demand branding. Back then, we speculated about what features Intel would put behind a paywall and although we were somewhat off track, Intel has put some specific "instructions" behind the paywall on the supported Xeon processors. Specifically, some CPUs will have Quick Assist, Dynamic Load Balancer and Data Streaming Accelerator available as an On Demand feature. Additionally, Intel is also putting its Software Guard Extensions and In-Memory Analytics Accelerator behind the same pay wall.

It appears that these features will be offered as-a-service offering from some of Intel's service partners, but there's also a "one-time activation of select CPU accelerators and security features" according to the Intel On Demand website. It's unclear which Xeon SKUs will get Intel On Demand, but according to The Register, it'll be the upcoming Sapphire Rapids based Xeon processors which should be the first parts affected. Intel has listed partners like HP, Lenovo and SuperMicro, among others, that are involved with the Intel On Demand program. It will still be possible to buy next gen Xeon CPUs that are fully feature enabled like today, but it's unclear if the Intel On Demand Xeon SKUs will offer some kind of cost benefits to companies that don't need the additional features that are behind the paywall.

Semiconductor manufacturing is a significant investment that requires long lead times and constant improvement. According to the latest DigiTimes report, the pricing of a 3 nm wafer is expected to reach $20,000, which is a 25% increase in price over a 5 nm wafer. For 7 nm, TSMC managed to produce it for "just" $10,000; for 5 nm, it costs the company to make it for the $16,000 mark. And finally, the latest and greatest technology will get an even higher price point at $20,000, a new record in wafer pricing. Since TSMC has a proven track record of delivering constant innovation, clients are expected to remain on the latest tech purchasing spree.

Companies like Apple, AMD, and NVIDIA are known for securing orders for the latest semiconductor manufacturing node capacities. With a 25% increase in wafer pricing, we can expect the next-generation hardware to be even more expensive. Chip manufacturing price is a significant price-determining factor for many products, so the 3 nm edition of CPUs, GPUs, etc., will get the highest difference.

Based on the latest data and research, TrendForce has further corrected down the projected YoY growth rate of whole server shipments for 2023 to 2.8%. Three factors are behind this revision. First, lead time has started to return to its usual length for most orders related to server components from 3Q23 onward. Seeing this, server OEMs and cloud service providers (CSPs) have also begun to correct the component mismatch issue by lowering demand for items that are in excess while maintaining a constant inventory level for items that are still in tight supply. This development, in turn, has reduced the flow of server orders going to ODMs. Second, the wave of demand that was generated earlier from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is dissipating. Hence, expansion activities have cooled off noticeably for services such as video streaming, e-commerce, etc. Among CSPs, Meta, Google, and ByteDance (TikTok) have lowered their server procurement quantities for next year. Lastly, the global economic outlook has remained fairly negative, so companies across most industry sectors have formulated a more conservative expenditure plan and scaled back IT-related spending for next year.

TP-Link, a leading global provider of consumer and business networking products, today held an epochal WiFi 7 product launch to announce its WiFi 7 networking solution.

As the world's first vendor to release a full home and enterprise WiFi 7 product line, TP-Link launched new WiFi 7 routers, Deco products, Omada EAPs, and Aginet products for ISP markets to cover all usage scenarios. Additionally, TP-Link's new HomeShield 3.0 provides more reliable and smarter network solutions.

MediaTek today launched the Pentonic 1000, its latest flagship smart TV system-on-chip (SoC) designed for 4K 120 Hz displays. Pentonic 1000 integrates Wi-Fi 6/6E support, MEMC for smoother video, a powerful AI processor, Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail, and 8-screen Intelligent View so users can watch or preview multiple streams of content at once. The chipset also supports the most advanced video codecs and global TV broadcast standards in a single platform.

The MediaTek Pentonic 1000 combines a powerful multi-core CPU, dual-core GPU, dedicated AI processing unit (APU) and video decoding engines into a single chip. The chipset provides resolution support up to 4K at 120 Hz and is capable of VRR up to 4K at 144 Hz for gaming applications. In addition to supporting super-fast frame rates for smoother gaming, it provides a lag-free experience with Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM).

Today, MLCommons published results of its industry AI performance benchmark in which both the 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor (code-named Sapphire Rapids) and Habana Gaudi 2 dedicated deep learning accelerator logged impressive training results.


"I'm proud of our team's continued progress since we last submitted leadership results on MLPerf in June. Intel's 4th gen Xeon Scalable processor and Gaudi 2 AI accelerator support a wide array of AI functions and deliver leadership performance for customers who require deep learning training and large-scale workloads." Sandra Rivera, Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group