Silicon Box, a global leader in advanced semiconductor packaging and system integration, welcomes the European Commission's approval of approximately €1.3 billion for its new manufacturing facility in Italy. The project, representing a total investment of €3.2 billion, will create 1,600 high-skilled jobs and establish Europe's most advanced semiconductor packaging facilities.

The investment supports the EU's strategic goal to produce 20% of the world's semiconductors by 2030 and marks Silicon Box's first expansion beyond Singapore. With its proprietary large format panel-level process lines, the factory can scale up the packaging of chips 6 to 8 times more than traditional wafer-level packaging.

Mozilla says that "many sites do not respect" Do Not Track requests, as they rely on voluntary compliance, adding that the feature may actually harm user privacy—likely alluding to the fact that it makes it easier for sites to fingerprint and track you. As such, as of Firefox version 135, Mozilla will disable the Do Not Track feature. As a replacement for the feature, Mozilla recommends using the more advanced "Tell websites not to sell or share my data" toggle built into Global Privacy Control, which it says is more widely respected and backed by law in some regions.

This is also just the latest in a long line of changes to both Firefox and web privacy, at large. For one, Google recently completely removed third-party cookies from its Chrome browser—a move it claims is in support of user privacy but has been widely criticized for putting Google in something of a monopoly position when it comes to tracking the data of Chrome users. Overall, the community feedback on Reddit seems to be either positive or indifferent, although one criticism of the new reliance on Global Privacy Control is that GPC doesn't block Google Analytics tracking requests, although the reasoning behind leaving Google Analytics in-tact is that many sites don't function correctly when it is blocked or disabled.

TechPowerUp partners with PC case, cooling, and power brand Chieftec to announce the Winter 2024 Mega Giveaway, for our readers in the EU. Chieftec has been in the industry for over 30 years, specializing in server, workstation, and commercial desktop hardware, but is now looking to expand in the DIY gaming PC space. The company brings its expertise in case design, power, and cooling, to the gaming PC space, and has a comprehensive lineup of cases, CPU coolers, fans, and power supplies, catering to a broad range of prices. Today, we have as many as six prizes from the Chieftec lineup, open to our readers in the European Union.

Up for grabs are a Chieftec Iceberg 360 RGB AIO liquid CPU cooler; a Chieftec Iceberg 360 Black AIO liquid CPU cooler; a Chieftec APEX E-ATX mid-tower case, a Chieftec M2 Micro-ATX tower case; a Chieftec PowerPlay 1200 W power supply; and a Chieftec Atmos 850 W power supply.

For more information, and to participate, visit this page.

Germany is set to invest €2 billion in the semiconductor industry after recent setbacks, according to TrendForce via Liberty Times citing Bloomberg. The German government's new funding is in response to the chip sector's problems, including Intel's delay of the Magdeburg factory and global disruptions in the semiconductor supply chain. The investment will support 10 to 15 projects from wafer production to microchip assembly to strengthen Germany's and Europe's microelectronics ecosystem. This is in line with the European Chips Act which aims to increase the EU's global production capacity to 20% by 2030.

Intel's €30 billion Magdeburg factory delay and other cancelled chip projects from Wolfspeed and ZF Friedrichshafen AG have created uncertainty in the German market. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is now calling for new applications for funding, with up to €3 billion available. The timing of the semiconductor investment follows the global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and the increasing geopolitical tensions between the US, China and Taiwan. Germany is following a broader trend of governments investing in local semiconductor production to increase technological independence and economic resilience. The funding is subject to budget reallocation with the new government after February 2025 elections. In the first round of subsidies from the European Chips Act, Germany allocated resources to two key initiatives: Intel's investment and a collaborative project between Infineon and TSMC in Dresden.

Microsoft's Office suite is the staple in productivity tools, with millions of users entering sensitive personal and company data into Excel and Word. According to @nixCraft, an author from Cyberciti.biz, Microsoft left its "Connected Experiences" feature enabled by default, reportedly using user-generated content to train the company's AI models. This feature is enabled by default, meaning data from Word and Excel files may be used in AI development unless users manually opt-out. As a default option, this setting raises security concerns, especially from businesses and government workers relying on Microsoft Office for proprietary work. The feature allows documents such as articles, government data, and other confidential files to be included in AI training, creating ethical and legal challenges regarding consent and intellectual property.

Disabling the feature requires going to: File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences, and unchecking the box. Even with an unnecessary long opt-out steps, the European Union's GPDR agreement, which Microsoft complies with, requires all settings to be opt-in rather than opt-out by default. This directly contradicts EU GDPR laws, which could prompt an investigation from the EU. Microsoft has yet to confirm whether user content is actively being used to train its AI models. However, its Services Agreement includes a clause granting the company a "worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license" to use user-generated content for purposes such as improving Microsoft products. The controversy raised from this is not new, especially where more companies leverage user data for AI development, often without explicit consent.

We are excited to announce the European release of the TRYX LUCA L70. Continuing with the launch of our highly anticipated products showcased at Computex, European PC enthusiasts can finally join the revolution, customers from Germany and UK can place the order on caseking.de and overclockers UK now, pre-orders are available for other regions in Europe.

Product Lineup for Europe
The European release of the TRYX LUCA L70 will feature two color options of black and white.

RISC-V is an industry standard instruction set architecture (ISA) born in UC Berkeley. RISC-V is the fifth iteration in the lineage of historic RISC processors. The core value of the RISC-V ISA is the freedom of usage it offers. Any organization can leverage the ISA to design the best possible core for their specific needs, with no regional restrictions or licensing costs. It attracts a massive ecosystem of developers and companies building systems using the RISC-V ISA. To support these efforts and grow the ecosystem, the brains behind RISC decided to form RISC-V International—a non-profit foundation that governs the ISA and guides the ecosystem.

We had the privilege of talking with Andrea Gallo, Vice President of Technology at RISC-V International. Andrea oversees the technological advancement of RISC-V, collaborating with vendors and institutions to overcome challenges and expand its global presence. Andrea's career in technology spans several influential roles at major companies. Before joining RISC-V International, he worked at Linaro, where he pioneered Arm data center engineering initiatives, later overseeing diverse technological sectors as Vice President of Segment Groups, and ultimately managing crucial business development activities as executive Vice President. During his earlier tenure as a Fellow at ST-Ericsson, he focused on smartphone and application processor technology, and at STMicroelectronics he optimized hardware-software architectures and established international development teams.

Today, ASML Holding NV (ASML) has published its 2024 third-quarter results.

• Q3 total net sales of €7.5 billion, gross margin of 50.8%, net income of €2.1 billion
• Quarterly net bookings in Q3 of €2.6 billion of which €1.4 billion is EUV
• ASML expects Q4 2024 total net sales between €8.8 billion and €9.2 billion, and a gross margin between 49% and 50%
• ASML expects 2024 total net sales of around €28 billion
• ASML expects 2025 total net sales to be between €30 billion and €35 billion, with a gross margin between 51% and 53%

CEO statement and outlook
"Our third-quarter total net sales came in at €7.5 billion, above our guidance, driven by more DUV and Installed Base Management sales. The gross margin came in at 50.8%, within guidance. While there continue to be strong developments and upside potential in AI, other market segments are taking longer to recover. It now appears the recovery is more gradual than previously expected. This is expected to continue in 2025, which is leading to customer cautiousness. Regarding Logic, the competitive foundry dynamics have resulted in a slower ramp of new nodes at certain customers, leading to several fab push outs and resulting changes in litho demand timing, in particular EUV. In Memory, we see limited capacity additions, with the focus still on technology transitions supporting the HBM and DDR5 AI-related demand."

The Epic Games free weekly game giveaways have been an easy way for PC gamers to pad out their game library with aging games and help Epic Games draw gamers to its store, which is commonly thought to be inferior to the likes of Steam due to a lack of features. Now Epic Games is bringing that same free game giveaway program to its mobile storefront for iOS (in the EU, at least) and Android.

Announced at a round table discussion at the Seattle Unreal Fest earlier this week, the free mobile game giveaway will launch in Q4, 2024, and the publisher will add third-party apps to its mobile store at the same time. Epic Games Store's general manager, Steve Allison, who announced the program, was pretty up-front about Epic's intentions with the game giveaway: "The free games program will launch in Q4 along with the [first] third-party apps showing up, and we're gonna have some awesome stuff for players that will also be awesome for developers because it'll help us scale really quickly."

Microsoft has agreed to pay €20 million to settle an antitrust complaint filed by Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), a European cloud providers association. The deal aims to address concerns about Microsoft's cloud product licensing practices, also, Microsoft will develop Azure Stack HCI for European cloud providers and compensate CISPE members for recent licensing costs. On the other side, CISPE will withdraw its EU complaint, cease supporting similar global complaints, and establish an independent European Cloud Observatory to monitor the product's development.

The settlement excludes major providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and AliCloud. While CISPE hails this as a victory, critics argue it's insufficient. AWS spokesperson Alia Ilyas said that Microsoft was only making "limited concessions for some CISPE members that demonstrate there are no technical barriers preventing it from doing what's right for every cloud customer". Google Cloud suggests more action is needed against anti-competitive behavior, and UK-based cloud company Civo's CEO Mark Boost questions the deal's long-term impact on the industry. Boost stated, "However they position it, we cannot shy away from what this deal appears to be: a global powerful company paying for the silence of a trade body, and avoiding having to make fundamental changes to their software licensing practices on a global basis". Despite resolving the CISPE complaint, Microsoft faces ongoing regulatory scrutiny worldwide. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority launched a cloud computing market investigation in October 2023 while the US Federal Trade Commission is conducting two separate probes involving Microsoft. The first FTC investigation, initiated in January 2024, examines AI services and partnerships of major tech companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Anthropic, and OpenAI. The second focuses specifically on Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia, assessing their impact and behavior in the AI sector.

The European Commission has preliminarily concluded that Microsoft breached EU antitrust rules by tying its Teams communication product to Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites. The Commission considers Microsoft dominant in the global SaaS productivity applications market and is concerned that since at least April 2019, the company has been unfairly promoting Teams by bundling it with core productivity applications.

This practice allegedly restricts competition in the communication and collaboration products market, prevents customers from choosing whether to acquire Teams, and may limit interoperability with competitors' products. The Commission fears this could hinder innovation and harm customers in the European Economic Area, potentially violating Article 102 of the TFEU, which prohibits abuse of a dominant position.

Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) and Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced a definitive agreement under which Apollo-managed funds and affiliates will lead an investment of $11 billion to acquire from Intel a 49% equity interest in a joint venture entity related to Intel's Fab 34. The transaction represents Intel's second Semiconductor Co-Investment Program (SCIP) arrangement. SCIP is an element of Intel's Smart Capital strategy, a funding approach designed to create financial flexibility to accelerate the company's strategy, including investing in its global manufacturing operations, while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

Located in Leixlip, Ireland, Fab 34 is Intel's leading-edge high-volume manufacturing (HVM) facility designed for wafers using the Intel 4 and Intel 3 process technologies. To date, Intel has invested $18.4 billion in Fab 34. This transaction allows Intel to unlock and redeploy to other parts of its business a portion of this investment while continuing the build-out of Fab 34. As part of its transformation strategy, Intel has committed billions of dollars of investments to regaining process leadership and building out leading-edge wafer fabrication and advanced packaging capacity globally.

The European Union has recently approved the AI Act, a new type of regulation to ensure the safe and responsible development of artificial intelligence (AI) within the EU. This legislation marks the first case in the global efforts to regulate AI, as it sets a new standard for transparency, accountability, and ethical considerations in AI development and deployment. The AI Act, also known as the KI-Gesetz, is designed to address concerns about the potential risks and negative impacts of AI on society. Key aspects of the regulation include the requirement for AI systems to be transparent and explainable, ensuring that they are not discriminatory and environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the AI Act emphasizes the importance of human oversight in AI development and deployment, ensuring that other technologies do not solely control AI systems.

The regulation also includes specific restrictions on certain AI applications, such as mass surveillance using biometric data or the evaluation of social behavior, similar to China's Social Scoring system. Additionally, emotion recognition, both in the workplace and educational settings, is prohibited under the new law. While the AI Act has been widely praised for its forward-thinking approach, there are also concerns about the potential limitations and challenges it may pose. The Digital Industry Association, Bitkom, has criticized the law for leaving certain questions unanswered and warning that the regulations may become outdated within two years. The AI Act is set to come into effect in the coming weeks, with full implementation expected by 2026. The regulation will apply to all entities developing, offering, or using AI systems within the EU, including both public and private parties. This comprehensive approach aims to ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that benefits society while minimizing potential risks.

Epic Games, the developer behind the battle royale game Fortnite, has been slapped with a hefty fine of €1.1 million for violating EU consumer laws and pressuring youngsters into making in-game purchases. This decision was made by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) following an investigation into the company's practices. The ACM found that Epic Games had failed to provide clear information about the nature of its in-game purchases, particularly to children. This lack of transparency led to many young players making unintended purchases, which was a clear violation of EU consumer protection laws. The authority also noted that Epic Games' practices were designed to encourage children to make frequent purchases, which further deepens the issue. Netherlands' ACM claims that these were "dark patterns" which are prohibited in the EU. More specifically, these were "Get it now" or "Buy now" phrases that pushed youngsters into making choices. One fine is for illegal aggressive commercial practice that created fear of missing out (FOMO), which is calculated at €562,500. Another €562,500 is fined on countdown timers, which were used in the Item Shop for items that were still available even after the timer had reached zero. This totals €1.125 million.

In response to the fine, Epic Games has announced its intention to appeal the decision. This fine serves as a significant reminder to game developers of the importance of transparency and consumer protection in the gaming industry. As the popularity of online gaming continues to grow, companies must prioritize the well-being and financial security of their young players. The ACM's decision sends a strong message that such practices will not be tolerated and that companies must take responsibility for their actions. The fine is significant, and it will be interesting to see how Epic Games responds to the decision. In a statement for GameIndustry.biz, Epic Games has noted that "The findings in the ACM's decision contain significant factual errors about how Fortnite and the Item Shop operate. The ACM is mandating changes that would result in a poor experience for players. We will appeal this decision. While our appeal is pending, players in the Netherlands that are under the age of 18 will not be able to see or purchase items that are in the shop for less than 48 hours, beginning May 24, 2024."

ASML celebrated an important milestone last week—the company's social media account shared news about their third generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tool reaching an unnamed customer: "chipmakers have a need for speed! The first Twinscan NXE:3800E is now being installed in a chip fab. 🔧 With its new wafer stages, the system will deliver leading edge productivity for printing advanced chips. We're pushing lithography to new limits." The post included a couple of snaps—ASML workers were gathered in front of a pair of climatized containers, and Peter Wennink (President and CEO) and Christophe Fouquet (EVP and CBO) thanked staff at company HQ.

The Twinscan NXE:3800E is ASML's latest platform from a series of 0.33 numerical aperture (Low-NA) lithography scanners. Information is scarce—the company has not yet published a 3800E product page. The preceding model—Twinscan NXE:3600D—supports EUV volume production at 3 and 5 nm. ASML roadmaps imply that the Twinscan NXE:3800E has been designed to produce chips on 2 and 3 nm-class technologies. The company's cutting-edge High-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) chipmaking tools (High-NA Twinscan EXE) are expected to cost around $380 million—reports from last month point to a possible $183 million price point for "existing Low-NA EUV lithography systems." Another Low-NA EUV machine is reported to be lined up for a possible 2026 release window—ASML's next-gen Twinscan NXE:4000F model will co-exist alongside emerging (pricier) High-NA solutions.

The HPC research projects DEEP-SEA, IO-SEA and RED-SEA are wrapping up this month after a three-year project term. The three projects worked together to develop key technologies for European Exascale supercomputers, based on the Modular Supercomputing Architecture (MSA), a blueprint architecture for highly efficient and scalable heterogeneous Exascale HPC systems. To achieve this, the three projects collaborated on system software and programming environments, data management and storage, as well as interconnects adapted to this architecture. The results of their joint work will be presented at a co-design workshop and poster session at the EuroHPC Summit (Antwerp, 18-21 March, www.eurohpcsummit.eu).

Chipmaking manufacturing equipment giant ASML has expressed concerns about staying in the Netherlands and considering expansion into other countries due to its home country's capped possibilities. On Wednesday, ASML executives met with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte to discuss the company's growth plans. The meeting, however, failed to fully resolve ASML's concerns surrounding the country's stance on skilled foreign labor, leaving uncertainty over the tech giant's expansion in its home market. Being one of the world's largest suppliers to chipmakers, ASML has said it needs to double its operations in the following decade to meet soaring demand. However, the company is hitting roadblocks in the Netherlands, including difficulty obtaining building permits, constraints on the electrical grid, transportation bottlenecks, and a need for supporting infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and housing. A key issue is the Netherlands' ability to attract scarce foreign engineering talent, with over 40% of ASML's Dutch workforce being non-Dutch. Recent parliamentary motions to cap international students and scrap a tax break for skilled migrants have met with criticism from ASML and other tech employers.

In an effort dubbed "Operation Beethoven," the Dutch government is scrambling to address ASML's concerns and prevent the company from expanding abroad, having already seen multinationals like Shell and Unilever leave their home country in recent years. However, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said that while the company prefers to grow in the Netherlands, it can do so elsewhere if needed. The situation comes amid pressure from the US for allies like the Netherlands to tighten restrictions on China's further access to semiconductor technology. As the sole producer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines crucial for advanced chipmaking, like High-NA and Low-NA, ASML holds strategic importance beyond just economics. With a new right-wing Dutch government being formed, whether a compromise can be reached to ensure ASML's continued growth in the Netherlands remains to be seen. The tech giant's decision could significantly affect the Dutch economy and its position in the global chip industry.

Tech giant Microsoft and Paris-based startup Mistral AI, an innovator in open-source AI model development, have announced a new multi-year partnership to accelerate AI innovation and expand access to Mistral's state-of-the-art models. The collaboration will leverage Azure's cutting-edge AI infrastructure to propel Mistral's research and bring its innovations to more customers globally. The partnership focuses on three core areas. First, Microsoft will provide Mistral with Azure AI supercomputing infrastructure to power advanced AI training and inference for Mistral's flagship models like Mistral-Large. Second, the companies will collaborate on AI research and development to push AI model's boundaries. And third, Azure's enterprise capabilities will give Mistral additional opportunities to promote, sell, and distribute their models to Microsoft customers worldwide.

However, an investment in a European startup can not go smoothly without the constant eyesight of the European Union authorities and regulators to oversee the deal. According to Bloomberg, an EU spokesperson on Tuesday claimed that the EU regulators will perform an analysis of Microsoft's investment into Mistral after receiving a copy of the agreement between the two parties. While there is no formal investigation yet, if EU regulators continue to probe Microsoft's deal and intentions, they could launch a complete formal investigation that could lead to the termination of Microsoft's plans. Of course, the formal investigation is still on hold, but investing in EU startups might become unfeasible for American tech giants if the EU regulators continue to push the scrutiny of every investment made in companies based on EU soil.

Apple today announced changes to iOS, Safari, and the App Store impacting developers' apps in the European Union (EU) to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The changes include more than 600 new APIs, expanded app analytics, functionality for alternative browser engines, and options for processing app payments and distributing iOS apps. Across every change, Apple is introducing new safeguards that reduce—but don't eliminate—new risks the DMA poses to EU users. With these steps, Apple will continue to deliver the best, most secure experience possible for EU users.

The new options for processing payments and downloading apps on iOS open new avenues for malware, fraud and scams, illicit and harmful content, and other privacy and security threats. That's why Apple is introducing protections—including Notarization for iOS apps, an authorization for marketplace developers, and disclosures on alternative payments—to reduce risks and deliver the best, most secure experience possible for users in the EU. Even with these safeguards in place, many risks remain.

Today, ASML Holding NV (ASML) has published its 2023 fourth quarter and full-year results.

• Q4 net sales of €7.2 billion, gross margin of 51.4%, net income of €2.0 billion
• Quarterly net bookings in Q4 of €9.2 billion of which €5.6 billion is EUV
• 2023 net sales of €27.6 billion, gross margin of 51.3%, net income of €7.8 billion
• ASML expects 2024 net sales to be similar to 2023
• ASML expects Q1 2024 net sales between €5.0 billion and €5.5 billion and a gross margin between 48% and 49%

CEO statement and outlook
"Our fourth-quarter net sales came in at €7.2 billion with a gross margin of 51.4%, both slightly above our guidance. ASML achieved another strong year in 2023 with 30% growth, ending with total net sales for the year of €27.6 billion, a gross margin of 51.3% and a backlog of €39 billion. We shipped the first modules of the first High NA EUV system, EXE:5000, to a customer before the end of the year."

With the reality of high performance Arm processors from Apple and Qualcomm threatening Intel's market share in the client computing space, Intel is working on learner more PCB-efficient client SoCs that can take the fight to them, while holding onto the foundations of x86. The first such form-factor of processors are dubbed -MX. These are essentially -U segment processors with memory on package, to minimize PCB footprint. Intel has fully integrated the PCH into the processor chip with "Meteor Lake," with PCH functions scattered across the SoC and I/O tiles of the processor. An SoC package with dimensions similar to those of -UP4 packages meant for ultrabooks, can now cram main memory, so the PCBs of next-generation notebooks can be further compacted.

Intel had recently shown Meteor Lake-MX packages to the press as a packaging technology demonstration in its Arizona facility. It's unclear whether this could release as actual products, but in a leaked company presentation, confirmed that its first commercial outing will be with Lunar Lake-MX. The current "Alder Lake-UP4" package measures 19 mm x 28.5 mm, and is a classic multi-chip module that combines a monolithic "Alder Lake" SoC die with a PCH die. The "Meteor Lake-UP4" package measures 19 mm x 23 mm, and is a chiplet-based processor, with a Foveros base tile that holds the Compute (CPU cores), Graphics (iGPU), SoC and I/O (platform core-logic) tiles. The "Lunar Lake-MX" package is slightly larger than its -UP4 predecessors, measuring 27 mm x 27.5 mm, but completely frees up space on the PCB for memory.

According to the latest NVIDIA knowledge base FAQ, the pricing structure of NVIDIA's GeForce NOW game streaming service is increasing. Applicable only to Canada and Europe, the price increases due to "increased operational costs in those areas," as NVIDIA notes. The customers paying in CAD, GBP, EUR, SEK, NOK, DKK, CZK, and PLN will experience a roughly 10-20% price increase of around one to two Euros, based on the GeForce NOW subscription level. However, there is a good chance to secure better prices for the following months, as active and new members who sign up for GeForce NOW before November 1st can lock in their memberships at the current pricing for six months before experiencing an increase.

The company notes that this also impacts membership gift card pricing adjustment, with gift cards purchased before November 1st honoring the old pricing and newly minted gift cards after November 1st getting a price increase. This change occurs across all subscription tiers, including the Priority tier for 1080p gaming at 60 FPS, the Ultimate tier for 4K experience at 120 FPS, and the Founders Ultimate tier, which increases gameplay duration from six to eight hours. You can see the updated pricing structure in the table below.

The first reviews of Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series) are live, and the results are everything we hoped for when we kicked off the product. Reviewers called out the massive jump in graphics performance, increases in battery life, and improvements in multi-core workloads. The integrated graphics capabilities are especially astounding, putting a wide range of recent game titles within reach in a thin, light, portable system. Check out some of what reviewers have to say:

"It immediately jumps to my number one recommendation for software developers looking for a small and portable laptop. But, given how insanely good this laptop is, I'd also strongly recommend those looking for a laptop for school or home or office use, to really consider this one."—JustJosh

The European Commission has re-imposed a fine of around €376.36 million on Intel for a previously established abuse of dominant position in the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units ('CPUs'). Intel engaged in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market in breach of EU antitrust rules.

With today's decision, we are re-imposing a €376.36 million fine on Intel for having abused its dominant position in the computer chips market. Intel paid its customers to limit, delay or cancel the sale of products containing computer chips of its main rival. This is illegal under our competition rules. Our decision shows the Commission's commitment to ensure that very serious antitrust breaches do not go unsanctioned. - Commissioner Didier Reynders, in charge of competition policy

Intel recently updated its website to highlight interposers used for testing upcoming chips before their actual product integration. A specific webpage now showcases components used by various tools, notably the "Gen5 VR," which stands for CPU Voltage Regulator in this context. The highlight of the update reveals at least four yet-to-be-announced products: Battlemage (BMG), Arrow Lake (ARL), and Lunar Lake (LNL), slated for launch in 2024. Particularly interesting are the two Battlemage interposers: BGA2362-BMG-X2 and BGA2727-BMG-X3. This hints that a Battlemage GPU could have more pins than Intel's current top-tier GPU from the Alchemist series, known as DG2, which features 2660 pins (BGA2660-DG2-512EU).

This unveiling could indicate Intel's plans to introduce two GPUs in its new series or potentially two different package sizes. Manufacturers often use consistent package sizes for multiple GPUs, granting flexibility to interchange processors with similar specifications and presenting a feasible production strategy. Another notable mention is the Arrow Lake-HX, intended for premium desktop/laptop hybrids.. While there was some buzz about the ARL-HX series before, this update provides clear confirmation from Intel. Lastly, the reveal includes an interposer for the Lunar Lake-M series (LNL-M), which is expected to be Intel's most energy-efficient line. Drawing parallels from the Alder Lake series, such chips were designed for tablets with power consumption between 5 to 7 watts.