Synnex Technology International is a major Hong Kong-based distributor of PC components, which also retails directly. PC enthusiasts in Hong Kong have been trying to avail replacements for their Intel Core i9-14900K processors under Intel's laid down procedure, including extended warranties for the processor, which has been hit by the notorious physical degradation issue. A customer sent in their i9-14900K to find that they are not getting a replacement chip, because Synnex ran out of chips to send customers as replacements.

The retailer sent in a template response that the chip sent by the customer cannot be repaired or replaced, but the customer can avail a cash refund of HKD $4,200 (around $540), which is close to the street price of the processor. The processor itself has been running out of stock in many places, partly because inventory in the channel is being directed toward honoring warranty claims. The only practical way to honor a processor warranty claim is replacement, since there is very little that can be repaired by a distributor (except maybe the stock cooler). HKEPC reports that the user took Synnex up on its offer for refund, sold everything in their machine except the SSD, and is now planning to build a new machine based on the Ryzen 9 9950X.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090 D GPU was launched late last year in China—this weakened variant (of the standard RTX 4090) was designed with US trade regulations in mind. Chinese media outlets have toyed around with various custom models for several months—January 2024 evaluations indicated a 5% performance disadvantage when lined up against unrestricted models. The GeForce RTX 4090 D GPU is a potent beast despite a reduced core count and restricted TDP limit, but Chinese enthusiasts have continued to struggle with the implementation of worthwhile overclocks. HKEPC—a Hong Kong-situated PC hardware review outlet—has bucked that trend.

The mega-sized flagship ZOTAC RTX 4090 D PGF model has the technical credentials to break beyond the expected overclock increase of "2 to 5%," courtesy of a powerful 28-phase power PCB design and 530 W max. TGP limit. The Expreview team pulled a paltry 3.7% extra bit of performance from ZOTAC China's behemoth. In contrast, HKEPC wrangled out some bigger numbers with a sampled ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4090 GAMING OC graphics card—matching unrestricted variants: "it turns out that NVIDIA only does not allow AIC manufacturers to preset overclocking, but it does not restrict users from overclocking by themselves. After a high degree of overclocking adjustment, the ROG Strix RTX 4090 D actually has a way to achieve the performance level of the RTX 4090 FE."

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.

Last week, AMD's Ryzen 8000GE desktop APU lineup appeared online—four lower power (TDP of 35 W) SKUs are set to join the already released 65 W TDP AM5 "Hawk Point" family. GucksTV has acquired a flagship 8000GE model, albeit in engineering sample form—a Hong Kong-based Ebay Store lists "AMD Ryzen 7 8700GE ES Tray" processors. At the time of writing only one unit remains in stock, priced at $298.99 with the option for free international delivery. The "hugohk" shop appears to specialize in supplying all sorts of Team Red engineering sample CPUs. GucksTV's German language video review pitches the Ryzen 7 8700GE engineering sample against the finalized retail release Ryzen 7 8700 APU.

AMD has not made any official release date announcements regarding the leaked Ryzen 8000GE range, but VideoCardz believes that "expectations are high that these variants will hit the market soon through system integrators." The GucksTV comparison video shows that: "On average, the single-core of 8700GE performance drops by 5%, while multi-core is 17% below 8700G. For graphics, that's a 23% average drop in performance while requiring 52% less power." The reviewer noted that his engineering sample was not allowing access to memory OC profiles, until a motherboard BIOS update was implemented (most likely via Beta firmware)—granting 6400 MT/s instead of the normal JEDEC rate of 5200 MT/s. The test platform utilized an ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi Mini-ITX mainboard—finalized Ryzen 7 8700GE APUs could be ideal candidates for usage in quiet/low temperature compact form factor systems.

According to the latest teardown from TechInsights, China's biggest technology maker, Huawei, has been shipping laptops with technology supposedly sanctioned by the United States. As the teardown shows, TechInisights has discovered that Huawei's Kirin 9006C processor is manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm semiconductor technology. Originally, the United States have imposed sanctions on Huawei back in 2020, when the government cut off Huawei's access from TSMC's advanced facilities and forbade the use of the latest nodes by Huawei's HiSilicon chip design arm. Today's findings show signs of contradiction, as the Qingyun L540 notebook that launched in December 2023 employs a Kirin 9006C chipset manufactured on a TSMC 5 nm node.

TechInsight's findings indicate that Kirin 9006C assembly and packaging occurred around the third quarter of 2020, whereas the 2020 Huawei sanctions started in the second quarter. Of course, the implication of the sanctions likely prohibited any new orders and didn't prevent Huawei from possibly stockpiling millions of chip orders in its warehouse before they took place. The Chinese giant probably made orders beforehand and is using the technology only now, with the Qingyun L540 laptop being one of the first Kirin 9006C appearances. Some online retailers also point out that the laptop complies with the latest security practices required for the government, which means that they have been in the works since the chip began the early stages of design, way before 2020. We don't know the stockpile quantity, but SMIC's domestic efforts seem insufficient to supply the Chinese market alone. The news that Huawei is still using TSMC chips made SMIC's share go for a 2% free fall on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Sapphire has officially boarded the white PCB design train, a trend most popular within China's PC hardware market—the Hong Kong-based graphics card specialist is teasing its oddly named "Power Elves" custom cooling solution. They have decided to pair this new look with non-cutting edge silicon, namely AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT GPU. The budget Navi 24 XT (RDNA 2) card looks to be cooled by a single fan and heatsink array housed within a shroud approximating a Mini-ITX form factor.

Sapphire appears to using its "Angular Velocity Fan Blade," as seen on its Radeon RX 7000-series PULSE and NITRO custom models, so it is somewhat odd that we are not seeing a new-ish RX 7600 GPU in fresh Polar Elves/all-white livery. Since the company is merely teasing this upcoming 4 GB model (at the time of writing) we can assume that it will be served by the normal single 8-pin power connector, and its name assignment suggests a factory overclock will be applied as standard.

A recent report published by BoardChannels points to Galax possibly implementing a broad set of price cuts across its range of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 and 30-series custom graphics card models. Insider information originating from sources within a pool of NVIDIA and AMD board partners suggests that Galax could be shaving off up to 1000 RMB (around $140) from certain Ampere and Ada Lovelace products - effective later this month in its native Hong Kong market as well as mainland China.

The article posits that GeForce RTX 4080 cards could end up becoming 1000 RMB cheaper, and popular RTX 3060 models receiving cuts of around 250 RMB (≈$35). Galax is reported to have already offered entry-level desktop GeForce RTX 3050 cards at lower prices in the latter half of May - with 140 RMB (≈$19.50) reductions. The RTX 4070 series is supposedly set to receive a measly discount of around 150 to 200 RMB (≈$21 to $28), which is likely not doing it many favors given slow worldwide uptake since the product range's launch in mid-April. Galax could be making adjustments to fall in line with rivals (in the region) who have already reduced asking prices for NVIDIA gaming hardware.

Just over a month ago, news broke that NVIDIA is planning to move its logistics center from Hong Kong to Taiwan and it now looks like AMD is getting ready to follow suit. The news is coming via Taiwan's United Daily News (UDN) and the paper claims that AMD will be setting up its logistics center in the Farglory free trade zone area in the Dayuan district of Taoyuan, which is next to Taiwan's main international airport. Currently companies like ASML and Asus operate inside the free trade zone and Farglory is currently in the last phase of an expansion of the free trade zone, which should be finalised sometime early in 2023. As such, there should be plenty of space for both NVIDIA and AMD to set up their logistics centers there.

The move for AMD doesn't seem to make as much sense as that of NVIDIA, as AMD's main graphics card partners, which should be Sapphire and XFX (Pine Group), are Hong Kong based companies. That said, AMD still has PowerColor, ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI in Taiwan, but only PowerColor is an exclusive AMD partner. This does of course not take motherboards or servers into account, where its Taiwanese partners are key. On the other hand, just as NVIDIA, AMD produces its GPUs at TSMC, so for products that doesn't end up in the PRC, it would make more sense to have them go straight to a logistics center in Taiwan, rather than having to ship them out to Hong Kong and then back to Taiwan again. According to UDN it's apparently also cheaper for AMD to shop goods directly from Taiwan to the PRC, as it's apparently quite costly to ship via Hong Kong. Another reason is of course the ongoing trade war between the US and the PRC, which could lead to future issues for both AMD and NVIDIA. Hong Kong has also slowly lost its importance as a key center in the electronics business, with Taiwan and Singapore having become more important hubs, according to UDN.

Currently, the US has an exclusion in place when it comes to import tariffs relating to graphics cards and GPUs imported from China, but the exclusion is set to expire on the 31st of December this year. So far, the US government has been quiet on whether or not the import tariff will be reinstated or not. If the tariff was to be reinstated, US consumers are looking at a 25 percent import duty on graphics cards, starting on the 1st of January, 2023.

There's no easy way to circumvent the tariff either, as it includes items like "printed circuit assemblies, constituting unfinished logic boards," according to Tom's Hardware. Not all graphics cards are made in China though, but the majority of graphics cards are today. It's possible that NVIDIA's move of its logistics center from Hong Kong to Taiwan could have some relation to this as well, as NVIDIA would then be shipping products out of Taiwan, rather than China, depending on how the US Customs classifies Hong Kong these days. We should know what happens in a month's time, but a 25 percent import duty on graphics cards will likely kill most sales, as most people already find them overpriced. This would of course affect AMD and NVIDIA, as well as their partners in the same way, unless they make their graphics cards outside of China.

According to news out of Taiwan, NVIDIA is getting ready to move its logistics center from Hong Kong to Taiwan. The information comes from Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, Wang Mei-Hua, so the source should be fairly reliable. The Taiwanese government has apparently been in negotiation with NVIDIA since some time last year and the two have now reached a consensus.

The media report didn't mention where NVIDIA will locate its new logistics center, but the company and the Taiwanese government have been discussing tax subsidies to help facilitate the move. Wang told the local media that the new logistics center should boost the local industry, least not because NVIDIA is already working with TSMC, as well as many other local suppliers and manufacturers. No details were given on when the move would take place, but it's likely to be a transition that will be drawn out, due to the fact that NVIDIA is still going to have to supply all of its customers during the move.

A GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC "Ada" graphics card allegedly went on sale way ahead of the October 12 retail availability date. The person who bought it, "Likhg," posted unboxing pictures of the card, revealing a gigantic 4-slot design, a triple-fan cooling solution, with flow-through for the third fan; and accessories that include a reinforcement brace with some screws, an NVIDIA adapter that converts four 8-pin PCIe power connectors into an ATX 12VHPWR connector, and well, that's about it. Graphics card manufacturers have mostly weaned away from including a driver DVD in the box, and point you to download the latest compatible drivers from the NVIDIA website, which means this card is a paperweight until we're closer to the retail date. We're hearing that whoever bought this card managed to resell it for a hefty profit.

Razer (RAZFF) is set to become privately held after shareholders voted to delist from the Hong Kong stock exchange in a privatization deal that values the company at $3.17 billion USD. The privatization scheme is led by a consortium of Razer's co-founders Tan and Kaling Lim who currently own 57% of the company along with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. The plan was approved by over 75% of shareholders at a recent general meeting and will see the withdrawal of company shares from the Hong Kong stock exchange at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, 13 May 2022. This private ownership of the company isn't expected to last long with the owners planning to relist the company's shares in the US in the hopes of gathering a higher valuation. Razer continues to record growth with revenues of $1.62 billion USD in the 2021 FY, up 33% from the previous year.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers (Hong Kong Stock Code: 1337), announced its collaboration with leading watch manufacturer, Fossil, to launch a limited-edition smartwatch: the Razer X Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch. The co-branded wearable leverages Fossil's most innovative smartwatch platform to date, the highly anticipated Fossil Gen 6. It also features three exclusive Razer watch faces including Analog, Text, and Chroma, as well as two stylish interchangeable straps. The Razer X Fossil Gen 6 will be launching globally this month for $329 USD in a limited quantity of just 1,337 units.

The Gen 6 is the first smartwatch powered by the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ Platform—providing users upgrades in speed and performance, including faster application load time, highly responsive user experiences, and more efficient power consumption. With an overall 30% increased performance* and running Wear OS by Google, the smartwatch does way more, way faster to give gamers a fashionable cutting edge. The Razer X Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch also boasts top wellness features as a nod to both brands' commitments to wellness and comes only a few months after the launch of Razer's dedicated wellness initiative for gamers, Champions Start From Within.

A sign of the times indeed, when secretive, smuggling boats add NVIDIA CMP graphics cards to their cargo instead of other illegal goods. That's what just happened in Hong Kong, where authorities with the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department seized a smuggling fishing boat that was unsuspectingly (or maybe not so unsuspectingly) anchored just outside the Hong Kong International Airport. While some of the smuggled goods were par of the course for the authorities - exotic foods and high-value, low-footprint technological gadgets such as smartphones and tablets - the smugglers were also carrying 300 unmarked NVIDIA CMP 30HX GPUs.

That they were unmarked means they were deviated from the assembly lines before they were actually processed for final packaging, and thus we're now looking at definite proof of shipments being deviated from their intended destinations - which means this happens not only for CMP cards, but also for consumer-grade RTX 30-series. Another day at the office of post-COVID, production shortages, and mining boom, as it relates to computer hardware pieces.