Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading global supplier of semiconductor memory solutions, today announced that its new package 100BGA LPDDR4/4X had achieved the JEDEC JED209-4 standard to ensure energy conservation and carbon reduction. The LPDDR4/4X is now available in a space-saving 100BGA package measuring only 7.5X10mm2. The device is ideal for IoT applications requiring higher throughput in a small package to allow designers to reduce the PCB size for more compact IoT designs.

Winbond's LPDDR4/4X memory is available in density of 1Gb and 2Gb, supporting speeds of up to 4267 Mbps. It is available in both Single-Die-Package (SDP) with a 2Gb density and Dual-Die-Package (DDP) with a 4Gb density. The higher speed of LPDDR4 1CH x16 4267 Mbps offers improved performance over previous DDR4 x16 3200 Mbps devices, which is especially useful for consumer applications.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced that it has begun volume production of the world's first 232-layer NAND, built with industry-leading innovations to drive unprecedented performance for storage solutions. It features the industry's highest areal density and delivers higher capacity and improved energy efficiency over previous generations of Micron NAND, to enable best-in-class support of the most data-intensive use cases from client to cloud.

"Micron's 232-layer NAND is a watershed moment for storage innovation as first proof of the capability to scale 3D NAND to more than 200 layers in production," said Scott DeBoer, executive vice president of technology and products at Micron. "This groundbreaking technology required extensive innovation, including advanced process capabilities to create high aspect ratio structures, novel materials advancements and leading-edge design enhancements that build on our market-leading 176-layer NAND technology."

DeepComputing and Xcalibyte today opened pre-orders for the industry's first native RISC-V development laptop. The hotly anticipated ROMA development platform features an unannounced quad-core RISC-V processor with a companion NPU/GPU for the fastest, seamless RISC-V native software development available.

"Native RISC-V compile is a major milestone," said Mark Himelstein, Chief Technology Officer for RISC-V International. "The ROMA platform will benefit developers who want to test their software running natively on RISC-V. And it should be easy to transfer code developed on this platform to embedded systems."

Intel today debuted the 12th Gen Core HX "Alder Lake" processors for high-end gaming notebooks and mobile workstations. These processors are designed to bring desktop-class performance to the mobile segment, and debut the "Alder Lake" C0 silicon in a mobile package. Until now, the fastest Core "Alder Lake" mobile processor was based on a silicon that physically had 6 performance cores (P-cores), and 8 efficiency cores (E-cores). The HX-series sees the desktop C0 silicon, with its 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores, and 30 MB of L3 cache, in the mobile form factor.

This also brings PCI-Express 5.0 x16 PEG connectivity for discrete graphics cards, 8-lane DMI 4.0 chipset bus, and a mobile variant of the Z690 chipset, which can put out two M.2 NVMe Gen 4 slots in addition to the one from the processor die. The additional PCIe budget should allow up to two discrete Thunderbolt 4 controllers. Memory support includes dual-channel (4 sub-channel) DDR5-4800, dual-channel DDR4-3200, and LPDDR4-4267. Certain models even have ECC memory support, targeted at mobile workstations. Intel is using the highest bins of the C0 die, coupled with some aggressive power-management, to achieve processor base power (PBP) of 55 W (10 W lower than the 65 W PBP of the desktop Core i9-12900). The maximum turbo power value for all SKUs is set at 154 W. All processor models in the Core HX series will come with memory overclocking support, some even with CPU overclocking support.

AMD today announced the Ryzen 5000C line of mobile processors for Chromebooks. This is the company's second generation of Chromebook-specific processors after the Ryzen 3000C series based on the original "Zen" microarchitecture. The 5000C series chips are based on "Zen 3," with CPU core counts of up to 8-core, and hence present a big leap in performance over the 3000C series, along with a complete suite of the latest connectivity, display technology, and security and management features specific to Chrome OS.

The Ryzen 5000C series is based on the 7 nm "Cezanne" monolithic silicon. The chip physically features an 8-core/16-thread CPU based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture, with 16 MB of shared L3 cache; an iGPU based on the Vega graphics architecture, with 8 compute units (512 stream processors), a dual-channel DDR4 or LPDDR4/x memory interface, and unlike the conventional Ryzen 5000-series mobile processors, these chips come with a special microcode to match the security and management features of Chrome OS. AMD also supplies Chromebook vendors with timely driver updates for the various components on these chips.

In celebration of Pi Day, OnLogic, a global industrial computing manufacturer and solution provider known for their reliable, orange industrial PCs, has announced that their new Factor 201 Raspberry Pi-powered device is available for pre-order. In addition, they've released more details about the next model in the Factor 200 Series, the Factor 202. Both devices are powered by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, which was developed specifically for industrial products.

"We're delighted that OnLogic has chosen to develop the Factor 201 around Raspberry Pi. Using Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with their custom-designed carrier boards and industrial enclosure has allowed OnLogic to offer their customers flexible and reliable solutions, and we see Raspberry Pi hardware being increasingly widely adopted in industry with products like this one," said Gordon Hollingworth, Chief Product Officer at Raspberry Pi Ltd.

Today at CES 2022, Intel announced the world's fastest mobile processor, bringing its performance hybrid architecture to mobile platforms for the first time with new 12th Gen Intel Core mobile processors that are up to 40 percent faster than the previous generation mobile processor. Intel introduced 28 new 12th Gen Intel Core mobile processors that deliver a feature-rich suite of capabilities to create laptops for people to compute whenever and wherever they need - without compromise.

With the introduction of the full 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processor lineup, the 12th Gen Intel Core processor family also represents the company's most scalable lineup to date, powering designs across consumer, enterprise, the Internet of Things (IoT) and other applications. "Intel's new performance hybrid architecture is helping to accelerate the pace of innovation and the future of compute," said Gregory Bryant, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group. "And, with the introduction of 12th Gen Intel Core mobile processors, we are unlocking new experiences and setting the standard of performance with the fastest processor for a laptop—ever."

MinisForum is a small mini PC manufacturer, known for their Ryzen series of mini PCs. Earlier this month they released information about their upcoming Ryzen 5000X series mini PC which will come with a dedicated graphics card. Finally today they have unveiled this Intel chip mini PC: TH50. MinisForum's previous Intel chip mini PC was the TL50, which came with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and was launched in May this year. The new model, called the TH50, is more powerful than the TL50, comes with Windows 10 Pro and is compatible with Windows 11.

The EliteMini TH50 is powered by the 11th generation Intel Core i5 processor "Intel Core i5-11320H" and is compliant with Intel Iris Xe Graphics with built-in graphics for high performance to handle everyday slightly higher load task use; the Intel Core i5-11320H processor with built-in Intel Torch Xe graphics allows you to toy with light games with lots of high quality images, and by lowering the image quality setting, even slightly heavier games can be played comfortably. It performs well in content editing software such as Photoshop and Premiere as well as popular games such as APEX and GTA5.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today introduced three of its latest automotive chip solutions: the Exynos Auto T5123 for 5G connectivity, the Exynos Auto V7 for comprehensive in-vehicle infotainment systems, and the ASIL-B certified S2VPS01 power management IC (PMIC) for the Auto V series.

"Smarter and more connected automotive technologies for enriched in-vehicle experiences including entertainment, safety and comfort are becoming critical features on the road," said Jaehong Park, Executive Vice President of System LSI Custom SOC Business at Samsung Electronics. "With an advanced 5G modem, an AI-enhanced multi-core processor, and a market-proven PMIC solution, Samsung is transfusing its expertise in mobile solutions into its automotive lineup and is positioned to expand its presence within the field."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced its new wearable processor, the Exynos W920. The new processor integrates an LTE modem and is the first in the industry to be built with an advanced 5-nanometer (nm) extreme ultra-violet (EUV) process node, offering powerful yet efficient performance demanded by next-generation wearable devices.

"Wearables like smartwatches are no longer just a cool gadget to have. They're now a growing part of our lifestyles to keep you fit, safe and alert," said Harry Cho, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. "With the Exynos W920, future wearables will be able to run applications with visually appealing user interfaces and more responsive user experiences while keeping you connected on the go with fast LTE."

SK hynix announced that it has started this month mass production of the 8 Gigabit (Gb) LPDDR4 mobile DRAM based on the 1anm, which is the fourth generation of the 10 nm process technology. As the semiconductor industry classifies the 10 nm DRAM products, naming them after the alphabets, the 1a technology is the fourth generation, following the first three generations of the 1x, 1y, and 1z. SK hynix plans to provide the latest mobile DRAM products to smartphone manufacturers from the second half of 2021. This is the first time that SK hynix adopted the EUV equipment for mass production after proving the stability of the cutting edge lithography technology through partial adoption for its 1ynm DRAM production.

As technology migration continues to ultra-micro levels, an increasing number of semiconductor companies are adopting the EUV equipment for the photo process where circuit patterns are drawn on the wafer surfaces. Industry experts believe that a semiconductor company's leadership in technology will depend on how it can fully take advantage of the EUV equipment. SK hynix plans to use the EUV technology for production of all its 1anm DRAM products going forward as it has proved the stability of the process.

Micron, the US-based manufacturer of various kinds of memory technologies, has today announced some quite interesting products at its Computex 2021 keynote. For starters, the company has announced a new portfolio of products based on 176-layer NAND. There are currently two products listed that use this new technology and those are the Micron 3400 and 2450 M.2 NVMe SSDs. Based on the PCIe 4.0 interface, the 2450 SSD lineup is designed as a value-oriented solution that comes in M.2-2280, M.2-2242, and M.2-2230 sizes. It ranges from 256 GB to 1 TB in capacities, which are supposed to be priced as a value purchase.

In a contrast, the 3400 SSD is M.2-2280 design, meant for only the highest performance. The sequential read speeds go up to 6600 MB/s, while the sequential writes go up to 5000 MB/s (in the case of the 2 TB model). Capacities range from 512 GB to 2 TB and only the 1 TB and 2 TB variants have the 5000 MB/s write speeds, while the 512 GB version is capped at 3600 MB/s speed. Both SSD models are featuring a heat spreader on top of NAND chips and spot an in-house and Micron-developed NVMe 1.4 SSD controller. However, Micron does note that the company is free to use any 3rd party SSD controller as we are deep in component shortages with high demand for SSDs. You can get an in-depth look at the 2450 and 3400 M.2 SSDs from Micron's website.

AAEON, a leading manufacturer of AI Edge computing solutions, announces the BOXER-8253AI, the latest in AAEON's lineup of compact rugged platforms powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX SoC. The BOXER-8253AI builds on the popular BOXER-825x Series to deliver a flexible platform designed to connect and power even more applications with HDMI input, PoE PSE ports, and flexible storage options.

The BOXER-8253AI features an I/O loadout designed to provide users and developers flexible deployment for any application. The BOXER-8253AI brings new capabilities to the platform with HDMI input, allowing developers and users to quickly add AI powered visual analysis to a broad range of applications from NVR surveillance systems to security checkpoint X-ray scanners and medical devices. Additionally, the BOXER-8253AI features two PoE PSE ports (802.3af) delivering up to 60 W total power to connect and power devices such as PoE cameras or even PoE PD devices.

Driven by such factors as the continued development of autonomous driving technologies and the build-out of 5G infrastructure, the demand for automotive memories will undergo a rapid growth going forward, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Take Tesla, which is the automotive industry leader in the application of autonomous vehicle technologies, as an example. Tesla has adopted GDDR5 DRAM products from the Model S and X onward because it has also adopted Nvidia's solutions for CPU and GPU. The GDDR5 series had the highest bandwidth at the time to complement these processors. The DRAM content has therefore reached at least 8 GB for vehicles across all model series under Tesla. The Model 3 is further equipped with 14 GB of DRAM, and the next-generation of Tesla vehicles will have 20 GB. If content per box is used as a reference for comparison, then Tesla far surpasses manufacturers of PCs and smartphones in DRAM consumption. TrendForce forecasts that the average DRAM content of cars will continue to grow in the next three years, with a CAGR of more than 30% for the period.

LG Electronics USA announced pricing and availability of the full line of 2021 LG gram laptops at LG-authorized dealers nationwide. Led by the CES 2021 Innovation Award-winning 17-inch LG gram 17, the 2021 line features stylish new designs and productivity-boosting 16:10 aspect ratio screens ideal for both productivity and entertainment.

The diverse lineup includes five exciting new models: LG gram 17 (model 17Z90P), LG gram 16 (model 16Z90P), LG gram 14 (model 14Z90P), LG gram 2-in-1 16 (model 16T90P) and LG gram 2-in-1 14 (model 14T90P) all with 16:10 aspect ratio screens designed around maximizing work efficiency. Offering more screen real estate than the 16:9 displays found on most laptops, the latest LG grams are able to show more information at any one time. The keyboard and touchpad have also been enlarged for extended comfort and efficiency without compromising the portability of these compact devices. The 2021 LG gram lineup also features an expanded range of color options including white, black, silver and green outer shells.

Here are some of the first pictures of the Intel Xe DG1 SDV, taken apart to reveal its rather desolate PCB. The Xe DG1 SDV isn't commercially available, but rather distributed by Intel to ISVs, so they can begin optimizing or developing for the Gen12 Xe graphics architecture. The board features a GPU ASIC that's nearly identical to the Iris Xe MAX mobile discrete GPUs, and four LPDDR4 memory chips making up 8 GB of video memory.

The Xe DG1 GPU is based on the Xe LP graphics architecture, and the silicon is built on the 10 nm SuperFin silicon fabrication node. The chip features 96 execution units (768 unified shaders); and apparently makes do with the 75 W power supplied by the PCI-Express slot. A frugal 2-phase VRM powers the GPU. The GPU uses conventional 4-pin PWM to control the fan, which ventilates a simple aluminium mono-block heatsink. Three DisplayPorts and one HDMI 2.1 make up the output configuration. While you won't be able to buy a Xe DG1 SDV in the market (unless an ISV decides to break their NDA and put one up on eBay), Intel has allowed a small number of board partners to develop custom-design cards. ASUS is ready with one. Igor's Lab has more pictures, a list of benchmark fails, and other interesting commentary in the source link below.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced volume shipment of 1α (1-alpha) node DRAM products built using the world's most advanced DRAM process technology and offering major improvements in bit density, power and performance. This milestone reinforces Micron's competitive strength and complements its recent breakthroughs with the world's fastest graphics memory and the first-to-ship 176-layer NAND.

"This 1α node achievement confirms Micron's excellence in DRAM and is a direct result of Micron's relentless commitment to cutting-edge design and technology," said Scott DeBoer, executive vice president of technology and products at Micron. "With a 40% improvement in memory density over our previous 1z DRAM node, this advancement will create a solid foundation for future product and memory innovation."

Micron plans to integrate the 1α node across its DRAM product portfolio this year to support all environments that use DRAM today. The applications for this new DRAM technology are extensive and far reaching—enhancing performance in everything from mobile devices to smart vehicles.

LG Electronics (LG) is bringing to the first all virtual CES 2021 its eagerly awaited lineup of new gram laptops. Ultra-light, ultra-portable and boasting exceptional performance and long battery life, the new models continue the brand's legacy of go anywhere computing convenience. Stylish new designs and productivity-boosting 16:10 aspect ratio screens add even more value to the company's versatile solutions.

The diverse lineup includes five exciting new models that are designed to maximize work efficiency: LG gram 17 (model 17Z90P), LG gram 16 (model 16Z90P), LG gram 14 (model 14Z90P), LG gram 2-in-1 16 (model 16T90P) and LG gram 2-in-1 14 (model 14T90P). Offering more screen real estate than the 16:9 displays found on most laptops, the latest LG grams are able to show more information at any one time. The keyboard and touchpad have also been enlarged for comfort and efficiency without compromising the portability of these compact devices.

Samsung's hotly anticipated 980 PRO M.2 NVMe flagship client-segment SSD is the company's first "PRO" branded SSD to feature TLC NAND flash memory, breaking from a unique tradition of using MLC (2 bits per cell) NAND flash. Product pages of the drive went live, and its specifications clearly state the use of "Samsung V-NAND 3-bit MLC," which is another way of saying TLC. "MLC" generally referred to as NAND flash memory that stores 2 bits per cell, even through the term "Multi-level" is amorphous.

The product page lists other juicy specs of Samsung's first M.2 NVMe client SSD that takes advantage of PCI-Express gen 4. The drive uses Samsung's in-house design "Elpis" controller, which uses NVMe 1.3 protocol over PCI-Express 4.0 x4, and an LPDDR4 DRAM cache. The 980 PRO comes in capacities of up to 1 TB, with up to 1 GB of DRAM cache. Samsung rates the 1 TB version as capable of up to 7000 MB/s sequential reads, up to 5000 MB/s sequential writes, and up to 1 million IOPS 4K random reads/writes at QD32. The use of TLC impacts endurance adversely in comparison to that of the drive's immediate predecessor, the 970 PRO, with the 1 TB 980 PRO warranty covering only up to 600 TBW, in comparison to 1200 TBW of the 970 PRO 1 TB, and the 500 GB 980 PRO offering just 300 TBW warranty coverage in comparison to 600 TBW of the 970 PRO 512 GB.

MediaTek today announced its newest 5G SoC, the Dimensity 800U, as the latest addition in MediaTek's Dimensity series family. The 7 nm Dimensity 800U chipset is designed for multi-core high performance and leading 5G+5G Dual Sim Dual Standby (DSDS) technology. With Dimensity 800U MediaTek continues to accelerate the rollout of 5G technology and deliver premium experiences on mid-tier 5G smartphones.

"MediaTek has always focused on enhancing the user experience with our leading semiconductor technology, whether consumers are streaming, gaming or taking photos," said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. "MediaTek's Dimensity 800U brings cutting-edge, next-gen technology to the Dimensity SoC series, bringing MediaTek's advanced 5G, imaging and multimedia technologies to high-performance 5G smartphones that deliver incredible 5G experiences."

IBASE Technology Inc. (TPEx: 8050), a world-leading manufacturer of industrial motherboard boards and embedded computing solutions, has revealed its latest EC-3200 AI computing platform that is based on the cutting-edge power-efficient and high-performance NVIDIA Jetson Tegra X2 (TX2) processor. The NVIDIA Jetson TX2 pairs a dual-core Denver 2 alongside a quad-core ARM Cortex -A57 processor and provides 256 CUDA cores on the NVIDIA's advanced Pascal GPU architecture with up to 1.33 TFLOPS, delivering exceptional AI performance.

Designed to operate under an extended temperature range from -20°C to +60°C, the EC-3200 leverages the integrated GPU-computing power of the Jetson TX2 platform in building edge inference servers to analyze and better manage real time traffic flow in smart cities or to optimize the efficiency of operational processes in intelligent factories. "Current edge and cloud-based AI products require better computational and video analytics capability to perform demanding real-time data processing and overcome latency issues," said Wilson Lin, Director of IBASE Product Planning Department. "The EC-3200 is no doubt a durable solution, especially built with a fanless design for non-stop operation and takes advantage of the GPU-accelerated parallel processing of NVIDIA Jetson TX2 to handle data intensive and mission-critical workloads with power efficiency and unmatched reliability."

One of the first performance benchmarks of Intel's upcoming low-power processor codenamed "Elkhart Lake," surfaced on the Futuremark database, courtesy of TUM_APISAK. The chip scores 571 points, with a graphics score of 590 and physics score of 3801. The graphics score of the Gen11-based iGPU is behind the Intel UHD 630 gen 9.5 iGPU found in heavier desktop processors since "Kaby Lake," but we predict it's being dragged behind by the CPU (3801 points physics vs. roughly 17000 points of a 6-core "Coffee Lake" processor. The chip goes on to score 170 points in Time Spy, with 148 points graphics- and 1131 points physics-scores. Perhaps Cloud Gate would've been a more apt test.

The "Elkhart Lake" silicon is built on Intel's 10 nm silicon fabrication process, and will power the next generation of Pentium Silver and Celeron processors. The chip features up to 4 CPU cores based on the "Tremont" low-power architecture, and an iGPU based on the newer Gen11 architecture. It features a single-channel memory controller that supports DDR4 and LPDDR4/x memory types. The chip in these 3DMark tests is a 4-core variant, likely a Pentium Silver engineering sample, with its CPU clocked at 1.90 GHz, and is paired with LPDDR4x memory. The chip comes in 5 W, 9 W, and 12 W TDP variants.

Raspberry Pi 4 is almost a year old, and it's been a busy year. We've sold nearly 3 million units, shipped a couple of minor board revisions, and reduced the price of the 2 GB variant from $45 to $35. On the software side, we've done enormous amounts of work to reduce the idle and loaded power consumption of the device, passed OpenGL ES 3.1 conformance, started work on a Vulkan driver, and shipped PXE network boot mode and a prototype of USB mass storage boot mode - all this alongside the usual round of bug fixes, feature additions, and kernel version bumps.

While we launched with 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB variants, even at that point we had our eye on the possibility of an 8 GB Raspberry Pi 4. We were so enthusiastic about the idea that the non-existent product made its way into both the Beginner's Guide and the compliance leaflet. The BCM2711 chip that we use on Raspberry Pi 4 can address up to 16 GB of LPDDR4 SDRAM, so the real barrier to our offering a larger-memory variant was the lack of an 8 GB LPDDR4 package. These didn't exist (at least in a form that we could address) in 2019, but happily our partners at Micron stepped up earlier this year with a suitable part. And so, today, we're delighted to announce the immediate availability of the 8 GB Raspberry Pi 4, priced at just $75.

Intel's next-generation Atom processor is codenamed "Elkhart Lake." Built on the 10 nm silicon fabrication process, the chip combines up to four CPU cores based on the "Tremont" microarchitecture, with an iGPU based on the Gen11 architecture, and a single-channel memory interface that supports DDR4 and LPDDR4. Differentiation of the processor include 2-core and 4-core CPU variants, and TDP variants spanning 6 W, 9 W, and 12 W. "Tremont" is a lightweight CPU core by Intel that lacks AVX capabilities. Besides "Elkhart Lake," the core is featured in the "Lakefield" Core heterogenous processors as the their low-power cores.

Chinese electronics B2B marketplace CogoBuy.com has the processor listed, although without listing out any processor model numbers. The marketplace is accepting RFQs (requests for quotations) for bulk purchase of these BGA chips on trays, without listing prices. Also listed is an "industrial variant" of the chip, which has an increased TJmax of 110 °C (compared to 105 °C of the standard variant). The Gen11 iGPU wasn't detailed, but it's likely to have a lower execution unit count than the variant found on "Ice Lake" processors, while retaining its display- and media-engines (ability to pull 8K60 displays).

ASUS today announced Tinker Edge R, a single-board computer (SBC) specially designed for AI applications. It uses a Rockchip RK3399Pro NPU, a machine-learning (ML) accelerator that speeds up processing efficiency, lowers power demands and makes it easier to build connected devices and intelligent applications.

With this integrated ML accelerator, Tinker Edge R can perform three tera-operations per second (3 TOPS), using low power consumption. It also features an optimized neural-network (NN) architecture, which means Tinker Edge R can support multiple ML frameworks and allow lots of common ML models to be compiled and run easily.