Prior to early May, the existence of AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB GDDR6 model seemed to be in question. Discerning graphics card buyers tend to opt for larger pools of VRAM. In the modern era, 12 GB or 16 GB options are preferred in budget-to-mid-range segments. Additionally, media outlets are growing weary with a continued delivery of new-gen 8 GB offerings. Yesterday, Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter expressed a similar sentiment: "unhappily, AMD did not sample the 8 GB version of the (Radeon RX 9060 XT) card—perhaps because it knows the kind of reception it would receive from a tech press that are mostly united about the need for 8 GB cards to be shown the door." The site's Technology Editor was not alone in voicing frustrations about certain conditions that apply to international members of the media.

Yesterday, Linus Tech Tips (LTT) pulled back a major curtain. Their leaking of an alleged "official review guideline" demonstrates some level of exerting too much control. LTT shared a screenshot of AMD's "commitment to the press" (see below). On the subject of evaluators gaining access to the cheaper (baseline MSRP: $299) Navi 44 XT GPU-based card, a liaison stated: "as for the 8 GB models, AMD has enabled global reviews of both 16 GB and 8 GB models of the Radeon RX 9060 XT based on regional market demand. So in short, yes, there are some other global publications that are receiving 8 GB models for testing." VideoCardz's tracking of day one critiques reveals an almost complete seeding of 16 GB variants (starting at $349). Vitally, TechPowerUp's W1zzard will be reaching into his own pocket(s). As outlined in his reviews of various better equipped options: "since it wasn't possible to get an 8 GB model for review, everyone focused on 16 GB models. I'll buy one of course as soon as possible, to get you the crucial info how it performs." Back in April, (on his own dime) TPU's resident GPU critic acquired a Gainward GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB retail specimen. At the time, NVIDIA caught plenty of flak—only GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB models were distributed to reviewers and influencers.

At the tail end of Q1'25, industry whispers suggested that TSMC's premier facilities had completed cutting/leading-edge 2 nm (N2) trial production runs. By early April, company insiders alluded to a confident push into preparations for a futuristic 1.4 nm node at the "P2" Baoshan Plant. This is a very distant prospect; watchdogs envision a 2028 release window. According to expert predictions, cross-facility 2 nm wafer mass production phases are expected to start by the end of this year. Foundry staff seem to be actively pursuing an improvement in yields; earlier guesstimates indicated the crossing of a 70% milestone—good enough for full-blown manufacturing runs.

Fresher musings point to staffers and advanced equipment achieving and stepping just beyond an impressive 90% mark, albeit with silicon intended for "memory products." As of mid-May, Samsung's competing "SF2" product—allegedly—remains in testing phases. South Korean insider news reports posit 2 nm GAA trial yields passing 40%—a significant development for the megacorp's foundry business. Roughly a month ago, (in public) TSMC leadership spoke about an unprecedented demand for 2 nm wafers. Due to rumors of greater than anticipated charges for important TSMC clients, Samsung Semi's top brass is supposedly trying to woo the likes of NVIDIA and Qualcomm.

As many will recall, Zotac's GeForce RTX 5090 Solid graphics card series has had a storied career since launching earlier this year. One example served as the progenitor of "ROPGate"—as rooted out by original TechPowerUp investigations. Despite a ban of non-D variants in the region, Zotac GeForce RTX 5090 Solid OC retail units were reportedly available to purchase—via online auctions—in China. Late last week, a disgruntled Alameda County-based customer highlighted their purchase of a very disappointing package.

Taking to the official Micro Center subreddit, member "JamesFerg650" outlined a so-called "backpack scam," and directed frustrations at the long-running computer retail store. A more measured update was shared online later on: "yesterday after work I went to the new Micro Center in Santa Clara for the soft opening. Almost four hours after clock out time, I was home with my brand new Zotac 5090. I was so happy leaving Micro Center, I went out the door without a second thought and drove home smiling and singing along to my (favorite) music. All that build up became the biggest letdown when I opened my box to find three cross-body backpacks inside rather than my 5090."

We have not heard much about Intel's much-debated "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" (or ARL-S Refresh) desktop CPU family in the second quarter of this year. Going back to March, Golden Pig Upgrade predicted another revival of Team Blue's troubled mid-gen update—aka the Core Ultra 300 series. A week or two later, Jaykihn—another tenured discloser of inside track info—theorized an upcoming lineup of "-K and -KF only" SKUs. Hardcore PC hardware enthusiasts and overclockers will likely welcome these unlocked offerings, but an alleged lack of "normal" refreshed options will sting certain consumer bases. The ever intrepid momomo_us has discovered an interesting tidbit; bringing and end to two+ months of "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" silence.

A leaked "W880 PCH" workstation-grade motherboard flow diagram mentions support for "Arrow Lake-S Refresh." This is under the banner of "Core Ultra (Series 2) processors up to 125 W TDP." Unsurprisingly, we are looking at repeat business with the current generation's LGA 1851 socket platform. Intel is still working on the "Nova Lake‑S" (NVL‑S) CPU range; serving as a natural successor to their "Arrow Lake-S" desktop lineup. Lately, data miners have unearthed details regarding a matching "LGA 1954" socket type. According to official announcements, "Nova Lake" processors are "on track" to launch somewhere within 2026. Before then, "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" CPUs are expected to arrive later this year—possibly signalling the final tranche of "ARL."

Three weeks ago, Kurnal and Geekerwan dived deep into Nintendo's alleged Switch 2 chipset. The very brave Chinese leakers are notorious for their acquiring of pre-release and early silicon samples. Last week, their collective attention turned to a brand-new Xiaomi mobile chip: the XRING 01. After months of insider murmurs and official teasers, the smartphone giant recently unveiled its proprietary flagship SoC. According to industry moles, Xiaomi has invested a lot of manpower into a special chip design entity—leadership likely wants to avoid a repeat of prior first-party developed disappointments. Despite rumors of disappointing prototype performance figures, mid-May Geekbench results pointed to the emergent XRING 01 mobile chip being up there with Qualcomm's dominant Snapdragon 8 Elite platform. Die shot analysis has confirmed Xiaomi's selection of a TSMC 3 nm "N3E" node process; also utilized by the latest Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek flagships. Overall die size is 114.48 mm² (10.8 x 10.6 mm), with 109.5 mm² of used area; comparable to Apple's A18 Pro SoC footprint (refer to Geekerwan's comparison shot, below).

Unlike nearby rivals, the XRING 01 seems to not sport an integrated 5G modem. Notebookcheck surmised: "it is rumored to use an external radio from MediaTek. It isn't located on the actual die itself, and likely a contributing factor to why its size is so small." Annotations indicate the presence of off-the-shelf/licensed Arm CPU cores (ten in total): two Cortex-X925 units, four Cortex-A725 units, two Cortex-A725 units, and two Cortex-A520 units. Additionally, an Arm Immortalis-G925 MP16 iGPU was identified. A 6-core NPU—with 16 MB of cache—was highlighted, but it is not clear whether this is a proprietary effort or something bought in. Observers have noted the absence of SLC cache. GSMArena posited: "the Geekerwan team speculates that (Xiaomi's) omission of the SLC has hurt GPU efficiency—it's pretty fast, but it uses more power than the Dimensity GPU at peak performance. The more efficient CPU combined with the fact that the GPU rarely runs at full tilt makes for pretty good overall efficiency in real-life gaming tests." The XRING department's debut product is impressive, but industry watchdogs are looking forward to refined variants or full-fledged successors.

The Nintendo Switch 2 hybrid console is due to launch globally next Wednesday (June 4). The highly anticipated next-gen handheld is powered by a custom NVIDIA processor. To the surprise of many industry watchdogs, both parties have semi-recently disclosed a couple of technical details regarding their fruitful hardware collaboration. Historically, Nintendo has guarded many aspects of its past generation hardware. Throughout the 2020s, data miners and leakers have unearthed plenty of pre-release information—leading to theories about the Switch 2 chipset's origins. During the Switch 1 era, TSMC was the chosen manufacturing partner. NVIDIA's off-the-shelf Tegra X1 mobile SoC powered the first wave of Nintendo Switch (2017) devices, in 20 nm form. A 2019 revision resulted in Switch Lite and (refreshed) Switch models being equipped with a more efficient 16 nm solution, also present within 2023's premium OLED variant.

Since then, Switch 2's alleged NVIDIA Tegra T239 SoC was linked to a Samsung 8 nm node process. Earlier this month, extremely brave Chinese leakers produced "full die shot" evidence of South Korean foundry origins. Bloomberg insider news articles have implied that Samsung Semi's mature 8 nm FinFET node is better suited—rather than an equivalent TSMC product—for the Switch 2's custom NVIDIA chipset. Unnamed sources have mentioned critical factors; namely stable production and process compatibility. Industry moles reckon that Samsung leadership is actively and aggressively pushing for a longer Switch 2 chipset production deal. Renewed terms could include a future die shrink; pre-launch analysis indicates a sizeable 207 mm² footprint. Beyond foundry biz negotiations, additional murmurs suggest company executives dangling an OLED panel supply agreement. Industry experts have viewed Samsung's key entry—into the gaming console chip market—as a seismic development. A DigiTimes article dives into a so-called "tripartite cooperation"—involving Nintendo, NVIDIA, and the South Korean semiconductor giant. The Samsung Foundry has floundered and struggled in recent times, but is keen to catch up with its arch rival. Fresh rumors have AMD and Sony considering Samsung's chip making channels; possibly with futuristic PlayStation hardware in mind.

Throughout the Spring season, Electronics Arts (EA) has reduced development team numbers across several of its international first-party game development studios. According to a fairly fresh IGN news report, another North American operation has been shutdown. Cliffhanger Games was working on a triple-A Black Panther intellectual property, with Marvel's full approval—as teased back in mid-2023. IGN's inside sources have leaked an email—allegedly authored by Laura Miele, EA Entertainment's president—that was addressed the latest round of layoffs at Cliffhanger Games, and unspecified "mobile and central teams." Apparently these adjustments are necessary; Miele (reportedly) believes that these changes will: "sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities...These decisions are hard. They affect people we've worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We're doing everything we can to support them—including finding opportunities within EA, where we've had success helping people land in new roles." In recent times, company leadership had openly discussed a move away from licensed IP projects. Supposedly, Miele's email mentions a focus on core EA franchises going forward: The Sims, Skate, Battlefield, and Apex Legends.

eXtas1s, a somewhat unreliable source of inside track info has weighed in with related news. The Spanish leaker shared an offbeat claim: "I have learned that around 400 more layoffs are coming at EA, the total closure of Codemasters HQ, and that those developers will be integrated into EA Sports (F1), and a new Need For Speed that is already in development." Going back to late April, EA declared that an unspecified number of layoffs were underway at Codemasters. Earlier this month, the long-running British racing game specialist had stopped working on the popular WRC franchise. Since then, NACON—a French publication house—has picked up the FIA World Rally Championship license. Within the same time period, an official announcement outlined the cancelation of two unannounced projects at Respawn Entertainment. Prior to cessations, the Los Angeles, California-based outfit was working on two "early stage" titles—insider reports suggested that one of these mystery IPs was some sort of nascent Titanfall title. Interestingly, Respawn's leader—Vince Zampella—is steering the next Battlefield game. Several EA studios have been roped into a multipronged production approach.

Yesterday, members of the Bobantang discussion board disclosed intriguing insider knowledge. According to recent industry murmurs, AMD has informed motherboard manufacturing partners about the discontinuation of B650 chipset production. Chinese media outlets have jumped on this alleged revelation, with Western counterparts quickly joining in on the fun (hours later). ITHome and Unika's Hardware were the first channels to parse info from the Bobantang forum. Since a 2022 launch, Team Red's mid-range B650 board design has remained a firm favorite for many budget-conscious owners of Ryzen 7000 (plus 8000G and 9000) series desktop processors. A "direct" successor—B850—reached retail at the start of this year, but higher price points combined with relatively minor feature set advantages have discouraged a lot of buyers. The likes of ASUS, ASRock, Colorful and Sapphire have released (or previewed) new B650 chipset-based mainboard products in 2025—mostly in microATX form factors.

A Bobantang member has prophesized two major trends—the first being: "after AMD's B650 chip production line is shut down, its inventory is expected to be large. According to Team Red, the B650M series inventory sales plan will probably end in the third quarter (of 2025)." A second claim was outlined: "it is expected that the digestion time of the tail end stock of AMD's B650 series motherboard will be longer, at least there will be inventory to sell in the second quarter (of this year), but the inventory of B650M chips will become more and more scarce as time goes by." PC hardware watchdogs propose a fall in B850 pricing; likely expertly timed to occur shortly after the complete depletion of predecessor stock—by the fourth quarter of this year.

The rising profile of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has supposedly attracted international scrutiny as-of-late. Despite dealing in commercial memory product lines—currently DDR5, DDR4, LPDDR5 and LPDDR4X—the Chinese manufacturer could be stepping up its game in the near future. According to a fresh DigiTimes Asia news report, the nation's "top DRAM supplier" could be freeing up production capacity—in favor of enterprise-grade third-gen High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM3). Industry moles believe that a major sacrifice will be made; namely CXMT's DDR4 line. Despite an alleged early 2025 ramping up of related activities, the firm's factories could refocus on new endeavors by mid-2026. Additionally, insiders reckon that company leadership is shifting commercial priorities: "by year-end 2025, DDR5 is expected to make up more than 60% of CXMT's output, alongside LPDDR4/5."

The move into more advanced memory technologies is reportedly the result of government instruction. DigiTimes outlined a new strategy: "as CXMT scales up, it's also shifting rapidly to DDR5. The company only began mass-producing DDR4 in late 2024, yet it's already expected to issue an end-of-life (EOL) notice by the third quarter of 2025. The speed of this pivot and retooling has surprised many across the industry. Industry sources say the sudden shift is policy-driven, as Beijing pushes key chipmakers to accelerate alignment with national goals, especially around AI and cloud infrastructure." Murmurs of CXMT's forthcoming exit from DDR4 production have spread across local chip making businesses; causing a sudden doubling of Nanya-branded 8 Gb DDR4 chip prices in China. The manufacturer's early journey into DDR5 territories looked promising on paper—around January 2025—but the latest DigiTimes report disclosed inside track info regarding troubled quality and yield issues. In particular, initial samples have reportedly exhibited unstable performance when crossing a 60°C (140°F) threshold.

According to a Financial Times (FT) news article, the US Government's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is considering an implementation of additional "export blacklist" entries. Roughly two months ago, a significant update affected the export trade of around eighty Chinese business "entities." Despite a recent "cooling off" of elevated tariff-related activities, significant political tensions still exist between the two powerhouse nations. According to five of FT's unnamed insiders, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT)—a rising star within China's growing memory manufacturing industry—is a potential candidate for "banishment." Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. are (allegedly) already categorized as blacklisted organizations.

Apparently, the nation's most prominent chipmaker and memory module producer (respectively) have managed to sidestep certain restrictions, via offshoot avenues. FT believes that the US administration is actively investigating several of these subsidiaries. CXMT seems to be an independent body, with no military connections—specializing in commercial DDR5 and DDR4 products—but its rising profile has attracted international attention. Around March 2024, Bloomberg heard rumors about the US BIS department's "weighing up" of sanctions, with CXMT in mind. The relatively young DRAM manufacturer (established back in 2016) still trails behind South Korean and Western competitors, in terms of technological advancements—but its initial DDR5 efforts have (supposedly) impressed local evaluators and early adopters.

South Korean semiconductor insiders and analysts believe that Samsung's Foundry business is catching up with a main rival. Earlier this month, TSMC leadership openly discussed an unprecedented demand for 2 nm wafer products. Industry moles believe that the Taiwan's top chipmaker is still ahead of contenders in nearby nations. As a result of an alleged leading and comfortable position, TSMC is reportedly upgrading its state-of-the-art facilities with brand-new equipment—indicating a push into 1.4 nm fields. According to a fresh Chosun Biz news article, Samsung engineers are in the process of narrowing the gap between their 2 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA)—also known as SF2—manufacturing node process and TSMC's equivalent technology.

Last month, leaks suggested SF2 trial yields passing the ~40% mark—in comparison, a ~60% figure was uttered by TSMC insiders. Chosun Biz's sources claim that the South Korean foundry team is close to getting their "2 nm process performance evaluation" into a crucial final stage. Yesterday's report posits that NVIDIA and Qualcomm are in the equation; these VIP clients are purportedly considering SF2 as a "second channel" option. Chosun Biz reckons that Team Green is sizing up Samsung Foundry flagship tech for next-gen commercial and enterprise GPUs. Meanwhile, the San Diego-based smartphone processor specialist could be eyeing up SF2 (for a future AP). The latest inside track info points to 2 nm GAA trial production runs breaking beyond aforementioned (approximate) 40% yield rates. TSMC 2 nm wafer charges are reportedly greater than expected, so big industry players are allegedly investigating "cheaper" non-Taiwanese production avenues.

Earlier today, an unannounced graphics card report focused on Maxsun's alleged registering of custom Arc Xe2 B580 24 GB graphics card models. Olrak29 has uncovered additional intriguing entries—filed with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC)—that provide much-needed and fresh insight into the rumored lowest section of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50-series of "Blackwell" gaming GPU family. In a similar manner, (around mid-February) ZOTAC inadvertently revealed the "general" existence of a GeForce RTX 5050 cards. We have not heard much about this "entry-mainstream" tier in recent times; an incomplete set of specifications was leaked over two months ago.

Maxsun's May 12 (today) logging of an intimidating number of "new" SKUs spans across multiple generations (going back to the GTX 1000 era) and product ranges. Keen-eyed observers have noted the presence of multiple GeForce RTX 5050 identifiers—mostly varying shades of iCraft. "TR" tags could indicate forthcoming Terminator models. The Chinese AIB's existing Transformer lines were (normally) associated with "TF" designations—a smattering of these are present within today's EEC filing. NVIDIA and its board partners are not expected to unveil GeForce RTX 5050 hardware at next week's Computex trade event—instead, GeForce RTX 5060 (non-ti) 8 GB cards (starting at $299) will be a main focus for prospective budget-conscious gamers.

The Hardware Unboxed team has unleashed some of its sarcastic Aussie wit; in response to an alleged manipulation of GeForce RTX 5060 (non-Ti) review day conditions. In an online dig—directed at Team Green leadership—the Australian media outlet's social media account parodied NVIDIA new product decision-making: "we're not hiding the RTX 5060, we're very proud of it and gamers will love it. Also, we're going to launch the RTX 5060 on May 19th during Computex, and although reviewers have cards right now, we won't be releasing the driver until they go on sale." Mid-way through April, Hardware Unboxed's Tim Schiesser voiced his displeasure regarding a complete lack of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB evaluation samples—only 16 GB variants were sent out to testers. Curious professional reviewers opted into buying these cheaper variants (out of pocket), including TechPowerUp's W1zzard. Our head honcho's reckoning—of a custom Gainward effort—pointed out far too many compromises.

In a follow-up post, Hardware Unboxed's social media rep took a more measured approach with their disapproval of "controlled conditions." Clarifying the "context" of their earlier rant, they explained: "NVIDIA are trying to hide the RTX 5060, just as they did the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB. The strategy here is to release it the week of Computex when most of the tech media are in Taiwan attending the show. They're also blocking reviewers from accessing the driver early to evaluate the RTX 5060 and provide reviews at the time of release. So as it stands I have multiple RTX 5060 samples, and I won't be able to review any of them until about a week after they go on sale." VideoCardz, and other critics/watchers believe that a rumored "rushed" development of GeForce RTX 5060-series cards (Ti and non-Ti) resulted in an uninspiring repeat rollout of 8 GB and 16 GB VRAM configurations—albeit upgraded to GDDR7 standards.

Earlier in the week, reports indicated the potential introduction of an Intel Xe2 "Battlemage" B770 gaming graphics card at Computex 2025. Last night, a Team Blue tweet confirmed forthcoming product unveilings: "new Intel Arc Pro GPUs are on the way. See you in Taipei!" In the months leading up to this important trade event, industry watchdogs have drummed up speculation about "Battlemage's" future (or fate). Whispers of 24 GB VRAM-equipped variants emerged late last year—around late January, these theories were connected to an official leak: "3 new PCI IDs for BMG."

Unsurprisingly, VideoCardz has weighed in with some new inside track info—they propose that one of Intel's upcoming professional options will be an "Arc Pro B60 24 GB" model, aka "Developer Edition" (an alleged in-house reference). Despite Sparkle HQ downplaying recent "rogue claims," a company rep (in China) alluded to a possible May/June release of their own custom 24 GB "Battlemage" productivity-oriented card. VideoCardz has picked up on rumors, regarding the "Arc Pro B60's" internal setup. They propose Team Blue's selection of the familiar "BMG-G21" GPU; as used by their Arc Xe2 B580 12 GB and B570 10 GB designs. According to an unnamed inside source, this professional/workstation variant will stick with the usual 192-bit memory interface. Intel's Computex 2025 new product teaser provided a big clue about the speculated "B60" model's cooling solution.

Mid-way through April, a few Asian media outlets proposed a fairly recent formation of Xiaomi's "chip platform department"—most likely operating as part of the Chinese corporation's mobile phone development operation. Industry insiders claimed that this special branch was tasked with the designing of "Xuanjie" chipsets, with added expertise provided by an ex-Qualcomm marketing director. Weeks later, Jukanlosreve has weighed in with alleged new details. The keen tracker—of unannounced flagship smartphone chips and semiconductor business revelations—believes that previous leaks were of merit, but made some corrections.

Given reported greater than expected "new division" headcounts, Xiaomi probably established its "Xring SoC" team a while ago—on this topic, Jukanlosreve divulged: "it operates as a new company; independent of the original parent firm. It's not a small team either—it has over 1000 people. To be honest, I see it as a positive development if a domestically produced chip gets used in a domestically made smartphone and sold globally. I genuinely hope it becomes reality. If Xring succeeds, it might encourage more companies to get involved, and even engineers currently working at major firms could see better pay opportunities."

Yesterday, Chosun Daily published a news report that alleges a key "Galaxy Z Flip 7-related" decision made by Samsung leadership. According to smartphone industry moles, the oft-leaked/rumored "Exynos 2500" chipset destined to debut in the company's next-gen (horizontal) foldable smartphone design. As stated in the South Korean insider article: "this is the first time that Samsung's own mobile application processor (AP) is being installed in a foldable phone." Prior to 2025, Galaxy Flip Z product lines made use of Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. Throughout early 2025, leaks have linked the "troubled" Exynos 2500 mobile processor to futuristic Galaxy Z Flip 7, Fold 7, and affordable "FE" Enterprise Edition models. The emergence of a superior 2 nm "Exynos 2600" flagship chip—apparently tailored for Galaxy S26 devices (2026)—has allegedly relegated the lesser SoC into lower leagues.

Semiconductor industry watchdogs reckon that the "Exynos 2500" will be manufactured via Samsung Foundry's own 3 nm GAA node process (aka SF3). Notebookcheck commented on this odd choice: "industry estimates from earlier suggested (SF3) yields were around 40%, making it less than ideal for mass production. But it seems Samsung decided to proceed anyway to save on costs, and likely give a new lease of life to its struggling foundry business." Jukanlosreve followed up with additional inside knowledge, just after the publication of Chosun Daily's news piece. The keen tracker of foundry-related revelations let slip with this observation: "the Exynos 2500 being used in the Flip 7 is said to be a lower-clocked chip due to its low yield. So it might as well be called the E2500E." Samsung is expected to unveil its Galaxy Z Flip 7 smartphone family during an "Unpacked" July event. Experts believe that Foundry employees will accumulate useful experience from the mass production of 3 nm parts; thus leading to improved output of finalized 2 nm (SF2) production lines.

Over the past weekend, members of the Chiphell discussion board started posting truly NDA-busting photo material—one example made headlines a few days ago. A fairly convincing list of next-gen NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell series graphics cards appeared online just over a month ago; only a smattering of physical specimens have emerged since then. As pointed out by interested Chiphellers, Leadtek Chinese language websites have started listing a small selection of upcoming "Blackwell" generation professional SKUs.

The previously leaked PCB design was linked to Leadtek/NVIDIA's "blower-style" RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition 96 GB model. A brave Chiphell forumite has shared shots of another alleged internal component; a shorter PCB design has come to light—in VideoCardz's expert opinion, this stubby unit is destined to be contained within the Leadtek-made (non-Max-Q) RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition enclosure. Official Team Green promotional renders have already presented this darker alternative to existing Founders Edition gaming-oriented siblings. According to VideoCardz, Team Green's Professional Blackwell series review embargo is still in effect and official launch window information is still not a publicly-known quantity. The freshly leaked bare PCB seems to borrow design elements—namely a dual-sided GDDR7 memory module mounting setup—from NVIDIA's familiar GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition model.

The vast majority of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) new stories—so far, in 2025—have involved or alluded to new-generation SK hynix and Micron products. As mentioned in recently published Samsung Electronics Q1 financial papers, company engineers are still working on "upcoming enhanced HBM3E products." Late last month, a neighbor/main rival publicly showcased their groundbreaking HBM4 memory solution—indicating a market leading development position. Samsung has officially roadmapped a futuristic "sixth-generation" HBM4 technology, but their immediate focus seems to be a targeted sales expansion of incoming "enhanced HBM3E 12H" products. Previously, the firm's Memory Business has lost HBM3 ground—within AI GPU/accelerator market segments—to key competitors.

Industry insiders believe that company leadership will attempt to regain lost market shares in a post-2025 world. As reported by South Korean news outlets, Kim Jae-joon (VP of Samsung's memory department) stated—during a recent earnings call, with analysts—that his team is: "already collaborating with multiple customers on custom versions based on both HBM4 and the enhanced HBM4E." The initiation of commercial shipments is anticipated at some point in 2026, hinging on mass production starting by the second half of this year. The boss notified listeners about development "running on schedule." A Hankyung article alleges that Samsung HBM4 evaluation samples have been sent out to "NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Google." Wccftech posits a positive early outlook: "Samsung will use its own 4 nm process from the foundry division and utilize the 10 nm 6th-generation 1c DRAM, which is known as one of the highest-end in the market. On paper, (their) HBM4 solution will be on par with competing models (from SK hynix), but we will have to wait and see."

Industry watchdogs have held the belief that Samsung's foundry business has lost several key clients due to alleged yield problems—the South Korean megacorp appears to be diligently working on major improvements with currently "in-progress" manufacturing processes; namely 2 nm GAA (aka SF2). Semiconductor industry insiders believe that TSMC is still leading the way with a recently completed trial run of their own 2 nm design, but rumors of elevated prices have reportedly upset certain important customers. According to a fresh Sedaily news article, Qualcomm has conducted negotiations with Samsung Foundry top brass—semiconductor industry moles claim that a "Snapdragon 8 Elite 2nd generation product" was the main topic of discussion. This next-gen flagship mobile chipset was previously linked to a 3 nm TSMC node, but newer rumors point to a possible spin-off that will utilize a "more advanced 2 nm process"—courtesy of Samsung Electronic's prime "Hwaseong S3" facility.

Sedaily and Jukanlosreve reckon that mass production will kick off at this cutting-edge early next year. Earlier today, Jukanlosreve added extra conjecture/context via a long social media bulletin: "the completed chips are expected to be integrated into Samsung Galaxy smartphones slated for launch in H2 2026. Design work is to finish in Q2 2025, after which mass-production preparations will begin and wafer runs will start in Q1 2026. Output is estimated at roughly 1,000 twelve-inch wafers per month. Given that Samsung's current 2 nm capacity is about 7,000 wafers/month, this project would utilize only around 15 % of its available capacity—suggesting this is a modest order rather than a large-scale win." These predictions have surprised many industry observers; Samsung leadership has seemingly tried to prioritize the in-house Exynos mobile processor designs within futuristic flagship Galaxy smartphone devices. Jukanlosreve reckons that the Samsung Foundry is keen to embrace any new "golden opportunities," given the operation's weakened track record across the past half decade. One unnamed insider posited: "this Qualcomm partnership could pave the way for orders from other big tech players." Sedaily sent a query to Samsung HQ, regarding the latest inside talk—a company spokesperson replied with: "we cannot confirm anything related to customer orders."

As revealed during a recent Q1 earnings call, Intel leadership mentioned that "external clients are getting their ASICs designs tested." The company's foundry business is working towards the finalization of its much discussed 18A node process, with alleged trial samples receiving an "impressive performance rating." According to Ctee Taiwan, Team Blue's foundry service has submitted test subjects to the likes of NVIDIA, Broadcom and Faraday Technology. The latter organization has (reportedly) disclosed that the 18A platform tape-out was completed last October—since then, received samples have been "successfully connected." Industry moles believe that NVIDIA and Broadcom are in the middle of conducting manufacturing tests. Additional whispers suggest the delivery of 18A prototypes chez IBM and several other unnamed partner companies. Insiders have indicated impressive/good "verification results." Contrary to reports from other sources, Ctee has picked up on insider chatter about Intel's next-gen Nova Lake compute tile design being "not entirely outsourced." Further conjecture points to Team Blue becoming increasingly confident in its own manufacturing techniques.

A part of AMD's enthusiast fanbase scoffed at the prospect of a rumored Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB model arriving ahead of—officially teased—lower end RDNA 4 options. This new generation's "Great Radeon Edition" seemed to be heading into mass production; according to insider track information. Last week, fairly legitimate specifications leaked out and TechPowerUp's GPU-Z utility was updated with support for this slightly mysterious Navi 48 GPU-based gaming card. Members of the Board Channels forum have heard fresh whispers from industry moles—most likely from AIBs—regarding a possible delay of Team Red's Radeon RX 9070 GRE design. Alleged initial plans suggested an original release at retail; on May 8. Further conjecture points to a revised Q4 2025 launch window—perhaps just before November 11. The same Board Channel report also mentioned an expedited rollout of AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT cards—earlier theories signalled an early June (aka post-Computex 2025) arrival, but insiders now posit May 18.

Mid-way through April, we heard about sanctions affecting shipments of NVIDIA's H20 AI chips into China. Despite (rumored) best efforts made by Jensen Huang and colleagues, the US government has banned the export of Team Green's formerly sanction-conformant design. Similarly, NVIDIA prepared a slightly less potent GPU for gaming applications—exclusively for the Chinese market. Despite sporting a restricted GB202 "Blackwell" GPU die, the GeForce RTX 5090D 32 GB is still a monstrous prospect. According to Chinese PC hardware news sources, Team Green representatives have sent alerts to "all" of its Chinese add-in-card partners (AICs)—early warning signs have indicated a possible cut-off of GB202 GPUs in the near future. A member of the Chiphell forum disclosed some insider knowledge and dismissed unfounded speculation about RTX 5090D cards being replaced by "full fat" RTX 5090 options.

sthuasheng commented on Team Green's alleged bulletin—distributed at some point last week: "the notice only said that the supply of RTX 5090D was suspended, ...this did not mean any sales or transportation ban; it urged everyone not to make any speculations or judgments unless there was an official notice issued at a later date. After this notice was issued, each AIC began to notify agents to suspend sales, because the inventory of 5090D has always been very small, so it is necessary to keep these stocks to observe the subsequent situation and deal with the subsequent after-sales. At the same time, we might as well speculate that each AIC and dealer may also have the intention to stockpile 5090D units and then sell them at an elevated price." BenchLife.info decided to reach out to industry moles, following an absorption of various Chiphell whispers.

The unannounced Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB graphics card model seems to be next in line within AMD's RDNA 4 range. Despite official presentation material teasing a Q2'25 launch of Radeon RX 9060 Series cards, insiders believe that Team Red will debut an in-between option—possibly before the arrival of Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and 8 GB SKUs. Rumored new-generation "Great Radeon Edition" (GRE) cards are expected to launch as Chinese market exclusives; potentially as a "strategic" gap fill. Local board partner moles have whispered about almost zero replenishments of Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) 16 GB stock in the region. As reported earlier today, some of VideoCardz's inside sources insist that Radeon RX 9070 GRE cards will—eventually—replace Radeon RX 9070 options. Initial leaks suggested fundamental "step-down" specification pillars: 12 GB of VRAM, a 192-bit memory interface, and a "reduced" "Navi 48" GPU die.

According to fresh claims, the Radeon RX 9070 GRE model could utilize a "Navi 48 XL" GPU variant. VideoCardz reckons that a quarter of the original GPU core count has been shut off; resulting in a total of 3072 stream processors. Comparatively, the Radeon 9070 XT arrived with 4096 SPs. The Radeon 9070 launched with 3584 units. The report delved into alleged core frequency details: "the RX 9070 GRE's clocks will be higher than the RX 9070, reportedly at 2.79 GHz boost, resulting in around 17.1 TFLOPS compared to 18 TFLOPS on the RX 9070...Some custom variants we know of will approach a 3.0 GHz boost clock, so there is definitely room for overclocking." The latest spec sheet leak confirms a 12 GB pool of VRAM, in GDDR6 form—VideoCardz weighed in with some embellishments: "the memory will not be clocked at 20 Gbps, as on (already launched) RX 9070 (XT) and (incoming) RX 9060 XT, but at 18 Gbps. This means that the memory bandwidth will be about 1/3 lower than the RX 9070 (XT) at 432 GB/s." Certain industry observers reckon that AMD will continue to rely on AIBs to produce an all-custom lineup of forthcoming RDNA 4 products. So-called "reference designs" (MBA) have turned up in China, but only in very limited numbers—sold via hazy avenues.

Two weeks ago, unannounced APU model names—"Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme" and "Ryzen Z2 A"—were leaked by Hoang Anh Phu. AMD introduced its Ryzen Z2 series at CES 2025; officially consisting of three options: Z2 Extreme, Z2 and Z2 Go. Technical make up of the two alleged new additions remained a mystery, but watchdog theorizations positioned the rumored "Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme" as the (expanded) lineup's flagship—likely due to the enablement of an integrated XDNA 2 NPU. The vanilla Z2 Extreme APU is a handheld gaming-oriented product; existing as a spin-off from Team Red's "Strix Point" mobile processor design—utilizing Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 technologies. By similar deduction, the leaked "Ryzen Z2 A" SKU was viewed as a "Hawk Point" (Zen 4 + RDNA 3) processor, possibly with a "switched on" AI aspect. Earlier today Hoang Anh Phu provided a new follow-up claim—this morning's social media post proposes a return to "Van Gogh" pastures.

The not-yet-official "Ryzen Z2 A" APU design could be derived from the Steam Deck's Zen 2 + RDNA 2 package. Valve and AMD's collaboration resulted in the "Van Gogh" custom chip design—also known as "Aerith"—debuting back in 2022. A die shrink—from 7 nm to 6 nm—arrived in the form of Steam Deck OLED's "Sephiroth" chipset (2023). Phu's latest prediction places the "Ryzen Z2 A" closer to the already unveiled Ryzen Z2 Go, graphics technology-wise. As discussed in the past, this entry-level "Phoenix 2" solution sports an RDNA 2 iGPU, albeit paired with Zen 3 processor cores. The Ryzen Z2 Go chipset powers Lenovo's Legion Go S handheld gaming PC—in the near future, this offering will be made available with two different operating system options: Windows 11 or SteamOS. As extrapolated from Phu's fresh prediction, similar-ish lower end devices—prepped with Valve's proprietary OS—could arrive with "Ryzen Z2 A" APUs onboard.

Earlier today, TechPowerUp covered the alleged performance prowess of Huawei's CloudMatrix 384 system super node. According to SemiAnalysis opinion, the system's Ascend 910C AI accelerators are a generation behind—in terms of chip performance—when compared to NVIDIA's GB200 "Blackwell" AI GPU design. SMIC seemed to be in the picture, as Huawei's main fabrication partner—possibly with an in-progress 5 nm node process. Instead, SemiAnalysis has surmised that the Ascend 910C is based on plenty of non-native technologies. Huawei's (current and prior) "aggressive skirting of export controls" has likely enabled the new-gen AI chip's better than expected performance stats. SemiAnalysis documented the early sample's origins: "while the Ascend chip can be fabricated at SMIC, we note that this is a global chip that has HBM from Korea (Samsung), primary wafer production from TSMC (Taiwan), and is fabricated by 10s of billions of wafer fabrication equipment from the US, Netherlands, and Japan...One common misconception is that Huawei's 910C is made in China. It is entirely designed there, but China still relies heavily on foreign production."

Despite China's premiere foundry business making pleasing in-roads with a theorized "7 nm N+2" manufacturing test line, Huawei has seemingly grown impatient with native immature production options. Today's SemiAnalysis article presents a decent dose of inside knowledge: "while SMIC does have 7 nm, the vast majority of Ascend 910B and 910C are made with TSMC's 7 nm. In fact, the US Government, TechInsights, and others have acquired Ascend 910B and 910C and every single one used TSMC dies. Huawei was able to circumvent the sanctions on them against TSMC by purchasing ~$500 million of 7 nm wafers through another company, Sophgo...It is rumored Huawei continues to receive wafers from TSMC via another 3rd party firm, but we cannot verify this rumor." Another (fabless) Chinese chip design firm—Xiaomi—appears to still have direct/unrestricted access to TSMC manufacturing lines, albeit not for enterprise-grade AI products.