AMD is in no mood to stick to the 14 nm process for as long as Intel has (building four performance x86 CPU micro-architectures on it). In an interview with EE Times, AMD CTO Mark Papermaster confirmed that the company's "Zen 2" and "Zen 3" CPU micro-architectures will be built on the next-generation 7 nm silicon fab process. Transition to the 7 nm process is not as straightforward as optically shrinking your chip designs and shipping them over to your foundry. Apparently it requires big technical changes for the chip design teams, which AMD feels are better executed while it's still riding on the success of its current "Zen" architecture.

"We had to literally double our efforts across foundry and design teams…It's the toughest lift I've seen in a number of generations," said Papermaster. He added that the 7 nm node requires new "CAD tools and [changes in] the way you architect the device [and] how you connect transistors-the implementation and tools change [as well as] the IT support you need to get through it." Papermaster predicts that 7 nm will be a "long node like 28 nm" in that chip designers will have to build several refinements to their designs on the node before the newer 4 nm node could be heralded. He urged semiconductor foundry companies to introduce EUV (extreme ultra-violet lithography), a technique used to etch transistors and circuits at the infinitesimally small 7 nm node, as soon as possible, so AMD could have more options at manufacturing its next generation processors.

Club 3D is proud to announce the next generation of SenseVision video splitters today with the introduction of two brand new splitters, CSV-1474 (USB-A to HDMI 2.0 Dual Monitor 4K 60Hz) and CSV-1477 (USB-A to DP 1.2 Dual Monitor 4K 60Hz) with this press release.

Former generation video splitters or USB graphic adapters based on USB 3.0 or 3.1 suffered from a limitation of 30 Hz if you were aiming at using the highest resolutions like 3840 x 2160 (4K). The latest developments from DisplayLink make it possible now that with CSV-1474 and CSV-1477 the resolutions can be taken to a new level. Not only one time 4K60Hz is possible, both splitters offer Dual Monitor functionality and each of the outputs can offer 4K 60Hz. The only requirement is to have a free USB Type A 3.1 Gen 1 socket in your device. The two new SenseVision products are powered by DisplayLink 6950 SoC. Our new future-proof products will be ready for shipment on June 30th. Wide availability of the products in the market we expect in the first week of July.

At its Analyst Day follow-up conference call, AMD confirmed that the company could build a new generation of Ryzen processors on 14 nm (albeit refined 14 nm) process, before transitioning to "Zen2," which will be built on the 7 nm process. As the first "Zen" based products built on the 14 nm process, the Ryzen "Summit Ridge" processors are based on the current-generation 14 nm FinFET process. AMD hopes to tap into a more refined version of this process before moving on to "Zen 2."

This could indicate that AMD's next generation of Ryzen processors, likely the Ryzen # 2xxx series, could be minor incremental updates to the current product stack, likely in the form of higher clock speeds or better energy-efficiency facilitated by the refined 14 nm process, but nothing major in the way of micro-architecture. Assuming the current Ryzen product stack, which will be augmented by Ryzen 3 series, Ryzen Pro series, and Ryzen APUs in the second half of 2017; last till mid-2018, one could expect a follow-up or refreshed Ryzen # 2xxx series run up to another year, before AMD makes a "leapfrog" upgrade to the 7 nm process with "Zen2," in all likelihood, by 2019.

LG Electronics has just made one of the most cryptic, devoid-of-any-real-information announcements we've seen in recent years. The company will apparently enter the VR HMD field, and is looking to unveil its first prototype at this year's GDC in San Francisco, CA. LG will make use of Valve's GDC booth to showcase an HMD capable of delivering "a high fidelity, next generation VR experience".

That's about all the information we were given at face value. However, some other tidbits serve to paint a picture on how premature this announcement may have been: LG will purportedly be meeting with developers to "collect feedback and impressions as part of its effort to define the first commercial units". This means that the HMD is likely still in a proof of concept phase, early enough in development to cater to developers' expertise, needs and suggestions, which means it's probably still far removed from retail to be of any real import in the grand scheme of things. However, it Is a confirmed dip from another tech giant in the fully-fledged, high-performance VR HMD game. And judging by the proximity with Valve, we would expect LG's unit to borrow heavily from that company's input and vision for VR.

It's always a dance between rumours, expectations and "theorycrafting" when it comes to the launch of any particularly exciting product. And with AMD's Ryzen chips currently being the most hotly anticipated development (and product launch) in the hardware world, well, let's just say that anticipation is really building up to enormous levels, with any possible details surrounding AMD's line-up being the cause, in some cases, of heated debate.

Case in point: with AMD's CCX (CPU Complex) being indivisible, this would mean a blow not only to budget-conscious consumers, but also to AMD's ability to engender its product line. Flexibility has always been the name of the game with AMD (discounting their CMT-based Bulldozer and derived architectures), with the company offering triple-core processors in the past (and weren't those the good old days of processor unlocking). However, now reports have come in that Ryzen's CCX are actually divisible, which could open up possibilities for some theoretically value-breaking hexa-core Ryzen chips.

MSI, the world's leading manufacturer of true gaming hardware, has fitted its Nightblade gaming desktop line with the recently introduced Intel Kaby Lake chipset. Built on the legacy of the first Nightblade gaming desktop series, the Nightblade 3 and Nightblade MI3 come with an updated exterior and interior design. With the updated exterior of the Nightblade 3 and Nightblade MI3, the Nightblade series gets a fresh upgrade for the next generation. Together with Nightblade MIB, the MSI Nightblade series PCs are ready to take any gaming challenge.

On the outside you will find an easy carry-handle situated at the front of the chassis, to make it convenient for gamers to bring their rig anywhere. Upgrading these systems is a piece of cake thanks to removable left, -right, and -topside chassis covers, giving access to its memory, graphics or storage bays. Applied to MSI's full gaming desktop family, MSI VR Link provides an HDMI port on the front side and 'One-Click to VR' software to optimize your VR experience.

Intel has agreed to purchase a 15 percent ownership stake in HERE, a global provider of digital maps and location-based services, from HERE's current indirect shareholders: AUDI AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG. In conjunction with Intel's acquisition of a stake in HERE, the two companies also signed an agreement to collaborate on the research and development of a highly scalable proof-of-concept architecture that supports real-time updates of high definition (HD) maps for highly and fully automated driving. Additionally, the two companies plan to jointly explore strategic opportunities that result from enriching edge-computing devices with location data.

"Cars are rapidly becoming some of the world's most intelligent, connected devices," said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. "We look forward to working with HERE and its automotive partners to deliver an important technology foundation for smart and connected cars of the future." "A real-time, self-healing and high-definition representation of the physical world is critical for autonomous driving, and achieving this will require significantly more powerful and capable in-vehicle compute platforms," said Edzard Overbeek, HERE CEO. "As a premier silicon provider, Intel can help accelerate HERE's ambitions in this area by supporting the creation of a universal, always up-to-date digital location platform that spans the vehicle, the cloud and everything else connected."

Intel Corporation today announced a range of new products, technologies and investments from the edge to the data center to help expand and accelerate the growth of artificial intelligence (AI). Intel sees AI transforming the way businesses operate and how people engage with the world. Intel is assembling the broadest set of technology options to drive AI capabilities in everything from smart factories and drones to sports, fraud detection and autonomous cars.

At an industry gathering led by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Intel shared how both the promise and complexities of AI require an extensive set of leading technologies to choose from and an ecosystem that can scale beyond early adopters. As algorithms become complex and required data sets grow, Krzanich said Intel has the assets and know-how required to drive this computing transformation. In a blog Krzanich said: "Intel is uniquely capable of enabling and accelerating the promise of AI. Intel is committed to AI and is making major investments in technology and developer resources to advance AI for business and society."

The globally-praised ASRock DeskMini 110 barebone series and the most compact mainboard H110M-STX are the world's first H110 chipset based products that support Intel next generation processors. Simply update BIOS after P1.40 version, users are able to enjoy the exciting performance of new CPUs.

The highly-recognized DeskMini 110 barebone series and H110M-STX motherboard are the very first models based on the Mini Socket Technology Extended (Mini-STX) form factor that add the flexibility to support Intel LGA 1151 socket-based Intel processors. Besides the comprehensive and valuable configurability options, ASRock Mini-STX series is also well focused on improving every possible computing features. Both two products are the pioneer that are compatible with the popular Samsung 950 Pro NVMe M.2 SSDs and Intel's latest 600p series SSDs with the fastest PCIe Gen3 x4 speed.

ASRock's 100-series motherboards support Next Generation socket 1151 Intel Core Processors. Via a new BIOS update, ASRock Z170, H170, B150 and H110 series motherboards are resurrected. With only a few clicks, users are able to update the BIOS and enjoy the outstanding performance of next generation Intel processors.

Not only to those high-end and mainstream motherboards, ASRock also takes the latest BIOS to those entry level ones. From the Z170, H170, B150 series to the H110 series, users may expect more powerful processing speed yet enhanced capabilities by Intel's new processors. To download the latest BIOS updates, visit the ASRock website.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced plans to deliver a new leading-edge 7nm FinFET semiconductor technology that will offer the ultimate in performance for the next era of computing applications. This technology provides more processing power for data centers, networking, premium mobile processors, and deep learning applications.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES' new 7nm FinFET technology is expected to deliver more than twice the logic density and a 30 percent performance boost compared to today's 16/14nm foundry FinFET offerings. The platform is based on an industry-standard FinFET transistor architecture and optical lithography, with EUV compatibility at key levels. This approach will accelerate the production ramp through significant re-use of tools and processes from the company's 14nm FinFET technology, which is currently in volume production at its Fab 8 campus in Saratoga County, N.Y. GLOBALFOUNDRIES plans to make an additional mutli-billion dollar investment in Fab 8 to enable development and production for 7nm FinFET.

"The industry is converging on 7nm FinFET as the next long-lived node, which represents a unique opportunity for GLOBALFOUNDRIES to compete at the leading edge," said GLOBALFOUNDRIES CEO Sanjay Jha. "We are well positioned to deliver a differentiated 7nm FinFET technology by tapping our years of experience manufacturing high-performance chips, the talent and know-how of our former IBM Microelectronics colleagues and the world-class R&D pipeline from our research alliance. No other foundry can match this legacy of manufacturing high-performance chips."

It has been confirmed that Samsung will be AMD's foundry partner for its next generation GPUs. It has been reported that AMD's upcoming "Arctic Islands" family of GPUs could be built on the 14 nanometer FinFET LPP (low-power Plus) process. AMD's rival NVIDIA, meanwhile, is building its next-gen "Pascal" GPU family on 16 nanometer FinFET node, likely at its traditional foundry partner TSMC.

It gets better - not only will Samsung manufacture AMD's next-gen GPUs, but also its upcoming "Zen" family of CPUs, at least a portion of it. AMD is looking to distribute manufacturing loads between two foundries, Samsung and GlobalFoundries, perhaps to ensure that foundry-level teething trouble doesn't throw its product launch cycle off the rails. One of the most talked about "Arctic Islands" GPUs is codenamed "Greenland," likely a successor to "Fiji." Sales of some of the first chips - GPUs or CPUs - made at Samsung, will begin some time in Q3 2016. Some of the other clients for Samsung's 14 nm FinFET node are Apple and Qualcomm. The company plans to speed up development of its more advanced 10 nm node to some time in 2017.

TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, today announces the AC3200 Tri Band Wireless Router, model TEW-828DRU, a next generation WiFi router featuring three concurrent wireless networks -- two separate ultra-performance 1,300 Mbps WiFi AC networks and a 600 Mbps WiFi N network.

The average North American home has almost 10 WiFi-networked devices. Globally, there are currently 16 billion WiFi devices connected to the internet and that number is projected to more than double by 2020. TRENDnet's TEW-828DRU is designed to effortlessly and intelligently manage the tremendous growth of WiFi devices in the home.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today at its Future of Compute event announced the addition of its first high performance system-on-a-chip (SoC), codenamed "Carrizo", and a mainstream SoC codenamed "Carrizo-L" as part of the company's 2015 AMD Mobile APU family roadmap. In collaboration with hardware and software partners, these new 2015 AMD Mobile APUs are designed as complete solutions for gaming, productivity applications, and ultra high-definition 4K experiences. With support for Microsoft DirectX 12, OpenCL 2.0, AMD's Mantle API, AMD FreeSync and support for Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10 operating system, the 2015 AMD Mobile APU family enables the experiences consumers expect.

"We continue to innovate and build upon our existing IP to deliver great products for our customers," said John Byrne, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics business group, AMD. "AMD's commitment to graphics and compute performance, as expressed by our goal to improve APU energy efficiency 25x by 2020, combines with the latest industry standards and fresh innovation to drive the design of the 2015 AMD Mobile APU family. We are excited about the experiences these new APUs will bring and look forward to sharing more details in the first half of next year."

G.SKILL International Co., Ltd., the leading high performance memory and SSD designer and manufacturer, is excited to announce the Phoenix Blade Series PCIe SSD, the next generation of high-speed, high-capacity storage device. The Phoenix Blade PCIe SSD is the perfect storage solution for extreme gaming, professional graphic design, industrial design, and HD video & audio content creation.

By introducing extreme read and write performance, the potential of today's multi-core processors can be unleashed, resulting in higher productivity and performance, whether you are in extreme gaming or professional design.

AMD today demonstrated the first network function virtualization (NFV) solution on AMD's 64-bit ARM-based SoC and announced that it is now sampling to AMD's embedded customers. The NFV demonstration is powered by a 64-bit ARM-based AMD Embedded R-Series SoC, codenamed "Hierofalcon," supported with technology from two key ecosystem partners -- Aricent for the networking software stack and Mentor Graphics for embedded Linux and tools. NFV is an innovative solution that simplifies deployment and management for network and telecommunications service providers with a fully virtualized communications infrastructure that helps maximize performance, while working to reduce costs.

At ARM TechCon, AMD specifically showcased the capabilities of an ARM-based NFV solution, virtualizing the functionality of a packet data network gateway, serving gateway, and a mobility management entity. In addition to virtualizing hardware components, AMD showcased a live traffic migration between the ARM-based AMD Embedded R-Series SoC and the x86-based second generation AMD R-Series APU. AMD's ARM-based NFV solution will be especially valuable for telecommunications network infrastructure providers interested in a flexible software-defined networking (SDN) implementation to manage networking services with configurable hardware to help reduce complexity and cost. NFV is the abstraction of numerous network devices such as routers and gateways, to enable relocation of network functions from dedicated hardware appliances to generic servers. With NFV, much of the intelligence currently built into proprietary, specialized hardware is accomplished with software running on general purpose hardware. The resulting solution is a fully virtualized communications infrastructure -- including virtual servers, storage and networks -- that simplifies deployment and management for network and telecommunications service providers. AMD is paving the way for both new and established service providers to design and deploy either x86 or ARM-based NFV infrastructure which meets their performance, cost and complexity requirements.

TSMC today announced that its collaboration with HiSilicon Technologies Co, Ltd. has successfully produced the foundry segment's first fully functional ARM-based networking processor withFinFET technology. This milestone is a strong testimonial to deep collaboration between the two companies and TSMC's commitment to providing industry-leading technology to meet the increasing customer demand for the next generation of high-performance, energy-efficient devices.

TSMC's 16FinFET process promises impressive speed and power improvements as well as leakage reduction. All of these advantages overcome challenges that have become critical barriers to further scaling of advanced SoC technology. It has twice the gate density of TSMC's 28HPM process, and operates more than 40% faster at the same total power, or reduces total power over 60% at the same speed.

Toshiba Corporation and SanDisk Corporation today celebrated the opening of the second phase of the No. 5 semiconductor fabrication facility (Fab 5) and the start of construction of the new No. 2 fabrication facility (Fab 2) at Yokkaichi Operations, Toshiba's NAND Flash memory plant in Mie prefecture, Japan.

Toshiba started construction of the second phase of Fab 5 in August 2013, and Toshiba and SanDisk have overseen installation of production equipment in the expanded facility since July this year. Production in phase 2 began at the start of this month, with 15 nm NAND flash memory process technology, the world's smallest and most advanced node. Toshiba and SanDisk announced deployment of this jointly developed 15 nm NAND flash process in April this year, with initial production in part of Fab 5 phase 1, and now target conversion of the remaining capacity in phase 1 to the new process technology.

SMART Modular Technologies, Inc., a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of specialty memory and storage solutions, including memory modules, flash memory cards and other memory and solid state storage products, has announced today the introduction of its next generation DDR4 NVDIMMs. Offering non-volatile memory functionality while utilizing the latest DDR4 DRAM technology, this memory solution is designed to improve application performance and data integrity in server environments.

Unique to these new DDR4-2133 NVDIMMs is SMART's proprietary SafeStor technology, the engine which initiates backup and restore operations upon command from the host controller. The NVDIMM modules also support multiple command delivery options to trigger SafeStor backup during a host-detected power outage and recovery events. The SafeStor engine employs multi-channel fast NAND and high-speed switching circuitry to provide robust backup and restore capability, all while functioning as a JEDEC standard DDR4 RDIMM during normal operation. Temporary power is provided to the NVDIMM during a power loss by a hybrid supercap module, which can be tailored to individual application environments. The new NVDIMMs also feature an end-to-end error checking and correction capability to ensure a high level of data integrity during backup and restore operations.

AMD today announced that Verizon is deploying SeaMicro SM15000 servers for its new global cloud platform and cloud-based object storage service, whose public beta was recently announced. AMD's SeaMicro SM15000 server links hundreds of cores together in a single system using a fraction of the power and space of traditional servers. To enable Verizon's next generation solution, technology has been taken one step further: Verizon and AMD co-developed additional hardware and software technology on the SM15000 server that provides unprecedented performance and best-in-class reliability backed by enterprise-level service level agreements (SLAs). The combination of these technologies co-developed by AMD and Verizon ushers in a new era of enterprise-class cloud services by enabling a higher level of control over security and performance SLAs. With this technology underpinning the new Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage, enterprise customers can for the first time confidently deploy mission-critical systems in the public cloud.

Seagate Technology plc, a world leader in storage solutions, today announced that it will be demonstrating its next generation heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology at CEATEC 2013. Pushing the boundaries of magnetic recording, Seagate's revolutionary HAMR technology is poised to power an astounding 20 Terabyte drive by as early as 2020.

"The world is generating an astronomical amount of data annually and that data needs to be stored. We are approaching the limits of today's recording technology and with HAMR technology, Seagate is on track to continue to increase areal density delivering hard drives with the lowest cost per gigabyte and reaching capacities of 20TB by 2020," said Mark Re, Seagate's chief technology officer.

Acer announces the support for the latest Intel Xeon E5-2600 v2 series processor across its line of high performance Altos servers and Veriton Workstations starting September 2013. With up to 50% more cores per processor, lower thermal design power (TDP), and improved clock speeds, the new line of Intel Xeon E5-2600 v2 processors offers extraordinary performance for companies and researchers alike. "Our professional line up of Altos servers is a cornerstone of our renewed focus on the commercial marketplace," stated Evis Lin, AVP of Commercial Products and Solutions Management at Acer. "Now with complete support of Intel's high-performance Xeon E5-2600 v2 CPUs, the Altos line is positioned perfectly to capitalize on channel and data center markets."

Acer's Altos line of professional server products offers robust functionality, best-in-class time to market, and scalable performance to meet a wide range of customer demands. Not only performance minded, the Altos servers can be configured based on customer demands with form factors that emphasize density and power savings, as well as other form factors to meet data-intense demands. Acer also offers its own management software, Acer Smart Server Manager, free of charge, enabling customers to simultaneously manage and rollout updates across multiple systems.

Altera Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc. today announced they have jointly demonstrated successful interoperability between Altera Stratix V FPGAs and Micron's Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC). This technology achievement enables system designers to evaluate today the benefits of HMC with FPGAs and SoCs for next-generation communications and high-performance computing designs. The demonstration provides an early proof point that production support of HMC will be delivered with Altera's Generation 10 portfolio, in alignment with market timing, and includes both Stratix 10 and Arria 10 FPGAs and SoCs.

HMC has been recognized by industry leaders and influencers as the long-awaited answer to address the limitations imposed by conventional memory technology, and provides ultra-high system performance with significantly lower power-per-bit. HMC delivers up to 15 times the bandwidth of a DDR3 module and uses 70 percent less energy and 90 percent less space than existing technologies. HMC's abstracted memory allows designers to devote more time leveraging HMC's revolutionary features and performance and less time navigating the multitude of memory parameters required to implement basic functions. It also manages error correction, resiliency, refresh, and other parameters exacerbated by memory process variation. Micron expects to begin sampling HMC later this year with volume production ramping in 2014.

Plextor, leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital storage devices, is slated to give a sneak preview of their new M6 SSD at the Flash Memory Summit and Exhibition August 13-15 to be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

The M6 features the next generation of Plextor's proprietary TrueSpeed technology working in tandem with the Marvell 88SS9187 controller for enhanced performance and reliability. The new drive will also feature the latest generation of A19 Toggle NAND flash from Toshiba and an ultra-slim 5 mm casing. Additional product specifications and a formal release date are expected to be announced in the coming months.

AMD's next generation GPU family that leverages upcoming silicon fab technologies to increase transistor counts, while maintaining or lowering thermal envelopes, is codenamed "Volcanic Islands," and we've known about that for some time now.

The centerpiece of "Volcanic Islands" family is "Hawaii," a high-end GPU that makes up top single- and dual-GPU SKUs; followed by "Maui" and "Tonga." Not much is known about these two. A dual-GPU product with two "Hawaii" chips is confusingly codenamed "New Zealand," which is already used to designate certain Radeon HD 7990 graphics cards. AMD is expected to debut its first "Volcanic Islands" GPUs in Q4-2013, when foundry partner TSMC's swanky new 20 nm node is expected to take flight.