Over the past weekend, GMKtec's Weibo channel announced that pre-orders for its recently unveiled EVO-X2 mini PC model will start on April 7 (through JD.com), for customers located in China. Almost two weeks ago, the manufacturer boasted about its brand-new offering being the "world's first AI mini PC" equipped with AMD's Ryzen AI "Strix Halo" Max+ 395 APU. Extra international attention was gained, due to Lisa Su's autographing of a showcased unit during proceedings at the 2025 AI PC Innovation Summit (held on March 18, in Beijing). Pricing and availability were not mentioned during this press event, but GMKtec's Saturday (March 29) bulletin has revealed a (roughly) $2067 USD price point for the EVO-X2 launch model.

The manufacturer's blog entry stated that the: "EVO-X2 AI supercomputing host is coming, 128 GB + 2 TB priced at 14999 yuan, pricing reconstructs the desktop computing power boundary! Equipped with AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 flagship processor, 16-core 32-thread architecture with 5.1 GHz acceleration frequency, combined with 128 GB LPDDR5X memory and 2 TB high-speed storage, it can realize local deployment of 70 billion parameter large models, and AI performance exceeds NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090D graphics card." This potent compact AI-crunching solution is tempered by GMKtec's "innovative" Arctic Ocean cooling system. They advertise this design as using: "dual-turbofans and VC heat sinks to achieve silent heat dissipation at a peak power consumption of 140 W. The body adopts a recycled aluminium suspension design, equipped with HDMI, DP and USB4 interfaces, and supports Wi-Fi 6 + 2.5G network access." The brand has not yet announced an international release, but their EVO-X2 mini PC could face serious competition. Late last month, Framework debuted its Desktop product range—consisting of configurable 4.5L Mini-ITX systems—with a top-end Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (128 GB) model starting at $1999.

International corporate entities have to deal with global time differences; causing uncountable logistical headaches. As evidenced by local reports; AMD and board partner representatives decided to debut their next-gen Radeon RX 9070 Series in front of a (mostly) Chinese audience. The much earlier than anticipated presentation took place well in advance of the "main event," with Jack Huynh and other Team Red big brass showcasing brand-new products to regional distributors and media outlets. VideoCardz believes that this "surprise" press mini-junket occurred—roughly—twelve hours ahead of the officially scheduled international "special broacast."

Baseline price points—VAT included—of 4999 RMB (~$686 USD) and 4499 RMB (~$617 USD) were announced, for the incoming Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 models (respectively). We now know that North American MSRPs (excluding tax) are $599 and $549 (respectively). AMD's presentation slides included more shots of their reference designs (MBA), in triple or dual-fan configurations. Earlier in the week, industry watchdogs proposed that the Radeon RX 9070 Series would launch with an all-custom card lineup; with no AMD-built options. Attendees noted several on-stage board partner company reps, including Jack Yu (ASUS China). ASRock, GIGABYTE, PowerColor, VASTARMOR, XFX and Yeston were the other participants; with demonstration hardware in their hands.

HardwareLuxx's editor, Andreas Schilling, was invited by Intel Tech Tour to attend a recent press event at the company's manufacturing facility and test labs in Malaysia. Invited media representatives were allowed to observe ongoing work on next generation client and data center-oriented products. He posted a short summary of these observations via social media: "I've seen wafers with Emerald Rapids XCC on them, that were being cut. Not a surprise at all, but still...also MTL682_C0, so Meteor Lake with 6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores and GT2 Graphic Tile tested in a C0 stepping and finally the Failure Lab already saw BMG G10 - Battlemage is real." We have been hearing mixed mutterings about the status of Team Blue's next-gen Arc GPU technology, with more concrete evidence of its existence popping up around mid-August—namely in the shape of two Battlemage interposers, BGA2362-BMG-X2 and BGA2727-BMG-X3, uploaded to Intel's DESIGN-iN Tools website.

Schilling elaborated further in his full report: "In the Failure Analysis Lab, we came across a tray that evidently contained chips from the next Arc generation - at least, there were already corresponding chips in the analysis, which were clearly labeled as BMG G10." This chip looks to be lined up to succeed the current Alchemist ACM-G10 GPU, as seen on Intel Arc A750 and A770 discrete graphics cards. A leaked product roadmap shows Intel targeting a Battlemage launch around Q2 - Q3 2024, with the aforementioned G10 having a TDP rating of <225 W, as well as another variant—G21—rated for a maximum power consumption of 150 W.

The Sky UK news network has gathered intel from industry and government sources about an industry event that is due to take place next week at a very famous location - 10 Downing Street - the residence of the UK's Prime Minister. Sky News has been informed that Microsoft has been invited to attend the showcase by the UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) industry organization - best described as the main trade body for the nation's games and interactive entertainment sector. The American technology behemoth is expected to display and demonstrate their Xbox gaming product range in front of top politicians and key entertainment industry figures. There is no mention of representatives from Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) being invited to attend in a similar capacity. The timing of this UKIE organized event (to take place on April 26) is highly controversial as it will coincide with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority's statutory deadline to deliver a Phase-2 verdict on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulatory body has already delivered a provisional approval of the aforementioned deal, but stated that it required more time to investigate the potential for irregularities in competition within the cloud gaming sector. The Phase-2 verdict, due to be delivered next week, is anticipated to include the antitrust watchdog's finalized judgement on cloud gaming market affairs. Sky's insider sources in the city of London have speculated that Microsoft could face a humiliating situation at the 10 Downing-hosted party, if by coincidence the CMA changes its opinion on the Activision Blizzard takeover bid. If the competition regulator stays consistent with its (earlier) provisional decision, Microsoft could be criticized for its extensive courting of government organizations - not only in the UK, but around the world.