NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 Ti today goes on sale, and we have reviewed a few of them. However, the RTX 5070 non-Ti variant has reportedly faced some production issues. According to CTEE reports, volume production was pushed back by one month, with manufacturing expected to reach full capacity by mid-March. Given that RTX 5070 is officially coming on March 5, we are left to wonder if enough capacity will be available for the launch day or if it will follow the same footsteps of scarcity that current RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 have experienced.

The unannounced RTX 5060's mass production has been pushed to mid-April, with both models requiring additional debugging due to unexpected issues. NVIDIA's engineers are ironing out all bugs to ensure stable GPU and drivers arrive on time. With the RTX 5070 using the GB206 GPU, the RTX 5060 is expected to implement a GB206 variant, with the in-development RTX 5060 Ti featuring a slightly larger GB205 GPU. For memory, RTX 5070 is expected to utilize 12 GB of GDDR7, and RTX 5060 should come with an 8 GB GDDR7 configuration.

The European Commission today approved funding under the European Chips Act for the Infineon Technologies AG Smart Power Fab in Dresden. The official funding approval from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), which is responsible for the disbursement of EU Chips Act funding, is still pending and is expected within the next few months. Additionally, the Smart Power Fab is already receiving support under the European Commission's IPCEI ME/CT ("Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies") innovation program. The total funding for the Dresden site amounts to around one billion euros. Construction began in March 2023 and is progressing successfully. The Fab opening is planned for 2026.

"This government-supported investment by Infineon strengthens the position of Dresden, Germany and Europe as a semiconductor hub and promotes a state-of-the-art innovation and production ecosystem for microelectronics," says Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon. "We are increasing semiconductor capacity in Europe and thus helping secure stable supply chains in automotive, security and industrial fields."

In an interview with The Telegraph, Acer CEO and chairman Jason Chen said that its products made in the PRC will see a price increase of 10 percent as direct results of the new tariffs that the US will levy on electronics. However, Mr Chen is quoted as saying "We think 10 percent probably will be the default price increase because of the import tax." which doesn't mean it will be exactly 10 percent, as it might vary a bit between product segments. That said, what's clear is that Acer and most likely every other company that manufactures hardware in the PRC aren't going to eat any of the tariffs, as the companies appear to be shifting the burden of the new tariffs straight over to the end consumers. Mr Chen also suggested that some companies might be increasing their pricing by more than 10 percent.

The price increase will happen over time, as the new tariffs won't affect products that have left the PRC before the end of February. Alongside Acer, which is the fifth-biggest computer brand in the US market, it's likely that Dell, HP and Lenovo, as well as Apple, are going to hike their prices by the same 10 percent or more. Acer moved the assembly of its desktop computers out of the PRC during Trump's previous term, when a 25 percent tariff was imposed. Now Acer is looking at moving at least some additional parts of its productions out of the PRC and the US is on the table for some of its products. Considering that some 80 percent of all laptops imported to the US are made in the PRC, the Consumer Trade Association is expecting the new tariffs to cost US consumers some US$143 billion, which it assumes will lead to a slump in sales of consumer electronics.

TrendForce's latest findings reveal that the NAND Flash market continues to be plagued by oversupply in the first quarter of 2025, leading to sustained price declines and financial strain for suppliers. However, TrendForce anticipates a significant improvement in the market's supply-demand balance in the second half of the year.

Key factors contributing to this shift include proactive production cuts by manufacturers, inventory reductions in the smartphone sector, and growing demand driven by AI and DeepSeek applications. These elements are expected to alleviate oversupply and support a price rebound for NAND Flash.

It would be safe to state that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 launch was anything but ideal. Gamers had to deal with whacky NVIDIA marketing material with absurd performance claims, followed by disappointing generational improvement for the RTX 5080, only to be left dealing with abysmal supply leading to obscene shortages and scalper-induced price inflation. However, it does seem like things are about to take a positive turn - NVIDIA is rumored to have ramped up production for its GB202 GPU, which the RTX 5090 is based on, according to a reliable source.

Spotted by VideoCardz, MEGAsizeGPU has claimed that the supply for the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU will soon be "stupidly high", which is absolute music to our ears. In a reply thread, the source further claimed that at least one AIB partner already has "tons of cards", which sure does paint a promising picture for the future. As such, the source expects that the supply will reach customers in about a month, which is to be expected since production has been cranked only recently. Apparently, demand for the GB200 GPU has been lower than usual, forcing NVIDIA to switch to producing GeForce GPUs instead. Of course, the margins for the gaming GPUs are lower, but the production capacity has to go somewhere.

Aaaaaand… action! Time to become a Hollywood mogul! The Executive is now officially released with a 10% launch discount! Produce your dream movies. Tackle production challenges. Build your empire…And much more! We're thrilled to finally let you get your hands on it! We're incredibly proud of this project, and after your feedback on the demo, we can't wait to hear your thoughts on the full game!

Shape the history of the Hollywood movie industry in this sandbox business simulation game. Create the movies you've always wanted to see, hire the best team, research cutting-edge technologies, and dominate the Box Office. Can you rise from a small studio to a Hollywood giant? The Executive is a sandbox business simulation game that lets you rewrite the history of Hollywood from the 1970s to today. As the founder of a scrappy production company, you'll produce the movies you've always dreamed of, manage ambitious franchises, and build a studio that rivals the industry's greatest. Navigate the challenges of the movie business, outmaneuver your competition, and decide whether to chase critical acclaim or box office domination.

TSMC has unveiled today its board meeting decisions, the chip giant has greenlit a massive US$17 billion investment to boost production capacity. According to TSMC, to meet long-term capacity plans based on market demand forecasts and TSMC's technology development roadmap, the board approved capital appropriations of approximately US$17.14 billion for installation and upgrade of advanced technology capacity, installation and upgrade of advanced packaging, mature and/or specialty technology capacity, fab construction, and installation of fab facility systems.

Previous reports by MoneyDJ suggested that TSMC might unveil plans for a third Arizona fab, a potential fourth fab, or its first advanced packaging plant after the board meeting. However, no updates have been confirmed yet. Industry sources suggested that TSMC's second Arizona fab, featuring 3 nm, will likely go ahead of schedule, providing a temporary response to U.S. pressures. According to the same report, TSMC's second Arizona fab is expected to begin equipment installation in mid-2026, with mass production expected by 2027. Notably, this progress would exceed TSMC's projections which expected the second plant to start 3 nm and 2 nm production in 2028, with a third plant potentially for the 2 nm process by the late 2030s. The MoneyDJ report further notes that initially, TSMC's second Arizona plant will offer 25K-30K 3 nm wafers per month. TSMC's first Arizona plant, initially slated for 2025, started 4 nm production ahead of schedule in Q4 2024.

Last March, Relic Entertainment announced its independence; an "external investor" helped officiate the Vancouver, Canada-based studio's separation from Sega. Via a press release, Relic thanked its former owner for the: "support over the years and guidance during this transition have been instrumental to our success. We may be out of the SEGA business, but we remain friends and colleagues. We are excited about this next chapter." The newly-independent development house proceeded to cut staff headcounts—according to the 2024 news cycle—and seemingly kept a low profile for the rest of the year. In early 2025, Relic has revealed its refreshed strategies and goals; VentureBeat and Game Developer both sat down and conducted interviews with Justin Dowdeswell (CEO). The relatively new Relic boss outlined his company's focus on three key areas of development. Relic remains committed to existing titles (e.g. Company of Heroes 3), but it will also pursue the production and publishing of "smaller-scope" games, as well re-imaginations of classics from its past portfolio.

Dowdeswell believes that company leadership will put "Relic back on the map" following its well-documented split from Sega. The future looks bright, due to the real-time strategy specialist's now unconstrained operating model—the CEO believes that his studio: "has innovated for its whole existence. The ability to tap into that is best served with Relic as an independent studio." Dowdeswell and his colleagues have long worked within the constraints of a relatively niche market segment; Relic's chief envisions something with a wider/more mainstream appeal: "the opportunity we have here is to crack the case of where RTS needs to go next...We've definitely seen really highly engaged multiplayer audiences. But it is limited when we talk about Company of Heroes, for example. This is a game set in World War II, which limits the audience to some degree. It's an RTS which further limits the audience. And when we internally talk about what the barriers are for us, broadening that audience is big. How do we bring new players in? How do we reach players?...We definitely strongly believe there is a market and there are players out there. It's our job to give them the next great RTS."

25 years ago, The Sims made history with the first instalment of a legendary series that would go on to be one of the best-selling of all time. Few simulation games have enjoyed the success and longevity of The Sims—and the freedom and creativity to play with life however you want has afforded the series near-unrivalled appeal in the years since. This week, Electronic Arts is celebrating this milestone and the history of the series in a big way, which includes a huge The Sims 4 Free Content Update containing new Create a Sim options, clothing, Build/Buy Items and much more. The festivities will also include the limited-time Blast From The Past Event, which lets players earn revamped versions of iconic items from the original The Sims game via in-game goals.

We had the opportunity to chat with Kevin Gibson, Production Director for The Sims at EA. Gibson has been working in production roles across the franchise since 2003, and has first-hand experience of how the series has evolved in that time. The studio is abuzz with excitement about the franchise's birthday, and Gibson shares that digging deep into the series' past to rediscover nostalgic highlights has been extremely rewarding. "Our incredible players have shown us that no one does life like The Sims, and we wanted to celebrate this journey we have been on together," Gibson says. "25 years ago there was a game with an idea that made big a splash at E3, and look where we are today! We've been part of multiple generations and touched millions of lives.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced global semiconductor sales hit $627.6 billion in 2024, an increase of 19.1% compared to the 2023 total of $526.8 billion. Additionally, fourth-quarter sales of $170.9 billion were 17.1% more than the fourth quarter of 2023, and 3.0% higher than the third quarter of 2024. And global sales for the month of December 2024 were $57.0 billion, a decrease of 1.2% compared to the November 2024 total. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average. SIA represents 99% of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms.

"The global semiconductor market experienced its highest-ever sales year in 2024, topping $600 billion in annual sales for the first time, and double-digit market growth is projected for 2025," said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. "Semiconductors enable virtually all modern technologies - including medical devices, communications, defense applications, AI, advanced transportation, and countless others - and the long-term industry outlook is incredibly strong."

ASRock told PCMag it plans to move some of its production out of China. "We need time to shift the manufacturing of GPU cards and other products hit by the 10% tariff to different countries," they said. This week, the White House put a 10% tax on all Chinese imports to the US, this tax applies on top of any other taxes the US already had on certain Chinese goods. ASRock also said, "While we move from making things in China to making them elsewhere, we might take on some of the cost and raise prices a bit to show the higher costs." But they added, "It's not easy to raise prices because the market is still very competitive." ASRock also told PCMag that it already pays a 25% tax on its power supplies made in China. "For items like PSUs that already have an extra 25% tax, makers will keep doing what they've been doing," the company said.

If Trump administration doesn't follow through with his threats of huge tariffs against Taiwan, the PC gaming industry will primarily feel the effects on companies like ASRock and MSI (which makes its motherboards in Shenzhen, China). These are the component and peripheral makers that have part or all of their manufacturing processes in China. ASRock's announcement isn't a huge surprise, as we saw hints of this trend in late 2024 when PC Partner (second-biggest graphics card maker, producing PCBs for brands such as Inno3D and Zotac) moved its headquarters from China to Singapore. It will be no surprise if other top-tier brands such as GIGABYTE, MSI, and ASUS take similar actions sooner or later.

Well, unless someone has been living under a rock for the past four years, freshly launched gaming hardware getting scalped to oblivion should hardly come as a surprise. We witnessed this just recently with the launch of the NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPUs, considering the multiple-thousand-dollar premiums that the cards were sold for on platforms such as eBay. One might foresee a similar predicament for the much-awaited Nintendo Switch 2, but if Nintendo President Furakawa's recent statements are anything to go by, that might not be the case after all.

According to Furakawa, Nintendo is well-aware of the potential stock shortages that the Switch 2 may face, taking lessons from the OG Switch launch back in 2017, and is taking "all possible measures" to make sure the Switch 2 launch plays out smoothly. Of course, what this essentially means, is that Nintendo will be attempting its best to produce as many units of the Switch 2 as possible in order to meet customer demand at launch. This is exactly what Furakawa mentioned in his interview with Nikkei, citing that the supply chain constraints that hindered production in 2024 and 2023 no longer exist in 2025. As such, there should not be any further hurdles that hold back Nintendo from its production targets.

Apple's M4 SoC was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews, particularly regarding the commendable performance and efficiency benefits it brought to the table. The chip first appeared in the OLED iPad Pro lineup last May, arriving in the company's MacBook Pro lineup only much later, giving Intel's Lunar Lake and AMD's Strix Point a run for their money. Now, it appears that the company is cognizant of the heat brought by AMD's Strix Halo, and has already commenced mass production for the first SoC in the M5 family - the vanilla M5, according to Korean news outlet ET News.

Just like last time, the M5 SoC has been repeatedly rumored to first arrive in the next-generation iPad Pro, scheduled to enter production sometime in the second half of this year. The MacBook Pro will likely be next-in-line for the M5 treatment, followed the rest of the lineup as per tradition. Interestingly, although Apple decided against using TSMC's 2 nm process for this year's chips, the higher-tier variants, including the M5 Pro and M5 Max are expected to utilize TSMC's SoIC-mH technology, allowing for vertical stacking of chips that should ideally benefit thermals, and possibly even allow for better and larger GPUs thanks to the separation of the CPU and GPU portions. Consequently, yields will also improve, which will allow Apple to bring costs down.

Audio-Technica, a leading innovator in transducer technology for over 60 years, is expanding its headphone offerings with the new R-Series line of professional open-back models. The former flagship ATH-R70x has been upgraded to the new ATH-R70xa, and is joined by the new ATH-R50x.

ATH-R70xa
The ATH-R70xa is Audio-Technica's new flagship pair of professional open-back reference headphones. Whether mixing, mastering, or creating, the ATH-R70xa is the perfect production tool, delivering accurate and dependable reference across stereo, surround, and immersive formats. This enhanced version of the ATH-R70x delivers the natural and balanced sound of its predecessor but with refined accuracy and detail, providing a heightened listening experience with precise imaging and depth for realistic sound staging. While the ATH-R70x utilized damping and its acoustic design for added low-frequency emphasis, the fully open-back sound of the ATH-R70xa relies solely on the performance of the driver—each diaphragm movement translates directly into sound without reliance on acoustic cavities or resonance for frequency enhancement and minimizing distortion.

Last month, Sony Japan announced an upcoming retirement of Blu-ray Disc media and other physical media formats. On January 23, the company's Recording Media department addressed its "valued customers" via a short press release. At some point in February (2025), production of "Blu-ray Disc media, MiniDiscs for recording, MD data for recording, and MiniDV cassettes" will cease. Reports from late January suggest that the Recording Media division's last factory will face closure in the coming weeks, signalling the end of commercial supplies. Additionally, Sony disclosed that no "successor models" will be released. Naturally, fans of optical media formats did not welcome Sony's announcement regarding the retirement of these products.

Rival manufacturers have taken the opportunity to offer their fares—fresh news reports have pointed to an interesting Verbatim Japan office-issued press release. The Taiwanese storage specialist and I-O Data pushed out a joint statement, assuring that they: "will live up to the trust of customers through stable supply and continued sales of optical discs in the Japanese market." The two companies appear to be seizing the moment, but their announcement did not name or shame Sony: "the domestic optical disc market is currently at a major turning point, with some manufacturers withdrawing from manufacturing and sales businesses and other trends that are shrinking the supply system. Under these circumstances, Verbatim Japan is working closely with I-O DATA to continue to provide high-quality optical discs to the Japanese market, with stable supply as its top priority."

TechInsights has identified CXMT's new 16 nm DRAM chips in Gloway DDR-6000 UDIMM modules, confirming advancement in the Chinese memory industry. The CXMT 16 Gb DDR5 chip measures 67 square millimeters with a density of 0.239 Gb per square millimeter. The G4 DRAM cells are 20 percent smaller than CXMT's previous G3 generation. This follows the company's progression from 23 nm (G1) and 18 nm (G2) nodes. Despite this advancement, CXMT remains approximately three years behind Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron in manufacturing capabilities. The Hefei-based company achieved this production milestone under US sanctions restricting access to certain manufacturing equipment and materials, setting it back years in gaining production of advanced memory nodes.

TechInsights found these chips in commercially available memory modules, confirming CXMT's entry into DDR5 production. DDR5 technology is projected to be the primary DRAM standard through 2027. The three major DRAM manufacturers have been producing DDR5 through multiple generations, with DDR5 now reaching 10,000 MT/s speeds. This represents CXMT's first DDR5 DRAM product to reach the consumer market. The chips meet basic compatibility requirements for current DDR5 specifications, meaning that the Chinese memory manufacturing has achieved "1z" memory manufacturing on its soil. This marks the second major news for the Chinese semiconductor industry, right after TechInsights also confirmed that YMTC has started shipping 292-layer NAND Flash. With domestic demand for memory and storage projected to remain strong, we wonder if the supply will exceed demand and allow some left-over chips for worldwide usage.

Intel executives are reportedly dealing with a major challenge that affects its portfolio of European manufacturing facilities—a recent RTÉ News article placed focus on Team Blue's Fab 34 site, located in Leixlip, Ireland. Energy costs are climbing across the globe, but inside sources believe that company leaders have expressed concern regarding the cost of powering the Irish facility. Last week's report posits that senior Intel figures are committed to keeping Fab 34 alive for a while—seemingly unaffected by a widespread cost-cutting initiative—this high-volume production site remains: "critical to its European operation for at least the next seven years."

Intel is reportedly already engaged in talks with the Irish government—likely negotiating over strategies that will lower its local energy bills in County Kildare. Additionally, other channels are—supposedly—being explored via the EU Chips Act. RTÉ News gathered comments from unnamed senior sources at the recently concluded Davos World Economic Forum—one individual stated that Ireland's (advantageous) lower labor costs are sharply offset by the higher cost of energy. The report claims that Team Blue: "estimates that in Ireland energy costs are 15 cent per kilowatt-hour, around double that in other markets where Intel operates." Fab 34's operating costs have been compared to similarly-equipped facilities in the USA and Israel. Executive sources believe that Ireland-specific problems stem from infrastructure backlogs in the renewable sector, and the fixed cost of delivering energy from offshore wind farms—the latter tends to pass expenses on to customers.

Earlier this week, Taiwan experienced a magnitude 6.4 earthquake—this seismic event interrupted manufacturing activities at several TSMC chip-making facilities. As a precaution, foundry employees in both Central and Southern Taiwan were evacuated. Production resumed fairly quickly following inspections of crucial infrastructure—no major damage to facilities or equipment was noted. The latest reports suggest that a relatively minor number of TSMC wafers have been affected by the recent quake, while some recalibration of instrumentation is required to get things back on track.

Inside sources reckon that up to 20,000 wafers (possibly 10,000 at a minimum) could be scrapped—assessments are reportedly still underway, but a small proportion of client shipments could be disrupted. News articles point to this total being spread across three affected locations. Fab 18 is a key 3 nm production hub—situated in Taiwan's Southern Science Park, Tainan's Fab 14 specializes in 4 nm and 5 nm processes, and Fab 8 (Hsinchu) takes care of 200 nm. Industry experts believe that TSMC will bounce back quickly, and that the damaged wafer count represents a minor dent in the proverbial armor—on a good day, manufacturing output can reach up to 37,000 units.

LG Display today reported unaudited earnings results based on consolidated K-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for the three-month period ending December 31, 2024.

• Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by 15% to KRW 7,833 billion from KRW 6,821 billion in the third quarter of 2024 and increased by 6% from KRW 7,396 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2024 recorded KRW 83.1 billion. This compares with the operating loss of KRW 80.6 billion in the third quarter of 2024 and with the operating profit of KRW 132 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• EBITDA profit in the fourth quarter of 2024 was KRW 1,306 billion, compared with EBITDA profit of KRW 1,162 billion in the third quarter of 2024 and with EBITDA profit of KRW 1,272 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Net loss in the fourth quarter of 2024 was KRW 839 billion, compared with the net loss of KRW 338 billion in the third quarter of 2024 and with the net income of KRW 50.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

NVIDIA has unveiled a radical graphics card prototype that never reached production, offering insight into its design process. In a YouTube video called "Designing the Founders Edition | GeForce RTX 5090", NVIDIA showcases an unreleased design that would have occupied four PCIe slots, featuring a "three-thirds flow-through" cooling system with an unconventional three-fan stair-step configuration. NVIDIA ultimately rejected the quad-slot concept as impractical for most computer systems.
Engineers refined the cooling approach for the RTX 50-series, developing a more streamlined "two-thirds flow-through" design that maintains thermal performance while reducing the card's footprint to two PCIe slots.

Technical challenges emerged during development, particularly in connector design. The team struggled to create a ribbon cable supporting high-bandwidth UHBR20 DisplayPort 2.1b and HDMI 2.1b connections. Their solution involved infusing glass fibers into the cable, enabling support for three DisplayPort and one HDMI connector. Critical engineering focus was placed on the liquid metal thermal interface material. Extensive stress testing ensured reliability across various orientations, with particular attention to preventing oxidation. Given the electrically conductive nature of liquid metal, an air-tight seal around the GPU die became crucial to prevent potential hardware failure.

TrendForce's latest research report highlights that the NAND Flash industry will continue to face dual pressure from weak demand and oversupply in 2025. In response, manufacturers including Micron, Kioxia/SanDisk, Samsung, and SK hynix/Solidigm have similar plans to cut production—a move that could accelerate industry consolidation in the long term.

TrendForce reports that NAND Flash manufacturers are primarily implementing production cuts by lowering utilization rates and delaying process upgrades. These actions are driven by three major factors:

In the early hours of Tuesday, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near a remote mountainous region roughly 24 miles southeast of Chiayi in Taiwan, causing temporary operational halts at multiple TSMC facilities. The tremor occurred at 12:17 AM local time and was felt in Tainan, home to four of TSMC's manufacturing sites. Workers in both Central and Southern Taiwan were evacuated as a precaution, following standard company protocols designed to ensure employee safety. TSMC initiated thorough structural inspections immediately after the quake. According to company representatives, all crucial infrastructure, such as water supply and power systems, remained fully functional. With no significant damage detected during safety assessments, TSMC has gradually restarted its production lines, minimizing any long-term impact on its global client base.

Despite the relatively brief disruption, the incident exposes the fragility of the semiconductor manufacturing process. Taiwan's frequent seismic activity has the potential to affect the complex manufacturing processes crucial for producing silicon. Given the company's massive consumption of chemicals and silicon ingots, any significant production setbacks at TSMC can resonate through global supply chains. To reduce these geographical and nature-inspired risks, TSMC is investing heavily in new manufacturing facilities elsewhere, notably in Arizona. Although these sites are expected to enhance the company's resilience, they will only account for around 10% of TSMC's total production capacity. Additionally, as TSMC doesn't plan to bring state-of-the-art production to other sites, the company must implement safety features against earthquake protection in its Taiwan facilities to continue production. A minor manufacturing hiccup can equate to billions of losses across the supply chain.

MacBook Air aficionados, at least most of them, have been longing for an OLED-equipped variant for quite a while now. OLED displays, especially the tandem-style units that Apple ships with its iPad Pros, have undeniable advantages over tradition LCDs, such as a near-infinite contrast ratio, near-instant response times, and excellent color reproduction. The fear of panel burn-in does exist, although as OLED technology progresses, such fears continue to subside. That said, for those who are holding out for it, the grapevine indicates they will have to hold their horses for a while longer.

A recent report by The Elec has stated that the MacBook Air, which was previously expected to get the OLED treatment sometime in 2027, has now been delayed by another two years. As such, the MacBook Air is now not expected to boast an OLED display before 2029 at the earliest. The Elec claims that the primary cause behind the delay is the lackluster sales boost brought by the OLED upgrade to the iPad Pro lineup, which fell short of what Apple anticipated. That said, the MacBook Air will utilize "Oxide TFT" technology for its LCDs starting 2027, allowing for improved color accuracy, energy efficiency, and contrast. MacBook Pros have already utilized the technology since 2022, and are still expected to boast OLED panels by 2026.

In 2018, Kingdom Come: Deliverance's celebrated score played a crucial role in supporting Warhorse's unique vision for immersive RPG gaming. Composer Jan Valta returns for the sequel with an expanded, handcrafted score that delicately blends authenticity with the tastes of a modern world. This gentle approach matters. The medieval music of Henry's world was dominated by the spoken word, with the instruments assuming more of a background role. Time signatures ebbed and flowed with far more fluidity than modern mainstream ears are accustomed to - a story-focused form of jazz, if you like. "It didn't always go in four beats or four bars, and then another four bars," Jan explains. "In medieval times the music was led by the lyrics. It was led by the text which was usually sacred. It came from God, or from the Apostles, or from Jesus. The music was tamed by the lyrics."

Music to Your Ears
Jan instead prefers to view his final touches of authenticity as "seasoning", designed to elevate a more traditionally structured soundtrack. The score exists first and foremost to serve the narrative beats that drive Henry's adventure forwards, in other words, rather than authenticity for authenticity's sake. "Daniel Vávra (creative director) and I quickly came to a common ground, which was a symphonic soundtrack: film-like music, which is then spiced or seasoned with medieval times," he says.

SK hynix has sped up its HBM4 development plans, according to a report from ZDNet. The company wants to start shipping HBM4 samples to NVIDIA this June, which is earlier than the original timeline. SK hynix hopes to start supplying products by the end of Q3 2025, this push likely aims to get a head start in the next-gen HBM market. To meet this sped-up schedule, SK hynix has set up a special HBM4 development team to supply NVIDIA. Industry sources indicated on January 15th that SK Hynix plans to deliver its first customer samples of HBM4 in early June this year. The company hit a big milestone when it wrapped up the HBM4 tapeout in Q4 2024, the last design step.

HBM4 marks the sixth iteration of high-bandwidth memory tech using stacked DRAM architecture. It comes after HBM3E, the current fifth-gen version, with large-scale production likely to kick off in late 2025 at the earliest. HBM4 boasts a big leap forward doubling data transfer ability with 2,048 I/O channels up from its forerunner. NVIDIA planned to use 12-layer stacked HBM4 in its 2026 "Rubin" line of powerful GPUs. However, NVIDIA has moved up its timeline for "Rubin" aiming to launch in late 2025.