MAINGEAR—an award-winning PC system integrator of custom gaming desktops, notebooks, and workstations—today announced that they will be utilizing their manufacturing facilities to produce affordable and high-quality emergency ventilators to aid hospitals in the fight against COVID-19. The MAINGEAR LIV can be produced at scale for approximately a quarter of the price of traditional ventilators.

New Jersey-based manufacturer MAINGEAR—known for building the industry's most complex liquid cooling systems and high performance PCs—is located twenty-minutes outside of New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Due to the growing number of infected individuals needing treatment, there are significant shortages of ventilators in New York City hospitals. MAINGEAR is quickly re-tooling much of its production space for mass assembly of the MAINGEAR LIV—an emergency pulmonary ventilator for use in intensive care units on intubated patients.

Huawei is planning a response to a recent administrative move by the U.S. Department of Commerce that makes it impossible for foreign companies such as Taiwan's TSMC to serve it. Huawei's mobile SoC design house subsidiary, HiSilicon, is highly dependant on TSMC to contract manufacture its SoCs on the company's 7 nm (N7), and various 10 nm-class FinFET nodes. Huawei is preparing to port some of its SoC designs to a 14 nm node of China's state-owned Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) as contingency. Without access to 7 nm, Huawei's plans to lead the global 5G infrastructure market would hit severe roadblocks. The U.S. move has triggered a heated (and somewhat loaded) reprisal from Global Times, a newspaper that's regarded in diplomatic circles as a platform for hawkish unofficial messaging by the Chinese government.

China could blackmail the U.S. into lifting its trade ban and a more recent supplier-access denial to Huawei, with potential shortages of essential medical supplies, particularly face masks. An eminent Chinese industrial analyst, Ma Jihua, told Chinese newspaper Global Times: "The Huawei problem has been elevated to one of national interests and Chinese firms may stop supplying much-needed face masks if the U.S. provokes [a fight with Huawei]." In addition to Chinese suppliers, American firms such as 3M manufacture face masks in China, besides several other consumables needed to fight epidemics, such as gloves, hazmat suits, goggles, etc.

GTA V, made by Rockstar and Take-Two, is possibly the biggest game ever designed, with the massive player base and massive profits fulfilled. Perhaps the most interesting report today is that the game has stayed in the top game sales chart in the United States for the past 74 months. Month after month, gamers have been buying digital copies of the game to a point where it maintained some of the top spots on the charts. Since the game launched in 2013, it got support for two generations of consoles and PC platforms, making it accessible to a huge base of gamers. With constant updates and new content, the game managed to keep players interested and busy with new quests to conquer.

"Recurrent consumer spending on GTA Online grew 23% YoY to a new record, driven by the July release of the Diamond Casino Resort update. This update was GTA Online's biggest content launch ever, delivering record daily, weekly, and monthly active users in July and again in August," CEO of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick said in November.

TechPowerUp and Cooler Master, in partnership with ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance, brought you a cracker of an year-end Giveaway, with a full gaming desktop on offer, equipped with stable and reliable components from the ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance of co-branded hardware. Our TUF Gaming Alliance system includes an ASUS TUF X470-Plus Gaming motherboard, AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor, ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 TUF Gaming graphics card, 16 GB Apacer Panther Rage RGB TUF Gaming Edition memory, Cooler Master MasterBox MB500 TUF Gaming Edition case, Team Group T-Force Delta S TUF RGB 250 GB SSD, Cooler Master MasterWatt 750 W TUF Gaming Edition power-supply, and a Cooler Master MasterAir MA410M TUF Gaming Edition CPU cooler. The Winner takes all in our Giveaway, and without further ado here they are:

• TechPowerUp Forums user "diatribe" from the United States

Huge Congratulations @diatribe, a winner is you! TechPowerUp and Cooler Master will return with more such interesting giveaways!

China announced that it will reduce import tariffs on several U.S. commodities, including certain kinds of technology. This is a sign of easing tensions between the United States and China on its devastating trade-war waged between 2017-19 that wiped billions of Dollars of value from the capital markets and saw increases in prices of goods around the world. The exhaustive list of 859 commodities covers raw materials for a variety of polymers and plastics found in consumer durables, raw materials for energy storage devices, certain kinds of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, photo and video imaging equipment (camera components), LCD and OLED display components. There are hundreds of other commodities from other industries, covering food, industrial automation, and agriculture.

The items on China's updated import tariffs list amounts to some USD $389 billion in annual trade, or about 18 percent of China's annual imports. The cuts in import tariffs are expected to not just benefit U.S. exporters to China, but also stimulate similar import tariff cuts from the U.S. in response. China has an insatiable appetite for camera equipment, and has eased imports of OLED and certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which could have a trickle-down effect on the tech industry. Find the complete schedule of goods with updated import tariffs here. We've machine translated relevant pages in the screenshots below.

NVIDIA today announced that the United States Postal Service - the world's largest postal service, with 485 million mail pieces processed and delivered daily - is adopting end-to-end AI technology from NVIDIA to improve its package data processing efficiency. The new system starts with high-performance servers powered by NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs and deep learning software to train multiple AI algorithms. The trained models are then deployed to NVIDIA EGX edge computing systems at close to 200 Postal Service facilities throughout the U.S. to enable more efficient package data processing. The NVIDIA-powered systems are being purchased by the Postal Service under contract with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

"AI is transforming multiple industries, enabling processes, accuracy and efficiency not possible before," said Anthony Robbins, vice president of the Federal Sector Business at NVIDIA. "The U.S. Postal Service's adoption of AI demonstrates how this powerful technology can improve an excellent service that we rely on every day. Benjamin Franklin would be proud." The Postal Service operates the world's highest volume logistics operation, processing and delivering some 146 billion pieces of mail annually, including more than 6 billion packages. The new AI system will process package data 10x faster and with higher accuracy.

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) Friday awarded a USD $10 billion contract to Microsoft to build the JEDI Cloud (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), a massive piece of connected IT infrastructure that seeks greater electronic integration within the U.S. Military, and prepare it for emerging forms of warfare. According to the New York Times, Amazon was the front-runner for the contract, having executed similar infrastructure contracts for the CIA. The NYT comments that President Donald Trump's spat with The Washington Post, a paper owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, could have affected Amazon's bid. Some of the biggest American cloud companies participated in the bidding, which include Amazon AWS, Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Oracle.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its first no-action letter for a blockchain token made for the game industry. Quarters (Q), a cross-game, cross-platform premium game token, provides a player-friendly and industry-friendly alternative to in-game tokens traditionally locked to a single game.

The Quarters smart contract provides this necessary trust by enabling everyone - players, developers and investors - to securely and transparently buy and use a prepaid arcade token. With the SEC regulatory relief, Quarters are also legal for all players to buy and use as a consumer product in the United States.

It seems that AMD either had a) unrevealed plans to launch their online store on more countries and markets alongside the introduction of the Navi-powered RX 5700 XT, or b) a change of mind when it comes to permitted availability of their collectors', limited-edition graphics card for the rest of the world. Originally reported to only be launched in the United States and China, an AMD representative (under the handle dprairie_AMD over at Reddit) has seemingly confirmed that the company will be bringing its limited-edition graphics cards to more markets than previously expected - though it still isn't a global release. The statement from Reddit follows.

Reddit user @dprairie_AMDHi all,
Friendly reminder that just because someone writes it doesn't mean it is true.... We will be expanding AMD.com sales to more countries, so we expect the 50th anniversary edition will also be available in: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Sorry we are not offering global availability at this point. We hear you on the desire. The team is focused on expanding into more regions/countries while making sure we can fully support customers.

Early June, TechPowerUp in partnership with German PC cooling, casing, and power-supply experts Be Quiet!, who share our OCD for low-noise, brought you a sweet chance to upgrade your PC's case, power, and CPU cooling ahead of Summer. The results are in, and we have our three winners! The first randomly-selected entry from our Giveaway pool gets a combo of a Silent Base 601 Window Black case, a Straight Power 11 650W PSU, and a Dark Rock Slim CPU cooler. The next lucky winner gets the same case and CPU cooler. The third lucky winner gets the cooler. Without further ado, the winners!

• Eliott "FreedomEclipse," from the U.K., hits the jackpot, wins a Silent Base 601 Window Black case, a Straight Power 11 650W PSU, and a Dark Rock Slim CPU cooler (one of each)
• Bryan, from Texas, United States, wins a Silent Base 601 Window Black case and a Dark Rock Slim CPU cooler (one each)
• Tsvetomir from Sofia, Bulgaria, wins a Dark Rock Slim CPU cooler

A huge Congratulations to you three! Happy Gaming this Summer!

The United States Department of Commerce granted Huawei a 90-day respite in the form of a waiver, from the Bureau of Industry and Security's list of entities American businesses cannot trade with. Huawei shook the tech world last weekend, when it found itself banned by the Department of Commerce. Called TGL, or Temporary General License, with a defined lifespan of 90 days following 20th May, the TGL "grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services," said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

"In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks," he added. The 90-day period blunts the abrupt nature of the ban, giving U.S. businesses time to make alternative business plans with other partners. It also gives Huawei time to wrap up its affairs by seeking out dues from U.S. businesses, clearing out its dues to U.S. businesses, and lawfully exiting the U.S. market.

The United States tech industry has overnight dealt a potentially fatal blow to Chinese electronics giant Huawei, by boycotting the company. The companies are establishing compliance with a recent Executive Order passed by President Donald Trump designed to "stop the import, sale, and use of equipment and services by foreign companies based in countries that are potential adversaries to U.S. interests," particularly information technology security. Google has announced that it will no longer allow Huawei to license Android, and will stop updates and Google Play access to Huawei smartphones. Huawei can still equip its phones with open-source Android, but it cannot use Google's proprietary software, including Google Play Store, Chrome, and all the other Google apps. Intel decided to no longer supply processors and other hardware to Huawei, for use in its laptops and server products. Sales of AMD processors will stop, too. Qualcomm-Broadcom have decided to stop supply of mobile SoCs and network PHYs, respectively. Microsoft decided to stop licensing Huawei to use Windows and Office products.

The ban is a consequence of the U.S. Government placing Huawei on a list of banned entities, forcing all U.S. companies to abandon all trade with it, without prior approval from the Department of Commerce. Trade cuts both ways, and not only are U.S. firms banned from buying from Huawei, they're also banned from selling to it. Huawei "buys from" over 30 U.S. companies, (for example, Windows licenses from Microsoft). CNN reports that U.S. firms could lose up to $11 billion in revenues.

Remember that story we brought you regarding the United States government, via its Department of Commerce, banning all exports from national companies to China-based Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuits Ltd? Well, fast-forward three months, and the Financial Times is reporting, citing two sources close to the matter, that the ban has been too much for the company to take, limiting its ability to import needed parts and tools for its DRAM production. This is tough news for a company that was investing towards finishing construction of a $5.7 billion factory in China's Fujian Province.

If the Financial Times is true, this is one potential player in the DRAM market that goes out the proverbial window. The original reasons given by the Department of Commerce for the export ban referred to the company being supported by "likely U.S.-origin technology", reportedly of Micron origin. Well, now it seems as if it isn't being supported at all.

Be quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany for twelve consecutive years, introduces its new mainstream power supply series, Pure Power 11, to the US market. The series consists of three models with fixed cables ranging from 500 to 700 watts and three models with modular cables also ranging from 500 to 700 watts. Previously, Pure Power 10 introduced DC-to-DC transformation to be quiet!'s best selling power supply series, improving crossload performance and voltage regulation on its minor rails. Pure Power 11 expands on this proven technology by upgrading both passive and active components, enabling higher efficiency of up to 92% with 80 PLUS Gold certification, and leading to less heat generation and quieter operation. Manufacturer warranty has also been increased from three to five years.

TechPowerUp partnered with SeaSonic, one of the most reputed PSU manufacturers, to bring you the Focus Plus Gold PSU Giveaway, a chance for one of our readers to win a SeaSonic Focus Plus Gold 650W power-supply, and 10 others to win SeaSonic-branded gym bottles. The Focus Plus series are mid-range PSUs designed to offer clean and efficient power-delivery without costing a lot. The 650W model has enough juice and straws for even a high-end desktop build with a single enthusiast-segment graphics card, or two performance-segment ones. Without further ado, the winners:

• Juan from Spain: Wins a SeaSonic Focus Plus Gold 650W power supply
• SeaSonic gym bottles won by: David from Spain, Michael from Canada, Adrian from Romania, Gary from the United States, Luca from Italy, Bertalanne from the United States, Daniel from Iceland, Nikola from Croatia, Stephen from the United States, and Pat from the United States

A huge congratulations to all you! TechPowerUp and SeaSonic will return with more such interesting giveaways!

A federal grand jury indicted a state-owned enterprise of the People's Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwan company, and three individuals, charging them with crimes related to a conspiracy to steal, convey, and possess stolen trade secrets of an American semiconductor company for the benefit of a company controlled by the PRC government. All of the defendants are charged with a conspiracy to commit economic espionage, among other crimes. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Brian A. Benczkowski, United States Attorney Alex G. Tse of the Northern District of California, and FBI Special Agent in Charge for the San Francisco Field Office John F. Bennett made the announcement.

In addition, the United States filed a civil lawsuit seeking to enjoin the further transfer of the stolen trade secrets and to enjoin certain defendants from exporting to the United States any products manufactured by UMC or Jinhua that were created using the trade secrets at issue. The indictment was filed on September 27, 2018, and unsealed today. The civil lawsuit was filed today.

The United States government, via the Department of Commerce, has banned all exports from national companies to China-based Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuits Ltd. The ban, citing "significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security interests of the United States", demands that a license is required for "all exports, re-exports, and transfers of commodities, software and technology (...) to Jinhua." It then adds that these license applications will be reviewed - always - with a presumption of denial.

TechPowerUp and Lian Li brought you a golden opportunity (well, three), to bring home one of five LANCOOL ONE GOLD limited edition cases ever made, three of which were up for grabs on TechPowerUp alone! The gilded LANCOOL ONE is a super-rare case for a super-rare build to match its black-and-gold color scheme, featuring gold finished front panels, accented by matte white main body panels, white interiors, and contrasting tinted black tempered glass panels. Without further ado, the Winners:

• Yeung from Hong Kong SAR, China
• Michael from Victoria, Australia
• Nathan from Southampton, United Kingdom

A Huge Congratulations to the Winners, who will receive a piece of Lian Li history!

Intel will join the National Association of Manufacturers on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, to celebrate Manufacturing Day. The majority of Intel's advanced manufacturing and research and development is in the United States, creating high-precision, high-value, IP-driven products that enable industries and businesses to innovate around the world. Intel Corp.'s U.S. manufacturing and research and development facilities are in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. They operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

be quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany for twelve consecutive years, recently introduced the Dark Base 700, Dark Rock 4, Dark Rock Pro 4, and the Straight Power 11 series to the U.S. market. be quiet! is now announcing the opening of its U.S. based service center. Customers buying premium products expect premium service. be quiet! does its best to ensure their shipped products have zero defects, but when a customer needs help, it is of the utmost importance that they are assisted as quickly as possible.

"The L.A. based service center is a commitment to our U.S. based customers," said Stanislav Minkin, be quiet! General Manager. "With local technicians, be quiet! can provide support directly to the end-user, minimizing repair times and offering fast solutions to customers' problems and claims"

COUGAR is proud to announce the arrival of the last and most powerful iteration of its renowned Panzer Full Tower series: the Panzer EVO RGB. Combining four tempered glass covers, powerful RGB lighting and the industrial inspiration design that has characterized the series, this case offers massive amounts of space and unparalleled aesthetics.

As its name indicates, RGB lighting is one of the strengths of this case. This is not limited to the four powerful Vortex RGB fans but also includes the COUGAR Core Box, capable of supporting up to 8 COUGAR RGB fans and four COUGAR RGB LED strips, as well as a driver-free remote controller. This allows users to start enjoying and customizing the more than 100 RGB lighting effects right out of the box, without going through any software installation or encountering compatibility issues.

The Federal Trade Commission staff has sent warning letters to six major companies that market and sell automobiles, cellular devices, and video gaming systems in the United States.

The letters warn that FTC staff has concerns about the companies' statements that consumers must use specified parts or service providers to keep their warranties intact. Unless warrantors provide the parts or services for free or receive a waiver from the FTC, such statements generally are prohibited by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a law that governs consumer product warranties. Similarly, such statements may be deceptive under the FTC Act.

US President Donald Trump blocked the potentially-$117 billion Broadcom-Qualcomm merger through an executive order. The White House considered damning observations by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which had been studying potential national security implications of this merger. "There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that Broadcom Ltd. [by acquiring Qualcomm] might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States," wrote President Trump in the order.

Broadcom expressed shock and disbelief over the order. The company, in a statement, said that it "strongly disagrees that its proposed acquisition of Qualcomm raises any national security concerns." Qualcomm, meanwhile, battened down the hatches for any press comments. The American chipmaker had been wrestling an increasingly Broadcom-slanted board that was all but ready to sell the company to Broadcom at an undervalued price. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the Trump administration has shot down ten similar deals since it came to power, in which foreign companies - overwhelmingly Chinese in national origin - had attempted buy out American high-technology firms. Californian Intel is still in the foray to swallow Broadcom, as CFIUS doesn't concern itself with American companies buying out foreign firms.

Be Quiet! and TechPowerUp have come together for a chance for PC enthusiasts from the United States and Canada, to build a quieter PC. The company, which has a design focus on low-noise across its entire product lineup, is giving away two of its quietest products - the first lucky winner stands to win both a Be Quiet! Dark Base 700 case and a Be Quiet! Straight Power 11 750W power-supply; the second lucky winner stands to win a Dark Base 700 case, while the third lucky winner gets a Straight Power 11 750W power-supply (three winners in all). The giveaway is open from today, till 26th, 2018 23:59 UTC. Good hunting!

For more information, and to participate, visit this page.

The United States Government is closely examining national security implications of a potential Broadcom-Qualcomm merger. Broadcom is a Singapore-based company, while Qualcomm is American. An empowered national security panel called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which has the legal power to stop mergers between American and foreign companies, and acquisitions of American companies by foreign entities; is said to be examining specifics of Qualcomm's high-technology and intellectual property falling into the hands of Broadcom, as the two companies close in on a crucial Qualcomm board meet scheduled for March, in which Broadcom has exercised its shareholding to plant 6 favorable board members among the 11-member Qualcomm board, which all but guarantees a vote in favor of the merger - a classic hostile takeover.

"Not so fast," believes Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the US Senate, who urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to have the CFIUS examine the Broadcom-Qualcomm deal. In its unprecedented pre-deal discussions within the otherwise opaque committee, a consensus emerged that Broadcom's decision to relocate its headquarters to the US was insufficient to circumvent a CFIUS review. "I urge CFIUS to promptly review Broadcom's proposed acquisition of control of Qualcomm's board, and to act prior to the March 6 Qualcomm meeting to address any national security concerns that may be identified," Senator Cornyn wrote to Secretary Mnuchin. It looks like Broadcom's decision to tamper with Qualcomm's board is set to spectacularly backfire.