AMD today announced the Ryzen 9 7945X3D mobile processor, which it claims is the fastest notebook processor for gaming, faster than even Intel's Core i9-13980HX. The 7945X3D is a 16-core/32-thread processor that leverages AMD 3D Vertical Cache technology. Much like the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the 7945X3D features 64 MB of stacked 3D vertical cache memory on one of its two "Zen 4" CCDs, which gives it 96 MB of last-level cache. The second one is a regular "Zen 4" CCD with 32 MB of L3 cache—again, just like the desktop 7950X3D. The most interesting aspect has to be that AMD claims to have pulled off leadership gaming performance at a 55 W+ TDP.

The Ryzen 9 7945X3D is based on the "Dragon Range" multi-chip module. This is essentially a mobile-optimized BGA variant of the desktop "Raphael" MCM, with a higher degree of power optimization. The processor features 16 "Zen 4" CPU cores spread across two CCDs, each with 1 MB of L2 cache. The first CCD has 96 MB of L3 cache thanks to the 3DV cache, while the second CCD has 32 MB of it. Despite its power constrained form-factor, the 7945X3D has a maximum boost frequency of 5.40 GHz. Each of the two CCDs is built on the 5 nm EUV foundry node. The L3D (the die stacked on top of the first CCD) is built on 6 nm, as is the client I/O die (cIOD). The processor supports dual-channel DDR5, and has a 28-lane PCI-Express Gen 5 root complex. AMD claims that the Ryzen 9 7945X3D is on average 15% faster at gaming than its current flagship processor, the 16-core Ryzen 9 7945HX. This should mean that the processor is faster than the Intel Core i9-13980HX. The first notebook to debut the AMD Ryzen 9 7945X3D is the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D, which goes on sale on August 22, 2023.

PlayStation 5-related rumors have been flowing over the past week—Zuby_Tech was reportedly the main source responsible for leaking out Project Q footage, but the tipster has turned to his attention to an alleged new version of the host system. Yesterday's tweet makes reference to a refreshed PlayStation 5 model—the "CFI-1300 series"—with a revised 5 nm APU. The late-2020 launch model (CFI-1200) sported a 7 nm chipset, while 2022's die shrink granted the CFI-1202 series with a 6 nm SoC.

The tipster thinks that Sony will be dropping the PS5's liquid metal cooling system for its next iteration, thanks to a central 5 nm part offering greater efficiency and reduced thermal output. Previous reports have predicted that this refreshed "modular model" is marked for a late 2023 release window. Sony has been running a summer price reduction campaign—could this marketing incentive be clearing the way—i.e selling off older stock—in anticipation of the refreshed model's arrival? "CFI-1300" should not be confused with the heavily rumored PlayStation 5 Pro variant—Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has reiterated multiple times that this major hardware upgrade is still a long way off from launching.

Make health and fitness journeys smoother with the Exynos W930—the wearable processor that keeps smartwatches ahead of the curve, with new leaps in performance and power saving.

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Exynos W930 is equipped with the Arm Cortex-A55 dual-core CPU, boosting CPU speed to 1.4 GHz for an 18% jump over our last generation processor. In-package DRAM expands to 2 GB in the Exynos W930, passing the last generation by 33%, so you can switch between apps up to 25% faster and manage your workouts and your work life better with a suite of apps performing at their best.

It turns out that the upcoming Radeon RX 7900 GRE (Golden Rabbit Edition) is built on the mysterious Navi 31 + Navi 32 hybrid GPU that's been in the news for a few weeks now. AMD has reportedly developed its answer to NVIDIA's AD103 silicon in the form of a new MCM that combines the 5 nm GCD of the "Navi 31," along with the substrate of the "Navi 32," which is physically smaller, and only has four 6 nm MCDs. This hybrid MCM could power AMD's mobile Radeon RX 7900 series. The chip physically only has a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. AMD felt the need for such a contraption as the "Navi 31" is likely too big for mobile platforms, and because the "Navi 32" GCD with its 60 CU (3,840 stream processors) might prove inadequate against a maxed out AD104 or cut-down AD103.

VideoCardz caught whiff of the new GPU by comparing the back sides of the Sapphire RX 7900 GRE from yesterday's leak, with that of the production Sapphire RX 7900 XT/XTX NITRO+. There are visible differences in the layout of the SMDs, and the reinforcement brace behind the GPU has a square cutout, compared to the rectangular one behind the "Navi 31" powering the RX 7900 XT/XTX NITRO+. On the RX 7900 GRE, the GCD is configured with 84 CU, or the same core-config as the RX 7900 XT, albeit with the narrower 256-bit memory interface, and 64 MB of Infinity Cache memory. It's highly likely that AMD uses this GPU to carve out the Radeon RX 7800 XT (with fewer than 84 but higher than 60 CU); while creating the RX 7800 with a maxed out "Navi 32," and the RX 7700 series with a cut-down "Navi 32" (including by narrowing the memory bus width to 192-bit by disabling one of the four MCDs). AMD is reportedly planning to launch the RX 7900 GRE in China, on July 28, 2023.

Semiconductor industry research firm TechInsights said it has found that Samsung's 3 nm GAA (gate-all-around) process has been incorporated into the crypto miner ASIC (Whatsminer M56S++) from a Chinese manufacturer, MicroBT. In a Disruptive Technology Event Brief exclusively provided to DIGITIMES Asia, TechInsights points out that the significance of this development lies in the commercial utilization of GAA technology, which facilitates the scaling of transistors to 2 nm and beyond. "This development is crucial because it has the potential to enhance performance, improve energy efficiency, keep up with Moore's Law, and enable advanced applications," said TechInsights, identifying the MicroBT ASIC chip the first commercialized product using GAA technology in the industry.

But this would also reveal that Samsung is the foundry for MicroBT, using the 3 nm GAA process. DIGITIMES Research semiconductor analyst Eric Chen pointed out that Samsung indeed has started producing chips using the 3 nm GAA process, but the capacity is still small. "Getting revenues from shipment can be defined as 'commercialization', but ASIC is a relatively simple kind of chip to produce, in terms of architecture."

DEEPX, a leading AI semiconductor technology company, aims to drive innovation in the rapidly evolving edge AI landscape with its state-of-the-art, low-power, high-performance AI chip product lineup. With a focus on revolutionizing application areas such as smart cities, surveillance, smart factories, and other industries, DEEPX unveiled its latest AI semiconductor solutions at the 2023 Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF), under the theme of "For AI Everywhere."

Recognizing the importance of collaboration and technological partnerships, DEEPX leveraged Samsung Electronics' foundry processes, harnessing the power of 5 nm, 14 nm, and 28 nm technologies for its semiconductor chip designs. As a result, the company has developed a suite of four high-performance, energy-efficient AI semiconductor products: DX-L1, DX-L2, DX-M1, and DX-H1. Each product has been specifically engineered to cater to the unique demands of various market segments, from ultra-compact sensors with minimal data processing requirements to AI-intensive applications such as robotics, computer vision, autonomous vehicles, and many others.

AMD is planning to plug the Atlantic gap between its mainstream Radeon RX 7600 and enthusiast-class RX 7900 XT with the RX 7800 series and RX 7700 series, with either an announcement or teaser planned for 2023 Gamescom, which is scheduled for August. There could be up to four new graphics card SKUs announced, with their product launches spread across Q3 and Q4 2023. The "Navi 32" MCM is expected to power at least three of these SKUs, while it was recently rumored that AMD could design a new GPU that has the GCD of the "Navi 31" on the package of "Navi 32" with its four MCDs, to end up with a higher CU count than what the "Navi 32" can offer.

The "Navi 32" GPU is an MCM, just like the "Navi 31" powering the RX 7900 series. It is rumored to feature a 5 nm GCD (graphics compute die) with 60 RDNA3 compute units, which work out to 3,840 stream processors, 120 AI accelerators, 60 Ray Accelerators, 240 TMUs, and possibly 128 ROPs. The four 6 nm MCDs give it 64 MB of Infinity Cache, and a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. Assuming the RX 7800 XT uses the unnamed new MCM with the GCD of the "Navi 31" that has a CU count somewhere between 60 and 72, a maxed-out "Navi 32" could power the RX 7800, while its cut-down variants power the RX 7700 XT and RX 7700.

Last week (June 29), NVIDIA launched the GeForce RTX 4060 "Ada" graphics card targeting a majority of PC gamers who still play at 1080p Full HD resolution. Reception to the new card was somewhat lukewarm, only 6% of our polled readers are interested in buying one (poll results). We crunched thousands of benchmark runs in our new 2023H2 test suite and managed to review ten different models of the 4060, six of which are available at the NVIDIA MSRP of $299, and we followed up with four more reviews of premium custom-design cards priced above the MSRP. Our results confirm that GeForce RTX 4060 is designed for maxed out gaming at 1080p; gameplay with ray tracing is possible at 25-50 FPS at 1080p, which can be increased by dialing down graphics settings, or through use of DLSS and DLSS 3 Frame Generation, in supported games. On the other hand, there were concerns with the small performance gains and high pricing, which makes many other options a viable choice.

We've put together a video presentation which compares all the cards tested, and that also serves as a really quick executive summary of the RTX 4060, and whether you should get one.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced its latest foundry technology innovations and business strategy at the 7th annual Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2023. Under the theme "Innovation Beyond Boundaries," this year's forum delved into Samsung Foundry's mission to address customer needs in the artificial intelligence (AI) era through advanced semiconductor technology.

Over 700 guests, from customers and partners of Samsung Foundry, attended this year's event, of which 38 companies hosted their own booths to share the latest technology trends in the foundry industry.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT will be a much-needed performance-segment addition to the company's Radeon RX 7000-series, which has a massive performance gap between the enthusiast-class RX 7900 series, and the mainstream RX 7600. A report by "Moore's Law is Dead" makes a sensational claim that it is based on a whole new ASIC that's neither the "Navi 31" powering the RX 7900 series, nor the "Navi 32" designed for lower performance tiers, but something in between. This GPU will be AMD's answer to the "AD103." Apparently, the GPU features the same exact 350 mm² graphics compute die (GCD) as the "Navi 31," but on a smaller package resembling that of the "Navi 32." This large GCD is surrounded by four MCDs (memory cache dies), which amount to a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface, and 64 MB of 2nd Gen Infinity Cache memory.

The GCD physically features 96 RDNA3 compute units, but AMD's product managers now have the ability to give the RX 7800 XT a much higher CU count than that of the "Navi 32," while being lower than that of the RX 7900 XT (which is configured with 84). It's rumored that the smaller "Navi 32" GCD tops out at 60 CU (3,840 stream processors), so the new ASIC will enable the RX 7800 XT to have a CU count anywhere between 60 to 84. The resulting RX 7800 XT could have an ASIC with a lower manufacturing cost than that of a theoretical Navi 31 with two disabled MCDs (>60 mm² of wasted 6 nm dies), and even if it ends up performing within 10% of the RX 7900 XT (and matching the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti in the process), it would do so with better pricing headroom. The same ASIC could even power mobile RX 7900 series, where the smaller package and narrower memory bus will conserve precious PCB footprint.

In addition to the Ryzen PRO 7045 series mobile processors for commercial notebooks, AMD announced the Ryzen PRO 7000 processors for commercial desktops. These are desktops deployed by medium-large businesses and enterprises in their offices, which remain connected to the enterprise network at all times, and require remote management and security features. This particular segment is addressed by Intel using its 13th Gen Core vPro processors. The Ryzen PRO 7000 processors are based on the Socket AM5 platform, which is ready for next-generation connectivity. AMD is also introducing a new motherboard chipset to go with these processors, although they are compatible with consumer AMD 600-series chipset motherboards.

The Ryzen PRO 7000 series processor models being launched today are based on the "Raphael" MCM, which depending on the model, comes with one or two 5 nm "Zen 4" CCDs, and a 6 nm I/O die. What makes these processors especially formidable compared to past attempts by AMD at commercial desktop processors, is that while the previous-generation chips were based on monolithic APU dies for their integrated graphics; these chips are based on the full-featured MCM for this generation, with integrated graphics as standard. AMD's decision to make integrated graphics standard should prove particularly helpful for adoption in the commercial desktop space.

A SemiAnalysis report sheds light on just how much smaller the "Zen 4c" CPU core is compared to the regular "Zen 4." AMD's upcoming high core-count enterprise processor for cloud data-center deployments, the EPYC "Bergamo," is based on the new "Zen 4c" microarchitecture. Although with the same ISA as "Zen 4," the "Zen 4c" is essentially a low-power, lite version of the core, with significantly higher performance/Watt. The core is physically smaller than a regular "Zen 4" core, which allows AMD to create CCDs (CPU core dies) with 16 cores, compared to the current "Zen 4" CCD with 8.

The 16-core "Zen 4c" CCD is built on the same 5 nm EUV foundry node as the 8-core "Zen 4" CCD, and internally features two CCX (CPU core complex), each with 8 "Zen 4c" cores. Each of the two CCX shares a 16 MB L3 cache among the cores. The SemiAnalysis report states that the dedicated L2 cache size of the "Zen 4c" core remains at 1 MB, just like that of the regular "Zen 4." Perhaps the biggest finding is their die-size estimation, which puts the 16-core "Zen 4c" CCD just 9.6% larger in die-area, than the 8-core "Zen 4" CCD. That's 72.7 mm² per CCD, compared to 66.3 mm² of the regular 8-core "Zen 4" CCD.

With more countries creating initiatives to develop homegrown processors capable of powering powerful supercomputing facilities, India has just presented its development milestone with Aum HPC. Thanks to information from the report by The Next Platform, we learn that India has developed a processor for powering its exascale high-performance computing (HPC) system. Called Aum HPC, the CPU was developed by the National Supercomputing Mission of the Indian government, which funded the Indian Institute of Science, the Department of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and C-DAC to design and manufacture the Aum HPC processors and create strong, strong technology independence.

The Aum HPC is based on Armv8.4 CPU ISA and represents a chiplet processor. Each compute chiplet features 48 Arm Zeus Cores based on Neoverse V1 IP, so with two chiplets, the processor has 96 cores in total. Each core gets 1 MB of level two cache and 1 MB of system cache, for 96 MB L2 cache and 96 MB system cache in total. For memory, the processor uses 16-channel 32-bit DDR5-5200 with a bandwidth of 332.8 GB/s. To expand on that, HBM memory is present, and there is 64 GB of HBM3 with four controllers capable of achieving a bandwidth of 2.87 TB/s. As far as connectivity, the Aum HPC processor has 64 PCIe Gen 5 Lanes with CXL enabled. It is manufactured on a 5 nm node from TSMC. With a 3.0 GHz typical and 3.5+ GHz turbo frequency, the Aum HPC processor is rated for a TDP of 300 Watts. It is capable of producing 4.6+ TeraFLOPS per socket. Below are illustrations and tables comparing Aum HPC to Fujitsy A64FX, another Arm HPC-focused design.

NVIDIA is launching 8 GB and 16 GB variants of its upcoming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti graphics card, with the 8 GB model debuting later this month, and the 16 GB model slated for July, as we learned in an older article. We are learning what else sets the two apart. Both are based on the 5 nm "AD106" silicon, by enabling 34 out of 36 SM physically present on the silicon, which works out to 4,352 out of 4,608 CUDA cores present. While the 8 GB model has the ASIC code "AD106-350," the 16 GB model gets the ASIC code "AD106-351."

The 16 GB model of the RTX 4060 Ti also has a slightly higher TDP, rated at 165 W, compared to 160 W of the 8 GB model. This is the TDP of the silicon, and not TGP (typical graphics power,) which takes into account power drawn by the entire board. The 16 GB model is sure to have a higher TGP on account of its higher-density memory. NVIDIA is likely to use four 32 Gbit (4 GB) GDDR6 memory chips to achieve 16 GB (as opposed to eight 16 Gbit ones with two chips piggybacked per 32-bit path).

MediaTek has been unveiling some new mobile chipsets this week, but keen-eyed news outlets have noticed that the Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company is simply renaming and relaunching hardware from last year, with some tweaks here and there. Today's announcement of the Dimensity 8050 SoC was almost immediately questioned - GSMArena noticed that this "new" model was a near dead ringer, in terms of specifications, for last year's mid-range Dimensity 1300 and 1200 smartphone chipsets. There are some upgrades in terms of memory bandwidth, and MediaTek boasts that the 8050 has been updated with its sixth generation HyperEngine technology.

Alarm bells were ringing when folks realized that the much older Dimensity 8000 SoC was built on a 5 nm process - the supposedly superior (in terms of model number hierarchy) 8005 is a 6 nm chip. Last week the mobile specialist site also spotted that MediaTek's Dimensity 7050 chipset was yet another example of the smartphone tech company rolling out a "rebranding phase." The news outlet pointed out that this newly revealed mobile CPU was just a renamed Dimensity 1080 - with the original model having hit the market in November 2022. MediaTek seems to renaming several older chipsets based on TSMC's 6 nm process - it is possible that this effort is part of a company drive to clear surplus silicon.

In what could explain the greater attention by leaky taps on the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti compared to its sibling, the RTX 4060, NVIDIA is preparing a staggered launch for its RTX 4060-series. We're also learning that there are as many as three SKUs in the series—the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB, the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, and the RTX 4060. All three will be announced later this month, however, only the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB will be available to purchase at the time. The RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB and RTX 4060 will be available from July.

At this point, little is known about what segments the 8 GB and 16 GB variants of the RTX 4060 Ti besides memory size. The RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is rumored to feature 34 out of 36 streaming multiprocessors (SM) physically present on the 5 nm "AD106" silicon, which gives NVIDIA some theoretical headroom to enable a few more shaders. These 34 work out to 4,352 CUDA cores, while a fully unlocked AD106 has 4,608. The RTX 4060 is a significantly different SKU that's based on a maxed out "AD107" silicon, with 30 SM, or 3,840 CUDA cores, although it should be possible for some RTX 4060 cards be based on a heavily cut-down AD106.

Last October, the US Department of Commerce imposed semiconductor restrictions on Chinese imports of equipment for processes of 18 nm and below. SK hynix's Wuxi fab was granted a one-year production license, but geopolitical risks and weak demand prompted the company to reduce wafer starts by about 30% per month in 2Q23, according to TrendForce's latest research.

TrendForce reports that SK hynix had planned to transition its Wuxi fab's mainstream process from 1Y nm to 1Z nm, decreasing the output of legacy processes. However, due to limitations imposed by the US ban, the company instead opted to increase the share of its 21 nm production lines, focus-ing on DDR3 and DDR4 4Gb products. SK hynix's long-term strategy involves shifting its capacity expansion back to South Korea, while the Wuxi fab caters to domestic demand in China and the legacy-process consumer DRAM market.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT reportedly launches on May 25, 2023. Moore's Law is Dead scored the key dates associated with the launch. The upcoming performance-segment graphics card is rumored to be based on the 5 nm "Navi 33" silicon and RDNA3 graphics architecture. Apparently, the tech press should have its samples to test by May 15, and AMD is taking a similar approach to NVIDIA's recent GeForce RTX 4070 launch, where cards priced at MSRP will be eligible to a review embargo that's a day sooner than that of non-MSRP cards. Reviews of MSRP cards go live on May 24, with those of non-MSRP cards following the next day on May 25, along with market availability. It's no wonder that we heard reports of RX 7600 series cards being shown off at Computex, all those cards will be available to purchase by then.

AMD is expected to debut its performance-segment Radeon RX 7600 RDNA3 graphics card in May-June 2023, with board partners expected to show off their custom-design cards in the 2023 Computex (June). Moore's Law is Dead reports that they've spoken to a source with access to an early graphics card sample running the 5 nm "Navi 33" silicon that powers the RX 7600. This card, with development drivers (which are sure to be riddled with performance limiters); offers a 11% performance uplift over the Radeon RX 6650 XT, and a gaming power draw of 175 W (the RX 6650 XT pulls around 185-190 W).

This is still an early sample running development drivers, but a 11% performance boost puts it in the league of the Radeon RX 6700 XT. Should a production RX 7600 with launch-day drivers put on another 5-7% performance over this, the RX 7600 could end up with performance roughly matching the RX 6750 XT (a slim performance lead over the RTX 3070 in 1080p gaming). Should its power draw also hold, one can expect custom-design graphics cards to ship with single 8-pin PCIe power connectors. A couple of nifty specs of the RX 7600 also leaked out in the MLID report: Firstly, that 8 GB will remain the standard memory size for the RX 7600, as it is for the current RX 6650 XT. Secondly, the RX 7600 engine clock is reported to boost "above" 2.60 GHz.

Accelerating the integration of heterogeneous dies to enable the next level of system scalability and functionality, Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) has strengthened its collaboration with TSMC and Ansys for multi-die system design and manufacturing. Synopsys provides the industry's most comprehensive EDA and IP solutions for multi-die systems on TSMC's advanced 7 nm, 5 nm and 3 nm process technologies with support for TSMC 3DFabric technologies and 3Dblox standard. The integration of Synopsys implementation and signoff solutions and Ansys multi-physics analysis technology on TSMC processes allows designers to tackle the biggest challenges of multi-die systems, from early exploration to architecture design with signoff power, signal and thermal integrity analysis.

"Multi-die systems provide a way forward to achieve reduced power and area and higher performance, opening the door to a new era of innovation at the system-level," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. "Our long-standing collaboration with Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners like Synopsys and Ansys gives mutual customers a faster path to multi-die system success through a full spectrum of best-in-class EDA and IP solutions optimized for our most advanced technologies."

According to The Information, Microsoft has been working on creating custom processors for processing AI with a project codenamed Athena. Based on TSMC's 5 nm process, these chips are designed to accelerate AI workloads and scale to hundreds or even thousands of chips. With the boom of Large Language Models (LLMs) that require billions of parameters, training them requires a rapid increase of computational power to a point where companies purchase hundreds of thousands of GPUs from the likes of NVIDIA. However, creating custom processors is a familiar feat for a company like Microsoft. Hyperscalers like AWS, Google, and Meta are already invested in the creation of processors for AI training, and Microsoft is just joining as well.

While we don't have much information about these processors, we know that Microsoft started the project in 2019, and today these processors are in the hands of select employees of Microsoft and OpenAI that work with AI projects and need computational horsepower. Interestingly, some projections assume that if Microsoft could match NVIDIA's GPU performance, the cost would only be a third of NVIDIA's offerings. However, it is challenging to predict that until more information is provided. Microsoft plans to make these chips more widely available as early as next year; however, there is no specific information on when and how, but Azure cloud customers would be the most logical place to start.

The second-hand market in China is always full of gems, but we never expected to see an unreleased 5 nm 96-core EPYC 9684X Genoa-X CPU with 1152 MB of L3 cache. According to the seller, the CPU is "almost new" and in working condition.

In case you missed it earlier, AMD is working on 5 nm Genoa-X EPYC CPUs which will feature up to 96 Zen 4 cores in 5 nm with over 1 GB of L3 cache per socket. These are scheduled to release this year, optimized for technical computing and databases. AMD is also working on Siena CPUs, which should also come this year, featuring up to 64 Zen 4 cores with optimized performance-per-watt, meant for intelligent edge and telco markets.

AMD today announced the AMD Alveo MA35D media accelerator featuring two 5 nm, ASIC-based video processing units (VPUs) supporting the AV1 compression standard and purpose-built to power a new era of live interactive streaming services at scale. With over 70% of the global video market being dominated by live content, a new class of low-latency, high-volume interactive streaming applications are emerging such as watch parties, live shopping, online auctions, and social streaming.

The Alveo MA35D media accelerator delivers the high channel density, with up to 32x 1080p60 streams per card, power efficiency and ultra-low-latency performance critical to reducing the skyrocketing infrastructure costs now required for scaling such compute intensive content delivery. Compared to the previous generation Alveo U30 media accelerator, the Alveo MA35D delivers up to 4x higher channel density, 4x max lower latency in 4K and 1.8x greater compression efficiency to achieve the same VMAF score—a common video quality metric.

NVIDIA's mainstream GeForce RTX 4050 "Ada" graphics card, which succeeds the RTX 3050, reportedly launches in June 2023. This could end up being the highest-volume SKU in the RTX 40-series desktop lineup. Team green is planning to launch a new desktop SKU every month leading up to Summer. April will see the company launch the performance-segment RTX 4070, followed by the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 in May, and now we hear about the RTX 4050 in June.

The GeForce RTX 4050 is likely based on a highly cut down version of the 5 nm "AD107" silicon that also powers the RTX 4060 in its maxed out configuration. The AD107, much like the AD106, features a 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. For the RTX 4050, NVIDIA could narrow this down to 96-bit, and give it 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is 25% less than the 8 GB of 128-bit GDDR6 memory that's standard for the current-generation RTX 3050. NVIDIA would have worked out the performance numbers, and the RTX 4050 might still end up generationally faster than the RTX 3050 despite this narrower/smaller memory.

Based on multiple reports out of Taiwan, TSMC is seeing increased utilisation of its 3 nm node and its production line is now at close to 50 percent utilisation. The main customer here is without a doubt Apple and TSMC is churning out some 50-55,000 wafers a month on its 3 nm node. TSMC is also getting ready to start production on its N3E node later this year, which will see some customers move to the node.

However, it's not all good news, as TSMC is seeing a decline in utilisation on its 5/4 and 7/6 nm nodes as demand has dropped significantly here, with different news outlets reporting different figures. Some are suggesting the 7/6 nm nodes might have dropped as low as to 50 percent utilisation, others mention 70 percent. The 5/4 nm nodes aren't anywhere nearly as badly affected and remain at around 80 percent utilisation. The good news for TSMC is that this is expected to be a temporary slump in demand and most of its leading edge nodes should be back at somewhere around a 90 percent utilisation rate by the second half of the year. However, this depends on what the demand for its partners' products will look like going forward, as many of TSMC's customers are seeing lower demand for their products in turn.