Intel is reportedly limiting access to some of its most interesting "Nova Lake" processors during the early development stages. According to leaker Jaykihn, chips with the internal "DS" designation are being distributed to a much smaller group of testers compared to the rest of the "Nova Lake" lineup. This "DS" designation reportedly includes parts built around two compute tiles, which are expected to be among the first to be released. These SKUs are currently known to carry the "BFC" suffix, which has appeared on several leaked Core Ultra 4000 desktop processors and is linked to Intel's larger big last-level cache (bLLC) implementation. For example, the leaked Core Ultra 9 4970K BFC is a 28-core processor combining eight P-cores, 16 E-cores, and four LPE cores.

The scarcity of BFC hardware in public leaks may be more related to Intel's sampling policy than to availability. The leaker claims these processors are being kept within a restricted testing group, preventing them from appearing through the standard qualification-sample pipeline that usually produces early benchmarks and hardware detections. This way, no public benchmark scores are surfacing, leaving us in complete dark before the official launch happens.

Samsung Electronics today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Mistral AI to enhance its semiconductor engineering and manufacturing capabilities that will reinforce its leadership in AI chip technologies. The announcement of the partnership was made during the state summit held in Paris between South Korea and France. Under the agreement, Samsung will integrate Mistral's AI services and solutions—including its flagship large language model, Mistral Large—across its semiconductor operations to develop customized on-premises AI models optimized for intelligence-driven infrastructure.

Mistral's powerful AI platform is expected to provide Samsung with a unique stack of tools that will transform how semiconductors are designed and manufactured. The on-premises enterprise solutions will especially ensure security and flexibility required to process highly sensitive technologies and operational data entirely within the boundaries of Samsung's semiconductor infrastructure, maintaining total control over its mission-critical technologies.

Samsung is gradually winding down its factory production as an 18-day strike looms over the company facilities. According to South Korean news outlets, Samsung is slowing its manufacturing operations to enter what is referred to as emergency management mode, which essentially limits production capacity. According to the Seoul Economic Daily, about 43,286 factory workers have joined the picket line for the strike, which is more than half of the entire semiconductor division (DS unit) labor force. As factories face worker shortages, production lines are gradually stalling. In emergency mode, Samsung will restrict the number of new wafers introduced into the production process, which is a long and demanding procedure that typically runs 24/7. Interestingly, the factory can still operate at minimum production capacity thanks to the extensive automation involved, but operating machines still requires human involvement.

TrendForce estimates that about 3-4% of the world's global DRAM supply could be disrupted, along with about 3% of the world's NAND Flash supply. At a time when DRAM and NAND Flash shortages are at their peak, this will exacerbate the global supply chain situation. The targeted production lines in the strike are for HBM, (LP)DDR5, and some custom logic production. If Samsung's customers perceive uncertainty from the production capacity stall, many could shift to competitors like SK hynix or Micron. With more than half of the workforce absent, there will not be enough factory workers to keep production lines running, and output will drop significantly.

Lenovo today announced an expansive series of new data storage, virtualization solutions and data management services, designed to help customers modernize their IT and data infrastructure for powering enterprise applications and AI ready capabilities. Today's new offerings include new Lenovo ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile data storage and virtualization solutions, announced in tandem with data management services. Designed to provide a modern foundation for enterprises and mid-size businesses achieving AI innovations, this announcement combines complementary hardware, software and services offerings to help deploy, manage, and unleash the true potential of enterprise data.

"Sixty-three percent of organizations either do not have or are unsure if they have the right data management practices for AI, according to a survey by Gartner". Customer unique data is the differentiation that will drive their competitive advantage and most accurate results, however 80% of storage deployed in the last 5 years is on slower hard drive-based storage (according to IDC reporting) that is not optimized for AI. At the same time, customers are challenged with new virtualization and containerization requirements that demand open solutions. Businesses must mitigate this risk by ensuring their enterprise data systems and practices are modernized for advanced use cases.

Samsung's semiconductor unit and its smartphone division have reportedly agreed to continue mobile DRAM supplies on a quarterly basis rather than locking in annual prices, according to industry sources close to SE Daily. The Device Solutions (DS) team has set baseline volume commitments for next year, aiming to prevent shortages before the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S26 series. However, this agreement comes with a downside. The three-month pricing windows expose the Mobile Experience (MX) group to market volatility, especially as memory costs are rising. Samsung is not exempting even its own divisions from the fluctuations in DRAM and NAND prices.

Examining the figures, the situation appears challenging for the DS Team. Mobile DRAM prices have more than doubled, with 12 GB LPDDR5X modules reaching around $70 in late November, up from about $33 in January. Processors, already the most significant expense in any smartphone, have increased by 25.5% compared to the previous year, raising the DX division's Q3 procurement bill to 10.9 trillion Korean won from 8.7 trillion won. Together, processor and memory now account for about 35% of the total device cost, a 5% increase from historical levels, putting pressure on the MX team. This tension reflects an internal shift, as the DS Division seeks higher profits from HBM for AI accelerators, reallocating wafers and resources away from standard mobile chips. Buyers who signed longer DRAM contracts earlier might regret it if spot prices continue to rise.

Update December 3rd 20:10 UTC: A Samsung spokesperson reached out to confirm: "Recent reports that Samsung's DS division has rejected certain customer requests are baseless and not true. We are in close communication with global customers to address industry needs."

Along with the recent launch of the AMD Strix Halo-powered Ayaneo Next 2, Ayaneo also announced the Ayaneo Pocket Vert in its latest 2025-2026 Strategy Sharing Session video on YouTube. The Vert is an Android-powered gaming handheld that is apparently intended for mobile emulation of retro games. It should also be capable of playing current mobile games intended for portrait-orientation gaming, although it's unclear how much tinkering will be required to get those games to install and work properly.

Exact specifications have yet to be revealed, but Ayaneo says that it will feature an "ultra-HD" display, suggesting that it might have a 4K resolution. The exact display size and aspect ratio are also unknown, although something like 1:1 or 2:3 seem likely, given the handheld's "retro" intentions. During the presentation, Ayaneo teased the form factor of the Vert in the bottom portion of an image—the third image embedded below. What appears to be a Vert laying on its side looks to be split in half, with the top (or left in the image) half being dedicated to display duties, while the bottom (right) will be a thicker control portion with an angular design. Materials are, again, unclear, but Ayaneo says that it will use "premium" materials, suggesting that there may be an aluminium frame. It doesn't look like the new device will feature any of the flip-out or slide-out functions of the Ayaneo Pocket DS or Ayaneo Slide.

TechPowerUp's team conducted research to find out how the market for handheld consoles performs and where its users are mostly going. The large community poll of 22,649 PC gamers, asking a simple "Do you game on a handheld console?" paints a solid picture of the customer base that a handheld console maker can expect. The majority, at 65.3% of the polled gamers, have chosen the option "No," indicating that two-thirds of PC gamers spend time on their main desktop or notebook PCs without using an additional handheld console. Among the 34.7% of respondents (7,852 votes) who game on the go, Valve's Steam Deck leads with 2,798 votes (35.6%), narrowly edging out Nintendo's Switch at 2,785 votes (35.5%).

ASUS's ROG Ally follows with 913 votes (11.6%), while "Other" devices, including Android emulators, retro-focused units like the Analogue Pocket, and various mini-PC handhelds, account for 810 votes (10.3%). Boutique Windows handhelds trail further behind, with the Lenovo Legion Go claiming 280 votes (3.6%) and the MSI Claw 266 votes (3.4%). Out of the entire fleet of these handhelds, only the Nintendo Switch is a real console. Others are mini portable PCs, which can serve functionality far beyond those of a console. Gamers are fond of the added functionality, which is why the Steam Deck, running Linux and Windows-based handhelds from ASUS, MSI, Lenovo, and others, are so popular.

Synology today announced the launch of the DS225+, a compact 2-bay storage solution. "Designed for small teams and branch offices, the DS225+ is ideal for synchronization with central offices," noted Peggy Weng, Product Manager at Synology Inc. "Its built-in synchronization features allow for ready integration into existing deployments."

This 2-bay system is perfect for home, home office, and edge environments, due to its combination of capable performance and minimal footprint. It offers a raw data storage capacity of up to 40 TB when equipped with 20 TB drives. For fast network connectivity right out of the box, the DS225+ comes equipped with both a 2.5GbE port and a 1GbE RJ-45 port.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, an unlikely alliance—involving Samsung Electronics and Palantir Technologies—was formed at the end of last year. Late last week, insiders posited that the South Korean megacorporation's Foundry business was going through troubled times. It is not clear whether the assistance provided by Palantir's AI-infused suite has produced pleasing results chez Samsung's flagship production hubs, but insiders reckon that utilization of the software started just before Christmas. Local media outlets view this unusual pairing as a "gamble"—reportedly, the new-ish initiative has targeted an improved "semiconductor yield (ratio of good products in total production), quality, and productivity."

The Samsung Foundry appears to be going "all-in" with its 2 nm GAA node process; industry moles picked up on signals transmitted by an alleged special "task force (TF)." This elite team is reportedly entrusted with a challenging two-pronged goal; get 2 nm GAA over the finish line by late 2025, alongside the (connected) finalization of a much-rumored "Exynos 2600" mobile chipset. The Korea Economic Daily news article mentions the expansion of a "Samsung DS Division AI Center" back in December (2025), but falls short of labelling this department as the aforementioned "special task force." Despite a previous reluctance to share sensitive data with external companies, the latest report suggests a significant change in strategy. Further details were disclosed: "(Samsung's) collaboration with Palantir is handled by the DS Division AI Center...The AI Center is an organization that merged the DS Division Innovation Center and SAIT (formerly Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) AI Center, and is developing DS Division-specific technologies using AI, advancing development software, building AI platforms, and controlling and advancing facilities and infrastructure." Around late February, industry inside trackers predicted continued "smooth" progress with the 2 nm GAA node. Samsung Foundry's fully upgraded "S2" mass production line is expected to come online by Q4 2025.

Synology today announced the new 2-bay Synology DiskStation DS723+, the smallest expandable option in its lineup of all-in-one solutions for home offices and small businesses. Powered by the versatile Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system, the DS723+ offers comprehensive solutions to protect and manage business data, easily collaborate on documents, access files remotely, and monitor physical assets, all within a compact desktop format.

"This new unit delivers impressive performance and capability for its size," said Michael Wang, Product Manager at Synology. "With its extremely compact form factor, it will certainly appeal to those that have smaller storage requirements but don't want to give up on the convenience of centralized storage and the possibility to scale in the future."

NVIDIA today announced that it is unleashing the full graphics potential of enterprise desktop virtualization with the availability of NVIDIA GRID vGPU integrated into Citrix XenDesktop 7. NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology addresses a challenge that has grown in recent years with the rise of employees using their own notebooks and portable devices for work. These workers have increasingly relied on desktop virtualization technologies for anytime access to computing resources, but until now this was generally used for the more standard enterprise applications. Performance and compatibility constraints had made it difficult for applications such as building information management (BIM), product-lifecycle management (PLM) and video-photo editing.

Two decades ago hardware-based graphics replaced software emulation. Desktop virtualization solutions stood alone as the only modern computing form without dedicated graphics hardware. As a result, an already busy virtualized CPU limited performance and software emulation hampered application compatibility. The situation began to improve a year ago with the introduction of the non-virtualized GPU in Citrix XenServer. But efficiency gains were limited because each user still required a dedicated GPU.

Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 crossed the $1 billion mark in sales since its launch on November 8, 2011, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information. Highlighting the trend of interactive entertainment gaining a greater hold of audiences worldwide, the game achieved this milestone in just 16 days, eclipsing the record set in 2009 by the feature film "Avatar," which reached the $1 billion milestone in 17 days.

While 2011 box office revenue is on the decline - down 4 percent this year at $9.4 billion, compared with $9.8 billion in 2010 -- the number of people purchasing and participating in gaming is on the rise, with no sign of slowing.(1) With more than 30 million gamers, the Call of Duty community now exceeds the combined populations of the cities of New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid.

Synology Inc. today launched DiskStation DS110+ and DS210+, high-performance and secure NAS servers for SMB users to share and backup data efficiently and increase productivity with rich business-oriental features.

The Synology DS110+ and DS210+ are ideal for users who require a reliable data storage solution and demand high-performance speed for file sharing. The performance test conducted by Synology's lab showed that in a Windows environment, the Synology DS110+ serves an average of 108+ MB/sec reading speed and 68+ MB/sec writing speed while the Synology DS210+ delivers 108+ MB/sec reading and 58+ MB/sec writing. The web server responsiveness is impressive, too. The Synology DS110+ and DS210+ take 85.08 and 78.14 seconds respectively to handle 1,000 simultaneous requests.

The newest addition to the Call of Duty (COD) franchise, Call of Duty: World at War, has outsold the first week sales of Call of Duty 4 by greater than 200%. This title is all set to become Christmas number one, and has gone to the top of the All Formats charts in the UK, according to data from GfK Chart-Track.

The figures are rough, and GfK Chart-Track didn't provide a per-platform breakdown, to provide how the game is being received by different platforms. COD: World at War added more console platform support, with Sony PS2 and Nintendo DS over its predecessor.

The games industry managed record sales of $17.9bn in 2007, up 43% from $12.5bn in 2006. The Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 all saw their most successful sales figures in December, shifting a total of 1.4m, 1.3m and 800,000 units respectively, meaning that the Xbox 360 has now sold 8.5m units since its launch, the Wii 6.3m and the PS3 2.8m. However, the best selling console over Christmas was actually the Nintendo DS, which achieved sales figures of 2.5m in December. Meanwhile, the most successful game last year was Halo 3, which sold 4.82m copies, with Wii Play in second place on 4.12m and Call of Duty 4 in third on 3.04m.

In a press release published yesterday, Nintendo has announced its Wii and DS software line-up for the first half of 2008. Some of the innovative Wii games in the list include Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ninja Reflex from Electronic Arts, No More Heroes from Ubisoft, DeBlob from THQ, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from LucasArts and Okami from Capcom, in addition to compelling Nintendo DS games like FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Rings of Fate from Square Enix, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword from Tecmo and Quick Yoga Training from Ubisoft.

Though Nintendo will eventually allow Wii owners to download DS demos and transfer them to the portable system, those plans do not include whole games, as was indicated earlier this week. "In the future, the Nintendo DS will be able to receive demo versions of some DS games from Wii, but not the entire game," a Nintendo of America has told Gamasutra. "The demo will be erased once the Nintendo DS is turned off," the company continued, allaying any hopes of a potential storage device to store and execute multiple demos.

Nintendo DS owners will eventually be able to download both demos and whole games from the Wii, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime informed The New York Times. The games and demos will presumably be downloaded through the online Wii Shop Channel and then transferred to the portable via the wireless capabilities of both systems. At present, the Nintendo DS can only hold one demo at a time in its internal memory. Once downloaded, users cannot power off the system or run any other software without losing the demo.

Nintendo managed the most successful sales figures in the USA for November, a month which saw console sales rocket thanks to Black Friday and the holiday season. Top of the pile was the Nintendo DS, which shipped 1.53 million units, followed by the Wii on 981,000 units. Microsoft's Xbox 360 came a reasonably close third, selling 770,000 units. Meanwhile Sony's three consoles came last despite improved sales, with 567,000 PSPs, 496,000 PS2 consoles and 466,000 PS3s being sold.

This fun piece of trivia does more than make you the life of the party when playing "trivial pursuit". It indicates just how popular the Nintendo DS really is. Nintendo claims that they have sold over six million Nintendo DS units in America this year, citing internal estimates. There also seems to be no slowdown of sales in sight. The Nintendo DS is extremely popular to both the casual and hardcore gamer, and Nintendo fully intends to propel that momentum into 2008.

To further increase your trivial pursuit scores, these recent sales figures indicate that the sale of a Nintendo DS happens more than...

• A bad car accident (those happen once every 14 seconds)
• A man making a sexual advance on a woman (that happens once every seven seconds)
• Two or more script kiddies having a "flame war" on internet message boards over the previously mentioned console (which happens once every six seconds).

Nintendo has announced that it plans to launch two new DS Lite bundles in North America this Friday. One is a gold DS featuring Zelda's Triforce symbol, which will be sold with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and the other is a metallic rose DS featuring the Nintendogs' paw print, which will be bundled with Nintendogs - Best Friends Edition. Nintendo's marketing Vice President said the following:

Our new bundles will be collector's items for current gamers while offering an attractive way for people new to video games to play with style.

No official price has been given, but judging by online retailers, each model should sell at around $149.99.

Critically Acclaimed Warhammer 40,000 Franchise to Make Handheld Debut

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2007--THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced Warhammer(R) 40,000: Squad Command(TM) will bring the carnage of the 41st millennium to the popular handheld Nintendo DS(TM) and PSP(R) (PlayStation(R)Portable) systems, scheduled to be released in fall 2007. Taking full advantage of the unique capabilities of the Nintendo DS and PSP, Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command features a new and immersive single-player campaign, along with a robust global multiplayer component.

Nintendo has continued its recent console success throughout May, with the DS taking top spot and the Wii in a comfortable second in terms of sales. The Nintendo DS sold an impressive 423,000 units and the Wii 338,000 units, with the PSP next in line with 221,000 units, ahead of the PlayStation 2's 188,000 units. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are continuing to lag behind, with Sony's latest console on just 82,000 and the Xbox 360 on 155,000 units - the PS3 only beat Game Boy Advance figures by a mere one thousand units. Sales in May totalled $815.5 million, up 49% compared to figures from last year - a strong month for the games industry.