Samsung is implementing a major workforce realignment to improve operations and increase efficiency. According to a report from Reuters, Samsung has instructed its global subsidiaries to reduce marketing and sales staff by 15% and management personnel by 30% by the end of this year. Of its 267,800 employees worldwide, 147,000 are based overseas, and Samsung's global layoff plan is expected to impact all regions, including Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa. The exact motivation behind the layoffs is unclear; one source cites the slowdown in global demand for tech products as a factor, while another suggests Samsung is aiming to increase profits by cutting costs.

Dell is also implementing significant measures, with plans to lay off at least 12,500 employees, approximately 10% of its total workforce. Dell is striving to become "leaner" by overhauling its sales divisions and adopting paperless operations with the help of AI. Job cuts are expected to continue overseas, with U.S. staff members expecting their turn soon. Dell has declined to confirm any numbers regarding the layoffs, particularly those concerning their employees.

Intel recently announced it would offer an extra two-years warranty on its 13th and 14th gen Core CPUs, but it now seems like not all PC makers will follow suit. The Verge contacted 14 major PC makers and got a very mixed response when they asked if these companies would offer extended warranties on systems sold with said processors. It's important to keep in mind that OEM CPUs only come with a 12-month warranty, whereas retail box CPUs from Intel come with a three-year warranty. As such, most PC makers ought to extend the warranty in their systems by a further two years, as per Intel's new warranty terms and some are indeed doing this, while others appear not to.

However, a few companies appear to be offering up to a five-year warranty for the CPU in their system and these companies include Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest iBuyPower and Maingear, so kudos to them for going the extra mile. Corsair and Origin PC—which belongs to Corsair—are offering four years warranty, which is still pretty decent. This is followed by Puget Systems which will offer three years and finally we have Asus and HP which both will offer another two years of warranty, which is in line with what Intel has promised. Dell and its Alienware subsidiary hasn't promised any extended warranties, but will replace faulty CPUs under Intel's extended warranty and will cover any costs related to replacing the CPU, suggesting that they are offering a two-year extension as well.

Intel Corporation today reported second-quarter 2024 financial results. "Our Q2 financial performance was disappointing, even as we hit key product and process technology milestones. Second-half trends are more challenging than we previously expected, and we are leveraging our new operating model to take decisive actions that will improve operating and capital efficiencies while accelerating our IDM 2.0 transformation," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "These actions, combined with the launch of Intel 18A next year to regain process technology leadership, will strengthen our position in the market, improve our profitability and create shareholder value."

"Second-quarter results were impacted by gross margin headwinds from the accelerated ramp of our AI PC product, higher than typical charges related to non-core businesses and the impact from unused capacity," said David Zinsner, Intel CFO. "By implementing our spending reductions, we are taking proactive steps to improve our profits and strengthen our balance sheet. We expect these actions to meaningfully improve liquidity and reduce our debt balance while enabling us to make the right investments to drive long-term value for shareholders."

The PC market gathered momentum in Q2 2024, with worldwide shipments of desktops and notebooks up 3.4% year-on-year, reaching 62.8 million units. Shipments of notebooks (including mobile workstations) hit 50 million units, growing 4%. Desktops (including desktop workstations), which constitute 20% of the total PC market, experienced a slight 1% growth, totaling 12.8 million units. The stage is now set for accelerated growth as the refresh cycle driven by the Windows 11 transition and AI PC adoption ramps up over the next four quarters.

"The PC industry is going from strength to strength with a third consecutive quarter of growth," said Ishan Dutt, Principal Analyst at Canalys. "The market turnaround is coinciding with exciting announcements from vendors and chipset manufacturers as their AI PC roadmaps transition from promise to reality. The quarter culminated with the launch of the first Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon processors and more clarity around Apple's AI strategy with the announcement of the Apple Intelligence suite of features for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Beyond these innovations, the market will start to benefit even more from its biggest tailwind - a ramp-up in PC demand driven by the Windows 11 refresh cycle. The vast majority of channel partners surveyed by Canalys in June indicated that Windows 10 end-of-life is likely to impact customer refresh plans most in either the second half of 2024 or the first half of 2025, suggesting that shipment growth will only gather steam in upcoming quarters."

During the Copilot+ debut, Microsoft and global OEMs announced PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus - the only devices that are capable of bringing Copilot+ experiences to life today. The leading AI technology and performance efficiency of these platforms will power this groundbreaking new category, as Copilot+ revolutionizes how users interact with their PCs. Together, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Microsoft are taking intelligent computing to the next level and transforming the PC experience.

Qualcomm Technologies is restoring performance leadership to the Windows PC ecosystem with our leading NPU powered by Snapdragon X Elite which delivers the highest NPU performance per watt for laptops, up to 2.6X vs. M3 and up to 5.4X vs. Core Ultra 7. With the integrated Qualcomm Hexagon NPU architecture, it can deliver up to 24 TOPS/watt peak performance in uses cases like Super Resolution and with our leading Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Snapdragon X Elite leads in performance per watt, matching competitor peak PC CPU performance at 60% less power.

There's no doubt the AI PC revolution is here. We're as excited now about the future of the PC as we were when Michael founded the company 40 years ago. New transformative AI experiences will bring enhanced productivity and efficiency to the hands of consumers and professionals alike. Those with an AI PC will never look back, and everyone will want to be part of the action. We're here to lead the way.

As part of the Dell AI Factory's growing AI devices and infrastructure offerings, Dell expands our broad portfolio of AI PCs and workstations with the introduction of the most Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors. This brand-new class of devices transforms your AI PC experience with extraordinary performance and battery life, upleveled productivity and powerful security. Our five new laptops, XPS 13, Inspiron 14 Plus, Inspiron 14, Latitude 7455 and Latitude 5455, offer a range of consumer and commercial options that deliver exceptional speed and AI performance to elevate computing and simplify tasks. So, whether you're a business professional looking to spend more time on strategic work and less time on tedious to-dos, or you're a student looking to prioritize your studies while being untethered to a desk, we have you covered.

TrendForce's latest report reveals a robust start to 2024 for OLED monitors, with shipments reaching approximately 200,000 units in the first quarter—marking a YoY growth of 121%. The momentum is expected to continue into the second quarter, which is set to see quarterly growth of 52% as new models hit the market, bringing the total for the first half to 500,000 units. With brands ramping up investments and panel makers launching new products alongside aggressive promotions, annual shipments are projected to soar to 1.34 million units, achieving an impressive 161% growth rate.

Samsung leads the market share in the first quarter with 36%, driven by strong sales of its 49-inch models which offer a significant cost-performance advantage—being only 20% more expensive than their LCD counterparts. Notably, Samsung's plan to introduce 27-inch and 31.5-inch models in Q2, which are expected to further boost its OLED shipments.

A product roadmap leak at leading PC OEM Dell, disclosed the tentative launch dates of several future generations of processors by Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. The slide was detailing hardware platforms for future revisions of the company's premium XPS notebooks. Given that Dell remains one of the largest PC OEMs, the dates revealed in the leaked slides are highly plausible.

In chronological order, Dell expects Intel's Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake-MX" processor in September 2024, which should mean product unveilings at Computex. It's interesting to note that Intel is only designing "Lunar Lake" for the -MX memory-on-package segment. This chip squares off against Apple's M3, M4, and possibly even the M3 Pro. Intel also has its ambitious "Arrow Lake" architecture planned for the second half of 2024, hence the lack of product overlap—there won't be an "Arrow Lake-MX."

A recent Reuters investigation has uncovered evidence suggesting Chinese universities and research institutes may have circumvented US sanctions on high-performance NVIDIA GPUs by purchasing servers containing the restricted chips. The sanctions tightened on November 17, 2023, prohibit the export of advanced NVIDIA GPUs like the consumer GeForce RTX 4090 to China. Despite these restrictions, Reuters found that at least ten China-based organizations acquired servers equipped with the sanctioned NVIDIA GPUs between November 20, 2023, and February 28, 2024. These servers were purchased from major vendors such as Dell, Gigabyte, and Supermicro, raising concerns about potential sanctions evasion. When contacted by Reuters, the companies provided varying responses.

Dell stated that it had not observed any instances of servers with restricted chips being shipped to China and expressed willingness to terminate relationships with resellers found to be violating export control regulations. Gigabyte, on the other hand, stated that it adheres to Taiwanese laws and international regulations. Notably, the sale and purchase of the sanctioned GPUs are not illegal in China. This raises the possibility that the restricted NVIDIA chips may have already been present in the country before the sanctions took effect on November 17, 2023. The findings highlight the challenges in enforcing export controls on advanced technologies, particularly in the realm of high-performance computing hardware. As tensions between the US and China continue to rise, the potential for further tightening of export restrictions on cutting-edge technologies remains a possibility.

Global PC shipments grew around 3% YoY in Q1 2024 after eight consecutive quarters of declines due to demand slowdown and inventory correction, according to the latest data from Counterpoint Research. The shipment growth in Q1 2024 came on a relatively low base in Q1 2023. The coming quarters of 2024 will see sequential shipment growth, resulting in 3% YoY growth for the full year, largely driven by AI PC momentum, shipment recovery across different sectors, and a fresh replacement cycle.

Lenovo's PC shipments were up 8% in Q1 2024 off an easy comparison from last year. The brand managed to reclaim its 24% share in the market, compared to 23% in Q1 2023. HP and Dell, with market shares of 21% and 16% respectively, remained flattish, waiting for North America to drive shipment growth in the coming quarters. Apple's shipment performance was also resilient, with the 2% growth mainly supported by M3 base models.

Dell Technologies is strengthening its collaboration with NVIDIA to help enterprises adopt AI technologies. By expanding the Dell Generative AI Solutions portfolio, including with the new Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, organizations can accelerate integration of their data, AI tools and on-premises infrastructure to maximize their generative AI (GenAI) investments. "Our enterprise customers are looking for an easy way to implement AI solutions—that is exactly what Dell Technologies and NVIDIA are delivering," said Michael Dell, founder and CEO, Dell Technologies. "Through our combined efforts, organizations can seamlessly integrate data with their own use cases and streamline the development of customized GenAI models."

"AI factories are central to creating intelligence on an industrial scale," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA. "Together, NVIDIA and Dell are helping enterprises create AI factories to turn their proprietary data into powerful insights."

NVIDIA today announced a new wave of networking switches, the X800 series, designed for massive-scale AI. The world's first networking platforms capable of end-to-end 800 Gb/s throughput, NVIDIA Quantum-X800 InfiniBand and NVIDIA Spectrum -X800 Ethernet push the boundaries of networking performance for computing and AI workloads. They feature software that further accelerates AI, cloud, data processing and HPC applications in every type of data center, including those that incorporate the newly released NVIDIA Blackwell architecture-based product lineup.

"NVIDIA Networking is central to the scalability of our AI supercomputing infrastructure," said Gilad Shainer, senior vice president of Networking at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA X800 switches are end-to-end networking platforms that enable us to achieve trillion-parameter-scale generative AI essential for new AI infrastructures."

NVIDIA's next-generation AI GPU, the B100 "Blackwell," is now in the hands of the company's biggest ecosystem partners and customers for evaluation, and one of them is Dell. Jeff Clarke, the OEM giant's chief operating officer, speaking to industry analysts in an investor teleconference, said that he is excited about the upcoming B100 and B200 chips from NVIDIA. B100 is codename for the AI GPU NVIDIA designs for PCIe add-on card and the SXM socket, meant for systems powered by x86 CPUs such as the AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon Scalable. The B200 is its variant meant for machines powered by NVIDIA's in-house Arm-based processors, such as the successor to its Grace CPU, and its combination with an AI GPU, called Grace Hopper (GH200).

Perhaps the most interesting remark by Clarke about the B100 is that he doesn't think it needs liquid cooling, and can make do with high-airflow cooling like the H100. "We're excited about what happens at the B100 and the B200, and we think that's where there's actually another opportunity to distinguish engineering confidence. Our characterization in the thermal side, you really don't need to direct-liquid cooling to get to the energy density of 1000 W per GPU. That happens next year with the B200," he said. NVIDIA is planning a 2024 debut for "Blackwell" in the AI GPU space with the B100, with B200 slated for 2025, possibly alongside a new CPU.

TrendForce underscores that the primary momentum for server shipments this year remains with American CSPs. However, due to persistently high inflation and elevated corporate financing costs curtailing capital expenditures, overall demand has not yet returned to pre-pandemic growth levels. Global server shipments are estimated to reach approximately. 13.654 million units in 2024, an increase of about 2.05% YoY. Meanwhile, the market continues to focus on the deployment of AI servers, with their shipment share estimated at around 12.1%.

Foxconn is expected to see the highest growth rate, with an estimated annual increase of about 5-7%. This growth includes significant orders such as Dell's 16G platform, AWS Graviton 3 and 4, Google Genoa, and Microsoft Gen9. In terms of AI server orders, Foxconn has made notable inroads with Oracle and has also secured some AWS ASIC orders.

Dell Technologies will introduce the broadest portfolio of commercial AI laptops and mobile workstations designed to bring organizations and employee productivity into the AI era. "The next generation of PCs is emerging at a pivotal time - with upcoming refresh cycles and new capabilities on the PC creating the perfect storm," said Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy. "Dell's commercial AI PCs and workstations, coupled with its ecosystem of peripherals, software and services, offer an AI continuum designed to enhance the user experience today and set organizations up for success in the future."

"Every company that wants to remain competitive will have to implement AI in some way, and AI PCs will be central to that," said Sam Burd, president, Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. "From running complex AI workloads on workstations to using day-to-day AI-powered applications on laptops, the AI PC will be an important investment that pays dividends in productivity and paves the way to a smarter, more efficient future. Dell's advantage starts with offering more AI PCs across the commercial portfolio from day one, giving customers the ability to start future proofing for AI today."

With generative AI and hybrid work environments becoming the new standard, nearly every professional, whether a content creator, researcher or engineer, needs a powerful, AI-accelerated laptop to help users tackle their industry's toughest challenges - even on the go. The new NVIDIA RTX 500 and 1000 Ada Generation Laptop GPUs will be available in new, highly portable mobile workstations, expanding the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture-based lineup, which includes the RTX 2000, 3000, 3500, 4000 and 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPUs.

AI is rapidly being adopted to drive efficiencies across professional design and content creation workflows and everyday productivity applications, underscoring the importance of having powerful local AI acceleration and sufficient processing power in systems. The next generation of mobile workstations with Ada Generation GPUs, including the RTX 500 and 1000 GPUs, will include both a neural processing unit (NPU), a component of the CPU, and an NVIDIA RTX GPU, which includes Tensor Cores for AI processing. The NPU helps offload light AI tasks, while the GPU provides up to an additional 682 TOPS of AI performance for more demanding day-to-day AI workflows.

Eurocom, a pioneer in high-performance mobile computing solutions, is thrilled to announce that its 780 W AC Adapter, specifically designed to power the most powerful laptops Eurocom offers, now supports the formidable MSI Titan 18HX gaming laptop. This groundbreaking accessory addresses the power limitations of the stock 400 W AC adapter that ships with the MSI Titan 18HX, ensuring peak performance for demanding tasks and resource-intensive applications.

Mark Bialic, President of Eurocom: "Our mission has always been to empower users with high-performance, upgradeable solutions. The 780 W AC Adapter for the MSI Titan 18HX exemplifies our commitment to excellence." The DC cable is detachable, allowing customers to use the same AC adapter with multiple laptops unlike any other AC adapter available on the market. Eurocom has added a variety of detachable DC cables with different connections at the laptop end for flawless integration. An optional splitter box is available for laptops that support dual DC Cables.

TrendForce's latest findings reveal global monitor shipments declined 7.3% in 2023 down to 125 million units—a figure below pre-pandemic levels. Looking ahead to 2024, given the low shipment base in 2023, alongside the potential for a gradual economic recovery and the typical 4 to 5-year PC replacement cycle, PCs purchased during the pandemic are expected to be upgraded between the second half of 2024 and 2025. This is anticipated to drive a 2% increase in global monitor shipments in 2024, reaching approximately 128 million units.

The top three commercial monitor brands experienced over twenty percent decline in shipments
A surge in unfulfilled business orders in Europe and America in the first half of 2022 elevated the shipment baseline for commercial brands that year. However, by 2023, commercial market demand saw a significant contraction, leading to a YoY shipment decrease of 20.4% for Dell, 20.7% for HP, and 21.4% for Lenovo—each dropping by over twenty percent.

In a surprising turn of events, SK Hynix has hinted at the possibility of the Compression Attached Memory Module (CAMM) standard, initially designed for laptops, being introduced to desktop PCs. This revelation came from a comment made by an SK Hynix representative at the CES 2024 in Las Vegas for the Korean tech media ITSubIssub. According to the SK Hynix representative, the first implementation is underway, but there are no specific details. CAMM, an innovative memory standard developed by Dell in 2022, was certified to replace SO-DIMM as the official standard for laptop memory. However, the transition to desktop PCs could significantly disrupt the desktop memory market. The CAMM modules, unlike the vertical DRAM sticks currently in use, are horizontal and are screwed into a socket. This design change would necessitate a complete overhaul of the desktop motherboard layout.

The thin, flat design of the CAMM modules could also limit the number that can be installed on an ATX board. However, the desktop version of the standard CAMM2 was announced by JEDEC just a month ago. It is designed for DDR5 memory, but it is expected to become mainstream with the introduction of DDR6 around 2025. While CAMM allows for higher speeds and densities for mobile memory, its advantages for desktops over traditional memory sticks are yet to be fully understood. Although low-power CAMM modules could offer energy savings, this is typically more relevant for mobile devices than desktops. As we move towards DDR6 and DDR7, more information about CAMM for desktops will be needed to understand its potential benefits. JEDEC's official words on the new standard indicate that "DDR5 CAMM2s are intended for performance notebooks and mainstream desktops, while LPDDR5/5X CAMM2s target a broader range of notebooks and certain server market segments." So, we can expect to see CAMM2 in both desktops and some server applications.

CES always gives us an exciting look at what's next for hardware, and with gaming at the forefront of technological innovation, it's no surprise that CES 2024 has revealed some truly next-generation Windows 11 gaming PCs. Microsoft and our partners are leading the way in combining traditional power with advancements in AI, and this selection of new announcements are a perfect way to future-proof your gaming experience on PC.

Every PC on this list is designed to run the latest games - including those on PC Game Pass, which will help you to jump into some of the greatest games on the platform the moment you switch on your new machine. Even better, every single computer listed below comes with at least one free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, giving players access to hundreds of high-quality PC, console and cloud games.

Raising the bar and becoming a CES 2024 Innovation Award Honoree, Dell Technologies is introducing the world's first 40-inch 5K monitor certified for five-star eye comfort, the Dell UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor (U4025QW). Marking nine years of being an industry leader in PC monitors, Dell continues to push the boundaries of display innovation, bridging the gap for those who demand ultimate performance with the best technology and design.

Whether you're a content creator, data scientist or engineer, or you just need a monitor to keep you in your flow—a device with the best value in precision and efficiency is critical to keeping you productive in any work environment. Known for outstanding visuals, the U4025QW is a must-have for professionals who require clarity and remarkable color. This ultrawide curved VESA DisplayHDR 600 certified monitor comes with IPS Black Panel technology for greater color contrast and intricate detail in 5K resolution (5120x2160).

With our XPS portfolio, we have a long history of taking risks, being inquisitive and asking big design questions. At CES 2022, we showcased our vision of the future with XPS 13 Plus—an elegant and modern device, designed with simplicity at the core. The design turned heads and continues to do so today, with headlines calling it elegant, stylish, stunning, beautiful and our personal favorite—referring to the design as "the future is here."

This bold design has forever changed the ID of the XPS brand. Now, we are unifying the design across our XPS portfolio, introducing new screen sizes with the XPS 16 and XPS 14 and revamping the XPS 13 Plus to XPS 13. This trio of laptops share elements that eliminate distractions and place the focus on productivity.

Binarly's research team has discovered a collection of security vulnerabilities known as "LogoFAIL", which affects image parsing components within the UEFI firmware of a wide array of devices. These vulnerabilities are especially concerning because they are embedded within the reference code provided by Independent BIOS Vendors (IBVs), affecting not just a single vendor but a broad spectrum of devices that utilize this code. LogoFAIL is particularly dangerous because it allows attackers to bypass crucial security measures such as Secure Boot and Intel Boot Guard by executing a payload during the device's boot process. This is achieved by storing malicious images on the EFI System Partition or within unsigned sections of firmware updates. This method can compromise system security deeply without altering the runtime integrity of the bootloader or firmware, unlike other threats such as BlackLotus or BootHole.

The potential reach of LogoFAIL vulnerability is rather wide, with millions of consumer and enterprise-grade devices from various vendors, including ones like Intel, Acer, and Lenovo, being vulnerable. The exact list of affected devices is still undetermined, but the prevalence of the IBVs' code across numerous devices suggests that the impact could be widespread, with both Windows and Linux users being affected. Only PCs that don't allow any logotype displayed in the UEFI during the boot process are safe. Apple's Macs are secure as they don't allow any add-on images during boot, and some OEM prebuilt PCs, like the ones from Dell, don't allow images in the UEFI. Some makers like Lenovo, AMI, and Insyde have already published notes about cautiously uploading custom images to the UEFI and providing BIOS updates. Consumers and enterprises must check with their OEMs and IBVs for BIOS microcode updates to patch against this vulnerability.Below, you can see the proof of concept in a YouTube video.

Generative AI (GenAI) is the decade's most promising accelerator for innovation with 78% of IT decision makers reporting they're largely excited for the potential GenAI can have on their organizations.¹ Most see GenAI as a means to provide productivity gains, streamline processes and achieve cost savings. Harnessing this technology is critical to ensure organizations can compete in this new digital era.

Dell Technologies and AMD are coming together to unveil an expansion to the Dell Generative AI Solutions portfolio, continuing the work of accelerating advanced workloads and offering businesses more choice to continue their unique GenAI journeys. This new technology highlights a pivotal role played by open ecosystems and silicon diversity in empowering customers with simple, trusted and tailored solutions to bring AI to their data.

Dell Technologies announces financial results for its fiscal 2024 third quarter. Revenue was $22.3 billion, down 10% year-over-year. The company generated operating income of $1.5 billion and non-GAAP operating income of $2 billion, down 16% and 17% year-over-year, respectively. Diluted earnings per share was $1.36, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.88. Cash flow from operations for the third quarter was $2.2 billion, driven by profitability and strong working capital performance. The company has generated $9.9 billion of cash flow from operations throughout the last 12 months.

Dell ended the quarter with remaining performance obligations of $39 billion, recurring revenue of $5.6 billion, up 4% year-over-year, and deferred revenue of $29.1 billion, up 7% year-over-year, primarily due to increases in software and hardware maintenance agreements. The company's cash and investment balance was $9.9 billion.