Japanese semiconductor maker Rapidus might miss the planned timeline for its 2 nm node production, as the company is reportedly struggling with its initial attempts at risk production and trial runs. According to a report by the Japan Times, 2 nm volume production at Rapidus facilities will likely be delayed by a few months due to difficulties in 2 nm production, specifically with SRAM. SRAM consists of tiny bitcells that serve as the foundational building blocks for designs operating on one node, and without functional SRAM, it is simply impossible to achieve normal volume production.

There are reportedly other problems, including dust and particle control, which are impacting Rapidus cleanrooms—where the actual silicon is manufactured—to a point where production may be jeopardized altogether. Engineers are working on fixing these problems with the cleanroom and SRAM cells, which should put Rapidus on the right track. Despite these challenges, the company claims that the 2 nm node will arrive on time without any delays, so we are yet to see how these issues will impact their product delivery pipeline.

Sony is adding built-in storage to a new PlayStation Portal model for Japan and South Korea, though it hasn't said how much storage it has or what it will be used for. The PlayStation Portal Player Midnight Black goes on sale December 10 for ¥39,980 in Japan and ₩378,000 in South Korea, the same price the current model sells for after this year's price hikes. Preorders open November 13, and each unit ships with one month of PlayStation Plus Premium. Like the Japan-only Midnight Black PS5, both versions are locked to the local language and only work with PlayStation accounts registered in that country. Sony's Japanese post only says the storage is there for future features, with details to follow once those are decided.

Interestingly, the Korean post calls it expanded internal storage instead of new storage, which makes sense since the Portal needs some flash just to run its OS. The "Remote" part of the name is also gone, so the device is now simply the PlayStation Portal Player, as it can stream games from the cloud without a PS5 these days. Everything else carries over, including the 8-inch 1080p 60 FPS LCD, haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and 3D Audio. That also means no OLED panel, which leaker KeplerL2 claimed back in January would come with a refreshed Portal sometime in 2026. Offline play or local downloads would be the obvious guess for the storage, though Sony hasn't confirmed anything along those lines. There's also no word on a wider release, so buyers elsewhere shouldn't hold out for this model just yet.

Nintendo isn't considering another price increase for the Switch 2, at least for now. Speaking at the company's financial results briefing on November 5, president Shuntaro Furukawa said there hasn't been any major change in the memory situation and that Nintendo is still able to secure "sufficient quantities," according to Reuters. That's welcome news for anyone still on the fence, since the console has already gone up once this year. Nintendo announced a $50 price hike back in May, which took the US price from $449.99 to $499.99 on September 1, while the Japanese model went from ¥49,980 to ¥59,980 and the European My Nintendo Store price climbed from €469.99 to €499.99.

The comments seem to arrive as Switch 2 hardware sales are slowing down. Nintendo shipped 2.67 million units between July and September, down 41% from a year earlier, though the console has now reached 26.35 million units overall and is still ahead of where the original Switch was at the same point. Nintendo has kept its forecast of 16.5 million Switch 2 units for the fiscal year ending March 2027. Of course, "not considering" isn't the same as a promise, so it's best not to treat this as a price freeze. Sony said much the same thing this week, noting that it has already agreed on memory volumes with suppliers for its next fiscal year. Elsewhere, hardware keeps getting pricier, with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50-series reportedly set for price hikes of up to $500, but at least Nintendo is staying put for now.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced global semiconductor sales were $517.7 billion during the third quarter of 2026, an increase of 24.1% compared to the second quarter of 2026. Global sales were $172.6 billion during the month of September 2026, an increase of 146.8% compared to September 2025 and 7.9% more than sales in August 2026. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

Michael Robbins, SIA president and CEO"The global chip market grew substantially throughout the third quarter of this year, with worldwide sales increasing by more than 20% quarter-to-quarter for the third consecutive quarter. Year-to-year semiconductor sales remained strong across all major regional markets, highlighting the industry's global reach and its indispensable role in powering innovation, productivity, and economic competitiveness."

Pocketpair has been involved in a protracted legal battle with Nintendo following the launch of the hyper-popular creature collector, Palworld, and it seems as though Nintendo is on the back foot for the time being, with an October 2025 decision by the Japanese Patent Office denying Nintendo's application for a patent on creature capture mechanics. Still, despite the ongoing legal battle between the two gaming companies, Pocketpair's CEO, Takuro Mizobe, has commented in a recent interview with VGC that a Nintendo Switch 2 port may be on the cards, as long as Nintendo is willing to come to the table and as long as those conversations are possible.

Takuro MizobeFirst of all, I should say that we think the Switch 2 is a really amazing platform, not just for games globally, but especially here in Japan and for the Japanese games industry. It's been an incredible platform. If there's ever a future where we have the opportunity to discuss or consider bringing Palworld to the Switch platform in some way, then we'd love to have those conversations.

The latest in the saga of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 discontinuation rumors is that OEMs are no longer able to order GPUs or VRAM for the 5090 from NVIDIA, however it seems as though Zotac is undeterred, having just published a restock of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Solid OC in Japan. The new listing on Zotac's official online store in Japan was spotted by @momomo_us on X, a popular leaker and hardware insider.

While the GPU appears to be in stock, and selling for as much as 1,190,000 JPY (~$7 558,17 converted), there's no telling if this will remain the case for the foreseeable future. It appears as though Zotac may have had some stock ready to go, but it's also entirely possible that the lack of supply or back-order availability that was previously reported by other board partners could have been due to regional or AIB limitations on GPU allocation by NVIDIA. It may also be an indication that previous reports of the RTX 5090 being end-of-life were inaccurate.

Audio-Technica announces the introduction of its ATH-AWX7000 Closed Back Dynamic Wooden Headphones, combining ultimate audio performance with exquisite Japanese wood craftsmanship to create the company's finest headphones ever. The new ATH-AWX7000 features newly developed HMD (Hybrid Matrix Diaphragm) technology along with additional advancements and sets an extraordinary new sonic standard in audiophile dynamic headphones.

The housings of the ATH-AWX7000 are crafted from Kiso cypress, a prized wood used to construct Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The wood is hand-finished in traditional Echizen lacquer to bring out the natural color of the wood's grain. Over time, the color will darken, to add to the wood's beauty and distinctive character. The headphones' frame and other components are finished in the traditional Japanese deep navy hue of kachi-iro (the traditional lucky color of the samurai).

Sony has stopped shipping the UBP-X700/K in Japan, its last standalone 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player in the country. Shipments ended on October 22, and according to Sony retailer Kunkoku, the remaining stock on Sony's Japanese store sold out almost immediately. There's no word on a successor. That leaves the disc-equipped PlayStation 5 as the only Sony product in Japan that can still play 4K Blu-ray movies. The UBP-X700/K only launched on May 17, 2025, as a cut-down version of the 2018 UBP-X700 without streaming apps, and it was last listed at ¥58,300. Sony will keep selling the BDP-S1700/K, though that one only handles regular Blu-ray discs.

The PS5 is not a perfect stand-in for home theater enthusiasts either. It handles 4K Blu-ray with HDR10, but it lacks Dolby Vision support, which the UBP-X700/K offered. Sony has also announced that new PlayStation games will stop shipping on disc from January 2028, and it hasn't confirmed whether the PS6 will even have a disc drive, despite an earlier report of a detachable one. If it doesn't, the PS5 becomes Sony's last disc player, and with a successor on the way, its days are numbered too. Sony already announced in February that it would phase out all of its Blu-ray recorders in Japan with no successors, so this was somewhat expected. For now, the player exit seems to be limited to Japan, as Sony's US store still lists the UBP-X700U. However, it's hard to see the standalone player sticking around for long elsewhere if Sony is winding down its disc business at home.

NVIDIA today announced plans with a group of supply chain partners to expand global manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand for its accelerated computing and full-stack AI factory platform.

Working with Amkor Technology, IBIDEN, King Yuan Electronics (KYEC), Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) and Unimicron Technology Corporation, NVIDIA is enabling new and existing suppliers to expand critical manufacturing capabilities across substrates, advanced packaging, testing and optical engines, strengthening the resiliency and redundancy of NVIDIA's global supply chain.

Rebel Wolves has confirmed that Update 1.1 for The Blood of Dawnwalker arrives next week, a little later than the "early October" window the studio mentioned last month. There's no exact date yet. The biggest addition is the Draught of Mind Rebirth, an item that lets players reset their Swordmastery, Witchcraft, and Vampirism skills and get back the in-game time spent learning them, which matters a lot under the game's 30-day limit. There's also a new Story difficulty with extra combat assists, while the existing Story mode gets renamed to Forgiving. Combat targeting, lock-on, and disengaging have been improved, Shadowstep and Planeshift should feel more responsive, and the camera has been tweaked. Players can also pet dogs and cats now, using the directional combat system, of all things.

For PC players, frame generation is getting an update along with its own dedicated settings, though Rebel Wolves hasn't shared any specifics. The game already supports NVIDIA DLSS, and in a September interview, game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz said broader optimization work was still ongoing, so it's reasonable to hope some of the 1,100+ improvements and fixes target performance. The update also adds larger font sizes and subtitles for all dialogue, and it removes blood and gore censorship from the Japanese version. The Blood of Dawnwalker launched on September 3 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, and sold a million copies within days, on a budget that is reportedly just $40 million.

On two separate occasions, in August and again in September, it was predicted that entry-level GPUs would see significant price increases in the second half of 2026, and it seems as though that prediction has come true, as showed in a recent Reddit post sharing updated retailer listing prices for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs from Japan—one of the countries where PC hardware prices are often felt sooner than in international markets. According to the price list, the cheapest available RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB was ¥118,800 (~$750 converted), while RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB prices start at ¥139,800 (~$882 converted).

Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 12 GB starts at ¥145,800 (~$920 converted), 5070 Ti prices start at ¥230,800 (~$1,456 converted), and the RTX 5080 16 GB has climbed to a starting price of ¥295,801 (~$1,867 converted). Compared to MSRP, these new prices represent an increase of around 59% for the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, 66-144% for the 5060 Ti 16 GB, 32-82% for the 5070, and as much as 94% for the RTX 5080.

GlobalFoundries announced that it has been selected to provide the technology and to operate two planned semiconductor fabs at its Malta, New York, site. This is not a direct investment from GF but rather came as a new U.S.-Japan initiative involving up to $21 billion in funding. The first 300 mm fab will be funded with an initial investment of around $10 billion. GF expects to break ground later this year, with production planned to begin in 2029. In a second phase, another fab is planned with another $10 billion investment at a later date. When fully operational, each fab will produce around 900,000 wafers annually. GF expects to reach baseline capacity around 2031-2032 for the first fab, and projects 2033 for the second one. The expansion comes as the company seeks new opportunities in advanced packaging and semiconductor manufacturing. In April, AMD announced plans to work with GF on co-packaged optics (CPO) for its next-generation Instinct MI500 AI accelerators, scheduled for 2027. The company is also preparing to bring its 7 nm-class FDX Fusion technology into mass production at its Dresden, Germany, facility in 2028.

Separately, GF has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce to amend its CHIPS and Science Act award, reallocating $955 million to accelerate investments in silicon photonics, silicon-germanium (SiGe), and advanced packaging at its facilities in Malta, New York, and Burlington, Vermont. Under a separate agreement, the U.S. government will receive an approximately 4% equity stake. In 2025, GlobalFoundries ranked fifth among the world's top ten foundries, behind TSMC, Samsung, SMIC, and UMC.

Sony has announced a Midnight Black version of its Japan-only PS5 Digital Edition through the Japanese PlayStation Blog, and it goes on sale on November 19 for ¥55,000 (roughly $350) including tax. That's the same day GTA 6 launches, and Sony mentions the game right alongside the console in its announcement. Pre-orders open on October 20 at PlayStation retailers and online stores in Japan. The new model, CFI-2200B02S, comes with the same catch as the white Japan-only version from last November: the system language is locked to Japanese, and the console only works with PlayStation accounts registered to Japan. Other than that, it's a regular PS5 Digital Edition with an 825 GB SSD. A matching Midnight Black disc drive also launches on November 19 for ¥11,980 (about $76).

The pricing is the more interesting part. When Sony raised PS5 prices worldwide in April, the Japan-only model stayed at ¥55,000 (~$350), while the standard Digital Edition in Japan jumped to ¥89,980 (~$570). In the US, the Digital Edition now sells for $599.99, so the region lock seems to be there mostly to stop these units from being exported. Sony also used the announcement to repeat that new PlayStation games will be digital only from January 2028. That's a slightly awkward message to pair with a brand-new disc drive, especially since physical copies still bring in a sizeable share of revenue for its biggest exclusives. There's no word about a release outside Japan, and with US console prices sitting at record highs, it's reasonable to expect that this cheaper black PS5 stays a Japan-only affair.

Sony is seemingly pulling away from its XR ambitions, as the company has reportedly transferred 43 patents it holds in the United States to none other than Meta. In a large transfer between June and September this year, Sony's patents revolving around virtual, augmented, and mixed reality headsets have been transferred to Meta to strengthen its internal hardware team. These patents reportedly include things like head-mount displays, XR glass types, and much more that Sony has been working on since 2010 up until 2022.

However, not only patents in the United States are at stake here, as there are a total of 419 global patents that Sony will transfer to Meta. Around 180 patents out of these 419 will be those held in the United States, while the remaining 239 were filed in different countries where Sony has research and development teams like in Japan, China, Korea, Europe, and other regions.

Japanese peripheral maker Elecom has introduced the DST-L080BPBK, an 8-in-1 USB Type-C dock that combines a conventional docking station with a large dial knob and four customizable buttons. The company is known for some unusual PC peripherals, including the M.A.P.P. mouse and IST trackball mouse. The dock measures 74 × 87 × 59 mm and weighs approximately 250 g. The top of the dock houses the dial and four buttons, with their functions configurable through Elecom's Mouse Assistant software. The dial and buttons can be assigned to different functions depending on the user's needs, turning the dock into a small control panel in addition to its connectivity features. The dock features one USB 5 Gbps Type-C and two USB 5 Gbps Type-A ports for data, along with a USB Type-C upstream connection.

The device also has a USB Type-C port with Power Delivery, up to 100 W input / 90 W output and one HDMI port that supports up to 4K at 60 Hz. The features are completed by one SD and one microSD card slot, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. It supports Windows 10/11 and macOS Tahoe 26. Elecom plans to launch the DST-L080BPBK in Japan in early October, the dock is currently listed on the company website for ¥13,728 (around $87). The company has not announced availability in other regions.

Google Japan has revealed the 15th entry in its joke keyboard series, the Gboard Conveyor Belt Version, and it is not a real product. The Gboard team used to publish these gag designs on April Fools' Day, and moved the tradition to October 1 a few years ago as a nod to 101-key keyboards. The device stands upright and carries its keys on four belts with 29 keys each. The belts keep rotating, so the user rests one hand at the base and presses each key as it rolls past. Waiting for each letter to come around, of course, makes it far slower than a regular keyboard, and that seems to be the whole gag. Google's tongue-in-cheek blog post even suggests building a second unit for two-handed typing. Color variants, a high-speed mode, and longer or shorter versions are said to be under consideration.

As expected, there are no plans to sell it, and the project's GitHub page states that it is not an official Google product. The prank is at least meant to be buildable, as Google has posted 3D-printable STL files, KiCad board data, and firmware. The build guide lists 157 printed parts, 116 Kailh Choc V1 low-profile switches, an M5Stack AtomS3 Lite controller, and a single 6 V N20 gear motor that drives all four belts. The repository still looks unfinished, however. Only the motorized "Moving Keys Edition" is documented so far, while the board documentation and a "functional Bluetooth keyboard" edition are both marked as coming soon. It's not clear whether a fully working unit can be built from the files just yet, but it's a fun bit regardless.

Rapidus Corporation today announced that it will establish the Rapidus Collaborative Open Rapid Ecosystem (CORE), a global ecosystem framework to support the development and mass production of cutting-edge semiconductors.

Today, semiconductor development requires more than just manufacturing technology; it is essential to integrate the entire semiconductor value chain—including research institutions, EDA, IP, design and manufacturing—to provide customers with a development and production infrastructure they can rely on. Further, amid a global shortage of cutting-edge semiconductor talent, it is crucial to build a design ecosystem that enables customers to begin development at an early stage by collaborating with design-related companies.

MSI introduced the MAG 271KPD7 gaming monitor in Japan following its presentation at CES 2026 in January. The main feature of this 26.9-inch monitor is the Dual Mode Ultra technology. This allows users to switch between modes: 5K (5120 x 2880) at 75 Hz or WQHD (2560 x 1440) at 300 Hz, closer to the MSI MAG 274QPF X32 WQHD 320 Hz model launched in July. The 5K mode offers 218 pixel density and is best suited for creatives and professionals, while the WQHD mode is best for gaming with its 0.5 ms GtG response time. There is also a 24.5-inch mode for FPS and battle royale games where a smaller field of view is useful. The Rapid IPS panel offers 350 cd/m² brightness with 500 cd/m² peak, 1500:1 contrast ratio, 95% DCI-P3 and 99.1% sRGB, and has typical IPS 178° viewing angles. The monitor has VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification and supports AMD FreeSync Premium.

Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4a, one USB-C with DisplayPort Alt Mode and 15 W power delivery. There are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A hub ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-B for a PC connection and a headphone output. MSI also included a built-in KVM switch that lets users control two PCs. The MSI MAG 271KPD7 will be available from October 1 at around 98,800 yen (around $622) with a three-year warranty.

As a leading innovator in graphics card technology, PALIT Microsystems Ltd. is excited to announce the official global debut of our digital ambassador, RiTONA, alongside a special edition graphics card: the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB RiTONA OC.

Meet RiTONA: PALIT's Digital Brand Ambassador
First debuting in Japan in 2022, RiTONA is now stepping onto the global stage with an evolved look. Her updated design showcases a more mature and confident style.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a leading brand in gaming PC components, gaming laptops, and Hi-fi audio products, is opening a new chapter in the Japanese market through a strategic partnership with CFD Sales Inc. (CFD), a well-established Japanese hardware distributor. As part of this renewed market expansion, COLORFUL's flagship iGame graphics card series and BATTLE-AX motherboards will officially go on sale in Japan on September 16, ahead of TOKYO GAME SHOW 2026. The iGame graphics card series will also be showcased as part of CFD's new gaming brand, Crowxis, at the event.

Beginning September 16, Japanese customers will be able to purchase COLORFUL iGame graphics cards and BATTLE-AX motherboards through CFD's local distribution channels. Product and availability details will be available on the official CFD website. COLORFUL's partnership with CFD represents an important step in strengthening its presence among Japanese PC DIY enthusiasts and gamers, while bringing its latest graphics card and motherboard products to the Japanese market.

The Nintendo Switch emulator called "suyu," a fork based on the previously deprecated "Yuzu" emulator, has been updated to version 0.0.4 with a massive performance increase. Reportedly, the developers behind the emulator introduced an update called recompiler mode, which uses ahead-of-time static recompilation of the Switch's AArch64 binary game code and translates it into a native x86-64 executable for regular PC users. This small change is said to bring a huge performance improvement compared to the traditional emulation mode, which provided full hardware-level emulation in previous releases. Now, both of these options stand side by side for Nintendo Switch emulator fans to use on their PCs.

However, this release also marks a sad end for the emulator, as the code remains open source, but the GitHub repository is now archived. Previous Nintendo Switch emulators like "Yuzu" and "Ryujinx" were shut down due to pressure and notices from Nintendo's HQ in Japan, which threatened legal action. Known for its strong legal stance, emulators were quick to be shut down, and suyu is no exception. It appears that the development team behind suyu took matters into their own hands and decided to push out another update before archiving the repository, bringing the performance increase to everyone as one last effort.

Fujitsu Limited today announced that it will begin global sales of its next-generation CPU, FUJITSU-MONAKA, designed and developed in Japan, starting November 2026. This will include sales of the processor as a standalone product to cloud and data center operators and server vendors. Additionally, the company will launch the made-in-Japan Fujitsu MONAKA Server equipped with the FUJITSU-MONAKA CPU, offering high reliability and power efficiency as a sovereign AI infrastructure. Fujitsu MONAKA Server will be made broadly available from November 2026 to data center operators, enterprises, and the academic and HPC sectors in Japan and Europe, as well as to the defense sector, contributing to national security.

The FUJITSU-MONAKA CPU integrates Fujitsu's extensive expertise in processor and server development, achieving world-class computational performance and data supply capabilities with a maximum operating frequency of 3.8 GHz and memory transfer speed of 8800 MT/s. It delivers twice the AI inference throughput and superior power efficiency compared to other CPUs, effectively halving the number of servers and power consumption required for equivalent processing loads.

JAPANNEXT, the Japanese manufacturer known for some unique monitor designs with distinctive form factors, has now listed the JN-MD-IPS7443. This is a compact 7.8-inch IPS portable display with a vertical 400 x 1280 resolution in a 5:16 aspect ratio, all packed in 211 x 74 x 15 mm. The unusual form factor is aimed at chat apps, status displays, and similar narrow vertical content. The panel has a refresh rate of 60 Hz, with 550 cd/m² brightness, a 900:1 contrast ratio and a glossy surface. There is no support for adaptive sync, HDR, or flicker-free, also, the panel is not touch-sensitive. The small display comes with a dedicated stand to change from vertical to horizontal mode when needed, though Windows 11 is required for orientation switching while macOS is not supported.

From the connectivity side, there is one USB-C and one mini-HDMI, both running at 400 x 1280 at 60 Hz. When using mini-HDMI, separate USB-C power is required. There are no built-in speakers. Power draw is up to 5 W under load and 0.5 W in standby. JAPANNEXT listed the JN-MD-IPS7443 small mobile display currently only on the Japanese website so worldwide availability is not certain. The product comes with a two-year warranty and is priced at 14,480 yen (around $94).

We recently reported that NVIDIA's RTX 50-series GPU prices rose by a median 41% between August and July 2026, putting the RTX 5090 at a whopping $4,700+. However, it seems as though the DRAM and GPU crisis is not quite done emptying the pockets of gamers just yet. According to one Japanese retailer, Applied Group (アプライド), GPU prices are slated to rise in the coming months or weeks yet again.

Applied Group on X (machine translated)There's talk about graphics card price hikes, but some graphics cards are slated for even further price increases. For those considering an upgrade, I recommend doing so sooner rather than later.

It seems as though nostalgia is trending again, with game reboots proving to be a particularly successful vehicle for those yearning for the good old days. Konami is no exception, according to comments made by Konami Representative Director and President, Hideki Hayakawa in a recent interview with Nikkei Gaming. According to the executive, Konami has determined that rebooting its beloved game franchises "would be an effective way to make the most of them."

Hideki HayakawaOur company has been making games for more than 50 years, and we hold several IPs that are beloved globally by many fans. We concluded that rebooting these properties would be an effective way to make the most of them. In addition to METAL GEAR, SILENT HILL, and Momotaro Dentetsu, we are also actively developing Castlevania (known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula).