Nikkei recently conducted an interview with Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo's current president—to commemorate a special occasion. The Japanese multinational video game company is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its "Family Computer" (aka Famicom/NES) home gaming system. A lot of the conversation revolved around the significant legacy (and sales: 61.91 million units) of their first home games console, but subsequent media attention focused on Furukawa-san discussing plans for the popular Switch model and beyond. Dr. Serkan Toto (of industry consultancy Kantan Games Inc.) kindly pulled out and translated the key takeaways from Nikkei's paywalled article. The Nintendo CEO did not disclose any major revelations—he stated that his team will be dedicated to advancing the current Switch's business model until March 2024 (end of the '23-'24 fiscal year): "The biggest obstacle at any time, not just limited to the "Next Console", is knowing whether we can deliver something that customers really want." This answer aligns with information disclosed to investors a couple of months ago, and a September Direct announcement of upcoming new titles and remasters.

The wider gaming community is eager to find out what is in store for the rumored "Switch 2," but Furukawa remained guarded about future prospects. He revealed that Nintendo will continue to "support" the existing model over the fiscal year starting April 2024 to March 2025 (FY24): "I can't talk about the specific topic...We are still working on Nintendo Switch software for the fiscal year ending March 2025. The momentum will be sustained to continue to expand the Switch business. In the fiscal year ending March 2024, we will keep up the Zelda momentum and move into the holiday selling season. In terms of hardware, we will maximize demand not only for new purchases, but also for second units and replacements." This rather boring outlook contrasts heavily with recent leaks—next-gen tech demos and dev kits are alleged to be out there. It is commendable that the House of Mario is dedicated to its existing customer base (129.5 million units sold as of September 2023), but the Switch's creaky Tegra X1 SoC simply cannot keep up with competition in modern times, even with customized FSR 2 support. A bespoke NVIDIA Jetson Orin SoC (T239/Drake) is speculated to drive the successor's insides, although wilder theories point to NVIDIA and MediaTek's chipset alliance producing a more potent solution that embraces newer architectures.

Join the thirstiest of adventures! Discover the story of the sunbeaten land. 50 years ago, the hubris of humankind combined with natural disasters transformed the world into a desert. A desert world, an extreme water shortage, a demon-human alliance. Whether or not you're familiar with the SAND LAND universe, we're pleased to share a short recap/introduction of the story and its characters, to prepare you for the release of our upcoming video game!

1. What is SAND LAND?
SAND LAND is originally a popular manga created by Akira Toriyama, the author of DRAGON BALL and Dr. Slump. After being serialized intensively for a short period in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2000, the one-volume comic has gained worldwide popularity since its publishing. In desert world where both demons and humans suffer from an extreme water shortage, Beelzebub, Fiend Prince, and Rao, a small-town sheriff, and demon Thief form a team and set off on an adventure in search of the Legendary Spring somewhere in the desert.

Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno has shared an update on the game at the TGS 2023 Capcom Online Program broadcast! Check out the video (below) where he goes into detail on the game world and various vocations and combat actions available. Also...check out the previous title in the series, Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen, now on sale for a limited time. A classic world of high fantasy awaits, making your world the stage for a grand adventure!

The deep, explorable fantasy world of Dragon's Dogma...
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a single player, narrative driven action-RPG that challenges the players to choose their own experience - from the appearance of their Arisen, their vocation, their party, how to approach different situations and more - in a truly immersive fantasy world. On your journey, you'll be joined by Pawns, mysterious otherworldly beings, in an adventure so unique you will feel as if accompanied by other players while on your own adventure. All of these elements are elevated further by physics technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest in graphics, made possible with RE Engine to create a truly immersive fantasy world in Dragon's Dogma 2.

Hotel Barcelona is the long-awaited collaboration between game design legends Swery65 and Suda51, and our Xbox Digital Broadcast brought us a never-before-seen gameplay trailer from the self-styled "2.5D slasher film parodic action" game. Drawing influences from across horror's history, you'll be pitted against everything from alien entities to AI-enhanced sharks, all while stuck in an endless time loop filled with serial killers - and only your deceased past selves to help you.

Both Swery and Suda appeared in the show to discuss the game. Swery discussed the game's unusual beginnings - with Suda asking him to announce a collaboration on the fly, with no prior discussion - and his inspirations from Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'. Suda explained that he and Swery worked on the initial concept together - "Then, all of a sudden, Swery completed tons of work on the development, and Hotel Barcelona materialized. Most of the time, when someone does lip service like that, the project never materializes… But Swery made this project a reality in order to deliver something to the fans."

Insiders claim that a potential merger between Western Digital and Kioxia is closer to happening—following longer than anticipated negotiation between involved parties, including Bain Capital and Toshiba. Technicalities have prolonged proceedings—an August 2023 sign off date was expected—but Kioxia Holdings' lenders seem motivated to get everything over the finish line. According to a Bloomberg report, at least three Japanese banks are ready to submit a commitment letter (next month) for the refinancing of ¥2 trillion ($14 billion) in loans—anonymous sources suggest that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group are involved. These organizations hope to fund the merger with Western Digital's flash memory business.

Representatives for Western Digital, Kioxia, Bain Capital and (so far named) Japanese banks have declined to provide statements in response to the Bloomberg report. Allegedly, part of the loan will be used to pay special dividends to Kioxia's shareholders. A Reuters summary of said conditions reads: "Under the terms of the deal being negotiated, Western Digital will hold about 50.5% of the combined company with the remaining 49.5% held by Kioxia...Of the 2 trillion yen loan, 400 billion yen will likely be funded through loan commitments and the Development Bank of Japan will provide a loan of 300 billion yen. The rest will likely be equally split between the three megabanks." Bloomberg's insiders believe that Western Digital's hard drive business is not being offered up.

TSMC's Japanese facilities are set to fabricate "mature-technology chips" (28 nm and 22 nm) once construction at the site concludes next year—this $8.6 billion fab on Kyushu Island is proving to be a promising prospect for company leadership back in Taiwan. A Reuters report suggests that more ambitious plans are afoot for Japan as a key production base—two anonymous insiders claim that problems encountered at the Arizona plant have caused a shift in focus onto other global TSMC sites.

There is potential for further expansion and upgrades in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture—TSMC has reportedly taken an "increasingly optimistic view" of Japan's work culture, relatively cheap-to-build facility and a co-operative government. A smooth ramp-up of the first fabrication facility is the primary goal in 2024, but adjusted plans could add more capacity. The insiders think that a second site is also a possibility, with consideration for more advanced chip making.

The Xbox Digital Broadcast will be returning to Tokyo Game Show on September 21 at 6 pm JST / 9 am UTC / 2 am PDT. Tokyo Game Show represents a special time each year where we share news and updates on games that we hope will delight Xbox fans in Japan and across Asia. Players can expect to hear progress updates from Xbox and Bethesda Softworks and see a creatively diverse collection of games from creators predominantly located in Japan and across Asia. We'll also share exciting new games coming to Xbox Game Pass, which continues to grow with great content from teams all around Asia.

This year's broadcast will be available on Tokyo Game Show's official YouTube channel, as well as on select Xbox social channels in Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, French, German and Castilian Spanish. It will also be broadcast with Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Australian Sign Language (AusLan), and audio descriptions in both Japanese and English. A full list of where you can watch the broadcast will be available the week of the show.

The latest retail batch of Noctua's NH-U12A single-tower CPU coolers has been photographed sporting updated packaging and containing a new set of mounting brackets. Japan's Akiba PC Watch reported on new stock of Noctua's popular (and well reviewed) NH-U12A cooler sitting on shelves at Tsukumo Computer's flagship store in Akihabara, Tokyo. Their article pinpointed Socket LGA-1851 compatibility listed on the revised retail box, and documented within new installation instruction steps. They noted that: "according to the manual, the mounting bar and spacer for fixing the CPU cooler are shared with the existing LGA-1700 (kit)."

Noctua has not updated its NH-U12A product page or compatibility centre pages with these revisions, but Tom's Hardware did pick up on the NH-D15's overhauled entry: "now listed as having SecuFirm2 mounts compatible with Intel LGA-1851." The Austrian computer hardware manufacturer seems to pride itself on its preparedness well in advance of a forthcoming new CPU range—Akiba PC Watch cheekily observed: "it is currently unknown when CPUs and motherboards compatible with LGA-1851 will be released." Intel's 15th Gen Arrow Lake S is presumably the main candidate lined up to adopt LGA-1851—technical specifications were uncovered back in June time.

China has sharply increased imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment in recent months, customs data reveals. The country's purchases of chip production tools surged to record highs of nearly $5 billion in June and July, a 70% increase versus the same period last year, which amounted to $2.9 billion. The spike comes right before export restrictions on advanced chipmaking equipment are implemented by the U.S. and its allies. The moves aim to slow China's technological advancement, but Chinese chipmakers are stockpiling to avoid disruptions. Much of the equipment comes from the Netherlands and Japan, which have imposed licensing requirements on certain tool exports. While it's unclear how many are affected, the rush suggests China wants to expand production capacity and buffer against supply chain issues.

Chinese firms like SMIC and YMTC rely heavily on U.S., Dutch, and Japanese suppliers for cutting-edge manufacturing equipment. They are utilizing imported tools to boost the output of mature chips not subject to controls, particularly for electric vehicles, renewable energy, and industrial applications. Significantly, imports from the Netherlands doubled as lithography machines were delivered to Chinese foundries. Purchases from Japan also rose as companies procured etching tools and wafer coaters after 2020 U.S. restrictions. Newly established foundries backed by local governments contributed as Beijing pushed chip production expansions. Despite export control challenges, China aims to keep advancing its semiconductor capabilities. The import spike highlights intensified efforts to build self-sufficiency using older technology not covered by current limits.

Attacking the massive Juggernaut mech's exposed engine manifold was proving to be an impossible task. It wasn't that the Reverse Joint Legs I equipped weren't nimble enough to glide away from their flurry of missiles; they were more than capable. And it wasn't that my dual machineguns and missile launchers were a poor choice heading into this boss battle—they certainly helped me carve a path through the enemy-filled fortress earlier. But its pairing was not the most efficient mixture to hit the Juggernaut where it hurt: from behind.

Despite its colossal size and massive tank-like treads, the "Jug" could turn on a dime while keeping its armored chest between my weapons and its weak spot. It wasn't long until the battle turned into an effort in futility. With my ammunition depleted, I was forced to retreat to the mech Assembly and build a new Armored Core to try again. Despite this challenge during a recent hands-on session with FromSoftware's upcoming Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, the boss battle was a perfect showcase of the game's captivating and inherent difficulty - you'll be given all the tools to succeed, but it'll be up to you to find the best combination of weapons to components that match your style of play and crack the obstacle(s) that stands in your way.

When PlayStation VR2 released earlier this year, it offered players a chance to experience virtual game worlds bristling with detail and immersive features. PS VR2 was the culmination of several years of development, which included multiple prototypes and testing approaches. To learn more, we asked PS VR2's Product Manager Yasuo Takahashi about the development process of the innovative headset and PlayStation VR2 Sense Controller, and also gained insight into the various prototypes that were created as part of this process.

PlayStation Blog: When did development for the PS VR2 headset start?
Yasuo Takahashi: Research on future VR technology was being conducted even prior to the launch of the original PlayStation VR as part of our R&D efforts. After PS VR's launch in 2016, discussion around what the next generation of VR would look like began in earnest. We went back and reviewed those R&D findings and we started prototyping various technologies at the beginning of 2017. Early that same year, we began detailed conversations on what features should be implemented in the new product, and which specific technologies we should explore further.

Several big players in the industry have (reportedly) presented themselves as potential anchor investors in Ltd. Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, the owner of the British semiconductor and software design company is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) in the USA, with a likely kick-off date in September. The Financial Times has today claimed that NVIDIA was invited (by Softbank) to actively negotiate with Arm leadership with the aim to join a group of prospective IPO anchor investors. Citing insider sources who have been briefed about ongoing deliberations—Team Green could be proposing an investment of roughly $35 billion to $40 billion.

The report suggests that SoftBank would prefer an offer closer to $70 - 80 billion—it seems that more haggling is on the cards. NVIDIA is a longtime partner and client of Arm, with the former attempting to buyout the latter over a year ago—but their agreement was terminated due to "significant regulatory challenges" in regions including the US, UK and China. At the time, the scuppered deal's estimated value was widely reported being $66 billion.

Nintendo of Japan has announced that its extended warranty service for the popular Switch console will be ending effective August 31, and customers will not be able to amend their ¥200 (~$1.40) monthly / ¥2000 (~$14) annual subscriptions beyond July 14. The "Wide Care" initiative was launched last July, as a collaboration with Aeon Japan—granting owners of Switch consoles, outside legal warranty, an allowance of six repairs (maximum) and two full unit replacements. No official reason for the termination was provided, which is surprising given that the Switch has sold 29 million units in the region. Naturally not all of the customer base is signed up with Wide Care, but the timing could suggest that Nintendo is adjusting its priorities and making way for the next generation model.

A Wide Care-style service was not made available to customers outside of Nintendo's native base of operation, but the Switch's Joy-Con controllers have gained a lot of attention over the console's lifespan due to analog stick drifting issues. The fragile nature of these modular attachments has resulted in plenty of negative feedback from the userbase, and Nintendo has been pressured by watchdogs and petitions to provide comprehensive and out-of-warranty repair services in certain regions, with their new-ish scheme slowly expanding across Europe.

Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new type of stacked or 3D DRAM that the researchers call Bumpless Build Cube 3D or BBCube 3D, which relies on Through Silicon Vias or TSVs to connect the DRAM dies. This is a different approach to HBM which relies on micro bumps to connect the layers together and the Japanese scientists are saying that their bumpless wafer-on-wafer solution should allow not only for an easier manufacturing process, but more importantly, improved cooling, as the TSVs can channel the heat from the DRAM dies down into whatever substrate the BBCube 3D stack is finally mounted onto.

If that wasn't enough, the researchers believe that BBCube 3D will be able to deliver higher speeds than HBM courtesy of a combination of the TSVs being relatively short and "high-density signal parallelism". BBCube 3D is expected to deliver up to a 32 fold increase in bandwidth compared to DDR5 memory and a four fold increase compared to HBM2E memory, while at the same time, drawing less power. The research paper goes into a lot more details for those interested at taking a closer look at this potentially revolutionary shift in DRAM assembly. However, the question that remains unanswered is if this will end up as a real world product some time in the near future, which is all based on how manufacturable BBCube 3D memory will be.

A Japanese seller active on Yahoo Auctions has been listing PlayStation 5 prototypes consoles—their time limited (24 hour) offerings have probably been implemented to dodge the wrath of Sony Corporation's legal team. A "Prototype 2—not for sale" devkit was made available last week and eventually sold for around $5500 (JP¥ 800,000). A "Prototype 1" unit was purchased for JP¥551,000 (~$3810) over the weekend, and another auction was created this morning—the unmarked system started off at JP¥600,000 (~$4150). The seller has gained some notoriety within the enthusiast scene, due to their acquisition of other rare bits of hardware, including PSP development kits.

It is believed that these PS5 prototypes pre-date the devkit that leaked prior to PlayStation 5's official launch, so hardcore collectors could be enticed by the prospect of owning unusual items. Sony's very thorough tracing system will likely result in these units being unusable, but members of the gaming community are puzzled by the corporation's lack of action—given the seller's ability to acquire and sell all sorts of PlayStation development equipment, with vintages from over a decade ago.

With this week being the 4th of July in the US, it appears that we don't have too many game releases to look forward to, but we managed to dig out a few new releases regardless. This week's AA title comes from Japan, with all that that entails. The rest of this week's releases include some strategy, some shooting, some tagging, some climbing, some darkness and some fear, so make of that what you want. To our US readers, enjoy your holiday this coming week.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie / This week's AA title / Friday 7 July
What destinies await these three fateful figures? Use the Crossroads system to switch between Rean Schwarzer, Lloyd Bannings, and the masked figure "C", and determine the fates of key characters and locations within Zemuria. Dive into refined tactical combat with new features such as United Front, and discover new allies and challenges within the halls of the True Reverie Corridor!

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SSS) this week announced that it will ship a new line of LYTIA brand products, primarily 50-megapixel models, this fiscal year. LYTIA is the new product brand of image sensors for mobile devices developed by SSS. SSS has leveraged its imaging and sensing technologies to bring value to the market in a variety of ways and deliver a richer imaging experience to users. SSS is expanding its high-quality products under the LYTIA brand so that more users in the mobile market can benefit from its commitment to imaging as they use smartphones to capture images. The first step in this initiative is expanding the line of 50-megapixel products, as it is the most versatile resolution for use in current mobile applications.

More and more people today are using smartphones to enjoy imaging on a daily basis, and the way they use cameras are also diversifying with more and more smartphones coming with multiple built-in cameras. SSS plans to contribute to enhanced imaging experiences with LYTIA products that accommodate diverse shooting scenes and purposes.

The Moore Threads MTT S80 gaming-oriented graphics card has been tested mostly by Chinese hardware publications, but Japan's PC Watch has managed to get hold of a sample unit configured with 16 GB GDDR6 (14 Gbps) for evaluation purposes and soon published their findings in a "HotHot REVIEW!" The MTT S80 GPU appears to be based on PowerVR architecture (developed by Imagination Technologies), but official Moore Threads literature boasts that their own Chunxaio design is behind all proceedings with 4096 "MUSA" cores. The GPU's clock speed is set at 1.8 GHz, and maximum compute performance has been measured at 14.2 TFLOPS. A 256-bit memory bus grants a bandwidth transfer rate of 448 GB/s. PC Watch notes that the card's support for PCIe Gen 5 x 16 (offering up to 128 GB/s bandwidth) is quite surprising, given the early nature of this connection standard.

Moore Threads has claimed in the past that their cards support Direct X, but PC Watch has discovered that the S80 does not work with DX12, and their tests also demonstrated significant compatibility issues under DX11—with plenty of system freezes and error messages logged. The reviewer(s) had to downshift in some cases to DX9 game environments, in order to gather reliable/stable data. TPU's GPU-Z utility is shown to have no registration information for the S80, and it cannot read the GPU's clock. PC Watch compared their sample unit to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card—the entry level 2016-era GPU managed to best the newer competition in terms of in-game performance and power efficiency.

Reuters has been informed this week by a trusted insider source that the higher-ups at Intel Corporation are holding talks with Japan's SoftBank about becoming a possible anchor investor in the latter's initial public offering (IPO) of Arm. The British semiconductor and software design company was wholly acquired by the Japanese multinational investment holding firm in 2016. This was followed by a failed takeover bid by NVIDIA—six years later. Arm is aiming to sell its shares via Nasdaq in Q3 or Q4 2023, with a goal of raising around $8 - $10 billion. It also formulated plans to adjust pricing models earlier this year, with news reports labelling the strategic act as an attempt to rake in more royalties.

Intel and Arm have already formed a relationship in recent times—thanks to the development of the former's low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs). These are set to be built on Intel Foundry's 18A process. The two companies have signed a multi-generation agreement to collaborate on the design of a series of mobile chipsets as an opening product range—diversified options will follow in the future. Arm is rumored (according to Reuters) to be working on its own proprietary chip, but the deal with Intel allows it to use its partner's "open system foundry model."

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment's Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is due for release this summer - many fans are looking forward to jumping back into mecha-heavy combat scenarios with a linear progression system. This long-running action game series has stuck to a traditional mission-based format (for the most part) since premiering on the original PlayStation console back in 1997. FromSoftware's sixth mainline entry is set to be no different, although the design team has recently revealed that other options were explored at the beginning of development.

Masaru Yamamura, director of Armored Core VI, stated in an interview conducted by South Korea's Ruliweb: "In the process of developing the sequel, there was also an opinion to make it in a different game style. However, as a result of discussions, it was concluded that it should not be made into a title centered on movement and exploration, such as the Elden Ring or Soul series. In the Armored Core series, depending on the assembly, the movement performance of the character changes and affects the play. Because that is the charm of the series." His team has taken the traditional design route in order to concentrate on assembling detailed and fun gameplay environments: "I think you will be able to feel a different pleasure from exploring every nook and cranny of the carefully crafted map as you move."

Sony Group Corporation is reported to be considering a partial spinoff and listing of its financial services division, in order to raise capital for further investments in its entertainment arm and next generation image sensor technologies. Reuters has published details from a corporate strategy meeting that took place last week (on May 18) - executives at the Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation are contemplating the future of Sony Financial Group. This arm of the business is comprised of several subdivisions including a bank and an insurance firm. Sony Corporation managed to gain full control of these finance organizations three years ago, according to Reuters.

Sony is seeking to retain a stake of just below 20%, and posits that its financial businesses will gain the ability (following the suggested partial spinoff and listing) to raise cash independently for sustainable growth. The company hopes to provide extra funds for its entertainment and semiconductor operations that "need an unprecedented amount of investment." The PlayStation group is aiming to ramp up production of its PS5 console - supply chain problems have caused delays and unit shortages in the past, and Sony is keen to build on the gaming platform's success, without restrictions going forward. The company is keen to advance its camera parts division - in order to meet increasing market demand for smartphone and vehicle sensor components. Hiroki Totoki (President of Sony Group Corp) emphasized that greater investments in these sectors will allow the company to stay competitive large global rivals.

The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has recently announced a semiconductor-related partnership with with Japan (at the G7 Hiroshima Summit), as well as a $1 billion ($1.25 billion) support package for microchip industries within the UK - with the intended goal of turning the nation into a "technology superpower." The 10-year investment strategy was initially expected to kick of last Autumn, but the announcement was delayed, for various reasons, to last weekend's intergovernmental political forum held in Japan. Sunak hopes that the new strategy "will grow our economy, create new jobs and (make the UK) stay at the forefront of new technological breakthroughs."

The United Kingdom's microchip industry has been described as a "fledgling" operation when compared to its neighbors' undertakings, and industry figures think that the government's pledge of £1 billion in support is "insignificant" in the grand scheme of things. They cite the USA's CHIPS Act ($52 billion) and an equivalent scheme devised by the European Union (€43 billion of aid) as glowing examples of proper expenditure and reinforcement of their respective semiconductor industries. One technology critic thinks that the UK's support package is good enough for improving research and development departments, but it will in no way pave the way for local companies to reach the same level as big international players such as NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Broadcom and AMD. Cambridge, UK-based firm Arm opted to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this month, and ignored London's stock exchange entirely - the semiconductor and software design company is wholly owned by Japan's Softbank - prior to a change in ownership, Arm was viewed as Britain's leading light in the technology biz.

RIKEN and Intel Corporation (hereafter referred to as Intel) have signed a memorandum of understanding on collaboration and cooperation to accelerate joint research in next-generation computing fields such as AI (artificial intelligence), high-performance computing, and quantum computers. The signing ceremony was concluded on May 18, 2023. As part of this MOU, RIKEN will work with Intel Foundry Services (IFS) to prototype these new solutions.

Increasing its HPL score from 1.02 Eflop/s in November 2022 to an impressive 1.194 Eflop/s on this list, Frontier was able to improve upon its score after a stagnation between June 2022 and November 2022. Considering exascale was only a goal to aspire to just a few years ago, a roughly 17% increase here is an enormous success. Additionally, Frontier earned a score of 9.95 Eflop/s on the HLP-MxP benchmark, which measures performance for mixed-precision calculation. This is also an increase over the 7.94 EFlop/s that the system achieved on the previous list and nearly 10 times more powerful than the machine's HPL score. Frontier is based on the HPE Cray EX235a architecture and utilizes AMD EPYC 64C 2 GHz processors. It also has 8,699,904 cores and an incredible energy efficiency rating of 52.59 Gflops/watt. It also relies on gigabit ethernet for data transfer.

Micron Technology, Inc. announced today it will be introducing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology to Japan, tapping this sophisticated patterning technology to manufacture its next generation of DRAM, the 1-gamma (1γ) node. Micron will be the first semiconductor company to bring EUV technology to Japan for production, with its Hiroshima fab playing a critical role in the company's development of the 1-gamma node. Micron expects to invest up to 500 billion yen in 1-gamma process technology over the next few years, with close support from the Japanese government, to enable the next wave of end-to-end technology innovation such as rapidly emerging generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

With each successive advancement in process technology to scale memory cells and advance performance, Micron enables increased memory density, improvement in power efficiency and lower cost per bit, helping to unlock new opportunities for digitization, sustainability and green transformation, and automation. The introduction of 1-gamma follows the development of Micron's 1-beta (1β), the industry's most advanced DRAM node today, which Micron mass produces in its Hiroshima fab. Micron continues to make progress on its EUV integration plans and expects to ramp EUV into production on the 1-gamma node in Taiwan and Japan from 2025 onwards.