Intel's global foundry operations are crucial to the company's revenue generation, and impacting any part of the supply chain directly harms the business. When explosions occurred at Fab 28 in Kiryat Gat, Israel, Intel's operations there briefly halted 10 nm node production for two weeks. During this time, the assessment of both equipment and production output is estimated to result in about $300 million of lost revenue in the upcoming Q4 2026, as well as another $300 million in Q1 2027. Just two weeks of downtime has destroyed a massive amount of 10 nm wafers that Fab 28 has been manufacturing.

Intel CFO David ZinsnerWe have been shut down for about two weeks. We feel like we are going to be starting up production here by the end of this week. While we are doing that, we are trying to assess all the wafers that are in the line and what is usable and what is not usable from those materials. This is somewhat of an early assessment, both really of 4Q and of 1Q. But I think the current thinking is that we will have about a $300 million impact to the fourth quarter. That is likely to be similar in the first quarter.

MSI's "built to be perfect" GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z design was heavily showcased at CES 2026, with press material referring to an unusual 2500 W "Extreme Performance OC" (XOC) BIOS. At the time, it was rumored that an official file had been issued exclusively to professional overclockers. Weeks later, said XOC BIOS has seeped out onto the net—as of this afternoon, the TechPowerUp VGA BIOS collection contains this release (also leaked on the Overclock.net forum). As outlined during the January Las Vegas trade event (and since), experts surmised that LN2 (liquid nitron)-based cooling would be essential in tempering the card's supposed extreme modes of operation. TechPowerUp's resident graphics card reviewer, W1zzard, did not delve into world record-breaking activities when evaluating MSI's ultra flagship model. The card's "800 W out of the box" power limit should be sufficient for most mortals who can afford the audaciously official $5090 MSRP. Fresh news reports have tracked wild fluctuations in price; going as high as $14,000.

Jonathan Alva, an Indonesian extreme overclocker and YouTuber, has run several GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z experiments. A past weekend video upload mentions a consulting role as part of the MSI Lightning Z model's development. Unfortunately, a recent session—involving the aforementioned 2500 W XOC BIOS—has resulted in the cracking of the first sample's "Blackwell" GB202-300-A1 GPU die. Despite the leveraging of a custom LN2 solution, in collaboration with the ARX (arxidmedia) lab, a probable thermal shock incident ended the GPU's existence. It is suspected that an outdated version of the firmware caused too much voltage to be sent within a short frame of time. Thankfully, Alva can continue his "just an average overclocker" adventures with another prototype board, as well as three finalized retail units.

As the end of the year draws closer, the release schedule of new games is slowing down, just like it does every year. This week kicks off with a game that was supposed to launch a month ago, but got pushed back the day before it was meant to be released, so you might've seen it mentioned in these updates already. The other releases this week include a trip to the underworld on a skateboard, a trip to the spirit world, the end of the world, a world reborn from the ashes and finally a world full of robots that wants to terminate you.

Unbeatable / This week's major release / Tuesday 9 December
Unbeatable is an anime-juiced rhythm adventure where you (figuratively) destroy on stage while you (literally) destroy on stage. During rhythm gameplay, you only need two buttons: a button for up and a button for down. Simple to understand! The complicated part is doing it. Try not to get destroyed yourself. Steam link

CableMod issued a statement—just before the last Christmas holiday—detailing a safety recall of 16-pin 12VHPWR angled adapters, version 1.0 and 1.1. This announcement received widespread media coverage (at least in tech circles), but some unfortunate customers have not yet received the memo about faulty adapters—CableMod's 90° angled and 180° hard connectors can overheat and in worst case scenarios, actually melt. HotHardware, amusingly named given this context, was the first hardware news outlet to notice that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had published a "GPU Angled Adapter" recall notice to its website earlier today, under "Recall number 24-112."

The US government body's listing outlines aforementioned hazardous conditions, along with an estimated 25,300 affected unit count. The CPSC's recommended "Remedy" advice is as follows: "Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled angled adapters and contact CableMod for instructions on how to safely remove their adapter from the GPU and for a full refund, including cost of shipping, or a $60 store credit for non-customized products, with free standard shipping. Consumers will be asked to destroy the adapter and upload a photo of the destroyed product to cablemod.com/adapterrecall/. The instructions on how to safely remove the adapter are also located on that site. Once destroyed, consumers should discard the adapter in accordance with local laws." The Safety Commission has gathered some customer feedback intelligence on this matter: "The firm (CableMod Ltd., of China) has received 272 reports of the adapters becoming loose, overheating and melting into the GPU, with at least $74,500 in property damage claims in the United States. No injuries have been reported."

According to news agencies residing within Russian territories, it has been widely reported that Cisco has destroyed an inventory of unsold equipment with a total worth of $23.5 million. TASS, a Kremlin-controlled news organization, has made reference to account statements provided by Cisco Systems (the remaining legal entity of the Cisco Group based within the Federation) - it reports that the equipment was "physically destroyed" in January 2023, post a termination of sales in Russia and Belarus. The financial statements outline the liquidation of "primarily spare parts," but the agency claims that Cisco engaged in the destruction of network hardware, demo units and office furniture.

Cisco was one of the first tech companies to withdraw from Russian territories, following the full-scale invasion of the Ukraine. Soon after the beginning of the conflict, Cisco Systems announced the cessation of its business dealings, starting with a stoppage of sales in March 2022. A June deadline was specified for a complete shutdown of operations. The company made a decision by August 2022 to dispose of unsold inventories located within affected territories - the necessary permits for re-export of goods had not been obtained. It is not clear whether U.S. sanctions (against Russia) played a part in influencing the North American tech company's decision to engage in a scorched earth policy and obliterate the physical remnants of stock plus premises in Russia and Belarus.