Framework's One Key Module is a project that Framework announced when it launched the Laptop 16 2nd-gen with the goal of creating an ecosystem for developers to design their own keyboard layouts that tinkerers could put together from parts and schematics, or that could be turned into commercial products. Unfortunately, Framework has just announced that it would be ending the One Key Module program, citing manufacturing complexity and yield issues for the cessation.

First, despite heroic efforts from our engineering and supply chain team members along with their counterparts at our partner Lite-On, we weren't able to bring material and assembly costs along with manufacturing yield to a place where the product economics worked. The per-key costs resulted in breakeven pricing too high to reasonably enable high volume sales, and neither we nor our suppliers can take on the overhead of manufacturing a product of this complexity at low volumes.

HP Inc. and its subsidiaries ("HP") announced fiscal 2026 third quarter net revenue of $15.7 billion, up 12.5% (up 10.9% in constant currency) from the prior-year period.

"In the third quarter we increased both total sales and share in premium products and continued to attract new customers with innovations in WXP, Print, workstations and AI PCs. Our ongoing strategy to address environmental constraints led to meaningful improvements in memory supply and higher fulfillment rates," said Bruce Broussard, Interim CEO, HP Inc. "The strong foundation we are building as a trusted edge platform positions us well to lead as AI evolves and allows us to help customers improve their AI economics, security, latency and governance."

DDR4 pricing is finally showing signs of easing, as DDR4 16 Gb spot prices experienced a 5% correction in March after a more than 2,200% increase over the past year. The massive demand for AI data center expansion absorbed all available DDR production, making DDR4 and DDR5 pricing widely discussed topics among enthusiast communities. This has impacted PC DIY enthusiasts, laptop makers, PC OEMs, and everyone in between. Over the past year, the rapid price increase has effectively priced out many consumers from upgrading or installing new systems with larger RAM capacity. However, there are signs that the situation might improve as spot pricing has started to decrease.

First, readers need to understand the difference between spot and contract pricing in DDR memory. Contract pricing is what memory makers like Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron agree on with large buyers, such as PC OEMs like Apple, HP, or Dell, or even server makers who purchase DRAM in large quantities. On the other hand, spot pricing is an "on-the-spot" deal that provides immediate pricing without any contract. This spot pricing is typically reserved for smaller DRAM volumes and is usually bought by DRAM distributors and supply chain logistics. In the spot pricing market, DDR4 has fallen about 5% in March compared to February pricing, and the same applies to DDR5 memory spot pricing.

Everyone is aware of the massive memory shortage the industry is currently experiencing, yet prices are reportedly still rising. According to an anonymous Samsung memory distributor, an immediate price hike of 80% has been applied. Later, an employee from the Device Solutions Campus in Giheung, located south of Seoul, confirmed this information. However, we still lack official confirmation from other third-party sources. If the 80% hike is accurate, it will likely apply to the latest batch of contract prices Samsung has imposed on its distributors. As new contract negotiations occur every quarter, it seems the 80% price increase is applied for Q1, given that the effect is noted as immediate.

The scope of this adjustment includes all Samsung memory products, which encompass a diverse range of offerings such as DDR, HBM, LPDDR, and GDDR solutions. These products are used in mobile devices, desktops, embedded systems, graphics cards, AI accelerators, and more. However, since some memory products are supplied directly to Samsung's customers without distributors, it is likely that only certain types of these products will experience a significant price increase, if the reports are accurate. We still have a few weeks left before the trickle-down economics of the supply chain start to manifest, so we will know for sure if these rumors are true.

Update 18:36 UTC: : According to UDN, Samsung has denied these price hikes, claiming that the company has not issued a comprehensive price increase across its memory products.

From skilled trades to startups, AI's rapid expansion is the beginning of the next massive computing platform shift, and for the world's workforce, a move from tasks to purpose. At a packed mainstage session at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang described artificial intelligence as the foundation of what he called "the largest infrastructure buildout in human history," driving job creation across the global economy.

Speaking with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Huang framed AI not as a single technology but as a "a five-layer cake," spanning energy, chips and computing infrastructure, cloud data centers, AI models and, ultimately, the application layer. Because every layer of AI's five-layer stack must be built and operated, Huang said the platform shift is creating jobs across the economy—from energy and construction to advanced manufacturing, cloud operations and application development.

Last Saturday, Scythe Group announced the closure of its European branch. This followed mid-April reports of unusually low stock numbers in Germany—at the time, ComputerBase.de and its community highlighted the complete absence of the manufacturer's flagship Mugen 6 CPU air cooler at regional retail outlets. The site published an investigative article on April 22; presenting an important Consumer Protection Forum filing. Apparently "economic difficulties" have warranted the initiation of "preliminary insolvency proceedings"—as a result, Scythe EU GmbH faced an uncertain future. Looking back in TechPowerUp's news archive, the last official introduction of brand-new products—Mugen 6 standard and Black Edition coolers—happened around early February. Also within the same month, TPU's crazyeyesreaper reviewed the brand's "highly-recommended" Fuma 3 model. Despite releasing consistently high-grade and top-performing products; Scythe has faced aggressive competition across Europe—Chinese brands have flooded regional markers with cheaper alternatives. In particular, Thermalright has gained plenty of attention and uptake—due to a rapid cadence and wide variety of highly-acclaimed new releases.

Scythe's April 26 official notice stated: "To All Valued Clients, we deeply regret to inform you that SCYTHE EU will be ceasing operations. Moving forward, SCYTHE-branded products and customer support will remain available through our European distributors and online e-commerce platforms. During the transition period with our distributors/e-commerce channels, there may be some unfinished matters, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. SCYTHE will continue to uphold the principles of responsibility and integrity, ensuring consumer rights are protected in accordance with the law. We sincerely thank you for your support and loyalty to the SCYTHE brand over the years."

Global technology powerhouse Lenovo Group Limited (together with its subsidiary, "Lenovo" or the "Group") has announced that its subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Infinidat Ltd. ("Infinidat"), a global provider of high-end enterprise storage solutions. The acquisition is part of Lenovo's growth strategy to bring differentiated technology solutions to market. This move will further strengthen Lenovo's enterprise storage offerings globally and underscores a commitment to delivering innovative storage solutions that meet the evolving needs of modern data centers.

With the strong storage solutions and research & development capabilities of Infinidat, the transaction will create strategic synergies with the Group's infrastructure solutions business and enterprise storage capabilities.

Chipmaking manufacturing equipment giant ASML has expressed concerns about staying in the Netherlands and considering expansion into other countries due to its home country's capped possibilities. On Wednesday, ASML executives met with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte to discuss the company's growth plans. The meeting, however, failed to fully resolve ASML's concerns surrounding the country's stance on skilled foreign labor, leaving uncertainty over the tech giant's expansion in its home market. Being one of the world's largest suppliers to chipmakers, ASML has said it needs to double its operations in the following decade to meet soaring demand. However, the company is hitting roadblocks in the Netherlands, including difficulty obtaining building permits, constraints on the electrical grid, transportation bottlenecks, and a need for supporting infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and housing. A key issue is the Netherlands' ability to attract scarce foreign engineering talent, with over 40% of ASML's Dutch workforce being non-Dutch. Recent parliamentary motions to cap international students and scrap a tax break for skilled migrants have met with criticism from ASML and other tech employers.

In an effort dubbed "Operation Beethoven," the Dutch government is scrambling to address ASML's concerns and prevent the company from expanding abroad, having already seen multinationals like Shell and Unilever leave their home country in recent years. However, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said that while the company prefers to grow in the Netherlands, it can do so elsewhere if needed. The situation comes amid pressure from the US for allies like the Netherlands to tighten restrictions on China's further access to semiconductor technology. As the sole producer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines crucial for advanced chipmaking, like High-NA and Low-NA, ASML holds strategic importance beyond just economics. With a new right-wing Dutch government being formed, whether a compromise can be reached to ensure ASML's continued growth in the Netherlands remains to be seen. The tech giant's decision could significantly affect the Dutch economy and its position in the global chip industry.

d-Matrix, the leader in high-efficiency generative AI compute for data centers, has closed $110 million in a Series-B funding round led by Singapore-based global investment firm Temasek. The goal of the fundraise is to enable d-Matrix to begin commercializing Corsair, the world's first Digital-In Memory Compute (DIMC), chiplet-based inference compute platform, after the successful launches of its prior Nighthawk, Jayhawk-I and Jayhawk II chiplets.

d-Matrix's recent silicon announcement, Jayhawk II, is the latest example of how the company is working to fundamentally change the physics of memory-bound compute workloads common in generative AI and large language model (LLM) applications. With the explosion of this revolutionary technology over the past nine months, there has never been a greater need to overcome the memory bottleneck and current technology approaches that limit performance and drive up AI compute costs.

Russian business news outlet Kommersant has learned from industry figures that prices of natively-designed computer processors have been on the rise since the beginning of 2023. Domestic manufacturers of PC, server and storage systems are requiring greater supplies of CPUs designed by Baikal Electronics and MCST - the publication posits that growing demand and logistical issues have become the root cause of recent climbs in cost - individuals involved in the computer hardware supply chain have suggested that some processor models have doubled in price. Sergey Ovchinnikov, the chief executive of Norsi-Trans (a server and data storage firm) provided comment: "Production of Russian chips at foreign fabs has become more complex, leading to extended logistics chains and, consequently, an increase in the cost of the final component." International trade sanctions have not prevented the arrival of fresh silicon into the region - Ovchinnikov claims that an unnamed foundry is able to supply (likely via proxy) Russian developers with computer processors.

Kommersant's investigation found out that Baikal's BE-T1000 CPU is now sold for roughly $110 (8900 Rubles) at a popular computer hardware e-tailer (ChipDip) in the region. The very basic dual core MIPS32r5 (28 nm) processor was readily available for $50 (3990 rubles) back in 2018, so its price has risen by 220% in recent times. TSMC was contracted as the manufacturer of Baikal's BE-T1000 CPU, and the Taiwanese foundry started producing these SoCs in 2016. A Baikal Electronics representative has denied any involvement in driving up MSRP, and states that it is up to distributors and retail outfits to determine prices. The company suspects that very old stock is being sold at inflated rates - Kommersant was unable to contact anyone at ChipDip for a statement.

The US Government is considering new plans that will attempt to curb the after effects of cryptocurrency mining. The White House revealed details about its proposed "DAME Tax" scheme on Tuesday of this week - the Digital Asset Mining Energy excise tax is under consideration for this year's US Budget. The government wants to address the impact that cryptomining has on the US economy as well as the environment, alongside numerous other national challenges. Companies engaged in the extraction of cryptocurrencies could be charged extra for the running of computer equipment (starting in early 2024). A White House spokesperson states: "after a phase-in period, firms would face a tax equal to 30 percent of the cost of the electricity they use in cryptomining."

American crypto companies are facing a 10 percent taxation of their energy bill for 2024, that will then increase to 20 percent in 2025, and the maximum tax rate will hit a high of 30 percent in 2026. The White House number crunching team reckons that $3.5 billion could be generated by the proposed DAME excise tax. The new rules would represent a radical change for large scale cryptomining efforts: "Currently, cryptomining firms do not have to pay for the full cost they impose on others, in the form of local environmental pollution, higher energy prices, and the impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions on the climate. The DAME tax encourages firms to start taking better account of the harms they impose on society," reads a White House statement." The government's investigation has determined that the domestic cryptomining industry is close to consuming more electricity than the entire nation's residential lighting system. US lawmakers last year calculated that some of the larger digital asset mining firms are capable of using more energy than nearly all of the residential population based in Houston, TX.