SK hynix has reportedly reached a 70% yield rate on its next-gen HBM4 12-Hi memory, ready to rock and roll on NVIDIA's next-gen Rubin R100 AI GPUs.

In a new report from ETNews, we're learning that SK hynix has reached 70% yield on its HBM4 memory, with the yield good enough for the semiconductor industry to get excited for the South Korean memory giant's new AI memory. An industry insider told the outlet: "The HBM4 test yield exceeded 60% at the end of last year and I understand that it has recently increased it further. The test yield is increasing at a fairly fast rate".

The test yield is an indicator that can be used to make estimations on the actual future yield rate, where if the test yield is high, productivity can be secured when actual mass production begins. The industry insider added: "In terms of being able to increase the yield further after mass production, a test yield of 70% is a very good result".

NVIDIA's next-gen B300 AI GPU is expected to launch in Q4 2025 with mass production expected in Q4 2025 according to the latest reports.

In a new article published by DigiTimes, we're to expect NVIDIA's unveiling of its new Blackwell B300 AI GPU at GTC 2025 (its in-house GPU Technology Conference) in March. NVIDIA will reportedly mention the first CPO technology-based InfiniBand switch that will debut in Q3 2025, supporting 36 x 3.2T CPO optical modules and 4 x 28.8T application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that will reach a blistering 115.2T signal transmission.

NVIDIA's new B300 AI GPU will reportedly chow down on up to 1400W of power, with 1.5x the performance in FP4 performance on a single AI GPU over the B200 AI GPU. We can expect the HBM capacity of each GPU to increase from the max of 192GB HBM3E on the B200, to a much bigger 288GB of HBM3E on B300.

The handheld PC market could hit cumulative shipments of nearly 8 million by the end of the year, analyst firm IDC predicts.

The nascent handheld gaming PC segment has grown considerably over the years; led technically by the Switch's mega success, Valve rolled out the pioneering Steam Deck, prompting other OEMs to also try their hands at handhelds. Now the market is filled with contenders like the MSI Claw, the Lenovo Legion Go, and the ROG Ally. Sony also got into the mix, albeit in a very limited streaming-only device (just don't expect it to be a new wave PS Vita).

It's hard to put exact numbers on it, but The Verge has acquired some interesting figures. While Valve had said that the Steam Deck has sold "multiple millions" of units as of the end of 2023, analysts have a more comprehensive estimate for the entire handheld PC market.

Those who've been pulling out their hair over black screen crashes with NVIDIA's new Blackwell GPUs can breathe a sigh of relief - the fix is imminent, or indeed has actually already arrived for some.

VideoCardz noticed that the owner of an RTX 5090 (MSI Gaming Trio) suffering at the hands of black screen aggro posted in the NVIDIA subreddit to advise others that a BIOS update had been provided by MSI packing the fix.

So, the solution requires patching the BIOS after all, you may be thinking? As NVIDIA wasn't sure about that previously, but it turns out that actually, you may - or may not - need a BIOS update.

AMD's RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards have had their purported full specs spilled, with the numbers lining up pretty much exactly as the rumor mill had already suggested.

Of course, we must still take the aired specifications provided by VideoCardz with a side serving of seasoning, but they are as follows, starting with the higher-end GPU.

The RX 9070 XT supposedly runs with 64 Compute Units (and 4096 Stream Processors), plus 64 Ray Accelerators and 128 AI Accelerators. Clock speeds come in at 2400MHz (the 'Game Clock') and a 2970MHz boost. Single-precision compute weighs in at 48.7 TFlops based on AMD's apparent press material.

Valve leaker @Gabe Follower shared on X that several sources have confirmed Valve's plans to launch Deckard, a standalone wireless VR headset targeting a late 2025 release. Unlike the Valve Index, Deckard will reportedly function independently without needing a PC, running on a modified version of SteamOS adapted for VR.

The leaker claims the full bundle will be priced at $1,200 and will include in-house games or demos that are already completed. Additionally, previously leaked models of new controllers (codename Roy), discovered in a SteamVR update, are cited as further evidence of Valve's ongoing VR development.

One of Deckard's key features, according to the leak, is its ability to play flat-screen Steam Deck games in VR on a big screen, potentially making it a high-end hybrid device that bridges VR and traditional gaming.

NVIDIA is reportedly planning to announce two RTX 5060 Ti models that will arrive with different memory specifications.

According to a report from WCCFTech, NVIDIA is slated to release an RTX 5060Ti that will be using the "PG152" board along with the GB206 GPU core. The outlet states NVIDIA will be releasing two variants, SKU 10 and SKU 15, and the main difference between the two cards is the VRAM they will be carrying. The publication writes the RTX 5060Ti will come in 8GB and 16GB VRAM, with both variants sticking to the 128-bit memory bus interface that is present on the current generation RTX 4060 Ti.

Keeping to the memory, both of the upcoming cards will use a GDDR7 memory interface, enabling up to 28 Gbps frequencies. More specifically, the GDDR76 memory will allow for a net total of 448 GB/s of bandwidth, which equates to 55% higher than the RTX 4060Ti and 65% higher than the RTX 4060. Moving to power, the publication states both of the new cards will have a rated TBP of 180W, which means they will have 20W more power than the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB and 15W higher than the 16 GB RTX 4060 Ti.

In a recent upload from Falling Knife Films, users were greeted with an insight into what it would be like to step back in time to 1912, experiencing the luxurious Titanic's final moments as it sank. Created with the assistance of AI, the footage depicts the disaster from a 'found footage' perspective, mimicking the look and feel of a modern phone camera. The video captures a first-person journey through the ship's opulent interiors, transitioning from calm, everyday moments to the unfolding chaos as passengers scramble for safety.

The uncanny realism of the footage quickly spread across X and Reddit, with many users commenting on its eerie, unsettling quality. However, it also highlights how close we are to integrating AI into modern filmmaking, blurring the line between reality and simulation.

AI-generated 'POV' footage has become an emerging trend on social media. A similar viral clip depicting 'life as a teenager in 1990s America' gained traction on X, showcasing everyday moments like playing a PlayStation 1, bowling with friends, and flipping through a record store-all rendered as if captured on a modern smartphone.

The open beta for Mecha Break has launched on Steam, and hundreds of thousands of players have flocked to try it out, pushing the demo to the top of the most-played Steam charts despite the title's average user review being "Mostly Negative".

Looking at the SteamDB charts, the Mecha Break demo is currently sitting in the 5th position with a 24-hour peak of 256,000 players, putting it behind Marvel Rivals' 315,000 players, Dota 2's 597,000 players, PUBG: Battlegrounds' 781,000 players, and the long-time reigning king, Counter-Strike 2 with its 1.6 million players. Despite the thousands of negative reviews for the Mecha Break demo, players still seem to be rushing to try out the snippet of the new title.

What is causing the wave of negative reviews? Players who are writing negative reviews for the demo are citing excessive and potentially predatory monetization techniques surrounding the mechas, along with the time it will take to unlock new mechs. Furthermore, some negative reviews have complained about a lengthy, unskippable tutorial, several server issues, performance problems, and kernel-level anti-cheat being a requirement.

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk recently revealed during a podcast he was going to attempt to take over Electronic Arts (EA) from within if the success of Star Wars the Old Republic was monumental.

Zeschuk appeared on Simon Parkin's podcast My Perfect Console and gave some back story on the founding of BioWare and how the developer's success led to it eventually being acquired by EA, which purchased VG Holding Corp in 2007, which at the time owned BioWare Corp and Pandemic Studios. Many fans of the old BioWare attribute the developer's "downfall" to EA bringing the developer under its umbrella, but according to Zeschuk, that isn't the case, as right after EA acquired BioWare, the developer proceeded to hit home runs in terms of releases with the debuting of Mass Effect and promptly after Mass Effect 2.

Despite BioWare's success, Zeschuk recognized that working under the umbrella of a massive publisher wasn't a great environment for him, with the co-founder of the studio citing a lack of "entrepreneurial-ship". These concerns led to Zeschuk announcing his retirement from BioWare in 2012. Zeschuk went on to explain that when working under a massive company such as EA, developers need to learn to work within a set structure.

In a recent interview on the Kiwi Talkz podcast, former Bethesda artist Dennis Mejillones sat down to discuss his time at the studio and his relationship with Todd Howard. Over the years, Howard has become one of the most recognizable figures in the gaming industry, but according to Mejillones, his role has changed significantly as Bethesda has grown.

Mejillones expressed deep admiration for Howard, crediting him as a mentor and a major influence in his life. "Honestly, I love Todd. He's helped change my family, helped guide me... He's been like a mentor, patient with me, which is something I really needed." Mejillones also emphasized Howard's ability to recognize what makes a game fun and accessible. "He's really good at finding fun... making the game accessible to as many people as possible."

At the same time, he acknowledged that Howard's position and level of success within Bethesda came with its own challenges.

Following Warner Bros. Games closing Monolith Productions, WB San Diego, and Player First Games and canceling a Wonder Woman game, DC Studios head James Gunn and Peter Safran have confirmed plans to create a more interconnected universe that spans across various DC-focussed media such as TV shows, movies, and games.

It appears DC is finally getting it together, and I mean that in the most literal sense, as reports indicate that talks are currently underway with Rocksteady and NetherRealm to connect titles such as the Batman: Arkham series and the Injustice Games to the wider DC cinematic universe. These changes are being headed by Gunn and Safran, who are working toward future DC games no longer being isolated products and instead will be connected to a wider universe.

Gunn intends to take a hands-on approach with the development of future DC video games and will push developers to take characters in certain directors so they complement the wider universal narrative. The approach is certainly a bold one and, if pulled off correctly, could result in a massive rise in DC comic book hero popularity, perhaps even to the point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which nailed the movie side of media, fell somewhat flat on the TV show side, and is nonexistent in the video game space (in terms of connecting each form of media into a cohesive universe).

The ASUS Fragrance Mouse is a new ergonomic productivity mouse for laptops and PCs. Thanks to its "power-saving technology," it offers a year's worth of control from a single AA battery. This is an impressive feature, but the mouse's Fragrance side makes it stand out. It features an "internal fragrance compartment."

This refillable and removable vial holds aromatic oils, giving the mouse a personalized scent that can be swapped out for different fragrances. An aromatherapy mouse was not something we expected to see from ASUS this week (or any other week), and this isn't an early April Fools.

Outside of the pleasant-smelling features, the ASUS Fragrance Mouse's ergonomic shape includes a comfortable grip, "gently-curved thumb rest," and PTFE feet for a smooth glide. The switches feature a low-noise design and boast a 10-million-click lifespan, and the ASUS Fragrance Mouse supports both 2.4 GHz wireless and Bluetooth.

In a market dominated by fantasy and sci-fi action, contemporary titles like Life is Strange, Firewatch and Gone Home are somewhat of a niche in modern gaming. However, Don't Nod, the original creators of Life is Strange, are back with their latest entry Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. The title, mixing Stephen King's IT with coming-of-age style fiction, takes players back to a unique setting between 1995 Michigan and the 2022 pandemic era in a mystery narrative adventure.

Tape 1, the first of two parts, was released last Tuesday. Similar to its predecessors, its gameplay loop leans heavily into emotional storytelling. Dialogue, exploration and atmosphere take center stage, and rather than equipping the player with weapons or mysterious powers, the playable character, Swann, is armed with a flashlight and a 90's camcorder.

The nostalgic touches - bulky TV sets, tangled AV cables, Tamagotchis, and troll dolls - make it a fascinating exploration as you jump between the mid-90s and modern-day settings. Similarly, you'll find the VHS-overlayed camera swapped for smartphones and the ever-beloved disposable masks when you revisit the modern day as a 43-year-old Swann.

Geekbench is a synthetic benchmarking tool that often does not indicate actual in-game performance, so take the following with a grain of 'let's wait and see' salt. Over the weekend, results for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 5070 GPU appeared online. It is set to launch on March 5, with pricing starting from $549.

The tests cover both OpenCL and Vulkan APIs, and the GeForce RTX 5070's scores point to the GPU being around 20% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 - a modest upgrade in line with other GeForce RTX 50 Series releases. However, compared to the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER refresh from 2024, the performance improvement drops to around 5%. The GeForce RTX 5070 is launching with a lower CUDA Core count than the RTX 4070 SUPER - 6144 versus 7168, a 14% reduction. This could cause it to fall behind in some gaming workloads.

In many ways, the GeForce RTX 5070 sounds like a GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER replacement, with the Geekbench results hinting that it will be around 20% slower than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. However, it's worth noting that early Geekbench entries for the Radeon RX 9070 XT show the GeForce RTX 5070 outperforming RDNA's upcoming flagship card.

AMD will formally unveil the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT at the end of the week, on February 28. The company's new flagship RDNA 4 GPUs target the mid-range PC gaming market. During the event, we expect an architectural breakdown of RDNA 4, the new AI-powered FSR 4 upscaling, and how these GPUs perform when playing the latest games.

Over the weekend, Videocardz posted what it has confirmed to be the official gaming performance figures for the Radeon RX 9000 Series. The figures show AMD's performance compared to the Radeon RX 7900 GRE. The Radeon RX 9070 is said to be 21% faster for 4K gaming, and the Radeon RX 9070 XT is 42% faster. These results, which cover 30+ games, include titles with ray-tracing, and performance in Cyberpunk 2077 is said to be 66% faster on the Radeon RX 9070 XT compared to the Radeon RX 7900 GRE.

Based on our review of the ASRock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend, this would put ray-tracing performance in the realm of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. This is a massive improvement for Radeon. However, as the Radeon RX 7900 GRE is a lesser-known GPU compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XT, Radeon RX 7900 XTX, and RTX 4070 Ti, we're wondering if the comparison is being made due to price.

Thousands of workers are expected to receive notices of firing this week as they are considered "probationary workers," which will result in the CHIPS Act being killed.

Multiple reports have pieced together that the multi-billion-dollar CHIPS Act is currently on the chopping block as departures of hundreds of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) workers are expected to receive layoff notices this week. NIST workers headed the CHIPS Act by organizing the signatures of multiple companies to receive grants, and according to reports from Bloomberg, Axios, and now Semiconductor Advisors analyst Robert Maire, employees at NIST that have worked less than two years at the agency, including those who have received a promotion, will soon be let go.

As a result, the CHIPS Act will be dissolved, as no one will be left to administer it. Trade tariffs are expected to replace it.

Apple has confirmed its voice-to-text feature does currently have a glitch that makes it write "Trump" when a user says the word "racist".

Apple has verified this bug is real, and it's currently working on a solution for the glitch that has been detected by some users who have shared video footage of it occurring on social media platforms. According to Apple, the glitch happens because the speech recognition models powering the feature can sometimes display words with phonetic overlap until further analysis from the model can be conducted and the correct word displayed. Apple says the bug has been suggesting "Trump" in replacement of several other words beginning with the "r" consonant.

Elon Musk recently confirmed SpaceX will be conducting the 8th flight for Starship on Friday, and now the Super Heavy booster has made it to the launch pad.

SpaceX has shared new photos of Super Heavy sitting between the chopstick arms on the Mechazilla launch tower at the Starbase launch site in South Texas. For those who don't know, Starship consists of two parts: the first stage is named Super Heavy, which is a booster that measures 233 feet tall, and the second stage is called Ship, which measures 171 feet tall. Together, these two stages create Starship, a monstrous 400-foot-tall rocket that is slated to be the transportation method to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

As for Flight 8, SpaceX is making its mission objectives quite similar to Flight 7, with the space fairing company setting the goal of Super Heavy landing back on the Mechazilla tower for another chopstick catch, and Ship will attempt to deploy four dummy Starlink satellites during its flight. During Flight 7, Ship was carrying 10 mock Starlink satellites but was unable to deploy them; SpaceX hopes to change that with Flight 8. After the hopefully successful deployment of the Starlink satellites, SpaceX intends to splashdown Ship in the Indian Ocean just off the coast of Western Australia approximately 66 minutes after launch is initiated.

Apple's new in-house C1 modem is inside of the new iPhone 16e, with reports that the next-gen C2 modem is in testing and that the future-gen C3 modem will be launching in 2027.

Apple has a licensing agreement with Qualcomm until 2027 where it is bound to use the company's 5G modems, but Apple has been working on in-house 5G modems for a while now, and that came to fruition with the new budget-focused iPhone 16e smartphone.

But in a new post on Weibo, leaker Digital Chat Station didn't say that Apple's new C3 modem is under development (but it would be), rather noting that the company will be launching its next-gen in-house 5G modem in 2027, the same year its licensing agreement with Qualcomm ends. I'd say at that point, Apple will flood the market with iPhones powered by its own in-house C3 modem.