News from Tom's Hardware

U.S. grants Samsung and SK hynix 2026 licenses for chipmaking tool shipments to China — annual approvals replace dated waiver system

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 11:47 EDT

The U.S. government has approved annual export licenses allowing Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to ship chipmaking equipment to their manufacturing facilities in China throughout 2026. Read more ›

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Chinese firms Bytedance and Tencent reportedly offer massive 150% pay increases and 35% bonuses to entice AI talent — salaries and increases also expected to balloon in 2026

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 10:54 EDT

Tech companies are spending more on AI-focused employees even as the rest of the industry is laying off hundreds of thousands. Read more ›

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MSI B850 MPower Motherboard Review: Micro ATX made for overclocking memory

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 10:46 EDT

MSI’s B850 MPower is a solid all-around motherboard, but excels at memory overclocking, specifically with 8000-series APUs, where speeds over 10,000 MT/s are possible. Read more ›

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100kW Iron Beam laser becomes world’s first drone defense zapper to be operationally deployed — it can also shoot down rockets, mortars, and other aerial threats

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 09:19 EDT

The first Iron Beam laser defense system was deployed by Israel on Sunday. This 100kW laser weapon thus became the world’s first drone defense zapper to be operationally deployed. Read more ›

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Another 16-pin GPU power connector gets scorched, but this time it's not an RTX 5090 — User finds their Sapphire Nitro+ 9070 XT with scorched pins

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 09:03 EDT

The decisions to put a 16-pin power connector on a non-Nvidia GPU has started to show its consequences on the RX 9070 XT. Sapphire's Nitro+ variant uses a 12v-2x6 connector, which has burnt down thrice already, making this the fourth case so far, joining the first ASRock Taichi card that broke the dam. Read more ›

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China tells chipmakers to use homegrown chipmaking tools for 50% of new capacity — decree designed to squeeze foreign suppliers out of supply chain

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 08:52 EDT

China has quietly mandated that at least 50% of equipment used for new semiconductor capacity be domestically sourced. However, as China's industry cannot produce enough lithography tools, authorities tend to get flexible and allow foreign alternatives in. Read more ›

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Open source USB to GPIB adapter v3 adds integrated Ethernet port with PoE support — new version of legacy GPIB and IEEE-488 support hardware expected in January

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 07:47 EDT

An open source USB to GPIB adapter will soon reach version 3, bringing an integrated Ethernet port with PoE support. Read more ›

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Grab this 4K gaming PC with an RTX 5080 and 9800X3D for just $2,499 before prices skyrocket — $200 saving on powerful Skytech rig with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB SSD

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 07:01 EDT

This $2,499 Skytech gaming PC is an elite-level rig for gaming at 4K, fitted with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 and an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, along with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. Read more ›

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GOG acquired by co-founder, reiterates philosophy of ‘freedom, independence, and genuine control’ — CD Projekt sells platform to focus on creating games

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 06:58 EDT

CD Projekt sells 100% of GOG to co-founder Michał Kiciński, allowing the company to focus on new games and upcoming titles under its existing franchises. Read more ›

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Start-up proposes scaled up AI data center 'active radio cable' connectivity — radio-based interconnections operating at millimeter-wave and terahertz frequencies offer 1.6 TB/s using half the volume of copper

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 06:34 EDT

When copper is not enough and yet optical interconnections are overkill, waveguide-based cables can do the job. Read more ›

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Recovered Unix v4 tape quickly yields a usable operating system — nostalgia addicts can now boot up Unix v4 in a browser window

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 06:30 EDT

Nostalgia addicts can now get their Unix v4 fix in a browser Read more ›

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ShaderBeam provides CRT-like motion clarity on high refresh rate LCD and OLED monitors — open-source project offers BFI emulation in any game

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 06:00 EDT

Blur Busters has released an overlay that enables its CRT motion clarity emulator to run in Windows and PC games. Gamers can now enjoy the motion-blur-reduction effects of CRT emulation in PC titles. Read more ›

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Builder customizes 3D-printed PC case with worthwhile upgrades — premium 3D printing template with magnetically attached panels boasts ease of use, customizability, and design flair

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Tom's Hardware · 12/30/2025 05:00 EDT

A maker has shared their take on the Makeyo MK01 3D printed PC case, implementing several worthwhile mods. Read more ›

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D7VK reaches version 1.1 and adds new frontend and experimental Direct3D 6 support — Direct3D 7-to-Vulkan translation layer runs old games with native performance

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 13:47 EDT

D7VK has added experimental Direct3D 6 support, opening up near-native performance for older PC games without emulation. Read more ›

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Asus teaser video outs upcoming 'Neo' motherboards for AM5 — updates could include new AIO connector, M.2 upgrades, and NitroPath DRAM for ultra-fast DDR5

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 13:12 EDT

Asus teases forthcoming Neo AM5 motherboards supporting AMD's Ryzen processors, to be officially announced at CES 2026. Read more ›

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Cinebench 2026 out and ready to hammer CPUs and graphics cards six times as hard — updated benchmark includes an SMT core test

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 12:45 EDT

Cinebench 2026 out and ready to hammer CPUs and graphics cards six times as hard Read more ›

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Lisuan's G100 series has reportedly begun shipping out to customers in first batch of deliveries — China's first homegrown 6nm GPUs are no longer a show-floor exclusive

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 12:34 EDT

China's first 6nm-class discrete GPUs, the G100 series from Lisuan, has apparently started to ship out to customers, months after their initial announcement. These GPUs, if as performant as claimed, hold the potential to fuel China's self-reliance ambitions in producing homegrown alternatives to Nvidia and AMD. Read more ›

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TSMC begins quietly volume production of 2nm-class chips — first GAA transistor for TSMC claims up to 15% improvement at ISO power

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 12:25 EDT

TSMC has quietly begun volume production of its 2nm-class N2 process in Q4 2025 as planned, marking the company’s first GAA nanosheet node that will be ramping production at two new fabs to meet strong demand from various customers. Read more ›

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Rainbow Six Siege X servers are back online after a hack completely shut down the game — Ubisoft rolling back free ultra-rare skins and billions of credits

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 12:11 EDT

Rainbow Six Siege has recovered from yesterday's attack, with servers now fully operational once again. The only issues players will experience re-entering the game are a possible wait queue. Read more ›

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TSMC's average wafer prices increased by over 15% each year since 2019, report suggests — gross profit margins increase by 3.3x in 2025 alone, facing no real challengers

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Tom's Hardware · 12/29/2025 10:37 EDT

EUV lithography era in chipmaking began in 2019 and there are no signs that this is going to stop as process technologies are getting more complex. However, there are fundamental reasons why TSMC's quotes are rising quicker than its costs and its customers are not leaving for other foundries. Read more ›

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