We recently broke the news that Intel’s Alder Lake BIOS source code had been leaked to 4chan and Github, with the 6GB file containing tools and code for building and optimizing BIOS/UEFI images. We reported the leak within hours of the initial occurrence, so we didn’t yet have confirmation from Intel that the leak was genuine.

According to AMD, Intel, and the South Korean trade ministry, sales of processors and memory for client PCs are dropping faster and more significantly than expected. Media reports say that shipments of memory were down nearly 25 percent last month because of softening demand in Europe and the U.S., as well as lockdowns in China.

According to a report by DigiTimes Asia, DDR5 memory prices are expected to plunge in the 2nd half of 2022 and continue to drop in 2023. DDR5 contract prices reportedly fell by 20% in July, and chip vendors have begun ‘offloading’ entry-level DDR5 chips, with consumer DDR5 module pricing at channel distributors falling below that of memory module manufacturers.

South Korean tech treasure hunter Coelacanth’s Dream(opens in new tab) has dug up some interesting information about the integrated GPU that comes with Intel’s Meteor Lake processors. From sightings of new code patches for the Intel Graphics Compiler (IGC), the fishy tech poster has revealed that Meteor Lake iGPUs could have ray tracing support in hardware.

Intel has decided to postpone volume production of its Meteor Lake’s GPU tile using TSMC’s 3nm-class technology (N3, N3E, etc.) to late 2023, according to a report from TrendForce Research. The delay has allegedly affected TSMC’s investments in expanding N3-capable production capacity.

According to a report by Phoronix, Intel quietly confirmed the existence of a new ASIC, the Versatile Processing Unit (VPU), via a new Linux driver posted yesterday. This new unit is designed to accelerate AI interference for deep learning applications and will arrive in 14th Gen Meteor Lake processors.

According to a report on Nikkei Asia, Intel has informed its clients about its plans to raise prices on its processors and peripheral chips this fall. “According to three industry executives with direct knowledge”, the alleged root cause of rising chip production costs are the surging costs of electricity, raw materials, transportation, and labor.

Memory specialist Team Group has announced that it has prepared the first industrial DDR5-5600 memory modules. In its blurb, the firm claims that the new memory modules are a good match for next-gen platforms like “Intel Raptor Lake and AMD Raphael-X.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Top 10 fabless chip designers increased their cumulative sales to $39.43 billion, or by a whopping 44% year-over-year, according to TrendForce(opens in new tab).