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Global leader in memory modules and flash storage, ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. will present its latest breakthroughs at CES 2026, under the theme "Advancing Innovation." Marking its upcoming 25th anniversary, ADATA will showcase its latest innovations alongside its enterprise storage brand TRUSTA, industrial solutions leader ADATA Industrial, and gaming brand XPG.

The exhibition centers on three key zones: AI Innovation, Smart Living, and Gaming Lifestyle. The AI Innovation Zone showcases innovative hybrid storage and memory solutions, intelligent management software for edge computing, and Gen 5 SSDs for AI PCs, demonstrating significant achievements in AI integration. The Everyday Innovation Zone features the industry's first 4-RANK DDR5 CUDIMM memory, sustainable DDR5 memory, external SSDs equipped with USB4 and NFC technology, and embedded storage solutions. In the Gaming Lifestyle Zone, XPG will spotlight its innovative thermal solutions, establishing a high-performance gaming ecosystem with a comprehensive new product lineup. Simultaneously, an online exhibition will launch on January 6, inviting global audiences to witness groundbreaking AI innovations and smart application capabilities.
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LG has put up a sneak peek of five new monitors that it will be showing at CES next week, of which three use different types of OLED displays, one is MiniLED and one isn't entirely clear. The company already showed three of the new models around Christmas, namely the 52-inch UltraGear EVO 52G930B, the 39-inch UltraGear EVO AI 39GX950B and the 27-inch UltraGear EVO AI 27GM950B. To this, the company has now added the 32-inch UltraGear OLED 32GX870B and 27GX790B 4th gen primary RGB tandem OLED monitors. The 32GX870B sports 32-inch 4K resolution, 240 Hz with panel with dual mode at 1080p 480 Hz, a 0.03 ms GtG response time, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 and 4K AI upscaling. It will have a DP 2.1, two HDMI 2.1 and a USB-C port, the latter with 90 W USB PD charging support.

The 27GX790B is as the model name suggests, a 27-inch display, this time with a 2560x1440p resolution and a 540 Hz refresh rate that can operate at 720 Hz at 720p resolution in dual-mode. It has a 0.02 ms GtG response time, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 and ClearMR 21000 certification and the same port configuration as the 32GX870B, although there's no mention of PD charging. Both models also support 99.5 percent of the DCI-P3 colour space. The 4th gen tandem OLED panels are said to bring enhanced brightness and colour accuracy, even in bright environments, so time will tell if these will be able to compete with more traditional LCD displays in bright rooms.

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News via Reuters is suggesting that the Chinese government has started to mandate that Chinese semiconductor manufacturers have to use at least 50 percent locally produced chipmaking equipment in new or expanded fabs. Reuters claim that there's no official regulation to the matter, but Chinese chipmakers have been informed by local authorities that they need to provide procurement tenders that prove that at least half of the equipment they're buying are from local companies. This has apparently been the case when several different Chinese companies have applied to build new fabs or when they've applied for extensions of current fabs.

It's important to remember that a lot of the equipment in these fabs aren't related to the actual production of semiconductors, even if there are Chinese companies that are capable of producing some of the equipment needed for the semiconductor production side of things. However, it's also important to remember that China wants to be more self-reliant when it comes to semiconductor manufacturing and the end goal is for local companies to use only locally produced equipment in their fabs. Considering that the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers all rely on Dutch ASML for cutting edge photolithography machines, it's unlikely that this shift will happen any time soon. With the current technology export restrictions, this is also a step for China to show the world that they can do this on their own, without imported machines or components. According to Reuters, orders for 421 locally produced lithography machines and parts were placed in 2025. At the same time, China has set aside around US$49 billion to help boost the local semiconductor sector.
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Samsung Display today announced that it has begun the mass production of the world's first 34-inch 360 Hz QD-OLED panel, featuring a "V (Vertical)-Stripe" pixel structure. The company has been supplying the panels to seven global monitor manufacturers including ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte since December 2025.

The new V-Stripe structure aligns Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) sub-pixels vertically, shifting from the conventional triangular sub-pixel arrangement used in current QD-OLED technology. Developed independently by Samsung Display for quantum dot elements, the V-Stripe structure improves the clarity of text edges, making it ideal for users engaged in text-intensive tasks such as document editing, coding, or content creation.
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MSI announced a significant update to its 32-inch 4K QD-OLED gaming monitor lineup, introducing two new models tailored to distinct gamer profiles. Both the MPG 322UR QD-OLED X24 and MAG 321UP QD-OLED X24 are anchored by the latest 5-layer Tandem OLED architecture with EL Gen 3 technology, setting a new benchmark for luminous efficiency and longevity in the 32-inch 4K lineup.

Advanced Technologies for Superior Visuals
Both models come equipped with MSI's latest display technology, comprehensively addressing gamers' extreme demands for visual quality and durability:

DarkArmor Film: This specialized film technology is designed to enhance light absorption and eliminate the distracting purple or reddish tints often visible on standard QD-OLEDs under ambient light. It boosts pure black levels by up to 40%, significantly improving contrast and delivering superior image performance. Furthermore, it upgrades the screen surface hardness from 2H to 3H, offering 2.5x better scratch resistance to effectively withstand daily wear and tear.
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Colorful has claimed the world OC record for frequency with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800 X3D on its iGame X870E Vulcan OC motherboard. According to the HWBot listing submitted by Hero, the CPU reached a 7335.48 MHz peak clock under liquid nitrogen cooling, beating out the previous record—7313.05 MHz—by just over 20 MHz. It's worth noting that this clock still does not come close to the top-scoring CPU overclock, which still belongs to the Intel Core i9-14900K, which scored 9130.33 MHz under liquid helium cooling.

It also bears pointing out that these frequency overclock records have very little to do with actual gaming overclocks or stability for daily use, since they largely measure single-core clocks, and often the configurations that are required to reach these clocks are far from standard—even ignoring the exotic cooling solutions. Regardless, they serve as a showcase for what is possible with modern silicon and specific motherboards, which is why Colorful has lauded the achievement.

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It's no secret that gaming is suffering under something of an affordability crisis, with increased demand for AI-capable GPUs and DDR5 memory resulting in rising prices for gamers and other far-reaching side effects on the gaming hardware market. Now, though, fresh leaks suggest that things are only going to get worse in 2026. According to Korean publication, Newsis, both AMD and NVIDIA are planning to gradually and permanently increase GPU prices "over the next several months." This is expected to start as early as January 2026, when AMD is expected to increase prices. NVIDIA will allegedly follow suit in February.

If the publication's insider sources are correct, the NVIDIA RTX 5090, which launched at $1,999, will reach as high as $5,000 before the end of the year. No prediction has been made for AMD's RX 9000 series, but memory has already been said to take up as much as 80% of the average GPU BOM cost, and memory prices are expected to increase by as much as 40% by Q2 2026. We've already reported on the fact that instability and price increases in the DRAM market will likely affect launch windows for upcoming hardware, potentially reaching as far as next-gen console launches, and ASUS recently announced that it would be increasing hardware prices starting in early January 2026, despite also increasing DDR4 motherboard production in response to the changing market.

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Leaks have already predicted a stacked hardware launch line-up for CES 2026, with the likes of Lenovo planning a refreshed line-up of Legion gaming laptops, while HP is reportedly planning a slew of new high-refresh rate OLED gaming monitors for the show. Now, it seems as though MSI is joining the gaming hardware launch hype, with the brand teasing an updated line-up of flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs. The teaser also references two additional new designs based on previously shown concepts, one liquid-cooled with dual 120 mm radiators and another air-cooled design that would use five Stormforce fans—two on the backplate and three in the traditional fan position.

The teaser for the return of the old MSI Lightning branded GPUs, last seen with the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z, comes in the form of a weather forecast that predicts lightning for January 5. Not much else is known about the upcoming GPU series, although it will likely be a flagship GPU series and come with a matching price tag.

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2XKO is an upcoming 2v2 fighting game from Riot Games set in the League of Legends universe and featuring the same characters. While the game is already available in open beta on PC, it has not yet launched on console. Riot has previously confirmed that the game would launch for consoles in 2026, but an exact launch date had not yet been confirmed until Riot seemingly accidentally put out an announcement video on its YouTube channel. That video was later pulled from the platform, but a launch date was spotted by Wccftech before the video was taken down.

According to the apparent leak, which can be seen in a screenshot below, Riot plans to launch 2XKO as early as January 20, 2026, for both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series platforms. There has been no official word of a launch for the Nintendo Switch 2, so it seems unlikely that the fighting game is coming to Nintendo's handheld. It's also unclear why Riot has removed the video from public viewing, especially given how close to the apparent release date the video was published. It may be that the game will no longer release on January 20, but it could also be that Riot didn't want the announcement trailer to go unnoticed in during New Year's Eve celebrations.

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Reports of melting 12VHPWR and 12V-2x6 connectors on NVIDIA GPUs—as well as a handful of examples from AMD—have become so common that hardware vendors have started building in safeguards against the issue. One such safeguard is a thermal sensor found on some ASRock power supplies, like the Phantom Gaming PG-1300G, which happened to recently save a user the expense and heartbreak of losing a heavily overclocked NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090.

The incident was reported by user motivman on the Overclock.net forums, and according to the account, the MSI Ventus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU was overclocked to a whopping 1350 W, which is well over the stock 575 W TDP—although it's not uncommon to exceed rated TDPs during boost scenarios anyway—and it had just completed a benchmark run in 3DMark Port Royal when the PSU triggered a shutdown. The PC would not restart until the cable had cooled down, which is a decent showing for the PSU's safety feature—at least mostly.
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At the start of CES 2026, OWC announced several new Thunderbolt 5 products, led by the Envoy Ultra, now available in an 8 TB capacity. The portable SSD delivers over 6,000 MB/s and is up to twice as fast as Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 solutions. It features a rugged, IP67-rated enclosure with shock, dust, and water resistance, plus a built-in Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) cable. The 8 TB model is priced at $1,699.99. OWC also updated its ThunderBlade X12 production shuttle RAID, doubling maximum capacity to 192 TB using twelve 16 TB NVMe M.2 SSDs. The ThunderBlade X12 reaches up to 6,600 MB/s peak and 5,990 MB/s sustained write speeds, making it the first Thunderbolt 5 RAID shuttle to offer this capacity in a compact form factor. It uses a fanless aluminium chassis and includes features aimed at on-set use, such as non-skid feet, a locking power connector, and a configurable status LED. Two Thunderbolt 5 ports allow daisy-chaining of additional devices.

On display, OWC also has its Thunderbolt 5 Dual 10GbE Network Dock. This feature two independent 10 GbE Ethernet ports, a front-facing 2.5 GbE port, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, and four USB 10 Gb/s ports, all housed in a fanless aluminium enclosure. Finally, OWC showcased the recently announced fully certified 2-meter Thunderbolt 5 cable supporting up to 80 Gb/s data transfer, 120 Gb/s for display workloads, up to 240 W power delivery, and compatibility with Thunderbolt 3, 4, 5, USB4, and USB-C devices.

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At the start of the CES 2026, Sandisk shocked everyone with the rebranding of the WD_Black SSD family into a new brand called Sandisk Optimus. The new Sandisk Optimus drive family brings the old trusted WD_BLACK SSD family under a single name. The regular Optimus drives replace WD_BLUE, while the Optimus GX replaces WD_BLACK SN7100 NVMe SSD. For the Optimus GX PRO, Sandisk rebranded WD_BLACK SN8100 NVMe SSD, now offering PCIe 5.0 NVM M.2 SSDs with 14.9 GB/s read and 14 GB/s write speeds in 2 TB and 4 TB capacities. These name tags are reminiscent of the older WD SSDs, and carry the same part numbers to better resonate with the gaming community who has grown found of the WD SSDs for great value with WD_BLUE and performance with WD_BLACK. Pictured below are the newly rebranded SSDs, which feature a black and red color theme across the lineup.

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XGIMI introduced its latest products at CES 2026, featuring the Titan Noir Max projector and a new pair of MemoMind AI glasses. The projector is a taller, squarer version of last year's Titan, with a grille-like pattern on the front for a more substantial look. XGIMI is marketing it as a versatile device for both home theater enthusiasts and professional users, thanks to a dynamic iris system that enhances contrast to 10,000:1 and a redesigned chip architecture that manages more light power without overheating. However, the actual brightness remains unspecified, as XGIMI has not provided ANSI lumen figures, despite claiming the new thermal system supports sustained brightness. The company also withheld details on color accuracy, even though it promises "color-critical" performance for studio work. Pricing is still unknown, but since the previous Titan launched at $3,999, the Max is expected to be in a similar premium range when pre-orders begin in Q1 2026.

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Today, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) introduced the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded processors, a new portfolio of embedded x86 processors designed to power AI-driven applications at the edge. From automotive digital cockpits and smart healthcare to physical AI for autonomous systems, including humanoid robotics, the new P100 and X100 Series processors provide OEMs, tier-1 suppliers and system and software developers in automotive and industrial markets with high performance, efficient AI compute in a compact BGA (ball grid array) package for the most constrained embedded systems.

The processors integrate the high-performance "Zen 5" core architecture for scalable x86 performance and deterministic control, an RDNA 3.5 GPU for real-time visualization and graphics, and an XDNA 2 NPU for low-latency, low-power AI acceleration - all in a single chip.
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At the 2026 International CES, Japanese electronics maker EPSON showcased the first projector powered by Google TV and Gemini AI, featuring a unique form factor. On the show floor, we observed two versions: the Lifestudio Flex Plus Portable Lifestyle and the Lifestudio Grand 4K PRO-UHD Ultra Short Throw Laser projector. The first model uses a 3-Chip 3LCD Triple Core Engine to deliver 1,000 lumens of both color and white brightness. Built-in Google TV provides direct streaming access without the need for extra hardware. Gaming features include an Auto Low Latency Mode that activates when consoles are connected. Connectivity options include HDMI and a USB-C port for video and power delivery. Users can control the projector and adjust settings through the Epson Projection Studio App. The Lifestudio Flex Plus Portable Lifestyle is priced at $999.99 and comes with a two-year warranty.
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