Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) both have seen utilization rates grow to 50-60% at some of their fabs, sources at the companies have indicated.

TSMC recently lifted its guidance for the first quarter of 2009, mainly buoyed by rush orders. The pure-play foundry's utilization rate has from 45% to 50%, though the company is still in danger of recording its first quarterly loss in 20 years, according to the sources. UMC recently enjoyed improving capacity utilization at part of its 8- and 12-inch fabs, with the utilization rate climbing to 60%, indicated the sources. The foundry posted a narrower revenue drop sequentially in February.

NVIDIA Looking for the Next Great GPU Computing Company Global Investment Program Launched to Fund and Support New GPU Computing Businesses NVIDIA Corporation, inventor of the GPU, today announced the launch of the GPU Ventures Program, a new global initiative whose aim is to identify, support and invest in early stage companies leveraging the GPU for visual and other computing applications. NVIDIA is also launching the GPU Venture Zone website, a portal to publicly showcase the innovative GPU applications being

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Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 1GB – Today, we have Sapphire's Radeon HD 4850 X2 on the test bench. With 512MB of memory available to each GPU, will this video card's performance suffer, or can the considerable amount of shader power make up for it? We'll find the answer to that question and more with the help of six of today's hottest games!

Obviously, most of the focus in Redmond these days is on Windows 7 Beta. So it’s pretty shocking to see a new wave of hardware roll out of Microsoft’s labs this week, particularly hardware like a notebook cooling pad and colorful mice. With notebook sales outpacing desktops by a solid three-to-one margin (according to Microsoft, anyway), the company’s dedicated Hardware Group is pushing into a new category of notebook accessories with the introduction of the Notebook Cooling Base.Said Base is constructed with

Sometimes, there’s no point in challenging the current king. Instead, it’s much simpler to just sit back, concede to second place and leave all the stress to the aforementioned champion of the domain. That seems to the be mantra wrapped into Samsung’s latest desktop hard drive, which falls just 500GB shy of matching Western Digital’s current top-of-the-line 2TB internal HDD.The 1.5TB EcoGreen F2EG hard disk drive is still incredibly spacious, providing 500GB per platter and enough storage room to please all

Looking for a new mouse to up that frag count? Sharkoon is hoping you look its way, as it has just delivered an all new input peripheral into its growing line of PC accessories. The Rush FireGlider is similar to many other gaming mice in most areas, but a few unique features make this one worth considering if you’re in the market.For starters, it’s a laser mouse with a refresh rate that can be adjusted from 600 to 3600DPI on the fly. There is an array of multi-colored LEDs on the device itself to let users know

The new Baram CPU tower heat pipe cooler from ThermoLab has been designed with optimal aerothermodynamics in mind, so the CPU stays nice and cool. With here area total of five ‘U’ shaped pipes this cooler has a total of ten vertical pipes for heat dissipation. Read on to see how the Baram does against more than a dozen LGA775 coolers!

U2 and Apple are no longer BFF, apparently, as U2 has announced its 360° Tour, and its sponsor: Research in Motion (RIM), maker of BlackBerry devices. It’s not like U2 has ever been officially aligned with Apple, but U2 does have history with Apple. For example, U2 has performed at Apple events, is the only band that has gotten its own branded iPod, and Bono helped debut several (RED) iPods as well. More surprising than the ditching of Apple, perhaps, is the snubbing of Palm. After all, Bono is a partner in

New Apple netbook rumors have arisen. A report from Digitimes cites a Commercial Times report that Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch panels for “Apple’s new netbook” due in the 3rd quarter of 2009. Wintek revealed that it is currently working with Apple to develop some new products, but it said it does not know what applications the new products are for. Wintek added that no shipment schedule has been worked out yet, but shipments are likely to begin in the second half of the year. Quanta Computer will be

Video:Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 1GB @ [H]eVGA X58 3X SLI Review @ OCCASUS VH242H 24-Inch 16:9 LCD Monitor Review @ FuturelooksASUS EAH4550 Radeon HD 4550 Half-Height Videocard Review  @ PCSTATS.comMotherboards and Chipsets:Sapphire PURE PC-AM2RS790GX AM2+ Motherboard Review @ Club OverclockerGigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H AM2+ Motherboard Review @ Legit ReviewsProcessors:AMD Phenom II 720 X3 Black Edition Processor Review @ OCIA.netMemory and Storage:OCZ ATV 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ TestFreaksThecus N4100