(SOUTH AFRICA, 15 October 2026) – Sony introduces the ECM-W5 wireless microphone for video creators, combining high-quality audio capture, stable wireless transmission and versatile recording features to support a more flexible production workflow across a wide range of shooting scenarios.

The system pairs two transmitters with one receiver. It transmits over a line-of-sight distance of up to 500 m^[iii] and is designed to reduce audio dropouts in congested radio-frequency environments. Through the Multi Interface (MI) Shoe™, 32bit float^[iv] audio travels digitally and directly to a compatible camera and records with video in a single file¹. Up to 64 GB of built-in memory enables 32bit float backup audio recording directly on the transmitter. Integration with compatible Sony wireless headphones enables cable-free monitoring and microphone functions². Power supply and linked power control through the MI Shoe on compatible cameras support an efficient workflow from recording through editing. The supplied USB Type-C® adapter also enables connection to smartphones and PCs^[v]. The transmitters and receiver are also sold separately, supporting configurations such as up to four-channel recording and multi-camera production.

Availability

The ECM-W5 will be available in South Africa from beginning of December 2026, with a retail price of R6,899.

For more information on the ECM-W5, please visit: https://www.sony.com/za/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras-microphones/ecm-w5

Key Features of the ECM-W5

High-quality recording that captures subtle nuances in sound

The high-performance microphones support 96 kHz High-Resolution Audio recording¹, capturing voices with clarity and detail. A 3.5 mm microphone input also supports lavalier and external microphones, including the separately sold ECM-L1, providing flexibility for different recording situations.

Stable audio transmission and recording functions that support an efficient workflow

The system supports line-of-sight transmission at distances of up to 500 m³. It provides approximately three times more stable transmission than the ECM-W3^[vi]. In congested radio-frequency environments, it is designed to reduce audio dropouts and hold a reliable connection. Low-latency transmission supports applications where real-time audio performance is important, including live streaming.

32bit float⁴ recording helps creators capture both quiet and loud sounds without the need for constant gain adjustment and suppresses the possibility of clipping^[vii]. Through the MI Shoe, 32bit float audio travels digitally and directly to a compatible camera and records with video in a single file¹, with no external recorder and no separate audio file to manage, eliminating the work of synchronizing audio afterward.

The transmitters carry 64 GB of built-in storage for backup. The storage holds up to 90 hours of audio at 32bit float/48 kHz or up to 60 hours at 24bit/96 kHz¹, retaining the source recording.

New audio recording styles through integration with Sony wireless headphones

Compatible Sony wireless headphones² enable cable-free monitoring, giving creators greater freedom to move while checking sound during recording. Compatible models² can also be used as wireless microphone inputs.

Versatile functions for comfortable shooting and recording

The system records up to four channels of audio in-camera, covering interviews, panel discussions, event production, and other multi-source needs. The supplied wireless transmitters combine with the separately sold ECM-W5T wireless transmitter, and the system also works with external microphones.

Timecode functionality helps simplify synchronization across multiple cameras and audio recordings, helping reduce manual alignment work in post-production.

Through the MI Shoe, compatible Sony cameras can provide power to the receiver and support linked power control. The supplied USB Type-C® adapter enables recording on smartphones and PCs⁵, and connecting a transmitter directly over Bluetooth® allows wireless recording. The transmitters provide up to 11 hours of operating time. A dust- and moisture-resistant design supports use in a range of environments^[viii].

Product Video and Specifications

The ECM-W5 product feature video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/N2i7_nYyTT0

For main specifications and additional product details, please visit the following product websites for the

ECM-W5: https://www.sony.com/za/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras-microphones/ecm-w5

ECM-W5R: https://www.sony.com/za/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras-microphones/ecm-w5r

ECM-W5T: https://www.sony.com/za/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras-microphones/ecm-w5t

Both the ECM-W5R and the ECM-W5T will be available in South Africa from beginning of December 2026 with the ECM-W5R going for a retail price of R3,449 and the ECM-W5T going for R1,969.

Exclusive stories and exciting new content shot with the ECM-W5, and Sony’s other imaging products can also be found at https://www.alphauniverse-mea.com/, a site created to inform, educate, and inspire creators.

The post Sony Introduces the ECM-W5 Wireless Microphone with High-Resolution Audio Recording and Stable Connectivity appeared first on Tech Scene ZA.

ProArt RTX Spark Windows PCs combine high-capacity unified memory, open agent and workflow ecosystems, and ASUS AI applications for private, customizable creation without token limits 

• Built for local agentic AI: ProArt P16 & P14 laptops and ProArt GR1X mini PC, powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark with up to 1 petaflop AI performance and up to 128GB of unified memory to build advanced local agents and complex workflows
• Revolutionary AI for agents and creativity: Purpose-built for local AI agents, with exclusive ASUS generative AI apps, token-free AI, RTX acceleration for creative workflows, and CUDA ecosystem for advanced AI development
• Accessible agent-and-app ecosystem: ASUS partners with ComfyUI, the leading open-source visual AI workflow platform, and Hermes Agent by Nous Research, so creators can build and run local AI workflows using plain language
• Complete local AI portfolio: From RTX Spark PCs to GeForce RTX 5090 systems, Ascent GX10 powered by NVIDIA DGX Spark, and ExpertCenter Pro ET900N G3 powered by NVIDIA DGX Station for professionals and enterprises
• ProArt RTX Spark Windows PCs Available This October: Global pre-orders start October 7, with availability from October 16, featuring a range of memory configurations for different AI requirements

TAIPEI, Taiwan, October 8, 2027 — ASUS today announced the global launch of the new ProArt P16 and P14 laptops, along with the compact ProArt GR1X mini PC, all powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark. Purpose-built for creators, AI developers and workflow builders, these systems boast high-capacity unified memory, a powerful NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU and an ultra-efficient NVIDIA Grace CPU. The NVIDIA CUDA ecosystem and an expanding ASUS-exclusive agent-and-application solution make sophisticated local AI easier to deploy, personalize and use. NVIDIA RTX Spark unites NVIDIA AI, RTX graphics, and unified memory in one slim, powerful Windows PC. Designed to run larger AI models locally—without cloud dependency—and move between creative work, development, and immersive gaming without missing a beat. Connect apps, tools, and workflows into one seamless experience. Private by default, RTX Spark brings NVIDIA’s full-stack AI platform, ready for the AI workloads of today and whatever comes next. Delivered on the familiar, trusted Windows platform.

Together, Hermes Agent and ComfyUI deliver a compelling local-first, cloud-flexible AI experience. By bringing industry-validated workflows and agent-connected creative tools to users’ own PCs, they enable generative AI creation and AI-assisted development, with the flexibility to integrate cloud services when needed.

“We built Hermes to provide intelligence you can truly own, rather than simply rent. ProArt RTX Spark PCs provide the memory capacity to run powerful models locally, enabling Hermes to drive ComfyUI and MuseTree, work with your files, and keep these workflows on your own machine,” said Dillon Rolnick, CEO of Nous Research.

“Creators want to run the best AI models on their own machines, with full control. ProArt RTX Spark PCs have the memory to run big image and video workflows locally, and ComfyUI makes those workflows easy to share, reuse and hand off to agents like Hermes,” said Yoland Yan, CEO and co-founder of Comfy.

A new class of personal Windows PCs powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark

ProArt P16, ProArt P14 and ProArt GR1X bring advanced local AI computing to slim creator laptops and a compact desktop form factor. NVIDIA RTX Spark combines an NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU, an NVIDIA Grace CPU, fifth-generation Tensor Cores with FP4 support and NVIDIA NVLink-C2C interconnect technology in a highly integrated, power-efficient platform.

With up to 1 petaflop of AI performance and up to 128GB of high-bandwidth unified memory, RTX Spark enables demanding workloads that can exceed the memory capacity of conventional PCs. Depending on model architecture, quantization, context length and available system memory, users can work with large local language and vision-language models, advanced image and video generation pipelines, LoRA customization, agentic workflows and complex 3D scenes directly on their ProArt PC.

Owning local AI capacity provides three fundamental advantages. First, it turns variable pay-per-use cloud spending into predictable computing capacity, allowing users to iterate, regenerate and experiment without per-token or per-generation charges. Second, it helps protect privacy and creative intellectual property by keeping prompts, source files, project data and selected models on device, with workflows that can remain available offline. Third, it gives creators and developers greater control over their tools, enabling them to select models, customize behavior, connect trusted applications and build repeatable workflows around their own needs.

Cloud services remain valuable for frontier-scale models and burst capacity. ProArt RTX Spark Windows PCs give users the flexibility to choose local, cloud or hybrid execution according to performance, privacy, security, cost and workflow requirements.

ASUS creative ecosystem for agentic AI workflows

NVIDIA RTX Spark brings NVIDIA AI and RTX graphics together to redefine Windows PCs for creators, AI developers, and gamers, all on the familiar, trusted Windows platform. RTX Spark fundamentally changes what creators and developers can achieve with a new AI computing platform. Backed by the CUDA ecosystem, it supports a rapidly expanding range of creator applications, AI models and development tools that can run locally with RTX acceleration — creating a highly capable environment for generative AI, model development and AI workflow building.

Combined with up to 128GB unified memory, RTX Spark also removes one of the biggest limitations of conventional PCs: memory capacity. Larger AI models, higher-resolution generation and more complex workflows can now run locally, opening a new class of possibilities for creators and AI developers. ASUS extends this platform advantage through the layers of its own ecosystem:

Local GenAI, built into ProArt: ASUS preloads exclusive ProArt applications that bring local AI directly into the creative workflow. MuseTree integrates two of the best local image models FLUX and WAN for token-free local generative creation, while StoryCube brings AI-powered scene recognition, media organization and intelligent asset management to Windows.

The best of local and cloud creation: ProArt combines local RTX-powered AI with leading cloud creative services, including Adobe Creative Cloud bundles, giving creators the flexibility to move between local and cloud workflows depending on performance, privacy and creative needs. On eligible ASUS laptops, an exclusive Google AI bundle further enhances hybrid AI creative experiences.

Building the agentic AI workflow ecosystem

Hermes, the personalized creative expert: Built by Nous Research, Hermes is an open-source autonomous AI partner that executes complex goals across desktop apps, terminal, and local files with persistent memory, isolated sandboxes and self-improving skills. Through the dedicated Hermes Skill, it connects with ASUS MuseTree to deliver one of the most accessible local AI image- and video-generation experiences, powered by the popular FLUX and Wan models.

Zenni Claw, the best ASUS native assistant: ASUS agent for everyday AI and productivity that provides deeper integration with ASUS applications and devices for daily tasks, content management and product control.

ComfyUI, the agent-ready workflow builder: ASUS has partnered with ComfyUI, the leading open-source platform for visual AI workflows, used by millions of creators worldwide. ComfyUI’s validated workflows and resource packs make it easy to create AI images and video on ProArt PCs, and its agent-ready design lets assistants like Hermes build and run workflows for users. Its global community keeps adding new models and tools, so ProArt users always have the latest in AI.

ProArt P16 &P14 Laptop: Agent-assisted creativity on the move

Built around the highly integrated RTX Spark architecture, ProArt P16 and P14 combine advanced AI capability with thin, lightweight CNC-machined designs. At 12.9mm and 1.77kg, ProArt P16 is the thinnest 16-inch ProArt laptop to date. ProArt P14 measures 13.9mm and weighs 1.48kg, making it the lightest ProArt laptop currently available. High-capacity batteries — up to 99Wh for P16 and 90Wh for P14 — support extended mobile creative workflows.

Both laptops feature ASUS Lumina Pro OLED displays with Delta E<1 color accuracy, up to 1,600-nit peak brightness, 120Hz variable refresh rate and anti-reflection technology. ProArt P16 supports up to a 4K display with NVIDIA G-SYNC, while ProArt P14 offers up to 3K resolution. Nano Black and Neo White finishes, comprehensive I/O and a precision haptic touchpad complete a creator-focused mobile experience.

ProArt GR1X Mini Windows PC: Always-on local agentic AI for nonstop creativity 

ProArt GR1X brings RTX Spark to a compact system designed for creators, developers and small teams that need always-available local AI capacity. Measuring 150 x 150 x 51mm, it combines high-capacity unified memory with advanced thermal engineering for sustained operation in studios, development environments and shared workspaces.

Its dual-fan cooling system, dual M.2 SSD storage, 10GbE networking, WiFi 7, Bluetooth® 5.4, and support for up to four 4K displays make GR1X a versatile local AI hub for agents, model serving, generation, and creative workflow automation. Available in silver and black, it extends the ProArt design language to a compact desktop form factor.

From personal AI PCs to enterprise AI infrastructure 

ASUS is extending agentic AI across a comprehensive portfolio of local systems including ProArt PCs powered by  RTX Spark, systems equipped with GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, ASUS Ascent GX10, powered by NVIDIA DGX Spark, and ASUS ExpertCenter Pro ET900, powered by NVIDIA DGX Station.

Across this portfolio, ASUS brings together agentic AI, generative AI, recognition and classification technologies, partner integrations, and deployment expertise. From a single creator laptop to shared enterprise infrastructure, customers can access local AI hardware, software, and workflow solutions through one unified ASUS ecosystem.

ProArt RTX Spark Windows PC availability and pricing 

Global pre-orders for the NVIDIA RTX Spark-powered ProArt P16 and ProArt P14 begin on October 7, 2026, with the first units arriving in the U.S. on October 16, 2026. Select configurations (24GB, 32GB, 36GB, and 48GB unified memory) will be available at the ASUS eShop, BestBuy.com, and participating Best Buy stores. High-capacity configurations (64GB and 128GB) will primarily be offered through the ASUS eShop and Best Buy, with the 128GB configuration also available at Micro Center, for users seeking greater local AI capacity and deployment flexibility.

ProArt laptops will start at US$2,599.99[i] on BestBuy.com and at select Best Buy stores in the United States. Configurations, pricing, preorder timing, and retail availability may vary by product and region. The ProArt GR1X will be available later this year, mainly in advanced configurations (64GB and 128GB), through select premium retailers.

[i] MSRP shown is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and is subject to change without notice. Actual retail pricing is determined by the retailer.

The post ASUS ProArt RTX Spark Windows PCs Available for Immediate Pre-Order Today, Delivering Integrated Ecosystem of AI Agents and Creative Apps appeared first on Tech Scene ZA.

Delivering a unified infrastructure blueprint for scalable AI across compute, networking, memory and storage

• Elevating agentic AI: XA P2N-E2 powered by NVIDIA Vera CPU with flexible GPU acceleration for demanding AI execution and reinforcement learning
• End-to-end AI factory solution: Integrated compute, networking, context memory and inference technologies for scalable AI across diverse deployments
• Multi-platform flexibility: NVIDIA, Intel® and AMD platforms spanning AI, cloud and HPC with advanced cooling and high-density configurations

SAN JOSE, USA, October 12, 2026 — ASUS is expanding its AI infrastructure portfolio with the launch of the XA P2N-E2, a 2U NVIDIA MGX architecture-based server powered by NVIDIA Vera CPUs and designed for agentic AI and reinforcement learning workloads. Unveiled at OCP Global Summit 2026, this new ASUS server powered by the Vera CPU targets the execution layer of AI applications, handling workloads such as code execution, tool use, sandboxing, data processing and orchestration that extend beyond the AI model itself. The XA P2N-E2 supports up to two dual-slot NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs, combining high-performance CPU computing with flexible GPU acceleration in a compact 2U platform. The high single-thread CPU performance and high-bandwidth, energy-efficient memory are designed to keep AI agents responsive during demanding execution and evaluation tasks.

At OCP, ASUS also showcases a broader portfolio covering rack-scale AI systems, accelerated computing, high-speed networking, context memory, low-latency inference and high-density storage. At the rack level, XA VR721-E3, the ASUS AI POD integrates 36 NVIDIA Vera CPUs and 72 NVIDIA Rubin GPUs through the NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 platform, using a fully liquid-cooled architecture for large-scale AI training, post-training and inference. For a more flexible server configuration, the XR R1I12B-M1BHFS combines NVIDIA HGX Rubin NVL8 with direct-to-chip liquid cooling for the GPU baseboard and air cooling for Intel® Xeon® 6 processors. Together, the systems reflect the ASUS approach to scaling AI infrastructure across different compute densities, cooling architectures and deployment requirements, from individual servers to large-scale AI environments.

Building full-stack AI factories with the NVIDIA Vera Rubin Platform

ASUS is expanding its NVIDIA-accelerated portfolio across system and rack architectures, enabling customers to scale compute density, cooling and deployment models according to workload requirements. AI factory performance increasingly depends on more than accelerated computing alone. High-speed networking, scalable context memory, responsive inference and data infrastructure are all critical to maintaining efficient data movement and workload performance across increasingly complex AI environments.

Extending beyond the hardware stack, the NVIDIA DSX reference design and NVIDIA Omniverse DSX Blueprint for AI Factory Digital Twins, part of NVIDIA DSX Sim, bring validated architecture and high-fidelity simulation together, enabling physically accurate digital twins to optimize AI factory design and operations before deployment.

Four NVIDIA technologies featured at the ASUS booth bring together key elements of next-generation AI infrastructure. NVIDIA HGX Rubin NVL8 provides accelerated computing, joined by NVIDIA Spectrum-X Spectrum-6 based Ethernet switching for high-speed AI networking, NVIDIA CMX Context Memory Storage Platform for scalable context memory, and NVIDIA Groq 3 LPX, the interactive AI inference accelerator for NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72.

Designed for the low-latency and large-context requirements of agentic systems, NVIDIA Groq 3 LPX extends NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 with ultrafast token generation for highly responsive inference. Together, these systems reflect the ASUS approach to building scalable AI factories based on the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform, combining standardized, modular infrastructure across compute, networking, context memory, inference and storage. This full-stack architecture enables customers to scale AI infrastructure from individual systems to rack-scale deployments while optimizing performance per watt and accelerating time to production.

Push beyond limits with agentic AI servers powered by Intel Xeon 6 processors

Dedicated Intel and AMD showcase areas further enhance the capabilities of ASUS platforms, enabling customers to select architectures tailored to diverse requirements across cloud computing, AI and high-performance computing. 

The Intel showcase features ASUS RS700-E12-RS4U and RS720-E12-RS12U, powered by Intel Xeon 6 processors in 1U and 2U dual-socket platforms. Their DC-MHS designs and tool-less serviceability enable modular deployment and streamlined maintenance, with flexible storage and expansion options for agentic AI, virtualization and data-intensive workloads.

Expanding architectural choice with AMD EPYC 9006 and Instinct platforms

The AMD showcase introduces the ASUS RS700A-E14B-R16U, powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC 9006-series processors, codenamed ‘Venice’. Designed for enterprise-grade resilience, this 1U dual-socket platform combines DC-MHS architecture with PCIe® 6.0 connectivity and support for up to 16 E3.S drives, addressing compute- and data-intensive infrastructure requirements. Complementing their high-density design, ASUS Thermal Radar 3.0 provides advanced thermal monitoring and management to optimize air-cooling efficiency, helping maintain system stability and performance under demanding workloads while improving overall data center thermal management.

For accelerated AI, ASUS ESC8000A-E13P supports AMD Instinct MI350P PCIe accelerators, while XA AM3A-E13 integrates eight AMD Instinct MI355X accelerators in a 10U design.  With support for air cooling across both CPU and GPU components, XA AM3A-E13 enables high-density AI deployments without requiring dedicated chilled-water infrastructure, offering greater deployment flexibility while maintaining scalability and serviceability for demanding AI and HPC workloads.

Across OCP Global Summit 2026, ASUS brings together system and rack-scale engineering, accelerated computing, networking and storage with leading technology platforms to provide flexible infrastructure for a broad spectrum of AI, cloud and HPC workloads. This integrated portfolio enables organizations to align compute architecture, data infrastructure and deployment models with evolving performance and scalability requirements.

Visitors can experience the complete ASUS AI infrastructure portfolio at ASUS Booth #B9 during OCP Global Summit 2026.

The post ASUS Unveils XA P2N-E2 Powered by NVIDIA Vera CPU for Agentic AI Workloads at OCP 2026 appeared first on Tech Scene ZA.

News Summary:

• NVIDIA introduces cuPotential, a new NVIDIA CUDA-X library developers can use to build AI agents that simulate how atoms and molecules interact, accelerating already GPU-optimized workflows by an additional 2-3x in early-access testing.
• NanoVDB, an open source library for working with 3D data, accelerates chipmaking simulation for AI-defined fabs, helping Lam Research achieve 30x faster simulation.
• NVIDIA NPP, a library for processing images on GPUs, accelerates chipmaking inspection for AI-defined fabs, helping KLA accelerate inspection.
• Applied Materials, Cadence, KLA, Lam Research, Siemens, Synopsys and other semiconductor leaders are using NVIDIA’s accelerated computing and AI stack across chip design, manufacturing and testing, helping drive faster development, better yield and greater production capacity.

NVIDIA today announced semiconductor leaders are adopting NVIDIA CUDA-X™ libraries — including the new NVIDIA cuPotential library, which developers can use to build AI agents that simulate how atoms and molecules interact — to advance AI-defined fabs.

AI-defined fabs are semiconductor factories where AI helps engineers optimize processes, solve production issues and improve production efficiency. As demand for advanced chips rises, such fabs must expand production while managing increasingly complex manufacturing processes. Engineers need new ways to model materials, analyze inspection data and test process changes in digital twins before applying them in production.

The expanded CUDA-X portfolio gives AI agents and engineering applications accelerated tools for semiconductor simulation, 3D data processing and image analysis, helping automate more engineering work across chip design and manufacturing so fabs can predict process behavior and improve yield.

“The semiconductor industry made the AI revolution possible. Now, AI is transforming how chips are built,” said Tim Costa, vice president and general manager of industrial and computational engineering at NVIDIA. “As fabs race to meet demand for advanced chips, NVIDIA CUDA-X and Omniverse libraries give AI agents accelerated simulation and inspection tools to help engineers manage complexity, improve yield and advance AI-defined fabs.”

NVIDIA cuPotential Accelerates How Researchers Model Atomic Interactions
Understanding how atoms and molecules interact is critical to modeling semiconductor materials and manufacturing processes, but these calculations can take significant amounts of time, even in software already optimized for GPUs.

NVIDIA cuPotential accelerates atomic-scale simulation with specialized GPU-accelerated functions developers can add to existing software. It helps researchers model electrical forces and other interactions across large numbers of atoms to test and refine simulations faster. Synopsys is among the early adopters using cuPotential to accelerate materials simulations.

By making these modeling capabilities available to AI agents, cuPotential helps agents run, evaluate and iterate on advanced molecular simulations. In early-access testing, the library accelerated already GPU-optimized workflows by an additional 2-3x.

Semiconductor Leaders Advance AI-Defined Fabs With NVIDIA CUDA-X
AI-defined fabs require faster ways to model chip designs, materials behavior and manufacturing processes before changes reach production. NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries — including NVIDIA cuPotential for simulating atomic interactions, NVIDIA cuEST for modeling electronic behavior and NVIDIA cuDSS for solving complex engineering simulations — accelerate these workloads to help make fabs more autonomous.

Synopsys is using cuPotential, cuEST and cuDSS to accelerate semiconductor simulations, with early QuantumATK results showing a potential 30x speedup using cuEST, and S-Device benchmarks showing a 12x speedup using cuDSS. The company’s AgentEngineer solutions interoperate with NVIDIA Nemotron™ open models and NVIDIA NeMo™ to support AI agents for chip design and verification.

Cadence is using NVIDIA accelerated computing, NVIDIA Nemotron open models and CUDA-X libraries to bring agentic AI to the design and simulation of electromechanical systems — from semiconductors to advanced packaging and printed circuit boards. Examples include Cadence AuraStack AI Super Agent optimizing advanced packages for heat and stress 8x faster using cuDSS with Cadence Celsius, and Nemotron with ChipStack AI Super Agent for semiconductor design and verification.

COMSOL is accelerating semiconductor multiphysics simulations with NVIDIA cuDSS, delivering up to 10x faster simulations to help engineers optimize equipment and processes. Its upcoming COMSOL MCP Server will use the NVIDIA Nemotron Ultra open model to enable AI-assisted modeling and design exploration.

Voltai accelerates advanced chip packaging with Voltaire, its agentic multiphysics platform for 3D-IC design and simulation. Voltaire combines AI agents with GPU-accelerated solvers powered by NVIDIA cuDSS and CUDA-X libraries, compressing complex electro-thermal-mechanical simulation workflows from months to a day.

ChipAgents uses NVIDIA AI infrastructure and NVIDIA model-training and optimization software to develop specialized AI models for chip design. The company is also working with NVIDIA to develop Build-A-Chip Bench, a new AI benchmark that evaluates agents across end-to-end workflows from specification to graphic data system. The benchmark gives the industry a comprehensive measure of progress toward fully autonomous semiconductor engineering.

NVIDIA Open Libraries Help Prepare and Optimize Manufacturing Workflows
Fabs depend on thousands of process steps that must be modeled, refined and validated before production. The NVIDIA cuLitho library accelerates calculations for printing chip patterns; NanoVDB — an open source library for working with 3D data — accelerates chipmaking simulations; and the open NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo™ framework helps train physics AI models to predict how physical systems behave.

Siemens is using cuLitho to speed up Calibre software for chip-pattern refinement and mask preparation. Its Solido team is also developing agent-driven characterization workflows with Nemotron open models and NVIDIA NeMo open libraries.

Lam Research intends to integrate NanoVDB into its advanced semiconductor process modeling platform SEMulator3D, part of the company’s Semiverse Solutions family of virtual products. The addition of NanoVDB is expected to accelerate select wafer-etch modeling by up to 30x, while using NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo has been demonstrated to assist in reducing plasma-prediction simulation time to as little as milliseconds instead of days.

Luminary is applying NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo to semiconductor package design, training physics AI models to predict temperature, pressure drop and thermal stress across package configurations — enabling engineers to explore 100x more designs in the same schedule without running a new simulation for every option.

AI-Defined Fabs Inspect and Test Chips With NVIDIA CUDA-X Libraries
AI-defined fabs need to analyze inspection images and test data quickly enough to catch defects, maintain equipment and improve yield. NVIDIA NPP, a library for processing images on GPUs, and NVIDIA RAPIDS cuDF, a library for processing large datasets on GPUs, help accelerate test and quality-control workflows.

Using NVIDIA AI and accelerated computing, imec is removing noise from scanning electron microscope images used for sub-nanometer chip measurements and using NVIDIA cuLitho to enable computationally intensive process-window optical proximity correction — achieving a 30% improvement in the lithography process window.

KLA applied insights from its highly optimized production kernels to a new NPP NCC kernel that achieved performance levels 50x faster than earlier CPU versions, comparable with KLA’s hand-tuned implementations.

Teradyne is using NVIDIA NPP and accelerated computing to accelerate image-sensor testing, and RAPIDS cuDF and CuPy for GPU calculations, to deliver approximately 85x faster probe-maintenance inference, helping identify degrading probes before they affect yield.

Advantest has integrated NVIDIA Nemotron and NVIDIA Kumo-Anomaly into ACS RTDI to enable AI-driven semiconductor production analytics. Powered by NVIDIA Grace Blackwell systems, ACS delivers real-time diagnostics and inferencing that recommend corrective actions for test cells. Advantest is also using NVIDIA NeMo Switchyard AI agents to automate model selection, streamline semiconductor test workflows and reduce response times from hours to minutes.

NVIDIA Technologies Advance Fab Operations and Automation
In an AI-defined fab, equipment data must move from instruments into AI systems fast enough to support operational decisions.

Applied Materials is using NVIDIA Omniverse™ and NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries, including cuDSS, cuEST and PhysicsNeMo, across materials discovery, process development and fab optimization — enabling up to 35x faster chamber simulations and fab digital twins that help optimize layouts and material flow.

Analog Devices Inc. is combining Synopsys physics simulation with the NVIDIA Isaac Sim™ framework and Omniverse libraries to develop high-fidelity sensing simulations and robotic benchmarks, helping engineers evaluate how sensors behave within complete robotic systems.

FANUC and Foxconn are connecting their robot models to the Mega NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint, enabling manufacturers to simulate and validate robotic operations in factory digital twins before physical deployment.

OMRON is using NVIDIA Cosmos™ open world models and the NVIDIA Metropolis Blueprint for video search and summarization in its inspection equipment to develop agents that combine visual data, equipment documentation and manufacturing knowledge. These agents help engineers analyze printed circuit board results, investigate potential defect causes, and support troubleshooting and quality control.

Availability
NVIDIA cuPotential is available in early access. NanoVDB is available as open source within OpenVDB, and NPP is available through NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit. Lam Research’s NanoVDB-accelerated SEMulator3D capability is targeted for release by the end of this year.

Learn more by joining NVIDIA at SEMICON West.

The post NVIDIA and Semiconductor Leaders Advance AI Across Chip Design and Manufacturing for AI-Defined Fabs appeared first on Tech Scene ZA.

World’s first AI mini PC with 80 TOPS NPU powered by Snapdragon X2 Elite platform, featuring advanced on-device AI, enterprise security, and ultra-efficient performance

• Powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite platform with 18-core Qualcomm Oryon™ CPU architecture for exceptional multitasking and AI-accelerated workflows
• Integrated 80 TOPS NPU advanced on-device AI capabilities enable Copilot+ experiences and intelligent productivity
• Built-in chip-to-cloud security architecture delivers enhanced protection across the device, data, and AI workflows
• Compact design enables efficient local AI deployment while maintaining low power consumption and quiet performance
• Designed for creators, developers, and enterprises; ideal for AI-powered edge computing scenarios

TAIPEI, Taiwan, September 17, 2026 — ASUS today announced ASUS Ascent QN10, the world’s first AI mini PC featuring an 80 TOPS NPU, redefining AI computing in an ultracompact form factor. Powered by the latest Snapdragon® X2 Elite[i] platform with an 18-core Qualcomm[ii] Oryon™ CPU, Ascent QN10 exceeds Copilot+ PC requirements and delivers exceptional performance, responsive AI experiences, and outstanding energy efficiency.

With advanced on-device AI acceleration and enterprise-grade security, ASUS Ascent QN10 enables real-time AI workloads, intelligent content generation, productivity enhancement, and AI-assisted applications directly on the device. Designed for creators, developers, and enterprises, it empowers next-generation intelligent workflows in a compact yet powerful device, making it ideal for edge AI environments.

Ultracompact design with AI desktop-class performance

At under 0.7 liters, ASUS Ascent QN10 packs AI desktop-class performance into an exceptionally compact chassis that is 86% smaller than conventional 5-liter desktop systems. It comes with integrated graphics powered by a Qualcomm® Adreno™ GPU that provides 2.3X faster performance than its previous generation. This sleek, space-saving design integrates seamlessly into offices, creator studios, enterprise environments, and modern workspaces.

Next-generation AI powered by Snapdragon X2 Elite

ASUS Ascent QN10 is for users seeking a highly-capable AI system in an ultracompact footprint. Offering sustained performance with cool and quiet operation, the Ascent QN10 is powered by Snapdragon X2 Elite featuring up to 18 CPU cores. It delivers significant achievements in performance and efficiency for multitasking, content creation, and AI-assisted workflows. Snapdragon X2 Elite also introduces enhanced graphics and next-generation AI processing designed specifically for the evolving AI PC era.

The integrated Qualcomm Hexagon™ NPU provides up to 80 TOPS of AI performance to accelerate on-device AI experiences, enabling intelligent applications such as real-time language translation, content generation, video enhancement, AI assistants, and workflow automation.

ASUS Ascent QN10 allows users to stay productive during intensive workloads and extended work sessions.

Enterprise-grade chip-to-cloud security

ASUS Ascent QN10 features a multi-layered security architecture designed to protect devices, data, and AI workloads across hardware, firmware, operating system, and cloud environments. Built for modern AI computing, it helps organizations safeguard sensitive information while enabling secure deployment of intelligent applications.

Security capabilities include fTPM 2.0 for hardware-rooted credential and encryption protection, Microsoft Pluton security processor for enhanced identity and key protection for always-connected device management and recovery capabilities. Together, these technologies provide a secure foundation for AI-powered workflows, helping defend against evolving threats while supporting privacy-focused and enterprise-ready deployments.

Built for AI-assisted productivity workflows and edge AI deployments

ASUS Ascent QN10 delivers scalable on-device AI performance for modern workflows, enabling low-latency execution, enhanced privacy, and responsive AI experiences. From AI-assisted productivity and local LLM inferencing to content creation and edge AI applications, ASUS Ascent QN10 is built to support diverse AI-driven use cases. To streamline on-device AI creation, ASUS Ascent QN10 can access the Qualcomm AI Hub, a developer website that simplifies model optimization, validation, and deployment on hardware along with the Qualcomm AI Stack. Qualcomm AI Hub provides access to 175+ pre-optimized AI models and supports Bring Your Own Model (BYOM) and Bring Your Own Data (BYOD) workflows, enabling developers to efficiently move from model customization to execution.

Beyond local AI processing, ASUS Ascent QN10 supports hybrid Agentic AI workflows that combine on-device experiences with cloud intelligence. Supporting AI tools such as OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, and other agent frameworks, users can interact with AI agents through familiar platforms such as WhatsApp and LINE for seamless automation experiences.

By intelligently routing workloads between cloud LLM APIs and local NPU processing, the hybrid architecture optimizes performance, responsiveness, power efficiency, and operating costs—providing flexible deployment from cloud-assisted AI to privacy-focused local execution.

Comprehensive connectivity and expansion

The ASUS Ascent QN10 provides comprehensive high-speed I/O and expansion capabilities designed for AI development environments, peripheral integration, and multi-device workflows. Next-generation wireless connectivity includes WiFi 7 and Bluetooth® 6.0, delivering faster, more stable, and lower-latency connections for cloud synchronization, collaborative workflows, and connected AI applications. This ensures seamless integration across enterprise infrastructure, developer ecosystems, and edge computing deployments.

[i] Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are a products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

[ii] Qualcomm, Qualcomm Oryon Hexagon, and Snapdragon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated.

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Extending local agentic AI development to more builders alongside the existing 128GB model 

• Built for agentic AI: Purpose-built to develop and run autonomous AI agents locally; keeping data, prompts and inference on-device
• NVIDIA GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip: Delivers up to 1 petaflop of AI performance in a compact chassis
• 64GB coherent unified memory: More accessible entry point for builders; sized to run today’s most capable 30–35-billion-parameter open-source models and agents entirely on-device
• Cluster-ready: Connect two units via built-in NVIDIA ConnectX-7 networking for 128GB of pooled memory and up to 2 petaflops of AI compute

TAIWAN, Taiwan, October 2, 2026 — ASUS today announced a new 64GB configuration of ASUS Ascent GX10, expanding the lineup alongside the existing 128GB model. This compact AI supercomputer is designed to bring local agentic AI development within reach of more developers, researchers and data scientists. Based on the NVIDIA DGX Spark™ platform and powered by the full NVIDIA AI software stack, ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB delivers the same petaflop-scale architecture found on ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB in a memory configuration built for today’s efficient open-source models — enough to build and run today’s most capable 30–35B class models and autonomous agents. When workloads grow, two systems can be clustered with the NVIDIA Sync Cluster Assistant for 128GB of pooled memory and around 1.7X the throughput.

Ubiquitous AI, engineered for more builders

Guided by its Ubiquitous AI. Incredible Possibilities. strategy, ASUS is working to put agentic AI within reach of every builder, empowering not only the early professional AI teams already running frontier-scale models locally, but the much larger early-majority audience of developers, researchers and AI-curious teams who are ready to start experimenting hands-on.

ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB is designed for exactly that audience and gives them a more accessible entry point into the same NVIDIA DGX Spark platform so more people can move from curiosity to proper agentic AI development. Meanwhile, ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB continues to serve teams pushing the largest local models and most demanding workloads.

Local infrastructure for the age of AI agents

Agentic AI has changed how organizations use AI — from a tool people query into a system that autonomously plans, uses tools and executes complex, multi-step tasks. As frameworks across the industry move agents from prototypes into daily production workloads, token consumption has surged, driving up cloud inference costs and raising new questions about how confidential business data and intellectual property move through public APIs.

Running open-source models on local hardware lets teams keep token generation and data in-house, without giving up the performance agentic workflows demand. As agentic AI expands to more users and use cases, capable local systems are becoming essential infrastructure, with ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB ready to meet that need.

Unleash the potential of AI

ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB delivers uncompromised local AI. Its unified architecture eliminates bottlenecks, providing a robust memory pool where the latest and most powerful LLMs are engineered to thrive, ensuring peak performance for agentic AI workloads.

Petaflop-scale performance, right-sized for today’s models

At the heart of ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB, based on the NVIDIA DGX Spark platform is the same NVIDIA GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip that powers the original Ascent GX10, pairing a Blackwell GPU with fifth-generation Tensor Cores and FP4 support with a 20-core NVIDIA Grace Arm CPU. The GB10 Superchip uses NVIDIA NVLink-C2C to deliver a coherent CPU+GPU memory model with 5X the bandwidth of PCIe® Gen 5, enabling up to 1 petaflop of AI performance[i] from a compact, power-efficient device that runs from a standard wall socket — ideal for always-on agents.

64GB unified memory

ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB pairs 64GB of LPDDR5x coherent unified memory with 273GB/s of memory bandwidth to give developers, researchers and AI enthusiasts a platform sized for the latest generation of efficient open-source models. AI models such as Qwen3.8-27B now deliver performance comparable to frontier models from just months ago, within a memory footprint that fits comfortably on ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB. ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB offers a more flexible, lower cost of entry to the same NVIDIA DGX Spark platform that powers the 128GB configuration, enabling local AI experimentation, model development and inference, while the 128GB variant offers greater memory capacity for demanding AI workloads.

Scale on demand

ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB is built to grow with a developer’s workload. Using the system’s built-in NVIDIA ConnectX-7 networking, two Ascent GX10 64GB units can be clustered for up to 128GB of unified memory, up to 2 petaflops of AI compute and up to 546GB/s of combined memory bandwidth — delivering up to 1.7X the performance of a single ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB system. With clustering, and support of NVIDIA’s NVFP4 format users can run compressed versions of larger models, including Qwen3.8-Flash-Next. Setup takes just minutes with the NVIDIA Sync App and its Cluster Assistant, with no changes to the software environment or workflow.

This scale-out design gives teams a clear upgrade path: start with a single ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB for prototyping and inference, then cluster additional units as models, context windows and concurrent agents grow — all while keeping models, prompts and data on-device.

Precision-crafted for ultimate thermal efficiency

ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB shares the meticulously engineered thermal design of ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB and is optimized to handle demanding AI workloads and sustained high performance over long-running agent sessions. The advanced thermal system features 7-level fan control, ultrawide fins, five heat pipes and two 140x80mm fans that draw air through discreet bottom vents for powerful, efficient airflow.

ASUS Ascent GX10 64GB ships with the full NVIDIA AI software stack on NVIDIA DGX OS — PyTorch, Jupyter and Ollama — plus NVIDIA OpenShell and NVIDIA NemoClaw for policy-based agent security, and built-in SSH-based remote management so IT teams can provision and monitor system fleets alongside existing infrastructure.

From personal agent computers to enterprise AI infrastructure

ASUS is extending agentic AI across a comprehensive portfolio of local systems. ProArt laptops and mini PCs powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark serve as personal, front-end AI workspaces for content creation, agent interaction, application control, and workflow development. ASUS Ascent GX10, powered by NVIDIA DGX Spark, extends local AI development and model prototyping capabilities, while ASUS ExpertCenter Pro ET900, powered by NVIDIA DGX Station, address larger-scale professional and enterprise workloads.

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LG’s new global campaign spotlights the mental load of modern life and shows how LG AI can help ease it

News Summary

• LG Electronics launches its 2026 Life’s Good campaign under the key message “Free up your mind.” 
• According to LG survey findings, people spend nearly a quarter of the year burdened by mental load — the equivalent of 87 days a year. While people work hard to stay organized, what they miss most is the freedom to be spontaneous.
• Through the campaign, LG AI demonstrates how it can reduce routine demands and free up people’s minds to focus on what truly matters.
• The campaign marks the fourth year of LG’s Life’s Good campaign, showcasing how innovation makes Life’s Good and bringing the brand promise to life.

LG Electronics (LG) launched its 2026 Life’s Good campaign under the key message “Free up your mind.” The campaign explores how LG AI can help reduce the mental load of everyday life by quietly taking care of routine demands, creating more room for people to focus on what truly matters.

The campaign arrives at a time when people work harder than ever to keep everyday life running, yet increasingly struggle to switch off from its demands. According to LG survey findings, people spend nearly a quarter of the year burdened by mental load – the equivalent of 87 days a year. Mental load is the invisible burden of constant information, countless micro-decisions and everyday demands. For many people, mental load follows them home, occupying their minds even during moments of rest and recharge.

“As technology becomes part of everyday life, it should quietly help people reclaim their time and attention to enrich their lives,” said Kim Hyo-eun, head of LG’s Brand Management Division. “Now in its fourth year, the Life’s Good campaign continues to showcase how innovation makes Life’s Good and brings the brand promise to life.”

Building on previous campaign films such as We don’t make life good, you do (2024) and Less artificial. More human (2025), this year’s campaign centres on the growing mental load of modern life and making room for what makes life good. 

Bringing the Campaign to Life

The campaign’s hero film follows a family stepping away from the mental load of everyday life for one evening. The film captures small but meaningful moments crowded out by everyday demands, from spontaneous conversations and shared meals to the simple pleasure of being fully present. 

With this story, LG invites people to consider a simple question: what might you make room for if you could set your mental load down, even for just one evening? 

The campaign’s message comes to life through product-focused films featuring LG WashTower, LG Styler, LG OLED and LG DUALCOOL. The films show how LG products can help reduce everyday mental load by quietly taking care of routine demands, freeing up people’s minds to enjoy life’s meaningful moments.

As part of the campaign, LG also offers an interactive experience designed to help people better understand their own mental load. By answering a set of questions, people can reflect on how much mental load they carry and what contributes to it. By making an invisible burden more visible, LG hopes people will free up their minds to experience Life’s Good. 

The campaign is grounded in research that reveals just how deeply mental load has become embedded in everyday life.

The Scale of the Problem

Survey findings show that, on average, people experience 27 mental load interruptions during their waking hours. 

“Through my research on high-functioning depression, I’ve found that the constant weight of unshared domestic tasks is a silent trigger for emotional exhaustion,” said Dr. Judith Joseph, a board-certified psychiatrist and a 2026 TIME100 Creator. “LG’s focus on reducing mental load targets the root of this modern crisis. True well-being in the AI era means easing these invisible burdens with intelligent technology, freeing up the psychological capital required to reclaim joy, spontaneity, and human connection.”

The Human Cost

More than half (51%) of respondents said mental load stops them from sleeping well, while nearly half (49%) said it impacts their physical health. 

The findings also revealed a key human truth: people work hard to stay organised, yet what they miss most is the freedom to be spontaneous. When asked what they would do if that weight were lifted, people did not reach for greater productivity or achievement. Instead, they spoke about getting lost in a book, spending unplanned time with loved ones and enjoying moments free from everyday responsibilities. 

The Role of Technology

The study found that unpaid responsibilities at home contribute more to mental load than paid work, highlighting the opportunity for household technology to make a meaningful difference. 

Nearly three in four (73%) of respondents believe the right household technology could help reduce their mental load, with the strongest demand for solutions that proactively handle routine tasks without requiring constant attention. 

The findings suggest a clear direction for technology: not simply to help people do more, but to quietly take care of everyday demands so they can spend less time managing life and more time living it. This insight aligns with LG’s Affectionate Intelligence vision and the campaign message: Free up your mind. Life’s Good.

To learn more about the campaign, visit www.lg.com/lifesgood.

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New Quick-Start Programme Speeds Order-to-Ship to 15 Days for Validated, Right-Sized AI Factory Configurations, Helping Customers Move from AI Strategy to Operations Faster

Lenovo announced Lenovo AI Express, a new accelerated path to production AI that removes deployment complexities by giving customers of all sizes quicker return on their AI investment.

According to Lenovo’s 2026 CIO Playbook, organisations moving from AI experimentation to scaled execution are expecting an average $2.78 return for every $1 invested, with 94% of enterprise respondents anticipating positive returns. Yet long lead times, integration complexity, and other readiness barriers can slow the path to realising that value. In collaboration with NVIDIA, Lenovo AI Express addresses these barriers, combining rapid access to AI capacity with validated, right-sized configurations and services that simplify procurement, deployment and operations. Customers can start with a solution sized for today’s workloads and budgets, then scale as agents, models, users, data and inference demands grow – with order-to-ship accelerating to 15 business days for eligible configurations¹.

“Organisations are navigating today’s complexity and constraints to get AI into production faster, looking for an approach that fits their current needs while giving them the ability to scale as those needs evolve,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, President, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Lenovo. “Lenovo AI Express gives our customers an accelerated path to deploying AI infrastructure to fit their specifications while mitigating the risk of overbuilding or costly delays.” 

 “For customers looking for validated AI solutions that can be sourced, built, and delivered quickly, Lenovo AI Express provides a predictable way to configure, purchase and receive the infrastructure. CIO’s can start their AI projects with the use case that matters now, then expand as their workloads, data requirements and AI maturity develop,” said Per Overgaard, General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Europe and META, Lenovo. “Lenovo is helping customers make that progression with the speed they need, the regional support they value, and the control their business demands.”

Start Faster, Scale with Confidence

Lenovo AI Express is a streamlined path to the Lenovo Hybrid AI Factory with NVIDIA, helping customers achieve more predictable deployment and access to production capacity, backed by Lenovo’s highly-ranked secure supply chain. They can choose from three validated quick-start configurations based on their model, user and throughput requirements matched to each level of AI demand

• Small – From 15 Days¹: Supports focused AI inferencing for tens of users at 30+TPS², with average model sizes from 7B – 70B, built on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650a V4 and powered by two NVIDIA RTX 6000 PRO Blackwell Server Edition GPUs. 
• Medium – From 20 Days¹:  Supports higher-throughput inferencing and agentic AI for hundreds of users at 30+ TPS², with average model sizes from 70B–400B, built on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR675 V3 and powered by eight  NVIDIA RTX 6000 PRO Blackwell Server Edition GPUs.
• Large – From 25 Days¹: Supports full-scale generative AI models serving thousands of users² across a wide range of workloads and interactivity levels, with up to a trillion parameters and enterprise-scale deployments, built on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR680a V4 and powered by NVIDIA HGX B300.

Across configurations, Lenovo AI Express also supports the latest CPU technologies from AMD and Intel, giving customers a choice of validated technologies to meet their AI workload requirements. Customers can extend their chosen configuration with enterprise AI software based on their requirements, including Red Hat AI Factory with NVIDIA or NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. For additional AI data resilience, customers can include Veeam® Kasten to protect AI applications, data, models and pipelines. 

“As AI agents reshape every industry, enterprises need purpose-built infrastructure that can efficiently turn their data into intelligence,” said Chris Marriott, vice president of enterprise platforms at NVIDIA. “Lenovo AI Express combines Lenovo’s validated systems with NVIDIA accelerated computing, networking and AI software into ready-to-ship solutions, giving organisations a faster path to deploy AI factories and scale as their workloads and demand for intelligence grow.”

Deploy and Operate with Confidence

Lenovo AI Express extends beyond rapid access to capacity with a full range of services that accelerate deployment and simplify the AI factory lifecycle, from identifying uses cases and validating ROI through proofs of concepts to optimising GPU environments for performance, utilisation and cost efficiency. New Premier Support Plus for Servers add proactive and predictive support capabilities designed to identify issues earlier and help maintain operational continuity for mission-critical environments. Together, these capabilities provide everything customers need to move AI use cases into production using their own data.

Scale with Lenovo and Partner Ecosystem 

Lenovo is also expanding access to Lenovo AI Express through its global partner ecosystem, giving channel partners a simpler, faster and more predictable way to identify and pursue customer AI opportunities. Through the Lenovo 360 framework, partners can bring validated Lenovo Hybrid AI Factory configurations and capabilities to customers with support throughout the sales process.  Availability, eligibility and ordering processes vary by region, with additional guidance provided locally.

Building on the success of Lenovo Top Choice Express, AI Express brings the same combination of configuration flexibility, clearer pricing and more predictable fulfilment to enterprise AI. It gives partners a more repeatable route to market, helping them turn customer interest into a validated, deployable solution without navigating a complex, bespoke process each time.

“Top Choice Express has already helped partners respond to mainstream infrastructure demand with a more predictable combination of configuration flexibility, pricing and fulfilment, and AI Express extends that value proposition into enterprise AI.” says Ilenia Lupi, Europe Channel Leader, Lenovo. “Our partners meet demand with greater confidence as they offer their customers a clear starting point for AI with a practical route to deployment.”

“Lenovo Top Choice Express helps us bundle the right Lenovo devices into that wider solution with greater consistency and certainty,” said Rohil Dattani, Managing Director, Ballicom. “In an unpredictable market, that stability supports business continuity for Ballicom and a smoother experience for the customers we serve.”

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Open Software Platform and Reference System Design Brings Together Industry, Researchers and Public-Sector Organizations to Set Safer Boundaries for AI Agents, Share Best Practices and Foster International Cooperation to Raise the Bar for Safer AI Agent Deployment

News Summary:

• NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform consists of NVIDIA OpenShell open source software and the NVIDIA Sentry reference system design that enables full-stack governance and control across software and the hardware, compute and robotics systems that run agents.
• OpenShell software provides a secure runtime boundary that traces all actions and enforces policy as agents run on NVIDIA Vera CPUs. As open source software, OpenShell can be extended to work with third-party compute platforms, including those from Arm and Intel.
• Sentry adds an out-of-band watchdog that runs on NVIDIA BlueField-4 DPUs to continuously monitor agent behavior. Sentry can quarantine agents that attempt to move outside their boundaries in milliseconds.
• Industry leaders from across the AI ecosystem are joining NVIDIA to strengthen AI safety for every industry across the full stack of infrastructure, software, models and robotics — including Anthropic, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Dell Technologies, Figure, HPE, Hugging Face, JPMorganChase, Microsoft, Palantir, Palo Alto Networks, Perplexity, Red Hat, Salesforce, SAP, Scale AI, ServiceNow and SpaceXAI.

NVIDIA today announced NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform, an open software platform and reference system design to strengthen AI security from agent testing to deployment, with full-stack governance and control across software and the hardware, compute and robotics systems that run agents.

Recent security incidents have underscored the need to equip organizations with open, customizable tools that enforce more control over long-running agents. Across these incidents, the pattern is the same — the agent circumvented security controls at the application layer to complete its assigned task.

“AI’s extraordinary potential for society will only be realized if we solve AI safety,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “As we continue to discover the frontier of AI capabilities, we must accelerate discovery at the frontier of AI safety. Safety and security require full-stack engineering. NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform brings together industry, researchers and public-sector organizations to share best practices, align on evaluation methods and foster international cooperation. Together, we can raise the bar for global AI safety.”

Open Agent Safety Platform Adds Control Across the Full Agent Stack
NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform enables full-stack governance and control across the software that runs agents, the hardware and compute layers that power their work, and the robotics systems that execute tasks in the physical world. Organizations can deploy elements of NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform according to their unique requirements.

It includes NVIDIA OpenShell™ secure runtime software that sets boundaries for agents running on CPUs. As agents take on more work across more systems, enterprises need an enforceable boundary outside of the model and agent harness. Now broadly available, OpenShell provides a secure runtime boundary for controlling how autonomous AI agents execute tasks across open and closed models.

OpenShell delivers this protection with minimal overhead on NVIDIA Vera, the first purpose-built CPU for agentic AI. Together, OpenShell and Vera enable agents to operate securely while completing their work as quickly as possible. As open source software, OpenShell can also be extended to work with third-party compute platforms, including those from Arm and Intel.

The NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform reference system design features NVIDIA Sentry, an out-of-band watchdog that runs on NVIDIA BlueField^®-4 DPUs to continuously monitor agent behavior. Sentry provides in-silicon security enforcement, meaning that if an AI agent attempts to move outside its software boundary, Sentry quarantines and stops it in milliseconds.

Running on BlueField-4 DPUs, Sentry continuously monitors agent activity and enforces security policies independently in silicon. It combines threat detection, hardware-based agent governance and enforcement and data access protection from an isolated, out-of-band trust domain that is responsive in real time and invisible to agents and attackers.

Sentry is built on NVIDIA DOCA™ software, which provides the programmable capabilities Sentry uses to inspect agent requests and responses, provide attested telemetry, verify agent identity and enforce granular, zero-trust access policies for data, tools, application programming interfaces and services.

Industry Leaders Strengthen Agent Security With NVIDIA
Anthropic and NVIDIA have collaborated to bring additional layers of security and control to the agent stack. Claude Managed Agents establish a security boundary by running the agent loop in a separate server from the sandboxes where their work executes. Integrations with OpenShell and BlueField enable enterprises to enforce strict control over agent access through those sandboxes.

“Companies are giving AI agents more of their most important work, and they need to direct and verify what those agents do, especially in sensitive environments,” said Paul Smith, chief commercial officer of Anthropic. “Claude Managed Agents gives companies a clear view of what each agent is doing, and NVIDIA’s platform adds another layer of governance and control across hardware and software.”

SpaceXAI is using NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform for Cursor coding agents and Grok models.

“As customers rely more on agents to get real work done, safety should be enforced outside the model by additional controls the agent can’t get past,” said Mike Nicolls, president at SpaceXAI. “Customers should be able to set those limits for Cursor and Grok and trust they will hold.”

Scale AI is working with NVIDIA to incorporate NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform technologies into the agentic infrastructure layer of Scale GenAI Portfolio.

“Scale AI is using the NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform reference design to build reliable agentic AI systems for our enterprise and government customers running mission-critical applications, with isolation, policy enforcement and auditability built in from the start,” said Francis deSouza, CEO of Scale AI. “We support agentic security with clear boundaries that define what agents can do, and controls that keep them operating within those permissions.”

Salesforce and NVIDIA have integrated OpenShell with Slack, enabling teams to manage OpenShell agent activity directly from Slack — viewing agent activity and audit events, and approving or rejecting agent requests for additional permissions — giving teams greater visibility and human oversight as agents work.

SAP is embedding OpenShell with Joule Studio runtime, part of the SAP Business AI Platform, to pair business oversight with runtime security. The company is also contributing engineering work to OpenShell and working with NVIDIA to advance interoperability standards through the Open Secure AI Alliance.

Accenture, Armadin, Cadence, Cognition, CrowdStrike, Cisco, Dassault Systèmes, Deloitte, EY, Hugging Face, IBM, Irregular, Perplexity, Microsoft, SAP, Scale AI, ServiceNow, Siemens, Synopsys, OpenClaw, Palantir and Palo Alto Networks are also among the over 100 organizations working with NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform technologies.

Robotics leaders — such as Figure, Gecko Robotics and Skild AI — are also building with OpenShell to embed agent safety controls into autonomous systems that take action in the physical world.

Citi and JPMorganChase are among the financial services leaders collaborating with NVIDIA on shared open source agent safety technologies.

Energy leaders Hitachi Energy, EPRI, NextEra Energy, Quanta Services, SPP, Schneider Electric, Siemens Energy and Worley are among critical U.S. infrastructure providers working with NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform technologies.

Infrastructure software leaders Canonical, SUSE and Red Hat are also integrating NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform into widely used software operating systems. Red Hat runs OpenShell and DOCA, both part of NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform, on Red Hat AI Factory with NVIDIA, a co-engineered, enterprise-grade AI solution for building, deploying and managing AI at scale across hybrid cloud environments.

NVIDIA partners including Baseten, Cisco, CoreWeave, Dell Technologies, GMI Cloud, HPE, HP Inc., Irregular, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nebius, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Supermicro and Together AI are among those offering AI infrastructure solutions that use and support NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform technologies to help customers run AI agents more securely.

Availability
NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform software, including OpenShell and skills, are available through the NVIDIA developer resources page and GitHub.

Ecosystem contributions such as NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform support the mission of the Open Secure AI Alliance as well as the broader AI safety and security community. Initiated by NVIDIA alongside over 120 leading organizations and governed by the Linux Foundation, the Open Secure AI Alliance strengthens AI agent security through open research, skills and tools, as well as projects like the Shared AI Findings Exchange, or SAFE.

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• Judges for the 20th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards announced
• 2027 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 15 April – 3 May 2027
• 2026 travelling exhibition is open in Milan until 4 October, in Johannesburg until 22 January 2027, and opens in Berlin on 8 October

SOUTH AFRICA, 25 SEPTEMBER 2026- The Sony World Photography Awards announce today the jury and London exhibition dates for the landmark 20th edition.

In their two-decade-long history, the Sony World Photography Awards have become the definitive reference point for contemporary visual storytelling, honouring the remarkable creativity and dedication of photographers working today. A celebration of the stories and images shaping our culture, the Awards show the diverse possibilities of the medium.

Organised by Creo, the Awards form the core part of its photography programming strand, the World Photography Organisation. Sony supports the Awards to give an international platform to artists working in photography, and to push forward the global discourse on the medium today.

2027 JUDGES

Following the success of the 2026 edition, which received over 430,000 images, and now entering their second decade, the Awards are open for entries and free to all photographers.  For the landmark 20th edition, the Awards welcomes back Monica Allende as Chair of the Jury for the Series competition and curator of the London exhibition at Somerset House.

Allende is accompanied by a panel of specialists in the visual arts from across the globe, all contributing their unique expertise, insights and perspectives. The 2027 jury comprises:

Series Competition:

• Monica Allende, Independent Curator and Photography Consultant, Chair of the Jury, UK
• Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo, Photographer & Editor at Raya Editorial, Colombia
• Peipei Han, Director of Exhibitions, Fotografiska Shanghai, China
• Candice Jansen, Manager, New Archival Visions Programme, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
• Amanda Renshaw, Independent Curator, Writer and Publishing Consultant, UK
• Pauline Vermare, Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum, USA

Single Image & Youth competitions: Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen, Managing Director, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Denmark

Student competition: Menno Liauw, Founder and Director of the FUTURES Foundation, Netherlands

NEW IN 2027

The 2027 edition broadens the Awards’ range through new categories across the competitions, presenting expanded opportunities for fresh perspectives on visual storytelling. The Series (previously Professional) and Single Image (previously Open) competitions are re-named, further defining and clarifying their scope. Photographers are welcome to enter different projects to both competitions, enabling those with diverse portfolios to enter work from across their practice, be it a series or a striking single photograph.

New Series competition Category

Histories: This category invites photographers to explore how histories – personal, cultural, and collective – shape our world today, from traditions and everyday rituals to the events and forces that have left their mark on nations and peoples. This category is for projects that engage, explore, or re-examine the past, as well as work that looks at the contemporary through a historical lens. We welcome archival and found image interventions that revisit, re-contextualise, or breathe new life into the past.

New Single Image competition Category

Animal Portraits: This category celebrates the beauty, personality, and spirit of animals through portraiture. Judges are looking for images that capture the subject’s expression and character, from beloved pets to majestic wildlife and marine life, to reptiles and insects; portraits that honour and showcase the remarkable diversity of the animal kingdom.

2027 LONDON EXHIBITION AND 2026 TRAVELLING EXHIBITION DATES

The Sony World Photography Awards 2027 exhibition begins its international journey at Somerset House, London, from 15 April to 3 May 2027. A fixture of the cultural calendar in London, the acclaimed exhibition, curated by Monica Allende, features a selection of winning and shortlisted images from the 2027 Awards, as well as special presentations by the Photographer of the Year 2026 Citlali Fabián and the Outstanding Contribution to Photography 2027, to be announced in November.

The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 is currently on view in Johannesburg, South Africa (until 22 January 2027), at the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography, marking the Awards’ debut presentation in South Africa. The exhibition then continues to travel to other destinations:

• Milan, Italy, 10 June – 4 October 2026
• Berlin, Germany,  8 October 2026 – 7 February 2027
• Matera, Italy, 14 November – 10 December 2026
• Bisceglie, Italy, 12 – 30 December 2026

To find out more about our exhibitions, please visit worldphoto.org

2027 DEADLINES AND PRIZES

The Sony World Photography Awards opened to submissions on 1 June 2026. Full competition and category descriptions can be found at worldphoto.org

Deadlines for submission to the four competitions are as follows:

Series: 12 January 2027 16:00 GMT

Single Image: 5 January 2027 16:00 GMT

Student: 27 November 2026 16:00 GMT

Youth: 5 January 2027 16:00 GMT

All category winners of the Series, Single Image, Youth and Student competitions receive Digital Imaging equipment from Sony. The prestigious Photographer of the Year receives a cash prize of $25,000 (USD) as well as a solo presentation of their work as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London the following year. The Single Image Competition Winner and the winner of the Sustainability Prize each receive $5,000 (USD). All winning and shortlisted photographers’ projects are exhibited at the annual Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London, and will then tour internationally. The winning images are also published in the annual Awards’ book, sold at the exhibition and available online. Series competition category winners and finalists are invited to Insights, a day of tailored sessions with leading industry figures in London. Coming from commercial, curatorial, and institutional backgrounds, these experts offer the photographers specialised guidance on expanding their network and practice.

For more information about the Sony World Photography Awards and upcoming announcements and events, please visit worldphoto.org

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