Chip & Semiconductor News
Mobile devices have always been a major market for chip suppliers, but the number and type of semiconductors used in wireless gadgets has grown as the products have got more sophisticated. Traditionally there were baseband and RF, with limited processing power and memory. Now smartphones and tablets sport multicore application processors, radios for five or six connections in several spectrum bands, and are starting to include dedicated graphics or video processors too. For midrange models this has created a boom in highly integrated systems-on-chip for phones. Not to mention the chips that drive touchscreen displays, plus large amounts of memory. All this has lured a large number of suppliers into the mobile market and shifted the balance of power. Many firms have defocused on basebands, leaving Qualcomm dominant, but conversely, there is far more competition for the processor space. Texas Instruments, Intel, Nvida, Freescale, Marvell, Samsung and Broadcom are all fighting for a piece of the Qualcomm kingdom, and new players are coming in from China and Taiwan too.
Intel plays it safe with new CEO
After all the speculation about Intel's next CEO, the chip giant played it safe after all, sticking to its unbroken tradition of hiring its chief from inside. Current COO Brian Krzanich is a cautious ...
- Intel to transform Atom with Silvermont platform
- Intel's uninspiring Q4 shows transition challenges
- Mobile kickstart will be new Intel CEO's priority
Qualcomm revenues up 24% but cautious outlook
25 April, 2013
Chip giant beats Wall Street forecasts with $6.12bn in quarterly sales, but ASPs under pressure until second half of year
Cirrus woes push Apple shares below $400
18 April, 2013
Latest factor putting pressure on Apple's stock price is an inventory glut at its iPhone audio chip supplier
Qualcomm gains Chinese share with reference design
4 April, 2013
QRD program now has 40 customers, mainly in China, and powers over 170 commercial devices
Lenovo may set up its own chip unit
3 April, 2013
Chinese vendor aims to expand in smartphones, with an NEC acquisition and homegrown processors among the options
Spreadtrum in alliance with Orange
28 March, 2013
Provides low cost chipsets to expand carrier's activities in prepaid and emerging markets, especially Africa
ARM CEO to step down in June
19 March, 2013
Company president Simon Segars to replace Warren East after 12 years overseeing strong growth at UK firm
FEATURED STORIES
- Wireless lifts Cisco's solid third quarter - 16 May, 2013
- BlackBerry chases market share with two launches - 15 May, 2013
- Greentouch targets 90% cut in mobile power levels - 14 May, 2013
- Samsung claims '5G' breakthrough - 13 May, 2013
