chips

Sluggish demand took a bite out of chip sales and shipments toward the end of the summer, says a new study out today from research firm IDC.

For the third quarter, worldwide microprocessor sales rose only 2.5 percent from the second quarter, while shipments inched up just 2.1 percent from the prior quarter. On a year-over-year basis, results were healthier, with chip sales rising 24.1 percent and shipments 8.6 percent over the third quarter of 2009.

Typically, global chip sales jump around 9 percent from the second to the third quarter, while shipments increase 10.6 … Read more

Intel traditionally builds chips for its own use, but it's now branching out to create one for another manufacturer.

Intel will create chips based on its 22-nanometer technology for Achronix Semiconductor, Achronix announced today. This marks the first time Intel is designing a chip for another manufacturer and may indicate that the chip giant is looking to do some contract manufacturing for outside customers.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Achronix will use Intel's 22-nanometer chips to develop its own Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). FPGAs are integrated circuits that can be programmed after they've been manufactured, allowing … Read more

Intel is pledging to spend between $6 billion and $8 billion to build a new chip manufacturing plant and upgrade its existing fabrication plants in Arizona and Oregon.

The influx of cash will allow Intel's new and current fab plants to put more muscle behind building the chipmaker's next-generation, 22-nanometer microprocessors, which could eventually power sleeker devices that deliver higher performance and longer battery life at a cheaper cost.

Intel's first microprocessors built on the 22-nanometer process, codenamed "Ivy Bridge," will be in production in late 2011, the chipmaker said today.

Besides kicking in money … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices showcased its upcoming Llano chip today, a highly integrated design targeted at sleek computers.

At the AMD Technical Forum & Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, the chip supplier held the first public demonstration of its future AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) codenamed "Llano." Due in the first half of next year, Llano integrates the main processor and graphics function onto a single piece of silicon and is targeted at ultrathin and mainstream laptops, among other designs.

Llano will use 32-nanometer technology, feature up to four CPU processor cores, and integrate AMD's 5000 series graphics … Read more

Broadcom announced today that it plans to acquire 4G chip maker Beceem Communications for $316 million in cash as it tries to get a leg up on supplying the next generation of wireless technology to companies making wireless infrastructure products as well as those making cell phones, computers, and other consumer electronics.

Broadcom said that the acquisition would accelerate its "time-to-market in 4G by adding a talented team" of engineers. Broadcom already offers chips that enable several types of network connectivity technology, including 2G/3G cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Ethernet switching. Adding Beceem's 4G technology will … Read more

Research firm iSuppli today lowered its forecast for semiconductor sales in 2010.

Chip sales around the world are now expected to hit $302 billion this year, a gain of 32 percent from $228 billion in 2009. That's down from iSuppli's prior forecast of 35.1 percent growth for the year, a change it attributed to weaker consumer demand for certain electronic devices and higher industry inventory.

Revenue in the fourth quarter is expected to drop by 0.3 percent from the third quarter, the first sequential drop since the market took a spill in the fourth quarter of … Read more

Oracle has sued Micron Technology, alleging the chipmaker overcharged Sun Microsystems for memory chips, according to a report.

Micron and other manufacturers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) "artificially inflated" the price of chips, according to an Oracle complaint filed Friday in federal court in San Jose, Calif., Bloomberg reported.

The Oracle suit is based on DRAM sales made to Sun. Oracle acquired Sun in January.

While other companies, such as Hynix Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics, are cited as "co-conspirators," they're not named as defendants.

The origin of the case goes back to a 2002 … Read more

Humans may have naturally occurring nanotechnology to thank for partially cleaning up the oil spill from BP's Deepwater Horizon rig.

Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found that previously undiscovered ocean floor microbes have literally risen to the occasion and begun degrading the giant underwater oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico.

While there was belief that some ocean microbes might aid in the degradation of the oil spill, the process has happened more aggressively than anyone predicted it would, according to a report from environmental biotechnologists at the Berkeley Lab.

One of the giant oil plumes that formed … Read more

I know that the Green Goosesteppers mean well.

I know that they are saving the world from itself and preserving it for those who currently need to chew gum and smoke pot simultaneously in order to pass from one hour to the next.

However, I am a little concerned that, as we are all increasingly placed under surveillance, we will soon be called out for our supposed moral, as well as legal, deficiencies.

Please, for example, look at Cleveland. I don't know whether the city has decided to climb the Mount of Moral High Ground because of the departure … Read more