semiconductor

Shipments of PC processors failed to gain ground during the second quarter, but revenue still inched its way higher, according to data out today from IDC.

For the quarter, worldwide chip shipments rose only 0.6 percent from a year ago and fell 2.9 percent from the first quarter. Sales reached $9.49 billion, a 5.4 percent rise from 2010's second quarter but a 4 percent drop from the first quarter.

"The first quarter of 2011 was better than most first quarters due to the extra calendar week," Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing … Read more

Apple has consigned trial production of its future A6 processor to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and not Samsung, its traditional manufacturing partner, according to a Reuters report.

The A6 processor is still a distant destination on Apple's chip road map. It isn't expected to appear in products until 2012, and analysts believe it will be quad-core, a first for an Apple A series chip. The A5, used in the iPad 2, is a dual-core processor.

Talk of Apple jumping to Taipei-based TSMC has been driven, in part, by the legal skirmishes between Apple and Samsung. The latter has been Apple's sole manufacturing source for A4 and A5 processors. … Read more

You carry your car keys everywhere, so you may as well put them to work. NXP Semiconductor launched KeyLink Lite, a near field communications-enabled car key that can do a lot more than just unlock doors and start the car.

The KeyLink Lite transfers data between a vehicle and mobile devices or computers. Based on NFC standards and utilizing the 13.56MHz frequency and cryptography, the multifunction car key lets users wave the smart key over an NFC-enabled device to access data. The KeyLink Lite securely stores sensitive data, such as the car's GPS coordinates or destination directions, and … Read more

Apple is the easily outstripping all other hardware makers in semiconductor spending, a new report from IHS iSuppli has found.

According to the research firm, Apple spent $17.5 billion on semiconductors in 2010, representing a whopping 79.6 percent increase over the $9.7 billion it spent in 2009. That year, Apple was ranked third among semiconductor buyers behind Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Samsung.

And with that leap in spending, IHS iSuppli said, Apple now finds itself--"for the first time ever"--the largest buyer of semiconductors among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide.

This time around, HP finds … Read more

NXP Semiconductors has developed chipsets for CFL and LED light bulbs that allow the devices to be operated remotely via wireless networks and portable devices, the Dutch chipmaker announced this week.

The GreenChip iCFL chipset for CFLs and GreenChip iSSL chipset for LEDs have been adopted by lighting manufacturer TCP.

The bulbs can be turned on, turned off, or dimmed.

Both chips operate at the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, the low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) standard for many wireless networks, including ZigBee, used to support home smart meters, smart appliances, and security systems.

But the bulb chipset has … Read more

Semiconductor company Marvell today is set to introduce a chip geared at improving the light from LED bulbs and connecting them to a network.

The 8801 chip is small--about the size of a penny--and will be about the same price as existing LED lighting electronics. If Marvell signs on light manufacturer customers, it could bring the very good light quality of some commercial LEDs to more affordable consumer products, said Kishore Manghnani, vice president of Marvell's Communications and Consumer business. He said the chip, which integrates multiple functions on this single controller chip, is being tested by commercial or consumer light fixture makers now and it takes them about six months to introduce products with new chips.

Light quality for consumer LED bulbs has improved over the past few years but the color rending index (CRI), a measure of quality, is still not as high as incandescent bulbs. With the chip, Manghnani said a CRI of 95, higher than most of the consumer LED bulbs available now, is possible.

The chip can control the current and temperature of two types of LED light sources. So a fixture or bulb maker could use the chip and driver to use LEDs with two different colors, such as white and red, to improve color rendering. Until now, the electronics to control different colored LEDs would be too large or expensive for consumer products, Manghnani said.

The Marvell component will also make LED dimming more precise and allow a lighting company to embed a wireless chip in the bulb. With a wireless ZigBee or Wi-Fi radio, lights can be controlled from a central point or set on a schedule. Last week, Google demonstrated a networked LED bulb controlled by its Android@Home software due for release by the end of the year.

Marvell's main business is designing electronic components for consumer electronics but it is pushing into energy efficiency with LEDs and connected appliances, such as smart thermostats or smart outlets. One product already available is the Radio Thermostat which connects to a home Wi-Fi network and can be controlled from a smartphone. … Read more

Sales of semiconductors staged a healthy recovery around the world last year thanks to strong demand from makers of smartphones, tablets, notebooks, e-readers, and other popular consumer devices, according to data out today from IDC.

For the year, chip sales rose by 14 percent to $282 billion, a rebound that was felt across all sectors and global regions of the market. Among the more than 100 semiconductor makers tracked by IDC, Intel was once again the top dog, bringing in total revenues of $41.9 billion last year.

Samsung took the No. 2 spot with sales of $27.6 billion, … Read more

Samsung's first quarter is likely to show an increase in sales but a drop in operating profits due in part to weaker demand for its LCDs.

Although actual results will be announced at month's end, Samsung today offered a peek at its first quarter. The Korean electronics company estimated that operating earnings for the quarter ended March 31 would fall to between 2.7 trillion won ($2.5 billion) and 3.1 trillion won, down from 4.4 trillion won in in the year-ago quarter.

Sales are expected to rise to between 36 trillion and 38 trillion Korean … Read more

Texas Instruments plans to purchase fellow analog chipmaker National Semiconductor for $6.5 billion, the companies announced today.

TI is paying cash for National Semi. Stockholders will get $25 per share, an $11 per share premium over the $14.07 National Semi shares closed at today. Both boards have already approved the deal. There is a "break-up fee" of $200 million.

TI says the companies' sales force together will be "10 times larger" after the acquisition. Combined, the two could capture a 17 to 18 percent market share, company executives said on a conference call this … Read more