chips

Updated at 1:05 p.m. PDT to include Intel's response.

Europe's governing body said Thursday it is expanding the number of antitrust charges it is bringing against Intel.

The European Commission's official announcement confirms a report that appeared earlier this week in The Wall Street Journal.

The commission filed court papers Thursday bringing three additional charges against Intel for abusing its dominant position in the chip market in Europe, including offering inducements to European retailers for not buying processors from the company's competitors, chiefly Advanced Micro Devices.

In addition, Intel is charged with paying "… Read more

Advanced Micro Devices announced Friday that it would take a total of $948 million in charges in the second quarter, sending its stock down as much as 7 percent in early morning trading.

Shares of the chipmaker fell as low as $4.60 a share in early trading, or down approximately 7 percent. AMD was trading at $4.82, down 2.8 percent, later in the morning.

AMD noted the bulk of its charges will come from a continuing deterioration in the goodwill value of its former ATI handheld and DTV units, which are part of AMD's Consumer Electronics … Read more

Microsoft and Yahoo are dead, over, done, in the ground, and Yahoo has moved on to Google, and that's the end of it. Or is it!? Also today, spitting crosses the line, cell phones cause serious (like, for real) addiction in some Spanish teens, Metallica retracts its redaction of some blogger reviews, and MySpace is getting a new design. Phew. Finally.

Analysts don’t rule out a Microsoft-Yahoo deal just yet http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9967862-7.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080612-microsoft-yahoo-deal-really-seriously-dead-this-time.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html … Read more

A couple of weeks back, we reported on Omnivision's new CMOS camera sensor, which promised improved sensitivity in low-light shots. By rearranging the layers in the sensor, engineers were able to shift the light-sensitive diodes to the surface. This not only boosted sensitivity, but also slimmed down the device.

Now Sony has announced its development of a similar chip that works on the same basis as Omnivision's technology. The company also mentioned that the development was in-house and that there was no involvement with the Californian company.

Much to our surprise, Omnivision's take on this was quite … Read more

South Korea's antitrust regulators announced Wednesday that they would fine Intel 26 billion won ($25.4 million) for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the local chip market.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a statement that the chip giant had offered rebates to two PC makers in South Korea in return for not buying processors from rival Advanced Micro Devices. Regulators also ordered Intel to stop offering the rebates.

Bruce Sewell, general counsel for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel, criticized the ruling, and told the Wall Street Journal that the company is likely to appeal the KFTC'… Read more

Semiconductor sales grew 5.9 percent worldwide in April, a healthy clip given the current sluggish economy, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported Monday.

Chip sales rose to $21.2 billion in April, up from $20.1 billion a year ago and flat with the previous month. The SIA noted April sales were essentially in line with historical industry patterns.

"Despite steep increases in energy costs that have diminished the disposable income of consumers, worldwide sales of semiconductors grew by a healthy 5.9 percent compared to April 2007," George Scalise, SIA president, said in a statement.

Weakness in … Read more

Chip designer Via Technologies unveiled its OpenBook Mini-Note reference design on Monday, in a move that throws some open source into its core business of developing chips for mobile devices.

The OpenBook design aims to aid PC makers in creating ultra-small notebooks based on Via's Ultra Mobility Platform. Last year, the company trotted out its Via NanoBook reference design, a prototype designed to compete against rivals in the small-computer market but at a lower cost.

"By making the CAD files of the external panels for the OpenBook available for download, Via has simplified design customization. You can now … Read more

Intel has started shipping its long awaited low-power chip for wireless devices, but the company is clearly starting at the high end of the market.

The Centrino Atom--which took almost four years to develop--is the world's fastest chip under 3 watts of power, according to Intel. The first Atoms run at speeds up to 1.8GHz and sport a thermal ceiling of 0.65 to 2.4 watts. By contrast, the average laptop chip runs at 3.3GHz and consumes 35 watts at a peak.

The company unveiled the chip at the Intel Developer Forum taking place in Shanghai … Read more

AMD could finally be getting ready to explain how it intends to build chips in the future, almost a year after dropping hints that it would revamp its manufacturing strategy.

Hans Mosesmann, an analyst with Raymond James, believes AMD is about to reveal a new manufacturing strategy that will attempt to take some of the formidable costs out of making chips. Mosesmann thinks that AMD is considering spinning out its manufacturing operations as part of a joint venture with another company, making greater use of partners such as IBM and Chartered Semiconductor, or some such combination.

An AMD representative declined … Read more