Chips

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

A technical Web site posted an article yesterday asserting that Apple will not replace Intel processors with an alternative design anytime in the next two to three years.

This follows a report on a chip rumor site last week that claimed Apple is "dumping" Intel and switching to chips based on the ARM design, the same silicon used in the iPhone and iPad. That report said the transition would happen in that time frame.

While acknowledging Apple's history of transitions to new chip architectures and the ostensible motivations for moving to ARM, Real World Technologies' David Kanter … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel says it's ready to put the first 3D transistor structure into high-volume production.

The structure it has invented is called Tri-Gate and will be first used in chips manufactured using the 22-nanometer process, nicknamed Ivy Bridge.

Continuing along the path of Moore's Law would have been tough unless something changed dramatically, said Intel Senior Fellow Mark Bohr at a press event here today at the SPUR Urban Center.

Instead of forming the conducting channel on a planar surface, it's on three sides of a 3D "fin." The key advantage comes from the gate wrapping around the fin, said Bohr.

The new structure allows Intel to manufacture smaller, faster, and lower-voltage chips and put them into even smaller devices. … Read more

Apple's component purchases during 2010 have put it on top of Nintendo and just behind leader Samsung as the largest buyers of Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, according to a new report by IHS iSuppli.

These tiny components, which include--but are not limited to--accelerometers, gyroscopes and accelerometers, can be found inside a number of Apple's portable products like iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

"MEMS sensors bought by Apple last year included 3-axis gyroscopes from STMicroelectronics for the iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and--toward the end of 2010--the iPad 2 tablet," the report said. "Apple also bought accelerometers … 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

LONDON--A new type of image sensor that's been flipped front to back is beginning to give photographers a better view of the world.

The new sensors use a technology called backside illumination, and chipmakers including Sony and Samsung are leading the charge to build them into a variety of cameras. And though it's a premium feature today, it's spreading rapidly across the market.

"It's more aggressive than we expected even two years ago," Yole Developpement analyst Jerome Baron said in a talk last week at the Image Sensors Europe conference here.

Image sensors are … Read more

LONDON--Please, the collective camera industry pleads, give us something besides megapixels to rate our cameras. And one industry consortium hopes to do just that, at least when it comes to mobile phone cameras.

Megapixels are an imperfect, though not irrelevant, measurement of image quality. Reducing pixel size to squeeze more on a sensor can have the effect of reducing the quality of the data each pixel captures. Thus, particularly in the mobile phone market where sensors already are small, total megapixels isn't a be-all, end-all measurement.

But by the end of the year, the fast-growing mobile phone segment of … Read more

Oracle has signed the death certificate for Intel's Itanium chips, saying that none other than Intel has decided to end the high-end processor family.

The old software giant and new server maker announced yesterday that it has "decided to discontinue all software development on the Intel Itanium microprocessor." After several discussions, Oracle said, "Intel management made it clear that their strategic focus is on their x86 microprocessor and that Itanium was nearing the end of its life."

Nonsense, said Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini in a reply today.

"Intel's work on Intel Itanium … Read more

We may not have jet packs yet, but pretty soon plastic will be a thing of the past. At least in our wallets, that is.

The technology that will bring us part of the way there is near-field communications (NFC), an exciting tool that lets devices exchange information with one another when in close proximity. So far, its main use has centered on payments, specifically point-of-sale terminals at retailers. In fact, you probably have a credit card from your bank with an NFC chip in it.

The next frontier for those little chips is in smartphones. Like wallets, these have … Read more