infineon

Intel retained its hefty grip on the chip market last year with healthy revenues and a record market share.

Ending 2011 as the top chip supplier, Intel carved out 15.6 percent of the market, a gain of 2.5 points from 2010, research firm IHS said today.

The latest figure proved to the highest at least since 2001 when the company took home a 13.9 percent share. Over the last five years, Intel's share has varied from 11.9 percent to 13.9 percent.

Strong sales growth and a major acquisition both contributed to the surge in … Read more

As I accelerated out of the rain-slicked Turn 2 of Infineon Raceway, I could feel the rear end of the Lexus LFA begin to slip and spin. "Holy crap," I thought, "how am I going to be able to pay for this $375,000 Lexus?"

Fortunately, my moment of terror was, despite the slippery conditions, both brief and isolated. But before I get into that, let's discuss how I came to find myself on a wet racetrack behind the most exotic vehicle to ever come out of Japan.

Lexus LFA performance driving schoolThe day's … Read more

Intel announced shipments of the first 3G chips--and future 4G silicon--that sport its branding today at Mobile World Congress--the fruits of its acquisition of Infineon's wireless business.

"Intel Inside" takes on a new meaning with 3G chips. After the acquisition, Intel Mobile Communications has overnight become a major supplier of so-called baseband processors, which handle the 3G connection and are one of the most critical chips in a smartphone or tablet.

Intel's--formerly Infineon's--3G chips are used in prominent devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

Announced today, the XMM 6260 is designed for smartphones … Read more

Intel has completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Infineon Technologies' wireless solutions business.

Now that the deal is done, Intel said today, Infineon's former business will be called Intel Mobile Communications and will operate as a standalone business in Intel's Architecture Group "to enable continuity of existing customer sales, projects and support, including ARM-based products."

Intel reported that the division will help bolster the company's existing Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX products with Infineon's 2G and 3G business. Together, Intel hopes to "accelerate 4G LTE." The new division will work on solutions … Read more

Is Apple moving to a new wireless chipset supplier for the next iPad and iPhone?

An unnamed but "reliable" source is quoted by Engadget today saying that Apple is going to ditch the current Infineon chipsets used in both devices and move to Qualcomm instead. The report seems entirely plausible.

Verizon already let it slip that it's going to have an iPad that runs on its network. It's very likely that will be for its CDMA network, and not LTE. The current iPad model only works on GSM networks. Apple probably doesn't want to have … Read more

Intel has agreed to acquire Infineon Technologies' Wireless Solutions business for approximately $1.4 billion, the companies announced late Sunday, as the world's largest chipmaker seeks to boost its presence in smartphones.

"The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an extraordinary rate," Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement. "The acquisition of Infineon's WLS (Wireless Solutions) business strengthens the second pillar of our computing strategy--Internet connectivity--and enables us to offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMax and LTE (4G)."

Infineon ranked fourth in cellular-baseband shipments last year with a 10.7 percent unit share, according to a recent report from The Linley Group. Baseband chips enable wireless broadband, or 3G, on smartphones and tablets.

The Germany-based company is a major supplier to Apple, Nokia, Samsung, and others.

Intel said its goal is to expand mobile and embedded product offerings in the areas of smartphones, tablets, netbooks, notebooks and embedded computing devices. "Through this effort, Intel will pair WLS' best-in-class cellular technology with its core strengths to enable the delivery of low-power, Intel-based platforms that combine its applications processor with an expanded portfolio of wireless options," Intel said. An application processor is the main processor inside of a smartphone.

The chipmaker expects the wireless unit to remain a standalone business to support existing customers, including those with ARM-based products as well as Intel-based application processor platforms with 3G solutions. … Read more

Will Intel chips land in the iPhone and iPad? They may if reports are correct that Intel is on the verge of buying Germany-based Infineon's wireless chip unit.

A variety of reports from both Europe and U.S.-based newspapers have been hinting at an imminent Intel-Infineon deal. So, where would that situate Intel-Infineon inside the current versions of the iPhone and iPad?

Reputable teardown sites make it clear that Infineon silicon plays a pretty important role in the iPad and iPhone 4. UMB TechInsights shows two chips: An Infineon A GSM/W-CDMA transceiver and a baseband processor.

The … Read more

Research In Motion is targeting the end of this year to bring out a small BlackBerry tablet powered by a 1GHz processor, according to a report from an analyst on Friday.

The 7-inch touch-screen tablet will be powered by a processor from Marvell, according to Ashok Kumar, an analyst and managing director at Rodman & Renshaw.

"Research In Motion (RIMM, Market Perform) is trying to pull forward the launch of the 7-inch touchscreen tablet from early next year to year end...with a marginal point of differentiation being the front- and back-facing cameras for videoconferencing," he said in … Read more

It takes a pro driver to send a car into a drift or tackle a highly technical racetrack like Infineon. Or does it?

I spent a Friday attending the Jim Russell Lancer Evolution Experience with a diverse group of amateurs. There was the father and son team from Arizona taking their annual outing. There was the businessman from Peru ditching a day of meetings. One man had already taken the course once, but had to go back for more, and one couple seemed to look at it as the perfect romantic outing.

The car--the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X--plays a big part in this day of high-speed instruction. Possibly no other car would let a group of people with mostly no previous track experience accomplish the Jim Russell program. Of course, the instructors, all being active race car drivers, contribute more than a little, too.

The first part of the day, a classroom session, was downright boring compared with what would come later. But the instructor imparted some very important information to better understand how to handle a car in a corner. I had previously been trained to plan a line through a corner, hitting the brakes before the turn, then powering on at the apex for the exit.

But now we were all being told about maintaining the car's balance in the turn, essential for truly high-speed driving. Load transfer became my phrase for the day as I thought about how the brakes or accelerator were affecting the amount of grip fore and aft.

Then we got out to the cars, a collection of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Xs in both GSR and MR trim. For most of the day, I drove the MR version, because I like the SST dual-clutch transmission so much. The GSRs come with a manual six speed. The MR also benefits from a slightly stiffer suspension. Both cars employ an advanced all-wheel-drive system with torque vectoring and yaw control, making them excellent cars for beginners to throw around corners.

Our first exercise was a corner, a single turn defined by cones in the racetrack paddock. We took turns going around this corner, an instructor on the inside of the turn watching and offering help over a radio. Keep your eyes up, looking through the apex of the turn, he advised. Slowly roll off of the brakes while entering the turn. Power on at the apex. Our favorite bit of instruction: "I want to hear the tires screaming all the way through the turn." … Read more