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Featured Pieces |
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Retailers hope for Christmas in July >>
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NASA's "Tweets" from Mars >>
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300 Dates in 24 Hours? No Sweat! >> |
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Barack Obama and Selma, Alabama >> [radio] |
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Selected Recent Clips |
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May
06
2010
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AMD chips to be in many more PCs this summer – sources |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc may make some of its largest inroads into the fast-growing laptop computer market thanks to a new generation of power-efficient chips to be unveiled next week.
People familiar with the matter who work for AMD said the company’s latest microprocessors are expected to be included in 109 mainstream laptop models in the coming months, the company’s best showing during the crucial back-to-school sales season. Last year, AMD’s chips were available in 40 laptop models.
> read more . . .
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Mar
30
2010
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Want to see the iPad? So do Apple store employees |
As Apple Inc gears up for the crush of customers expected for Saturday’s iPad launch, employees who staff its retail stores are just as curious about the tablet as the fans who will line up outside.
Apple store workers say they have yet to see or touch the iPad, even though the launch is just days away and they are being trained and encouraged to talk about Apple’s newest device with customers.
“We haven’t seen it; we never do” before a product is launched, said one employee, who asked not to be identified because workers are barred from speaking with the media. “Every store employee I know, including the managers, they haven’t seen it.”
> read more . . .
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Mar
28
2010
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Delving into Intel’s results? Try flying to China |
To get accurate projections for Intel Corp, Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang often finds himself hopping on a plane to Asia.
Wang — who normally crafts complex mathematical models and pores over financial statements — finds, in Intel’s case, it helps to use his fluent Chinese to gather information directly from its customers: top computer manufacturers in the Orient.
“They’re just such a large semiconductor company and to get color in terms of the overall scale, you need that,” he said.
Wang and many other analysts’ predicament may underscore why the world’s top chip maker has beaten expectations in six of the last eight quarters. More than 80 percent of its sales are abroad. Analysts estimate over half its revenue comes from less transparent markets such as China, Africa and India.
> read more . . .
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Feb
03
2010
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Apple’s iPad: trouble for Intel’s mobile push? |
When Apple Inc unveiled its iPad last month, one crucial detail almost got drowned out in the hoopla: the new tablet computer will be powered by an in-house chip called the A4.
While Apple likely will not market the chip publicly, analysts say the new processor underscores how rival chip designs may eventually win out over Intel Corp’s designs in the emergent hot category of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Intel says the first smartphones using its chips go on sale by 2010′s second half, as it tries to stake out a corner in the wireless market and replicate what it did for the formerly red-hot netbook category it now almost completely dominates.
But analysts point to an uphill battle against Nvidia Corp, Marvell and Qualcomm Inc, already making headway with cheaper, low-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings PLC.
“They (Intel) don’t have a track record in delivering these types of chips,” said Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang. “They haven’t been successful in the past, and they’re trying to get in.”
> read more . . .
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Jan
15
2010
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Intel earnings good for sector despite selloff |
Stellar results from Intel Corp could signal brighter tech earnings results in coming weeks, but analysts warn stocks themselves may be stuck in a short-term correction.
Intel shares fell more than 3 percent even after analysts from Credit Suisse, Raymond James and JMP Securities, among others, raised their price targets on the stock. JMP Securities and Thinkequity raised their ratings to “outperform” and “buy” respectively.
The broader market was down on Friday as losses from JP Morgan Chase & Co helped drag the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down 1.24 percent.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang expected a short-term correction for Intel and many other semiconductor stocks as Wall Street locks in profits after a solid fourth-quarter showing from the world’s largest chipmaker.
“Buy on the rumor, sell on the news,” he said, adding that semiconductor stocks have had a good run when put in the perspective of downgrades from both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch before Intel reported stellar earnings.
> read more . . .
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Jan
12
2010
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INTERVIEW-GlobalFoundries merging operations with Chartered-CEO |
GlobalFoundries plans to merge its operations with recently acquired Chartered Semiconductor, creating a single contract chipmaker with more than $2 billion of revenue to take on market leaders TSMC and UMC.
GlobalFoundries, a joint venture of Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Abu Dhabi-backed Advanced Technology Investment Co, is already beginning to work with suppliers and partners as one company, GlobalFoundries Chief Executive Doug Grose told Reuters in an interview.
> read more . . .
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Dec
04
2009
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Can Nvidia power through a fading product line? |
Graphics microchip maker Nvidia Corp is a company in transition.
The Santa Clara-based company halted development for one of its largest units in October, raising questions about whether the unit’s product sales would slowly tail off or sales would drop off a cliff.
And, if they did, could the company’s products in new market segments gain enough traction to make up the difference?
> read more . . .
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Dec
03
2009
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INTERVIEW – LSI hopes to surf consumer, smartphone wave |
The rapid proliferation of multimedia and Web-ready consumer devices such as smartphones is underpinning a gradual uptick in corporate spending and spurring growth for specialty chipmakers, the top executive at industry player LSI Corp said.
The company, which competes with the likes of Marvell Technology Group Ltd to make chips for computer servers and storage devices, wants to continue to hitch a ride on that wave of consumer devices by providing chips for network and data infrastructure, said Chief Executive Abhi Talwalkar.
“There’s richer content flowing through networks,” he said in an interview at LSI’s offices in Silicon Valley.
“Just the push of richer PDAs (handheld devices), and the growing mix of PDAs as a percentage of overall mobile subscribers — that in itself is driving tremendous requirements,” he added, referring to both network infrastructure and data storage for Internet-centric devices.
> read more . . .
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Nov
23
2009
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Brocade’s late earnings release raises eyebrows |
Brocade Communications Systems Inc (BRCD.O) has pushed its fourth-quarter earnings release to three hours after the close of market on Monday, an unusual move that surprised some analysts and investors.
> read more . . .
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Nov
14
2009
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INTERVIEW – Intel sees corporate PC recovery in 18 months |
Intel Corp’s chief financial officer said the chipmaker is on track to meet its fourth-quarter outlook and said a recovery in corporate spending on PCs could happen in the next 18 months.
“I think the ingredients are being put in place that will lead to a PC refresh cycle in large enterprises,” Stacy Smith told Reuters on Friday, adding that when the buying starts, it tends to include a lot of demand.
“The question is: is that the second half of 2010, is it 2011?” Smith, 47, said in an interview at Intel’s headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley. “I don’t think anybody can tell you they know the answer to that question.”
> read more . . .
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