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Intel shocks everyone, including itself, with record Q1 earnings

Terrence O'Brien — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:24:00 EST

This is starting to get a bit repetitive, but we're sure Intel will never tire of hearing it: the chip maker just had its best quarter ever. The company expected to pull in roughly $11.6 billion, topping last quarter (and its previous record) by $500 million. Looks like the company was being conservative enough to make Pat Robertson blush -- it raked in a grand total of $12.8 billion in Q1 of 2011. About $500 million of that discrepancy can be explained by the acquisition of McAfee and Infineon, the rest is thanks to huge increases in sales across all market segments. Now go ahead, Intel, you just pretend to be surprised like last quarter.

Intel shocks everyone, including itself, with record Q1 earnings originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel gobbles up Infineon's mobile unit in $1.4 billion deal, looks to 'accelerate 4G LTE'

Vlad Savov — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:49:00 EST

Infineon, the company behind the baseband chips inside your super-duper new phone, is about to cash out from the wireless industry courtesy of Intel's insatiable appetite. The Wireless Solutions Business (WLS), which accounted for nearly a third of Infineon's €3 billion ($3.83b) revenue last year, is being sold to the American chipmaker for a cool $1.4 billion. For its part, Intel is quick to reassure the world (and its antitrust authorities) that WLS will continue to operate as a standalone business and continue to support ARM-based devices. Chipzilla's perfectly innocent ploy is to harness Infineon's knowhow in future smartphone, tablet and laptop products, providing both the processing and wireless capabilities. Specifically mentioned in the news release is Intel's ambition to "accelerate 4G LTE" through this deal, while also not neglecting its ongoing efforts with WiMAX, with the overarching strategy being described as "a combined path." We should know more about where this path will take us when the acquisition is completed in the first quarter of next year.

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Intel gobbles up Infineon's mobile unit in $1.4 billion deal, looks to 'accelerate 4G LTE' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed

Darren Murph — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:22:00 EST

Mama always said that downpours followed Spring showers, and sure enough, the Apple news has been flowing hot and heavy overnight. For starters, an IEEE Spectrum report has people talking once more about Intrinsity; if you'll recall, rumors flared up earlier in the month about Apple nabbing said company, similar to the way it acquired P.A. Semi way back in the naughties. Now, it seems that round two of those whispers are gaining steam, with some analysts suggesting that without Intrinsity's expertise, there was simply no way the silicon within the iPad could've been pushed to 1GHz in time for launch. In related news, we're also hearing that Cupertino is interested in acquiring ARM Holdings, and considering just how much business Apple pushes ARM's way, it's not illogical to imagine Apple wanting to just bring ARM in-house. If the deal went down, Apple would obviously hold a huge amount of control over whether or not ARM chips ended up in rival products, and if it yanked those Cortex slabs out from the market place, you can bet there would be a mad scramble to create a competitive portfolio to serve those suddenly chip-less product makers. Finally, a new iPhone OS 4 (beta 2) video has surfaced, giving the world a solid look at a new circular side-swapped animation that occurs when switching apps -- head on past the break to check it out, and give those links below a visit for more of that succulent nitty-gritty.

Continue reading Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed

Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Christopher Tarnovsky hacks Infineon's 'unhackable' chip, we prepare for false-advertising litigation

Tim Stevens — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:31:00 EST

As it turns out, Infineon may have been a little bit... optimistic when it said its SLE66 CL PE was "unhackable" -- but only a little. The company should have put an asterisk next to the word, pointing to a disclaimer indicating something to the effect of: "Unless you have an electron microscope, small conductive needles to intercept the chip's internal circuitry, and the acid necessary to expose it." Those are some of the tools available to researcher Christopher Tarnovsky, who perpetrated the hack and presented his findings at the Black Hat DC Conference earlier this month. Initially, Infineon claimed what he'd done was impossible, but now has taken a step back and said "the risk is manageable, and you are just attacking one computer." We would tend to agree in this case, but Tarnovsky still deserves serious respect for this one. Nice work, Big Gun.

Christopher Tarnovsky hacks Infineon's 'unhackable' chip, we prepare for false-advertising litigation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM, Samsung, Globalfoundries, and more looking to beat Intel to 28nm market

Ross Miller — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:42:00 EST

Sure, Intel's one-upping AMD in the 32nm department, but IBM and its merry band of Technology Alliance members -- including Samsung, STMicroelectronics, and AMD chipmakers Globalfoundries -- are looking to ramp up the competition and develop even smaller, low power 28nm processors before Intel gets a chance to size down. The group additionally promises migration plans for companies who've got 32nm on their roadmap and want to maybe shrink a few of the later, already planned models. Early risk production for the 28nm chips are planned for second half 2010, which means it's very unlikely we'll be seeing them in consumer gadgets until at least 2011.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

IBM, Samsung, Globalfoundries, and more looking to beat Intel to 28nm market originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Epson's tiny GPS receiver will make everything location aware

Thomas Ricker — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:58:00 EST

Small, right? That's Epson's Infineon XPOSYS chip, its next generation Assisted-GPS device set for mass production in late 2009. The chip measures just 2.8 x 2.9-mm making it 25% smaller than other A-GPS chips on the market, according to Epson, while consuming half the power. The sensitivity has also been improved for a more accurate location fix while indoors. Between this, Google Latitude, and the ever expanding lineup of Skyhook positioning devices, you can kiss your location anonymity goodbye.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

Epson's tiny GPS receiver will make everything location aware originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infineon CEO wants to sell flagging Qimonda unit... badly

Darren Murph — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:31:00 EST

Little known tidbit for those not keenly watching the happenings at Infineon: the firm was forced to write down the value of its Qimonda stake by €1 billion ($1.57 billion) in April. Not surprisingly, Infineon's head honcho is about ready to rid the company of the flagging unit, making quite a few direct statements in a Germany daily saying as much. For starters, CEO Peter Bauer stated that "a complete sale is possible as is a sale of a minority stake," and he continued by affirming that it was already "speaking to financial investors and other companies in the industry." Just in case you had any doubts whatsoever that this cat was serious, he proclaimed that "[the firm] was working with utmost urgency on the question how to close the chapter on Qimonda as quickly as possible." Unrequited love at its finest.

Filed under: Storage

Infineon CEO wants to sell flagging Qimonda unit... badly originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infineon chief to step down

Chris Ziegler — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:01:00 EST

German chipmaker Infineon, supplier of silicon to a number of the world's phone manufacturers, has announced that CEO Wolfgang Ziebart will be packing up and shipping out as of June 1 due to a "difference in strategy" with the company. Specifics weren't given, but it's hard to ignore the fact that Infineon has posted five consecutive quarters of losses amidst a downturn in demand for its wares and poor performance at its Qimonda memory unit; what's more, rumor has it that an investment firm is looking to snatch up a giant share of Infineon and tie it up with Dutch semiconductor firm NXP, a plan Ziebart is said to have opposed. That may have fast-tracked his exit, but let's be honest, you can only go so many quarters in the red before your name starts to come up in "streamlining" meetings. Board member Peter Bauer will succeed Ziebart starting next month.

Filed under: Misc

Infineon chief to step down originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 May 2008 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 3G's baseband chip revealed?

Paul Miller — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:55:00 EST

The folks at ZiPhone spotted some code in the brand new 2.0 beta iPhone firmware that could point to the chip to be used in the upcoming 3G iPhone. The code makes mention of "SGOLD3," which could very well refer to Infineon's followup chip to the S-GOLD2 which powers the current iPhone. Infineon's less fancy name for the S-GOLD3H chip is the PMB8878, a 7.2Mbps HSDPA chip with all the video acceleration and media playback features iPhone users have come to expect. Advantages over its predecessor include higher resolution camera support (5 megapixels instead of 2), a 2x speed MMC / SD interface and DVB-H module support, but that doesn't necessarily mean any of those specs will end up in the ensuing iPhone 3G -- S-GOLD2 has plenty of features the current iPhone doesn't take advantage of. The processor speed, however, remains the same.

[Via ZiPhone; thanks Adam B.]

[Warning: PDF link]

Filed under: Handsets, ATT, HSDPA, Apple, iPhone OS

iPhone 3G's baseband chip revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 3G's baseband chip revealed?

Paul Miller — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:55:00 EST

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3G's baseband chip revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3G iPhone rumored to be Infineon-powered, hitting "mid-year"

Paul Miller — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:06:00 EST

Hold the presses: Apple may be releasing a new iPhone this year... with 3G! Crazy, we know. The latest iteration of this rumor comes to us courtesy of UBS analysts, who say Infineon will likely be building chips for the phone -- they're powering the current iPhone, so no real surprise there. UBS is also betting on a mid-year 3G iPhone launch, and thinks that EDGE production will ramp down early so Apple gets a chance to clean out inventories. We've got a good feeling about this one, guys.

[Thanks, Tim G.]

Filed under: Handsets, ATT, EDGE, HSDPA, Apple, iPhone OS

3G iPhone rumored to be Infineon-powered, hitting "mid-year" originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3G iPhone rumored to be Infineon-powered, hitting "mid-year"

Paul Miller — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:06:00 EST

Filed under: Cellphones

3G iPhone rumored to be Infineon-powered, hitting "mid-year" originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba, IBM, Samsung and others in pact with the 32-nm devil

Thomas Ricker — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:12:00 EST

Toshiba just announced its membership in an alliance to develop system chips using 32-nm circuitry. That's well below the existing 45-nm processes used in manufacturing Intel's Penryn, for example. The alliance includes IBM, AMD, Samsung (already pushing 30-nm NAND), Infineon, Freescale, and Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. No surprise really, what with Tosh already in bed with IBM to develop chips using 32-nm processes. The agreement is good until 2010 and covers design, development, and the production of the itty bitty circuitry. A move which should reduce manufacturing costs for the alliance with the savings passed along to us consumers.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Toshiba, IBM, Samsung and others in pact with the 32-nm devil originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infineon teams with Intel for high-density (HD) SIM cards

Darren Murph — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:17:00 EST

After buddying up with IBM earlier this year on a 32-nanometer semiconductor, Infineon is now teaming with none other than Intel to produce high-density (HD) SIM cards. Announced today at the Cartes Trade Show in Paris, the agreement will spark a "strategic technology collaboration" which will see Infineon producing modular chip solutions while Intel offers up memory capacities from 4MB to 64MB. More specifically, a 32-bit security microcontroller will be provided by Infineon, while the partnership's other half throws in its "leading-edge flash memory technologies, capabilities and manufacturing." Apparently, the HD SIM will play nice with "data-intensive mobile applications, services and over-the-air downloads" which are likely to become more pervasive in the coming years, and current market research shows that these very devices will account for "six- to eight-percent of the total SIM card market in 2010." As for availability, look for samples to land in Q2 of next year, but don't expect 'em to be manufactured en masse until the first half of 2009.

[Via EETimes]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Infineon teams with Intel for high-density (HD) SIM cards originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infineon teams with Intel for high-density (HD) SIM cards

Darren Murph — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:17:00 EST

Filed under: Others, GSM, Misc

Infineon teams with Intel for high-density (HD) SIM cards originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM and friends buddy up on 32-nanometer semiconductor

Darren Murph — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:46:00 EST

IBM has most certainly been on a tear of late when it comes to microprocessors, as this tidbit comes right on the heels of the firm's 4.7GHz POWER6 and self-assembling CPUs. Presumably thinking that ~~two~~ five heads are better than one, IBM has garnered support from Chartered, Samsung, Infineon, and Freescale to "develop and manufacture advanced 32-nanometer semiconductors." Of course, we're still not sure if the loose ends surrounding IBM's 65-nanometer team effort are all tied off, but onward and upward they go regardless. The collaborative agreements between the firms "include 32-nanometer bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technologies and joint development of process design kits (PDKs) to support that technology," which basically means that the companies will attempt to work together at IBM's East Fishkill plant through 2010 to produce "high-performance, energy-efficient chips at 32nm." Unfortunately, we've no idea when these speedsters will be ready for the commercial world, but it's pretty safe to assume it won't be soon.

[Via PCWorld, photo courtesy of Semiconductor-Technology]

Filed under: Desktops

IBM and friends buddy up on 32-nanometer semiconductor originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2007 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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