chipmaker

President Obama will visit a chipmaking region in New York that includes a just-completed Globalfoundries manufacturing facility, one of the most advanced in the world.

Globalfoundries (GF) announced that it will take part in hosting a visit by President Obama on May 8 at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's (CNSE) NanoTech Complex at the State University of New York in Albany. The President's visit was originally planned to be held at Globalfoundries new Fab 8 facility but was moved to CNSE for logistical reasons, according to the chipmaker.

Fab 8 -- located in Malta, N.Y. … Read more

Did you know that Apple ships more iPads than Dell ships PCs? Chipmakers that have bet their business on the global demand for DRAM chips know this and it's freaking them out.

iPads use 75 percent fewer dynamic-random access memory chips than traditional PCs. For companies like Elpida Memory and Hynix Semiconductor, this is a major problem. You see, they have been building factories to produce these DRAM chips under the assumption that the computer industry, particularly PCs, would continue to grow at its traditional rate.

The iPad has changed everything.

Over the last three years, the makers of … Read more

Intel has received a thumb's up from the Federal Trade Commission for its proposed purchase of McAfee.

The chipmaker confirmed the news yesterday in a note on its Investor Relations site, announcing that the Federal Trade Commission has finished its review of the deal and has cleared it.

In August, Intel broke the news of its decision to buy the security vendor for $7.68 billion--the biggest acquisition in its 42-year history. Intel sees McAfee as a way to gain a greater foothold into a growing market of security-conscious businesses and consumers.

The FTC's approval of the deal … Read more

Following a string of acquisitions the past few years, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is now setting his sights on buying into the semiconductor market.

In a Q&A at Oracle's financial analyst meeting yesterday, Ellison said he would be interested in acquiring a chipmaker as part of an effort to own more of the intellectual property behind computer chips. The CEO said that he wants to follow the approach of Apple, which has bought semiconductor manufacturers to help it produce the iPhone and iPad, according to Bloomberg News.

"Our focus is to build our (intellectual property) portfolio...… Read more

Researchers at MIT are working on getting computer chips to "self assemble" by coaxing molecules to arrange themselves into tiny but useful patterns, a process that could lead to microprocessors with much smaller circuit elements.

In the journal Nature Nanotechnology this week, the researchers describe a process that could become an alternative to conventional photolithography, which relies on light projected onto a photo-sensitive material, as people continue to forecast the demise of Moore's Law. That observation states that the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles roughly every two years.

Led by … Read more

Chip manufacturing equipment is yet another tech sector eyeing a recovery this year, according to projections from market researcher iSuppli.

Global spending on chip manufacturing gear will grow by 46.8 percent over 2009, according to the report released Friday. The growth will follow nearly three down years. This upturn could be good news for the tech industry. Makers of chip manufacturing equipment are often considered the proverbial canary in the coal mine for the rest of tech, because new orders often indicate a growing confidence in consumer or business spending.

The chip industry was hit by a particularly severe … Read more

Intel's deal with Nokia is important for the chipmaker as it forges its path into the competitive (and profitable) mobile market. Also in today's podcast: MySpace layoffs hit the company's overseas offices; expedited airport-security service shuts down; and how to tell if you're really buying an American-made car.

Today's stories:

Intel forms pact with Nokia

MySpace slashing two-thirds of international staff

Report: Verizon, T-Mobile to offer Motorola Android smartphones

Flash Player 10 beta coming to most smartphones

Apple updates MacBook Pro firmware

Reports: Steve Jobs returns to Apple

Expedited airport-security service shuts down… Read more

Faced with a lackluster voter turnout, Advanced Micro Devices announced Tuesday it is extending the deadline for its shareholders to vote on the proposed spin-off of its manufacturing business.

AMD, which in October announced plans to spin off its manufacturing operations, failed to get a quorum of its shareholders to vote on the issue. As a result, the deadline for casting votes has been extended to February 18. A majority of the shares is required to vote to establish a quorum.

The chipmaker reported that as of Tuesday, 42 percent of the eligible shares had been cast. Of this group, … Read more

Updated to add reference to analyst downgrade.

Intel issued a fourth-quarter warning on Wednesday, noting its financial performance will be less than previously forecast and comes a day after downgrades by analysts.

The chip giant is scaling back its forecast as its revenues come in "significantly weaker" than expected across all its market segments and the countries that it operates in. Gross margins, as a result, also received a revised outlook.

Intel, which released its quarterly warning after the markets close, saw its shares drop 7.47 percent in after hours trading. During the regular trading session Wednesday, … Read more