Intel

RCR Unplugged recently reported that German chipmaker, Infineon Technologies, was under Intel’s acquisition microscope, but it seems another suitor – Samsung Electronics – has joined the fray.

With the demand for better, faster smartphones increasing exponentially by the day, it comes as no real surprise that little British chippie ARM has managed to beat even its own earning expectations and gain market share, pushing from handsets into all kinds of other electronics, from fridges to MP3s.

Little British chippie ARM boasts hundreds of licensee’s for its technology – found in over 98% of the world’s smartphones – but the firm seems to have landed a very big fish indeed with Microsoft announcing on Friday it had signed up for an ARM architectural license of its own.

Integrated Circuits (ICs) are an integral part of the mobile handset semiconductor market especially with the increasing demand for application processors within the wireless marketplace. In fact, the segment has one of the largest growth and development potentials in the industry due to an almost insatiable appetite for ever-growing levels of multi-functionality in next-generation handsets.

“PCs will soon seem very archaic,” said Trevett, whose firm currently relies on the PC market to make a living. “Mobile computing is the future. Mobile is the web, the web is mobile, the two are really integral,” he continued.

Popping up again like a recurring rash is the rumor that Intel is about to acquire German chip maker Infineon’s mobile chip business, a move which would significantly help the firm in its ARM wrestle for significance in the mobile/wireless space.

A report claiming Intel is closing down its WiMax Program Office in Taiwan has caused a bit of an online storm in a teacup, with some dramatically pointing to the event as a sure sign Intel is distancing itself from WiMax, while the firm laughs off such allegations.

Intel seems to have taken yet another surreptitious step towards the world of cellular, snapping up bankrupt Israeli based Comsys Mobile Communication and Signal Processing, a WiMAX/GSM modem chip maker for a reported $30 million.

It was hardly heart stopping news to discover Finnish phone maker Nokia had decided to dump its antiquated Symbian operating system for future high-end smartphones in favour of its sleeker, Linux-based MeeGo mobile OS.

Intel and Nokia’s Meego operating system is not looking too shabby at all, at least not on a recent Intel YouTube video showing off the OS on an unspecified tablet.

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Intel certainly doesn’t want to be left sitting on the bench when it comes to the tablet game, and used the recent Computex expo in Taiwan to show what skills it brought to the table.