Semiconductor

Cellular SouthCellular South announced it promoted four of its vice presidents to senior vice president positions. Suzy Hays was promoted to senior vice president of customer operations, where she will oversee overall marketing, branding, advertising and public-relations strategies. She has …

Private-equity buyout companies are the darlings of Wall Street, snapping up companies left and right and flush with the cash to do so. According to Thomson Financial, buyouts by private-equity companies accounted for more than 25 percent of the total …

The Wi-Fi semiconductor market reached nearly 200 million units shipped last year, according to new figures from ABI Research.The industry has sold more than 500 million chipsets cumulatively. The study predicts the industry will surpass the 1 billion mark for …

Texas Instruments Inc., established in 1930 to develop oil exploration technology, has grown into a predominantly wireless-based powerhouse with $14.3 billion in annual revenue last year. Its main customer for its digital signal processors is Nokia Corp., the world’s largest …

After declaring a strategy of diversity in semiconductor suppliers and signing deals with Texas Instruments Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. for W-CDMA and other chips, Motorola Inc. declared yesterday that it still cherishes its relationship with its spinoff, Freescale Semiconductor.If in …

German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG crowed yesterday that it will supply Nokia Corp. with baseband and RF chips for the handset vendor’s entry-level phones in GSM markets.Details of the deal were not disclosed, so the relative impact of the …

Texas Instruments Inc. last week reported modest gains in the fourth quarter-revenue up 4 percent, profit up 2 percent from the year-ago quarter-but said it will cut 500 jobs to reduce costs as it hunkers down for a period of …

Texas Instruments Inc. reported modest gains in the fourth quarter-revenue up 4 percent, profit up 2 percent over the year-ago quarter-but it will cut 500 jobs as it prepares to hunker down for a period of weak chip demand by …

DALLAS-A slowdown in wireless chip sales forced Texas Instruments Inc. to trim its fourth-quarter revenue outlook from between $3.46 billion and $3.75 billion to between $3.35 billion and $3.5 billion The company said semiconductor revenues are expected in the range …

Qualcomm Inc. plans to profit from in-house Bluetooth intellectual property to drive down the cost, power consumption and footprint of chip-based functionality in mobile handsets and consumer electronic devices, the company said last week in the wake of its acquisition …

MILPITAS, Calif.-Chipmaker LSI Logic Corp. jumped into the wireless arena by scooping up Agere Systems Inc., a mobile phone chip producer. LSI develops chips for hard drives and DVD recorders, while Agere competes in the communications chip market against powerhouses …

Trying to form a sense of the sprawling chip market for mobile phones is akin to getting a tape measure around an elephant’s waist. With dozens of players and product types, the chip industry that enables the fantastic functions of …

Silica is a chemical that, in its manufactured, crystalline form, is ideally suited for use as a semiconductor. A semiconductor, a device made of silica, partly conducts and partly insulates-thus its name-and is ideal for conveying electronic signals in a …

A mobile phone runs on the chips inside it, if an over-generalization may be permitted for simplicity’s sake. And the basic functions of a basic phone rely on four types of chips: the power amplifier, the RF transceiver, the analog …

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. is making its fabless approach to its semiconductor business leaner and meaner by signing on with the chip fabrication alliance of IBM Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., also known as the Common …

In Hollywood’s movie industry, as in New York’s publishing industry, the cutting question is, “Yes, but what have you done lately?” Add the semiconductor industry to that list. When Texas Instruments Inc. reported that its third-quarter revenue rose 13 percent …

SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. is making its fabless approach to its semiconductor business leaner and meaner by signing on with the chip fabrication alliance of IBM Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., also known as the Common …

The math is simple: mobile devices are requiring more power at a rate greater than improvements in current battery output and longevity can provide it. There’s nothing earth-shattering about the essential proposition, of course-mention the topic of battery life in …

Telegent Systems Inc. will join the mobile TV bandwagon with a first-generation, single-chip solution for handset manufacturers in Asia. The fabless semiconductor firm-the company contracts out to manufacturers to produce the chipsets-this week plans to introduce a hybrid chip designed …

SEOUL, South Korea—As promised, the world’s two tier-one Korean handset vendors rebounded from their second-quarter doldrums. Based on handset shipment volumes—and despite a strong showing in North American markets—LG Electronics Co. Ltd. slipped to fifth place in global rankings behind …

Representatives from the former Flextronics Software Services business are making the media rounds, clamoring for attention, now that the company is about to announce its new identity-fully six months after being weaned from its Fortune Global 500 parent last spring. …

BOSTON-Rapid product development among semiconductor players could pave the way for nearly 50 million ultra low cost handset shipments by the end of next year, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics Inc. “In addition to Texas …

BOSTON—Rapid product development among semiconductor players could pave the way for nearly 50 million ultra low cost handset shipments by the end of next year, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics. “In addition to Texas Instruments …

WOBURN, Mass.—Wireless semiconductor manufacturer Skyworks Solutions Inc. said it is ceasing its baseband operations and will lay off 425 employees. Skyworks’ baseband business developed reference designs, including digital signal processors and software functionality, for third-tier handset suppliers. The company said …

GREENSBORO, N.C.-RF Micro Devices Inc. said it plans to sell its equity interest in Jazz Semiconductor for between $24 million and $27 million in cash. The company is divesting its interest in Jazz due to the pending merger of Jazz …