Computex Bits ‘n Bytes – Day One

After an explosive day zero at Computex Taipei on Monday, day two had much to live up to – but didn’t disappoint. Here are a few snippets from today’s show.
Intel and Qualcomm square off with dual core chip offerings
Two veritable tech goliaths faced off in Taipei today, as both Intel and Qualcomm announced new dual core CPU offerings for smartphones, smartphones, tablets and netbooks.
Intel declared that its new double trouble Atom would be able to slip into the slightest of form factors, while providing improved performance – hardly a tough target, considering the disappointing one core Atom experience.
Meanwhile Qualcomm  also had two headed goods to deliver to the mobile computing space, unveiling its MSM8x60 series of Qualcomm chips; two 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPUs and a GPU capable of both 2D and 3D acceleration for up to 1080p of video encode/decode. The series also includes a built in GPS a dedicated low power audio engine and support for 24-bit WXGA 1280×800-pixel resolution displays.
GlobalFoundries has a $3 billion itch to scratch
Maker of wafers and small chips, GlobalFoundries, apparently has $3 billion burning a hole in its pocket and plans to spend the cash on efforts to ramp up production at its New York and German fabs.
The AMD spin-off has already got a cool $6 billion stashed away in its trust fund from sugar daddy ATIC, but CEO Doug Grose reckons the extra three billion is necessary to add extra production lines.
Meanwhile, ATIC has also said it has plans to turn Abu Dhabi into the silicon mecca of the Middle East, if not the world, and says it has already chosen the perfect spot in a local technology park, although just when building will start for real remains to be seen.
Acer backs Intel and Nokia’s Meego
Making an impromptu appearance on stage at the Intel keynote on Tuesday, Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci vociferously voiced his firm’s commitment to MeeGo, showing off several Intel Atom-based netbooks and tablets running the new(ish) software platform.
“Acer will be ready with MeeGo-based mobile devices,” said Lanci. “MeeGo’s open software platform will present our customers with another choice of a friendly, easy-to-use operating system. We are pleased to collaborate with Intel in our continuous drive to provide effortless technologies that empower people at work, home, anytime, anywhere.”
There’s still no hint, however, that Acer likes the OS enough to use on its latest smartphones.
Freescale and Atheros team up in Wi-Fi partnership
Developer of wired and wireless communication semiconductors, Atheros and embedded processor maker Freescale announced they had partnered up to provide SMBs with cheap and cheerful WiFi access points  based on Freescale’s QorIQ P1020 system-on-chip (SoC) and Atheros’ three-stream XSPAN chip set.
Apparently the low-cost, high-performance points are already production-ready and are just waiting to be snapped up by eager OEM customers.