Avago Technologies has agreed to buy Broadcom for $37 billion in cash and stock. Although Avago's market value is higher than Broadcom's, Broadcom is the larger company by revenue. The California chipmaker had $8.4 billion in revenue last year, 70% more than Avago's $4.9...
Qualcomm is helping two of China's biggest companies meet the demand for LTE. Huawei, China Mobile and Qualcomm said they have completed a commercial verification of LTE-TDD inter-band three-component carrier aggregation. Carrier aggregation refers to the combination of different spectrum bands to form a...
Facing pressure from shareholders, chipmaker Altera is reportedly back in acquisition talks with Intel.
The New York Post first reported the rumor earlier this week that Altera has returned to the bargaining table, citing an anonymous source with direct knowledge of the talks who said...
Chip news from Altair, Broadcom and MediaTek
AT&T gives LTE-only a boost
Israel's Altair Semiconductor said today that its FourGee-3800/6300 chipset has completed AT&T’s ADAPT chipset validation. Altair makes LTE-only chipsets, which so far have primarily been used in tablets. Tablets do not need to make...
The market for microscopic mechanical systems for mobile devices appears to be gaining momentum, so RCR Wireless News takes a closer look at the ecosystem and some RF MEMS basics.
What are MEMS and RF MEMS?
MEMS are micro electro-mechanical systems – microscopic devices that rely on mechanical movements....
Apple under pressure
Apple's iTunes may face some legal challenges. The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly trying to find out whether iTunes is using its marketplace muscle to get songs into its paid services instead of free-streaming services. Apple of course is working on its...
Cases convert RF into usable power; Kickstarter funding campaign coming soon
Research and development firm Nikola Labs is set to launch a crowd-funding campaign to bring to market a new smartphone case that purportedly turns energy from Wi-Fi, LTE and Bluetooth into direct current power...
Apple smartphones continue surge in China; Samsung sees decrease
Analysts with United Kingdom-based Juniper Research tracked 350.9 million smartphones shipping in the first quarter of 2015; that’s a 23% increase from the same time period last year.
Juniper found that Samsung is the leading smartphone seller,...
Chipmaker Qualcomm on April 23 reported revenue of $6.9 billion on net income of $1.05 billion, or $1.40 per share, for its fiscal 2015 second quarter ended March 29.
Although net income was down 46% compared to the prior year's Q2, the results still surpassed...
Activist investor Jana Partners is reportedly urging Qualcomm to consider separating its chip business from its patent-licensing business. The California company holds a number of key wireless patents, and its patent-licensing business has signficantly higher profit margins than its chip business.
In response to the...
Intel also spends $16M on IoT and $13M on angel fund
WASHINGTON – At the Intel Developer Forum last week, the company announced plans to spend $24 million on a mass-market accelerator program in China.
Intel claims the program is designed to allow Chinese innovators and...
South Korean authorities also investigating Qualcomm for antitrust issues
WASHINGTON – Qualcomm is looking to reestablish its importance in China following a $975 million fine imposed by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
Qualcomm President Derek Aberle told the Financial Times during the Boao Economic Forum...
Two of mobile's highest-profile 'frenemies' are reportedly teaming up again. Bloomberg reports that Samsung will win the contract to manufacture Apple's A9 chips for the next iPhone. Samsung made Apple's chips for years until the two companies found themselves at war in the smartphone...
Sequans announces Verizon-certified LTE modules
Sequans new Colibri LTE chipset, along with two of the French company’s LTE modules, designed for "Internet of Things" and machine-to-machine deployments have been certified as carrier grade by Verizon Wireless.
The new Colibri chipset is rated category four, meaning it...
Qualcomm earlier this week announced a 14% increase in its quarterly cash dividend.
The San Diego-based chipmaker’s board also authorized the company to buy back up to $15 billion of its common stock. The program replaces a previous one that had a $2.1 billion authorization...
Freescale, the Texas chipmaker that was once part of Motorola, has agreed to be acquired by NXP Semiconductors, which was once part of Philips N.V. The cash and stock deal values Freescale at roughly $16.7 billion (including debt) based on NXP's closing stock price...
Freescale Semiconductor may be changing hands once again. The New York Post reports that the Texas chipmaker is in talks with advisers about a potential sale. Freescale stock is up sharply on the news, adding to gains posted earlier in the month on the...
Possible investigation comes on heels of $975M Chinese settlement
Just days after agreeing to a nine-figure settlement with the Chinese government, chipmaker Qualcomm is now under investigation by South Korean commerce authorities, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission...
Qualcomm said today that Chinese regulators have found that the chipmaker violated China's anti-monopoly law. The company has agreed to pay a $975 million fine and implement a "rectification" plan as follows:
Qualcomm will offer licenses to its current 3G and 4G essential Chinese patents...
The world's largest maker of smarpthone chips has been having a hard time doing business in the world's biggest smartphone market. But now Qualcomm is reportedly near a settlement with the Chinese government.
Qualcomm will face a fine of at least $1 billion, according to...
Silicon Labs buy of Bluegiga boosts IoT offerings
Silicon Laboratories has acquired Finland’s Bluegiga Technologies for $61 million in a cash deal that the company said will expand its connectivity portfolio for the "Internet of Things."
Privately held Bluegiga is an independent provider of short-range wireless...
Abby Audet looks right at home writing code for Silicon Labs, but she’s not an employee. She’s a high school sophomore who writes code well beyond her years.
Jason Savage was the first at Silicon Labs to see the code. He told RCR Wireless News,...
Qualcomm chipsets remained the industry leader in cellular and smartphone apps processors in 2014, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics.
Although Qualcomm continues to dominate the LTE baseband processor space holding a unit share of about 80% in the third quarter of 2014,...
In this edition of “Gigs”, RCRtv gives you an inside look at what it is like to be a trainee at Silicon Labs.
Max Palumbo, a field applications engineer trainee, explains what the interview and training processes are like and offers insight about the profession...
