Samsung's chip capex was $13-13.5 billion last year and will be $11.5 billion this year estimates Srini Sundararajan at Summit Research.

Now that the Internet of Things (IoT) seems to be firmly embedded in our lives, 2016 may be that transformational year when it segues from the "gee whiz" arena into practical, everyday application - along with all that entails in regard to development, policy and standards.

Chinese tech website MyDrivers.com posted a picture that supposedly includes telecom giant China Mobile's presentation of its plans for 2016. On the right hand column of the presentation labeled "April or later," one product reads "future Apple iPhone 7C."

2015 might have been the year of "peak iPhone."

According to a rumor out of China, Samsung will have an exclusive on the Snapdragon 820 until April. So in the first three months of next year no other smartphone manufacturer will launch a device sporting this particular SoC.

Semiconductor industry business leaders predict that the number of mergers and acquisitions in 2016 will match or exceed 2015, according to an annual survey of semiconductor industry business leaders conducted by business consultancy and auditor KPMG LLP.

Samsung has established new organizations that target and pursue new business initiatives to prepare for future growth. The company has formed an automotive components team, which will initially focus on building its competencies in infotainment and autonomous driving vehicles.

Intel now has a thousand people or more working to outfit a 2016 iPhone with its lauded 7360 LTE modem chip, sources say. If all goes well, Intel may end up providing both the modem and the fabrication for a new Apple system on a chip.

The new company will aim to commence operations on April 1, 2016.

AMD's President and CEO, Lisa Su, revealed at yesterday's earnings call that AMD has already completed its first couple of FinFET designs. She also stressed that FinFET is going to be incredibly important across all markets for the company in 2016.

Intel plans to produce its first "10-nanometer" processors in the second half of 2017, CEO Brian Krzanich said Wednesday. Intel hadn't given a start date for the process before, but many observers had expected it to arrive some time next year.

Intel's Cannonlake, originally slated for 2016 and later 2017, is now on hold indefinitely. Instead, Intel's current processors - of the Skylake platform - will be succeeded by the less drastic Kaby Lake platform.

Apple has renewed its exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal Technologies' unique metal alloys in its line of products, according to a document filed today with the SEC. The new agreement extends Apple's relationship with Liquidmetal Technologies until February 5, 2016.

China's Spreadtrum Communications will use Intel's 14nm FinFET process technology for both the low- and high-end mobile chips the company plans to launch in 2016, according to Spreadtrum chairman and CEO Leo Li.

Samsung was shy on specs, but said the process node will be in full production by the end of 2016, about the same time as its rival TSMC.

A new leaked roadmap slide purportedly showing Intel's plans through to the end of 2016 has been published by a Finnish computer technology website. If the slide is genuine we will likely see Intel release its first 10nm Cannonlake CPUs sometime around the second and third quarters of next year.

TSMC has been working hard on the next step, the 10nm node. Its management has said that 10nm would begin to make money late 2016.

The aggressive push by MediaTek to enter the global long-term evolution (LTE) market in competition with leader Qualcomm of the US is not likely to show significant results until 2016, according to Randy Abrams, Taiwan head of equities research for Credit Suisse.

The number of smartphone users worldwide will surpass 2 billion in 2016, according to new figures from eMarketer, representing over a quarter of the global population.

Toshiba and SK Hynix will begin joint production of next-generation memory chips as early as fiscal 2016, bringing them to market ahead of US firm Micron Technology, The Nikkei learned Wednesday.

The communications and automotive IC markets are forecast to outpace the growth of the total IC market through 2016, according to IC Insights.

Semiconductor revenues worldwide will grow 4.6% in 2012 to US$315 billion, according to IDC. Revenues will grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2011-2016, reaching $380 billion in 2016.

The Australian internet TV advertising industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42% from 2011 to 2016, increasing in value from A$54m to $311m according to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.

IBM has solved two related problems with phase-change memory and now says the fast next-generation data-storage technology will be ready for use in 2016 in servers.

Imagination Technologies, which designs microchips used in Apple's iPad and iPhone, has doubled its forecast for chip shipments. By 2016, the company expects more than 1bn will be shipped a year, up from a previous forecast of 500m.

Yonhap news agency quoted sources at the local government as saying Samsung plans to build the lines by 2016, but the spokesperson said details have yet to be decided.