Around the web
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US-based private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and US-based chipmaker Broadcom apparently tendered a roughly JPY2 trillion (US$17.9 billion) bid. That is on the high end of estimates of the memory business' value.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Fingerprint Cards, the Swedish maker of biometric ID sensors, said revenue is set to fall more than 50% in the first quarter as device manufacturers cut back on orders amid a stubborn inventory backlog.
Bloomberg
This powerful platform allows the Galaxy S8 to support Gigabit LTE, for fiber-optic Internet speeds on the go, and more consistent mobile data performance in more places.
Company release
Company release
Toshiba shareholders agreed to split off its prized NAND flash memory unit on Thursday, paving the way for a sale to raise at least $9 billion to cover US nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.
Reuters
Toshiba's plan to divest its memory chip business has Japanese corporate leaders worried that critical information technology could leak to foreign companies - particularly those in China.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Intel says that when its long-delayed 10-nanometer Cannon Lake chips finally arrive, they'll be a "full generation ahead" of rivals Samsung and TMSC, thanks to "hyper scaling" that squeezes in twice as many transistors.
engadget
Tencent, Asia's second highest valued tech firm, has bought a five percent share in Tesla. According to a filing, the Chinese firm scooped up 8,167,544 shares for around $1.7 billion to become one of Tesla's largest shareholders.
TechCrunch
The supply of Samsung Electronics' upcoming flagship smartphone, presumably the Galaxy S8, may fail to meet demand due to the sluggish production of Qualcomm chipsets, industry sources said Tuesday.
Korea Herald
Tesla says the stake is passive, meaning Tencent will not get a say in how the US firm is run.
BBC News
The US firm has struggled with hefty losses that have thrown its Japanese parent into a crisis, putting the conglomerate's future at risk.
BBC News
Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing is weighing whether to take a $6 billion investment backed by SoftBank Group that could dilute existing backers such as Apple, people familiar with the matter say.
Bloomberg
When translated from Mandarin, Apple's China retail website for the Red devices simply read as "now in red" while the Taiwanese site used the words "product" Red which the US and other countries have as well.
BBC News
Intel is warning its channel partners that demand for SSDs is expected to outstrip supply for all of 2017, forcing the company to prioritize its production for data center SSDs over lower-cost consumer SSDs.
CRN
A ban that threatened to stop the sale of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones in China has been overturned after a court ruled in favour of Apple in a patent dispute.
BBC News
Qualcomm prevented Samsung Electronics, its biggest client for Snapdragon chip-sets, from selling its own Exynos counterpart to third-parties, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission claimed.
ZDNet
Traditional semiconductor scaling is expected to reach an end by about 2024, according to a white paper from engineers working on a new version of the semiconductor roadmap. The good news is a wide variety of new kinds of devices, chip stacks and systems innovations promise to continue benefits in computing performance, power and cost.
EE Times
High-end smartphones took up less than 30% of Samsung Electronics' combined sales of handsets, data showed Monday, although the figure is expected to rebound after the launch of the tech giant's upcoming new flagship model this week.
Korea Herald
Company release
The government is considering urging struggling Toshiba not to sell its semiconductor business to a Chinese or Taiwanese company, sources said March 22.
Asahi.com
Micron Technology gained more than 7% in late trading Thursday after the chipmaker reported better earnings than expected amid reported price hikes for its memory chips.
Marketwatch.com (Dow Jones)
Even if China doesn't build all of these fabs, there are still some worrisome signs. For example, a large percentage of the projected capacity from China's foundry vendors is slated for 28nm processes and above. So over time, some see a potential capacity glut, if not a price war, looming for these technologies.
Semiconductor Engineering
Samsung Electronics is considering large-scale marketing activities for the upcoming Galaxy S8, including unconditional refunds after up to three-month use.
The Investor
A joint venture led by Qualcomm and the Brazilian government will see the launch of a semiconductors factory producing high-complexity equipment. The consortium, which also includes semiconductor manufacturing firm ASE Group, is predicted to make a total investment of $200m in the initiative.
ZDNet
A big concern is a potential over-supply situation in display glass, as China slams on the gas for OLED capacity.
Barron's
Britain's House of Commons was in lockdown on Wednesday after what police assume is a terrorist attack in which an assailant stabbed a police guard soon after a car ploughed into number of pedestrians on adjoining Westminster Bridge.
The Financial Times
Samsung appears to be about a quarter ahead of TSMC with the ramp of 10nm process technology, according to a veteran chip analyst.
EE Times
Samsung Electronics said Tuesday its chip factory under construction in southern Seoul is expected to start production in the first half of 2017 as scheduled. The new line is expected to focus on the production of 3-D Vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory.
Yonhap News
Apple's iPhone 8 smartphone will include a 3D-sensing module to enable augmented-reality applications, Rosenblatt Securities recently said. Rosenblatt Securities named Austria's AMS AG as a likely supplier of 3D sensors to Apple.
Investor's Business Daily
Seagate is closing a design center in South Korea, according to its 8-K homework submitted to US financial watchdog, the SEC.
The Register
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