Texas Instruments announced recently that, even though it reported better than expected chip sales during the fourth quarter of 2011, the company will shut down its plants in Texas and in Japan. Texas Instruments has seen an increased demand for its mobile chips but will close the two factories during the next 18 months while increasing its employee numbers at different plants. The move is an effort to cut costs, Reuters said. The company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $298 million, down from $942 milli...

Samsung Group, the parent company that owns Samsung Electronics and several other subsidiaries, said it plans to spend $41.1 billion investing in new technology this year. Reuters said most analysts expect the company to spend a large chunk of that money on OLED and mobile technologies in an effort to continue to stay on target with its rivals. The South Korea-based company uses its OLED displays on mobile phones and on televisions. “Samsung’s got strong cash flow to make bold bets in new technol...

Rumors surrounding an NFC-equipped iPhone from Apple date back to last summer, when Apple hired NFC expert Benjamin Vigier as its Commerce Product Manager. Speculation surrounding how Apple might use NFC dates back even further, of course, considering the many NFC-related Apple patents that have been revealed in the past. On Monday, the flames were rekindled yet again as The New York Times reported Apple will include NFC chips from Qualcomm in a future version of its iPhone handset. The Times’ report do...

Samsung on Friday reported its fourth quarter and full year 2010 earnings, highlighting revenue and net income growth but missing Wall Street’s consensus as operating profit slid for the first time in six quarters. The company posted fourth quarter revenue of 41.87 trillion won, up 7% from the same quarter in 2009, and net income was up 13% year-over-year to 3.42 trillion won. Operating profit missed the Street’s consensus, however, falling 12% year-over-year to 3.01 trillion won. Samsung reporte...

Qualcomm announced Wednesday that it will acquire microchip maker Atheros. The $3.1 billion deal is set to be the largest acquisition in Qualcomm’s history. The two companies have worked together on several products in the past, and Qualcomm intends to use Atheros’ products to expand onto new platforms and into new markets. Atheros develops and builds the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipsets found in a wide variety of popular devices, including the Amazon Kindle and Apple notebooks. The implications of th...

While speaking at a conference hosted by Barclays Capital, Intel CEO Paul Otellini quipped, “You will see smartphones from premier-branded vendors in the marketplace in the second half of 2011 with Intel silicon inside them.” Mr. Otellini also went on to note that his company has won contracts on 35 tablet-style devices thus far. Intel’s chips have been noticeably absent from the smartphone marketplace, as the majority of devices have opted for ARM-based processors from Texas Instrument, Q...

Taiwan-based chip manufacturer JMicron is reportedly preparing to make a splash next month at Computex 2009 when it debuts its latest breakthrough NAND flash controller. The JMF612, successor to the company’s JMF602 pictured above, represents one of several technological advancements that could combine to substantially reduce Solid State Drive (SSD) pricing in the near future. The JMF612 is designed for a new breed of SSD drives that will be smaller, faster and cheaper to manufacture. Combined with an i...