Jul 04

Qualcomm enlists Samsung, UMC to help meet 28nm Snapdragon S4 demand

Posted in: Today's Chili

Qualcomm enlists Samsung, UMC to help meet 28nm Snapdragon S4 demand

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset is certainly hot (well, not too hot), but it looks like demand is expected to grow even further, causing the San Diego-based SoC maker to turn to allies in the east to help beef up supply. According to China Economic News Service, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Korea-based Samsung will join Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to manufacturer the 28nm chips beginning later this year, in an attempt to increase S4 availability ahead of the Windows RT launch. The article cites Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs as saying that a shortage is expected to continue, due to the complicated techniques necessary to manufacturer 28nm chips, and that the company may consider adding its own manufacturing plant in the future. All in all, it doesn’t seem like a terrible position for QCOM to be in. Full details are at the Taiwanese source link below.

Qualcomm enlists Samsung, UMC to help meet 28nm Snapdragon S4 demand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 02

Micron to buy Elpida Memory to compete with Samsung

Posted in: Today's Chili

Micron Technology Inc. has agreed to acquire debt-ridden Japanese chip maker Elpida Memory for about $750 million in cash to boost Micron’s manufacturing capacity and bump them up behind Samsung–the global market leader for DRAM memory chips. The agreement involves a sponsorship which will require Micron to spend about $2.5 billion to acquire Elpida’s equity and pay off some of its debt.

Elpida is an Apple Inc. supplier for chips used in their smartphones, tablets and computers. Micron’s acquisition of Elpida will double its share in the market for DRAM memory chips or dynamic random-access memory chips. About $1.25 billion will be invested in building up DRAM product, which should leave Micron with about a quarter of the global DRAM business. Samsung holds over 40 percent.

Of course, until all the details have been settled and approval is obtained from Elpida’s creditors, Micron will likely not issue any further statement about the acquisition. Some are predicting that once the acquisition has been finalized, Micron will focus on server DRAM and NAND while Elpida plants will focus on production of mobile and commodity DRAM.

[via Reuters]


Micron to buy Elpida Memory to compete with Samsung is written by Elise Moreau & originally posted on SlashGear.
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