Processors

EU plans $6.4 billion effort to boost chip manufacturing

The European Commission announced plans to spend 5 billion euros ($6.4 million) over the next seven years to try to spur microprocessor manufacturing in the European Union.

The funds, which the EC said will be matched by the same amount coming from the private sector, are designed to enable Europe to double its share of chip manufacturing and thereby help other industrial sectors that are embracing electronics.

"I want to double our chip production to around 20 percent of global production. I want Europe to produce more chips in Europe than the United States produces domestically," said … Read more

Broadcom unveils new 5G Wi-Fi chips for PCs, tablets, phones

Broadcom is ramping up more chips designed to support 5G Wi-Fi, aka 802.11ac.

The chipmaker today announced its first 5G Wi-Fi combo chips designed specifically for entry-level consumer devices, meaning PCs, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones. Combo chips offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and FM radio all in one package. This second generation of 5G Wi-Fi chips includes the same features as Broadcom's current lineup but integrates more components to keep costs down.

"This 1x1 design lowers cost while still delivering dramatic speed, power and performance, empowering a broad new user base to effortlessly stream HD video, and significantly increase … Read more

Laptops equipped with touch screens on the rise, IHS says

In response to falling prices, nearly 25 percent of all laptops should have touch screens by 2016, IHS said Wednesday.

Windows 8 is the first version of Microsoft's popular operating system that works well with touch. The technology has been promising, and many companies have vowed to make more products with touch screens. But so far, high pricing and low supply have limited the number of touch-based PCs on the market.

IHS said global shipments of notebooks equipped with touch screens should jump to 78 million units in 2016, up from 4.6 million in 2012. This year alone, … Read more

Mike Bell to lead Intel's 'new devices' unit

Former Apple and Palm executive Mike Bell has been picked by Intel to steer the company's newly-formed new devices division.

AllThingsD is reporting that Bell, previously the co-leader of Intel's mobile chip group, will be focusing on "ultra-mobile" products.

The move comes as part of a bigger internal Intel organizational juggling by the company's new CEO Brian Krzanich. Hermann Eul, Bell's co-leader of the mobile chip unit, will now be running the unit solo.

Despite its 2011 purchase of Infineon to get into the mobile chip market, and the inclusion of Intel's Atom … Read more

Xbox 360 games won't work with the Xbox One

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled its newest gaming console, the Xbox One, with a slew of new capabilities. But one thing it won't do is play Xbox 360 games.

Because the new gaming system has a different chip architecture -- Advanced Micro Devices' x86 instead of IBM's PowerPC -- the Xbox One won't have native compatibility with 360 games. It's unclear at this time whether Microsoft will create a solution for that, such as making some of the more popular games compatible through emulation or allowing users to access older titles through a cloud-streaming system. But it … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Tablet may run on Intel chip

Samsung may do something it has never done: Put an Intel chip in a Galaxy Tab.

The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Android tablet is expected to sport a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom CloverTrail+ chip, industry sources familiar with the product told CNET. The plus sign means the CloverTrial chip packs a high-performance PowerVR SGX544 MP2 graphic processing unit from Imagination Technologies.

Other specs include Android 4.2.2 and a 1,280 x 800 display.

Samsung is slated to reveal the Galaxy Tab at Computex, which starts June 4 in Taipei.

While Intel processors power a raft of Windows … Read more

New MacBook Air imminent?

Signs may point to a refresh of Apple's popular MacBook Air. Possibly next month.

AppleInsider said Friday that at large online retailers like MacConnection, stock has vanished for the popular 13.3-inch Air with a 1.8GHz processor and 256GB solid-state drive.

That said, Best Buy has stock, but it's the "only reseller on AppleInsider's Mac Price Guide that is currently advertising available inventory," according to the Apple-centric site.

Dwindling inventory at authorized Apple outlets is usually an indication that a product refresh is imminent.

And what, pray tell, will Apple deliver with the next … Read more

Intel kicks off ultrabook road trip in New York

NEW YORK -- Intel on Friday kicked off its ultrabook world tour in New York, hoping to make consumers excited about the latest PCs and curb a drop in the computing market.

The chip giant opened a temporary pop-up shop in Manhattan's Meatpacking District from May 17 to 19 to give New Yorkers the chance to try out new computers firsthand. The "Experience Intel: Look Inside" world tour will move on to Chicago and Tokyo next month, Beijing and London in July, Sao Paulo in late August, Moscow in September, and Sydney in October.

"When consumers … Read more

Apple graphics-chip supplier hints at future iPad (Q&A)

Imagination Technologies, a graphics-chip designer that supplies the graphics tech in the iPad and iPhone, offers some tantalizing insights into what could power the next iPad.

CNET spoke Wednesday with Tony King-Smith, vice president of marketing at Imagination Technologies, about what's coming down the pike. While he would not confirm what's inside future iPads, it's a safe bet that Apple -- which has a 9.5 percent stake in the U.K. company -- will continue to tap its technology.

Q: Imagination chips are inside the newest iPad and iPhone, correct? King-Smith: The [graphics] core currently in … Read more