Intel Corporation today announced that Eric Meurice, former president, chief executive officer and chairman of ASML Holding N.V., and Steve Sanghi, chairman and interim chief executive officer of Microchip Technology Inc., have been appointed to Intel's board of directors, effective immediately. Both will serve as independent directors.

"Eric and Steve are highly respected leaders in the semiconductor industry whose deep technical expertise, executive experience and operational rigor make them great additions to the Intel board," said Frank D. Yeary, interim executive chair of the Intel board. "As successful CEOs with proven track records of creating shareholder value, they will bring valuable perspectives to the board as the company delivers on its priorities for customers in Intel Products and Intel Foundry, while driving greater efficiency and improving profitability."

According to the original report from Bloomberg, the Federal Trade Commission has initiated a comprehensive antitrust investigation into Microsoft Corporation, incorporating about a year of conducted informal interviews with Microsoft's competitors about its business practices. The probe encompasses Microsoft's cloud computing services, software licensing practices, cybersecurity offerings, and AI products. The investigation has now culminated in an extensive information request spanning hundreds of pages. FTC chair Lina Khan has authorized this demand for documents, signaling a serious escalation in the agency's oversight of the company. A key focus of the investigation is Microsoft's practice of bundling its popular Office productivity suite and security software with its cloud services.

Critics, including companies like Slack and Zoom, argue that Microsoft's strategy of including Teams video-conferencing software free with Word and Excel creates an unfair competitive advantage. The probe has gained momentum following several cybersecurity incidents involving Microsoft's products. As a major government contractor providing billions in software and cloud services to US agencies, including the Defense Department, Microsoft's security practices have drawn particular attention. The government's Cyber Safety Review Board recently concluded that Microsoft's security culture "requires an overhaul" given the company's role in the technology infrastructure ecosystem. This investigation makes Microsoft the fifth major tech company to face antitrust scrutiny in recent years, joining Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Google. It also represents a return after 25 years to regulatory challenges for Microsoft, which faced a similar antitrust lawsuit in the late 1990s over its Windows operating system and browser bundling practices.

GlobalFoundries faces a $500,000 fine from the US Commerce Department for breaching export controls by shipping $17.1 million worth of chips to SJ Semiconductor (SJS), a blacklisted Chinese firm affiliated with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). The company made 74 unauthorized shipments between February 2021 and October 2022, delivering nearly 5,700 wafers. The chipmaker attributed the violation to a data entry error in its Oracle trade management system, where SJS was incorrectly recorded under a direct customer's shipping details. While SJS had previously handled GlobalFoundries' chips as a third-party assembly provider, both SJS and SMIC were placed on the Entity List in 2020 due to suspected military ties.

GlobalFoundries received a significantly reduced fine due to its voluntary disclosure and cooperation avoiding a potential fine of up to $34.2 million. "GlobalFoundries' voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) and extensive cooperation throughout the investigation resulted in a significant reduction in the monetary penalty, which is the main incentive of our VSD policies," said John Sonderman, director of the Office of Export Enforcement (OEE) within the Commerce Department. The incident comes as the company anticipates $1.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding for manufacturing expansion. For comparison, the department previously fined Seagate $300 million in April 2023 for shipping $1.1 billion worth of drives to Huawei.

MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of MiTAC Holdings Corporation (hereinafter referred to as MiTAC; stock symbol: 3706), has announced that the server brand TYAN will be integrated with the MiTAC brand. Starting from October 1, 2024, all products will be branded under MiTAC, with the release of a new logo and updated official website. MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation website: http://www.mitaccomputing.com/

MiTAC entered the server ODM industry in 1999 as one of Taiwan's pioneers in the server market. In 2007, it expanded its presence by acquiring Tyan Computer, building a reputation for designing high-performance motherboards and barebone systems targeting the high-end server market. Following the spinoff of MiTAC's cloud computing business in 2014, MiTAC Computing Technology was established as a subsidiary of Mitac Holdings under the MiTAC-Synnex Group.

Cornelis Networks, a leading independent provider of intelligent, high-performance networking solutions, today announced the appointment of Lisa Spelman as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective August 15. Spelman joins Cornelis from Intel Corporation, where she held executive leadership roles for more than two decades, including leading the company's core data center business. Spelman will succeed Philip Murphy, who will assume the role of president and chief operating officer (COO).

"Cornelis is unique in having the products, roadmap, and talent to help customers address this issue. I look forward to joining the team to bring their innovations to even more organizations around the globe."

AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Meta and Microsoft today announced they have aligned to develop a new industry standard dedicated to advancing high-speed and low latency communication for scale-up AI systems linking in Data Centers.

Called the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink), this initial group will define and establish an open industry standard that will enable AI accelerators to communicate more effectively. By creating an interconnect based upon open standards, UALink will enable system OEMs, IT professionals and system integrators to create a pathway for easier integration, greater flexibility and scalability of their AI-connected data centers.

A U.S. appeals court has overturned a staggering $2.18 billion patent infringement verdict against Intel Corporation, initially won by VLSI Technology, marking a pivotal shift in one of the most prominent patent law cases in U.S. history. The 2021 decision by a Texas jury, which found Intel guilty of infringing on a VLSI patent, was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit due to insufficient evidence. Additionally, a new trial in Texas has been ordered to determine the appropriate amount Intel owes for infringing a second patent owned by VLSI. This patent-holding company, affiliated with Fortress Investment Group and recently involved in a majority share acquisition by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Co from Japan's Softbank, has been in multiple legal confrontations with Intel over semiconductor technology patents, which VLSI acquired from NXP Semiconductors.

The legal disputes have seen varied outcomes; Intel deflected a claim for more than $3 billion in damages in a separate Waco jury trial in 2021. However, the same year, VLSI was awarded nearly $949 million from Intel in another patent case by a jury in Austin, Texas. The companies mutually agreed to dismiss another potential multi-billion-dollar lawsuit in Delaware. With Intel's stock experiencing a downturn (-6.05% in the past five days) following the latest court ruling and the scheduled 2024 trial in Northern California, the ongoing legal battles between the two tech entities continue to influence market dynamics and the semiconductor industry at large. Detaining if the patent infringement happened is still relatively complex, as VLSI needs a team of engineers to determine if Intel used any of its patents.

Jabil Inc., a global leader in design, manufacturing, and supply chain solutions, today announced it will take over the manufacture and sale of Intel's current Silicon Photonics-based pluggable optical transceiver ("module") product lines and the development of future generations of such modules.

"This deal better positions Jabil to cater to the needs of our valued customers in the data center industry, including hyperscale, next-wave clouds, and AI cloud data centers. These complex environments present unique challenges, and we are committed to tackling them head-on and delivering innovative solutions to support the evolving demands of the data center ecosystem," stated Matt Crowley, Senior Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise Infrastructure at Jabil. "This deal enables Jabil to expand its presence in the data center value chain."

Samsung Electronics today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023. Total consolidated revenue was KRW 67.40 trillion, a 12% increase from the previous quarter, mainly due to new smartphone releases and higher sales of premium display products. Operating profit rose sequentially to KRW 2.43 trillion based on strong sales of flagship models in mobile and strong demand for displays, as losses at the Device Solutions (DS) Division narrowed.

The Memory Business reduced losses sequentially as sales of high valued-added products and average selling prices somewhat increased. Earnings in system semiconductors were impacted by a delay in demand recovery for major applications, but the Foundry Business posted a new quarterly high for new backlog from design wins. The mobile panel business reported a significant increase in earnings on the back of new flagship model releases by major customers, while the large panel business narrowed losses in the quarter. The Device eXperience (DX) Division achieved solid results due to robust sales of premium smartphones and TVs. Revenue at the Networks Business declined in major overseas markets as mobile operators scaled back investments.

Sony Group Corporation is reported to be considering a partial spinoff and listing of its financial services division, in order to raise capital for further investments in its entertainment arm and next generation image sensor technologies. Reuters has published details from a corporate strategy meeting that took place last week (on May 18) - executives at the Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation are contemplating the future of Sony Financial Group. This arm of the business is comprised of several subdivisions including a bank and an insurance firm. Sony Corporation managed to gain full control of these finance organizations three years ago, according to Reuters.

Sony is seeking to retain a stake of just below 20%, and posits that its financial businesses will gain the ability (following the suggested partial spinoff and listing) to raise cash independently for sustainable growth. The company hopes to provide extra funds for its entertainment and semiconductor operations that "need an unprecedented amount of investment." The PlayStation group is aiming to ramp up production of its PS5 console - supply chain problems have caused delays and unit shortages in the past, and Sony is keen to build on the gaming platform's success, without restrictions going forward. The company is keen to advance its camera parts division - in order to meet increasing market demand for smartphone and vehicle sensor components. Hiroki Totoki (President of Sony Group Corp) emphasized that greater investments in these sectors will allow the company to stay competitive large global rivals.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SEHK: 00981; SSE STAR MARKET: 688981) ("SMIC", the "Company" or "we"), one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world, today announced its consolidated results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2023.

According to the international financial reporting standards, in the first quarter, the Company's revenue slightly beat guidance, gross margin was close to the high end of our guided range; in the second quarter, the Company expects the capacity utilization rate and shipments will perform better than first quarter. Revenue is expected to increase by 5% to 7% sequentially, with a decline in blended ASP due to the impact of changes in product mix; gross margin is expected to be between 19% and 21%.

The NAND memory industry is not in great shape at the moment, with the big three (Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix) having reported significant financial losses in this area recently. If you include Kioxia and Western Digital as part of this collective picture, a grand total of over $10 billion has been lost in the flash memory segment. According to DigiTimes Asia this week, Pua Khein-Seng - the chief executive officer of Phison Electronics Corporation - has warned that parts of the industry could collapse due to potential company bankruptcies.

Khein-Seng informed attendees at a press conference that forced NAND price cuts are not feasible in the current market environment, and that supply chains could be affected if related companies start to shutdown - due to operational losses. He expects 3D NAND manufacturers to cutback on output in order to soften the market, and unit price increases are also a possibility. Phison has experienced a drop in revenues for the first quarter of 2023, but the CEO insists that his company is not willing to cutback on research and development costs - 80% of its annual expense budget will be invested in future projects. Khein-Seng states that rival companies have reduced spending on R&D by 20%, yet Phison remains committed to its clients by providing cutting edge technology (for example the E26 SSD memory controller).

Intel has appointed Deepak Patil as the new corporate vice president and general manager of its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) group. Patil is set to succeed Raja Koduri in this leadership role - company CEO Pat Gelsinger was the first person to announce news (last month) of Koduri's departure from Intel. At the time of his leaving Team Blue, Koduri's official job title was "Executive Vice President and Chief Architect" so the wording of his successor's executive ranking is slightly different. Patil is the current chief technology and strategy officer at the Intel Data Center and AI Group, and was previously senior vice president at Dell APEX USA. He will be taking over directly from interim AXG division leader Jeff McVeigh.

The official Intel statement regarding its new leadership appointment states: "Intel will deliver competitive accelerated computing products and build scalable systems with easy-to-program software on a predictable cadence. Deepak Patil will serve as the CVP and General Manager of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) group. Deepak recently held the position of DCAI Chief Technology and Strategy Officer. Having held senior engineering leadership positions across the high-tech industry, including being a founding member of Microsoft Azure and leading Dell's APEX as-a-service business, he understands the important role that software and open ecosystems play in enabling application developers and service providers to bring innovative solutions to market, at scale."

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and Arm today announced a multigeneration agreement to enable chip designers to build low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs) on the Intel 18A process. The collaboration will focus on mobile SoC designs first, but allow for potential design expansion into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace and government applications. Arm customers designing their next-generation mobile SoCs will benefit from leading-edge Intel 18A process technology, which delivers new breakthrough transistor technologies for improved power and performance, and from IFS's robust manufacturing footprint that includes U.S.- and EU-based capacity.

"There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corporation. "Intel's collaboration with Arm will expand the market opportunity for IFS and open up new options and approaches for any fabless company that wants to access best-in-class CPU IP and the power of an open system foundry with leading-edge process technology."

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment, spending on compute and storage infrastructure products for cloud deployments, including dedicated and shared IT environments, increased 16.3% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22) to $24.1 billion. Spending on cloud infrastructure continues to outgrow the non-cloud segment although the latter had strong growth in 4Q22 as well, increasing 9.4% year over year to $18.7 billion. For the full year, cloud infrastructure grew 19.4% to $87.7 billion, while non-cloud grew 13.6% to $66.7 billion. The market continues to benefit from high demand, large backlogs, rising prices, and an improving infrastructure supply chain.

Intel Corporation today announced that its board of directors has reset its dividend policy, reducing the quarterly dividend to $0.125 per share (or $0.50 annually) on the company's common stock. The dividend will be payable on June 1, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 7, 2023. Intel also reaffirmed its first-quarter 2023 business outlook provided at its most recent earnings call, including revenue of between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion; gross margin of 34.1% on a GAAP basis and 39% on a non-GAAP basis; tax rate of (84%) on a GAAP basis and 13% on a non-GAAP basis; and earnings per share of $(0.80) on a GAAP basis and $(0.15) on a non-GAAP basis.

The decision to decrease the quarterly dividend reflects the board's deliberate approach to capital allocation and is designed to best position the company to create long-term value. The improved financial flexibility will support the critical investments needed to execute Intel's transformation during this period of macroeconomic uncertainty. Since first initiated in 1992, Intel's dividend has delivered more than $80 billion in cash returns to the company's stockholders, and the board is committed to maintaining a competitive dividend.

Intel Corporation today announced that Frank D. Yeary has been appointed as the new independent chair of its board of directors. This follows Dr. Omar Ishrak's decision to step down as chair. Ishrak will remain on Intel's board as an independent director and continue to serve on the audit and finance committee and corporate governance and nominating committee.

"I'm pleased to welcome Frank as chair of Intel's board. His expertise in unlocking stockholder value, focus on corporate governance and familiarity with Intel are powerful assets to both the board and the company as we execute our strategy," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. "I also want to thank Omar for his tremendous contributions as chair. He was instrumental in bringing me back to the company as CEO and has fostered a high-impact working dynamic across the board and management team. I look forward to his continued service as a valued member of the board."

TYAN, an industry-leading server platform design manufacturer and a MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation subsidiary, today introduced 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based server platforms highlighting built-in accelerators to improve performance across the fastest-growing workloads in AI, analytics, cloud, storage, and HPC.

"Greater availability of new technology like 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors continue to drive the changes in the business landscape", said Danny Hsu, Vice President of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation's Server Infrastructure Business Unit. "The advances in TYAN's new portfolio of server platforms with features such as DDR5, PCIe 5.0 and Compute Express Link 1.1 are bringing high levels of compute power within reach from smaller organizations to data centers."

Intel Corporation today announced that Barbara G. Novick, co-founder and senior advisor at BlackRock Inc., was elected to its board of directors, effective Dec. 1, 2022. Novick will serve as an independent director and join the board's Audit & Finance and Compensation committees. "As co-founder and leader of one of the world's most successful investment firms, Barbara brings a unique perspective to Intel's board," said Omar Ishrak, chairman of the Intel board. "With her deep experience in investment and finance as well as broad business acumen, Barbara will be a strong advocate for the interests of our stockholders as Intel continues its transformation."

Novick, 62, co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and continued as its vice chairman until February 2021, when she transitioned to senior advisor. In 2009, she established BlackRock's Global Government Relations and Public Policy Group to provide a voice for investors, which she headed until 2021; and from 2018 to 2020, she additionally oversaw BlackRock's Global Investment Stewardship team.

Declines continued for the traditional PC market as global shipments totaled 74.3 million units during the third quarter of 2022 (3Q22), according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Cooling demand and uneven supply have contributed to a year-over-year contraction of 15.0%. However, shipment volumes remain well above pre-pandemic levels when PC volumes were largely driven by commercial refreshes due to the looming end of support for Windows 7.

"Consumer demand has remained muted though promotional activity from the likes of Apple and other players has helped soften the fall and reduce channel inventory by a couple weeks across the board," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "Supply has also reacted to the new lows by reducing orders with Apple being the only exception as their third quarter supply increased to make up for lost orders stemming from the lockdowns in China during the second quarter."

Worldwide shipments of traditional PCs declined 15.3% year over year to 71.3 million units in the second quarter of 2022 (2Q22), according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. This was the second consecutive quarter of lower shipments following two years of growth. The decline was worse than expected as supply and logistics further deteriorated due to the lockdowns in China and persistent macroeconomic headwinds.

"Fears over a recession continue to mount and weaken demand across segments," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobile Device trackers. "Consumer demand for PCs has weakened in the near term and is at risk of perishing in the long term as consumers become more cautious about their spending and once again grow accustomed to computing across device types such as phones and tablets. Meanwhile, commercial demand has been more robust although it has also declined as businesses delay purchases."

Global shipments of traditional PCs, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations, declined 5.1% in the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22) but exceeded earlier forecasts, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. The PC market is coming off two years of double-digit growth, so while the first quarter decline is a change in this momentum, it doesn't mean the industry is in a downward spiral. Despite ongoing supply chain and logistical challenges, vendors still shipped 80.5 million PCs during the quarter. The 1Q22 volume marks the seventh consecutive quarter where global shipments surpassed 80 million, a feat not seen since 2012.

"The focus shouldn't be on the year-over-year decline in PC volumes because that was to be expected. The focus should be on the PC industry managing to ship more than 80 million PCs at a time when logistics and supply chain are still a mess, accompanied by numerous geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges," said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "We have witnessed some slowdown in both the education and consumer markets, but all indicators show demand for commercial PCs remains very strong. We also believe that the consumer market will pick up again in the near future. The result of 1Q22 was PC shipment volumes that were near record levels for a first quarter."

China is reacting to new outbreaks of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus with partial lockdowns. This could further delay the availability of laptops with 12th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA's Ti graphics cards, which debuted at the beginning of the year. The first factories have already been closed in Suzhou in the east of the country. Supply chain and logistics bottlenecks, a shortage of certain chip types and price increases are already on the horizon.

From 2020 to 2025, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12-inch equivalent wafer capacity at the world's top ten foundries will be approximately 10% with the majority of these companies focusing on 12-inch capacity expansion, which will see a CAGR of approximately 13.2%, according to TrendForce's research. In terms of 8-inch wafers, due to factors such as difficult to obtain equipment and whether capacity expansion is cost-effective, most fabs can only expand production slightly by means of capacity optimization, equating to a CAGR of only 3.3%. In terms of demand, the products primarily derived from 8-inch wafers, PMIC and Power Discrete, are driven by demand for electric vehicles, 5G smartphones, and servers. Stocking momentum has not fallen off, resulting in a serious shortage of 8-inch wafer production capacity that has festered since 2H19. Therefore, in order to mitigate competition for 8-inch capacity, a trend of shifting certain products to 12-inch production has gradually emerged. However, if shortages in overall 8-inch capacity is to be effectively alleviated, it is still necessary to wait for a large number of mainstream products to migrate to 12-inch production. The timeframe for this migration is estimated to be close to 2H23 into 2024.

The India traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) continued its growth momentum despite ongoing supply and logistical challenges. The traditional PC shipments witnessed a 30% year-over-year (YoY) growth in 3Q21 (Jul-Sep), marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth in India, according to new data from the International Data Corporation 's (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. A total of 4.5 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, making it India's biggest-ever single quarter. To put this in perspective, it is bigger than the total yearly consumer shipments in 2019, a year before the pandemic hit us. As a result, many brands also reported their biggest quarter of PC shipments.

Notebook PCs continue to dominate the overall category with more than 80% share. Enterprise and consumer demand helped the Notebook category to reach over 3 million units for the first time, and the desktop category also continued its upward momentum as it grew by 30.5% YoY in 3Q21.