Around the web
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Mentor and TowerJazz have announced the availability of a new suite of analog design constraint checks such as device alignment, symmetry, orientation/parameter matching and more, leveraging the delicate analog layout requirements and automotive reliability check templates available for use with the Calibre PERC platform.
Company release
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate a complaint that Samsung products, including mobile phones, tablets and laptops, have infringed two patents covering semiconductors.
WIPR
Marvell Technology Group is in advanced talks to combine with Cavium, according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would create a chipmaker worth some $14 billion.
Wall Street Journal
Synopsys and Black Duck Software have signed a definitive agreement for Synopsys to acquire privately held Black Duck, a leader in automated solutions for securing and managing open source software.
Company release
Apple continues to use a mix of Qualcomm and Intel cellular baseband processors in the iPhone X. Teardowns of the handsets also show that the company employed a combination of new and old tricks to pack features into its new flagship smartphone.
EE Times
Apple published its fiscal Q4 results on Thursday, November 2, significantly beating market expectations as its Services, iPad and Mac segments drove growth despite a transitional quarter for the iPhone product line.
Forbes
Qualcomm is preparing to fend off an unsolicited $100 billion takeover bid from Broadcom Ltd., arguing it undervalues the company, according to people familiar with the plans.
Bloomberg
Nikon has announced plans to close a digital camera plant in Wuxi, China as part of its structural reform program running through fiscal 2018, which prioritizes profitability over expansion.
Nikkei Asian Review
Apple is a major customer within AMS's supply chain, contributing about 20% of revenue.
Bloomberg
Japan's Sony has said it expects to deliver record annual profits as sales from its gaming businesses and smartphone parts boost the firm.
BBC News
Apple, locked in an intensifying legal fight with Qualcomm, is designing iPhones and iPads for next year that would jettison the chipmaker's components, according to people familiar with the matter.
Wall Street Journal
If Canyon Bridge Capital Partners (Palo Alto, Calif.) succeeds in purchasing Imagination Technologies without a hitch, it will be the very first time the Chinese government-backed buyout fund has closed any deal since the firm was founded in 2016.
EE Times
A web address used by recovery software on Dell PCs was taken over by a third-party after a contractor apparently failed to renew it. Dell's software checks in with the domain periodically, so whoever snapped it up could use it to distribute malware.
BBC News
Google's stellar third-quarter earnings report had one small blemish: The company needs to pay more money to some of its partners. Wall Street usually frowns on rising costs, even at a company like Google, which generated $28 billion in revenue during the third quarter and is sitting on $100 billion in cash and short-term securities.
Business Insider
Is it possible to win so much that you end up losing? That's one question facing Google and some of its tech compatriots as they prepare to testify before congressional investigations into Russian meddling next week.
ABC News
Advanced Micro Devices, with the launch of Ryzen Mobile, is completing what can only be called a revolutionary year for the company.
Marketwatch.com (Dow Jones)
Richard Clemmer, CEO of NXP Semiconductors, during the company's third quarter financial results announcement, reversed a long-held position in conceding that Qualcomm's $38 billion acquisition of NXP will not happen - as promised - this year. The deal, Clemmer admitted, is likely to slip to "early 2018."
EE Times
Semiconductors are expected to account for a record high of more than 16% of South Korea's annual exports in 2017, data showed Friday.
Yonhap News
Apple quietly told suppliers they could reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it easier to manufacture, according to people familiar with the situation.
Bloomberg
Initial shipments of Apple's highly anticipated iPhone X are expected to total around 20 million units, only half the planned amount for this year, The Nikkei has learned.
Nikkei Asian Review
Google's new flagship smartphones have been hit by complaints about the quality of the screen. Tech reviewers, who have had the device for about two weeks, noticed "burn in" on the display, while others noted "muddy" discoloration on the screen.
BBC News
Ledger will integrate its Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System (Bolos) into Intel Software Guard Extensions, with the joint solution initially being deployed with cryptocurrency software wallets Electrum and MyEtherWallet.
Banking Technology
A special-purpose chip for artificial intelligence and other tasks in Google's new Pixel smartphones draws on Intel technology.
CNBC
If you're a graphic artist and find yourself needing a ton of power on the go, HP may have the answer. It's unveiling a new detachable tablet today called the ZBook x2 that has the specs of a workstation PC: a quad-core i7 processor (from Intel's Kaby Lake-R line), an Nvidia Quadro M620 graphics card, and up to 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.
The Verge
United States Senators Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy this week sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook demanding answers after the iPhone maker removed a number of privacy-providing apps from its Chinese App Store.
CNBC
The Google Pixel 2 has a lot of great features. It's waterproof, the camera is fantastic, and it runs a simple, easy-to-use version of Android.
Business Insider
As mobile devices have taken over our lives, PC sales, and sales of Intel's computer chips, have declined. Intel hasn't had a lot of luck transitioning to the mobile chips business, but it doesn't intend to let the same thing happen in the growing smart home market.In a small lab festooned with smart home gadgets in Intel's Santa Clara, California headquarters, Miles Kingston, general manager of Intel's Smart Home Division, mapped out for me how Intel plans to seize this opportunity.
CNET
According to industry sources on October 19, Samsung Electronics is considering a plan to purchase 10 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools from ASML.
BusinessKorea
Toshiba is being investigated by regulators in Japan concerning financial reports relating to the failed Westinghouse nuclear unit.
ZDNet
A patent-holding company called VirnetX has won a massive patent case against Apple, for the third time. Today, it became clear just how big the win was. An order unsealed Friday reveals that not only did a federal judge award VirnetX the full US$302 million jury verdict that it won last year, but the judge tacked on US$41.3 million in enhanced damages and US$96 million in costs, attorneys' fees, and interest. In all, Apple has been ordered to pay a staggering US$439.7 million to VirnetX.
Ars Technica
Facebook wants tbh to be its next Instagram. Today, Facebook announced it's acquiring positivity-focused polling startup tbh and will allow it to operate somewhat independently with its own brand. tbh had scored 5 million downloads and 2.5 million daily active users in the past nine weeks with its app that lets people anonymously answer kind-hearted multiple-choice questions about friends who then receive the poll results as compliments.
TechCrunch
Bhatia has over 22 years of engineering and operations experience, including the last 17 years in the semiconductor industry. He most recently served as the executive vice president of Silicon Operations at Western Digital.
Company release
Luxury electric vehicle maker Tesla fired about 400 employees this week, including associates, team leaders and supervisors, a former employee told Reuters on Friday.
Reuters
A new prediction from reliable supply chain analyst Ming Chi-Kuo of KGI Securities expects one of the iPhone X's defining features to join the iPad Pro lineup in the next upgrade. KGI expects the TrueDepth camera system which enables Face ID facial recognition to next appear on the iPad lineup.
9to5Mac.com
Yuji Sugimoto, managing director at Bain, spoke to The Nikkei about the private equity firm's plans for the Japanese company, including the more than JPY1 trillion (US$8.9 billion) that will be provided to Toshiba Memory before it goes public.
Nikkei Asian Review
Qualcomm has made its most dramatic legal move yet in its long-running battle against Apple, by seeking to halt manufacturing of the iPhone in China.
The Financial Times
The Samsung Exynos 8895 processor is also going to be made on the 10nm manufacturing process like the Snapdragon 830. It's claimed that both Samsung and Qualcomm are working to produce FoPLP (fan-out panel level package) technology which will eliminate the need for a printed circuit board for the package substrate which will be used in both of their next-generation processors.
Uber gizmo
Imec and Analog Devices have entered into a strategic research partnership to develop the next generation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Company release
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