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Chip designers Nvidia and Broadcom are running manufacturing tests with Intel, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters... indicate the companies are moving closer to determining whether they will commit hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of manufacturing contracts to Intel...Advanced Micro Devices is also evaluating whether Intel's 18A manufacturing process is suitable for its needs but it was unclear if it had sent test chips through the factory...The success of Intel's contract manufacturing business, or foundry, was the centerpiece of former CEO Pat Gelsinger's plan to revive the once iconic American technology company. But the board fired Gelsinger...

There are rumors that Intel and TSMC might team up to produce chips, and this news has stirred strong reactions from experts, industry insiders, politicians -- and, naturally, Intel employees, too. For example, one Intel engineer, Joseph Bonetti, posted on LinkedIn (though he later deleted his post) that Intel is about to reclaim its leadership in chip-making and win over more customers. He warned that giving TSMC control over Intel's manufacturing would be a big mistake.Intel is also leading in another area by using advanced machines from ASML -- a toolset with which only Intel has experience [sic]. Although Intel's...

Shares of Intel (INTC) jumped on Tuesday morning, the first day of trading since new reports emerged over the weekend that the chipmaker is the center of acquisition talks once again. Chip designer Broadcom (AVGO) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), the biggest chipmaker in the world, are each in the early stages of considering bids that could see the American chipmaker be broken up, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend citing people familiar with the matter.

Rumors are swirling about a possible takeover of Intel. Nothing has been inked, but Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) both are in the early stages of proposing potential deals, according to The Wall Street Journal. Broadcom could potentially seek a deal for Intel’s chip design assets, while TSMC eyes its manufacturing capabilities.Intel interim executive chairman allegedly met with buyers, government Broadcom and TSMC are not officially working together, and any plans either company has for deals with Intel are in preliminary stages, The Wall Street Journal said. However, Intel’s Interim Executive Chairman Frank Yeary has allegedly met with...

Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are reportedly weighing plans to bid for Intel that would result in the storied chipmaker breaking up.According to The Wall Street Journal in a report Saturday, Broadcom has been looking into Intel’s chip-design and marketing business and and has “informally discussed” a bid with its advisers if it finds a partner for Intel’s chip-making operations.The report said TSMC has examined taking over some or all of Intel’s chip plants, meanwhile, as part of an investor consortium or another structure.

Tech magnate Hock Tan shelled out $40,000 to sit at Xi Jinping’s table during a high-powered dinner in San Francisco as he awaited approval of a $69 billion deal. The Malaysian-born CEO of Broadcom was one of a number of influential people to dine with the Chinese president, including Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook, BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink, and other tech CEOs such as Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon. Guests packed into the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco on November 20, at one point giving a standing ovation for the Chinese leader. Tan did not have much to cheer about...

Nvidia just made some MASSIVE announcements in terms of ARM-based computers, so they're now joining Apple and AMD in the fight against Intel and their x86-based chips.

Defying the stay-at-home order. That's what non-essential employees at a prominent Silicon Valley tech company said their bosses are telling them to do. Workers at Broadcom in San Jose said they were ordered to return to work Monday to perform jobs they believe can be done from home. Broadcom as of Monday afternoon has not responded to NBC Bay Area's requests for comment on this story.

China was once very dependent on US chips for its phones. The latest Chinese phones have no US parts. The Wall Street Journal reports Huawei Manages to Make Smartphones Without American Chips. American tech companies are getting the go-ahead to resume business with Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co., but it may be too late: It is now building smartphones without U.S. chips. Huawei’s latest phone, which it unveiled in September—the Mate 30 with a curved display and wide-angle cameras that competes with Apple Inc.’s iPhone 11—contained no U.S. parts, according to an analysis by UBS and Fomalhaut Techno Solutions,...

When the Trump administration blocked the merger of Qualcomm and Broadcom it singled out the risk that the deal would give Huawei an advantage in developing 5G technology. Bloomberg quoted an analyst in China who sees the arrest as the result of the national security White House staff pushing back against the Wall Street-friendly China doves in the White House, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who pushed for the trade truce.

China is demanding the release of telecoms giant Huawei's chief financial officer, who has been detained in Canada. Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder, could face extradition to the US. She was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December, but the news was not made public at her request. The charges remain unknown but the US has been probing Huawei over possible violation of sanctions against Iran. China says her detention is possibly a rights abuse. Ms Meng has sought a publication ban on the details of the arrest, which has been granted by the courts. Huawei said it...

New York (CNN Business)Stocks fell sharply Monday, dragged down by reports that Apple's newest line of phones may not be selling as well as Apple or its investors had hoped. The Dow fell more than 500 points and the Nasdaq tumbled 2.8%. Apple's stock fell once more after the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has cut orders for its iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The new iPhones, which Apple unveiled in September, cost more than previous versions. The $749 iPhone XR is the least expensive new iPhone, but it costs $50 more than last year's cheapest...

Tech billionaire and Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III was arrested this week in a Las Vegas hotel room on suspicion of drug trafficking, jail records show. Authorities responded to a call from the Encore hotel Tuesday night regarding contraband in one of its rooms, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Police arrested Nicholas, 59, and a woman identified as Ashley Fargo, 37, on suspicion of trafficking cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and methamphetamine. Both have since been released from custody, a police spokesman said. Nicholas’ attorney, famed for representing the likes of Paris Hilton, Bruno Mars, and Motley Crue singer Vince Neil,...

Trump Administration Preemptively Blocks $177 Billion Qualcomm-Broadcom Deal The Trump administration has blocked the biggest tech deal in history earlier this week. The proposed deal would see Broadcom acquiring Qualcomm for a whopping $117 billion. In the unprecedented move by the White House, they expressed concerns about giving China a technological advantage over the United States through this deal and said that blocking the deal was “necessary to protect the national security of the United States.” For some background, Qualcomm is an industry leader for manufacturing wireless chips for LTE networks. They are an American company that will be at...

Upon review of a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and consideration, as appropriate, of the factors set forth in the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, the President has made relevant findings and issued the following Order: ORDER REGARDING THE PROPOSED TAKEOVER OF QUALCOMM INCORPORATED BY BROADCOM LIMITED By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (section 721), 50 U.S.C. 4565, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1....

Speaking on television last week, Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made an unusual statement about the White House tariff plans, specifically about carve-outs for Mexico and Canada. Ross called the administration's definition of national security something new and unusual itself. "It's not the conventional definition of national security," Ross said. It's clear from Trump's post-tax-cut shift to correcting imbalances in global trade — something Trump has cared about for a lot longer and with a lot more passion than tax policy — that an evolving definition of national security is a geopolitical and stock market risk. Panic, on either front,...

Donald Trump, in only the 4th time in 70 years, disallowed the merger of Broadcom and QUALCOMM. Broadcom is the 5G leader out of Singapore with ties to Huawei, the giant Chinese electronics conglomerate that's also heavily tied to the PLA. The merger would have resulted in the dismantling of Qualcomm, with Broadcom and Huawei taking any advanced 5G technology and leaving the rest for scraps.

By Koh Gui Qing and Sonam Rai (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Sunday ordered Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) to delay its March 6 shareholder meeting, a highly unusual request that will allow time for a national security review of the deal, but that also cast new doubt on Singapore-based Broadcom Ltd's (AVGO.O) $117-billion bid for its U.S. semiconductor peer. The intervention highlights growing U.S. concerns about safeguarding semiconductor technology. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews deals for potential national security concerns, does not typically review mergers before companies have clinched an agreement. CFIUS asked...

Broadcom's move to America=$20 BILLION of annual rev into U.S.A., $3+ BILLION/yr. in research/engineering & $6 BILLION/yr. in manufacturing. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/926185468911382529

The iMessage vulnerability got a lot of attention, but another bug allows for remote execution over Wi-Fi, which is a much bigger threat. Apple released new versions of several operating system products earlier this week, fixing vulnerabilities in OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 among others. Because encryption and Apple are big news these days, the attention mostly went to an admittedly interesting flaw in Apple's encryption for iMessage, reported by a research team, led by well-known cryptographer Matthew Green. But the bug is not an easy one to exploit and doesn't even expose a lot. There are much...