Seeking to claim a generous share of the e-reader chip market, Texas Instruments will try to entice prospective e-reader OEMs with a chip set and software that the company claims will reduce the size and increase the battery life of e-book mobile devices.

The potential sale of Qimonda's 300mm assets in Virginia to Texas Instruments (TI) confirms the opportunities in used 300 mm equipment identified in a study from Semico Research.

Texas Instruments has placed a bid of US$172.5 million on used 300mm equipment from the now-shuttered Qimonda fab near Richmond, Va. The Dallas-based company plans to use the equipment for 300mm analog production.

Texas Instruments (TI) could be interested in taking over Qimonda's US-based assets, writes news service swissinfo.ch.

Google names Acer, Adobe, Asustek, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments as initial partners on Chrome OS.

TSMC's board of directors recently approved four candidates for Independent Director, including three current directors Peter Leahy Bonfield, Stan Shih and Carly Fiorina, as well as former Texas Instruments (TI) chairman Thomas J. Engibous. These four candidates for Independent Director will stand for election at TSMC's Annual General Meeting on June 10, 2009.

TI narrowed the range of its first-quarter forecast, with the midpoint of its revenue guidance rising 2.7%.

Texas Instruments has sent out a little reminder that it won't be a cakewalk into the smartphone market for newcomers Intel and Nvidia. TI continues to upgrade its arsenal of ARM-design-based processors, which have been shipping for years to cell phone customers.

Unlike past US recessions, chipmakers can't count on boosting overseas sales this time because the economic slowdown has so quickly gone global. Slowing exports is a challenge for the chipmakers, which do most sales overseas. Three of the largest US chipmakers are taking different tacks to cut manufacturing costs in the face of a steep global recession.

Texas Instruments expects its profit margin levels for analog chips to hold steady even as sales volumes decline, CEO Rich Templeton said on Thursday. "The key difference is that you don't have pricing moving down" for analog chips compared with other chip segments even as the entire chip industry sees volumes decline in the weak global economy."

Texas Instruments, a major provider of processors for mobile phones and other devices, has pulled down its profit forecast for the December quarter by as much as two-thirds on Monday. The company also cut its revenue expectations, saying the economic downturn is having a powerful impact on the market for its chips.

In late December and early next year, TI also plans to idle some undisclosed fabs amid a drop in demand. On average, the company sees fab utilization rates hitting the mid-40 percent range in the fourth quarter, compared to the mid-60 percent range in the third quarter. This represents TI's lowest fab utilization rates since the second half of 2001.

Texas Instruments (TI) has lowered its expected ranges for fourth-quarter revenue and earnings per share (EPS). The company now expects its revenue will range from U$$2.3-2.5 billion, compared with the prior range of US$2.83-3.07 billion; and EPS will be US$0.10–0.16, compared with the prior range of US$0.30–0.36.