The cost of designing system-on-chip silicon at 28nm went up by 78% over the previous node, but the software cost was larger and more than doubled.

A lack of new licensing agreements triggered a 7% fall in adjusted pre-tax profits last financial year, and analysts have suggested that the company, whose designs are used to make graphics-processing chips used in mobile devices, could be volnerable to increased competition from US rivals Qualcomm and Nvidia.

Nvidia on Tuesday said it would begin licensing its GPU cores and "visual computing" patent portfolio to device manufacturers - a new business model for the company. The technology could appear in a full range of products from phones to supercomputers, with products likely emerging in 2015.

Google filed a court petition Tuesday demanding it be allowed to share information about government surveillance programs with the public.

Huawei would consider buying Nokia to help it become the world's leading smartphone maker, according to the head of the Chinese telecom group's consumer business.

AMD plans to sample its first ARM-based processors for servers early next year, alongside paired CPUs and integrated graphics cores in an attempt to oust Intel's Xeon from its dominance in the server market.

Globalfoundries and Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics announced that Rockchip's next-generation mobile processors are ramping to production on Globalfoundries' 28nm HKMG process technology.

Toshiba has expanded its package line-up of interface-converter bridge LSIs for high resolution LCD display that are used in tablets, Ultrabooks and other applications.

The smartphone and consumer electronics maker is close to launching an incubator space for startups that are developing software and services for phones, tablet computers and televisions.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 handset is well on its way to becoming the company's bestselling smartphone. Samsung Electronics co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun told The Korea Times the Galaxy S4 is set to surpass the 10 million sales mark next week.

NEC will cut about 400 of the less than 900 workers at its mobile phone handset unit to reduce fixed costs at the loss-making business, the Nikkei reported Thursday.

Analysts have projected that IBM is likely to cut 6,000-8,000 jobs worldwide and from a variety of positions.

Sony is set to sell the PlayStation 4 for a cheaper price than Microsoft's rival Xbox One.

Google is on the cusp of paying more than US$1 billion for navigation and traffic application Waze, said a person familiar with the negotiations, as the Internet giant looks to boost its own navigation offerings around the world.

JPMorgan said weak demand for Samsung's flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, from Europe was likely to impact earnings.