The two companies are expected to ship an estimated 353 million smartphones and hold a combined 47% share of the total smartphone market in 2012. Smartphone suppliers under pressure include Nokia, RIM and HTC, each of which is expected to register steep double-digit year-over-year declines in smartphone unit sales this year.

RBC Capital Markets speculates that Intel could build ARM-based chips for future iPhones and, in return, Apple could use x86 processors in next-generation iPads.

Nokia has asked courts in the US, UK and Canada to block sales of rival Blackberry smartphones.

Nokia Siemens Networks, the wireless network joint venture of Nokia and Siemens, Thursday confirmed it will be closing a plant in Germany as part of a broader program to cut costs and jobs.

Sony is in talks with suitors including Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision over the sale of its battery business, a Nikkei report said Thursday, as the Japanese firm tries to repair its dented balance sheet.

Ericsson has filed suit in Texas, arguing that Samsung refuses to renew a patent licensing deal with Ericsson for standards essential telecommunications technology.

The Galaxy S3 E210s was released in Korea recently and with its launch, Samsung sent a message to the chipset giant Qualcomm by dropping the Qualcomm modem in favor of its home grown solution.

ARM's market share for traditional or tablet computers will rise to "double digits" in 2013, with market share for traditional PCs alone exceeding 10% by 2015, according to Ian Drew, company executive VP for marketing and business development. Drew said the company's traditional PC market share is in single digits now.

Samsung Electronics said an internal audit of suppliers in China found "inadequate practices" that include employees working more overtime than allowed by law.

Samsung Electronics has earmarked Malaysia to be its largest operations base outside South Korea by 2015.

Apple is exploring ways to replace Intel processors in its Mac PCs with a version of the chip technology it uses in the iPhone and iPad, according to people familiar with the company's research.

There's some irony in the notion that the next big new thing for Apple isn't a long-rumored smart television or long-awaited touchscreen Macs or even lower-price iPhones or iPads. It's a business deal. Investors polled by Morgan Stanley said that Apple getting the go-ahead to sell iPhones through China Mobile.

Some analysts said that the latest decision by the court, giving Samsung access to Apple's deal with HTC, may have a big impact on Samsung's legal battle with Apple.

The company Jolla, which counts four former Nokia engineers and directors among its five founders, presented its new operating system Sailfish in Helsinki and co-founder and chairman of the board Antti Saarnio promised to deliver "the world's best smartphone" by mid-2013.

The company is expected to ship 61.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, said UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois, as reported by the Yonhap News agency. That number would prove a 5% gain over the 58 million estimated shipments for the third quarter.

British microprocessing firm Imagination Technologies' US$60 million pursuit of the operating business of MIPS Technologies faces competition after the US company received a higher bid from a rival firm.

A tectonic shift from PCs to mobile devices is remaking the DRAM market, moving a historically volatile business onto firmer, safer ground.

China will take the wraps off its latest 8-core Godson processor early next year to show its chip-making ability compared to Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and ARM.

Samsung will describe the first mobile applications processor to use ARM's big.little concept at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in February.

ARM has announced availability of a rapid prototyping developer kit for the Internet of Things (IoT) market that integrates the Sprint Mobile Broadband USB 598U Modem by Sierra Wireless with the mbed microcontroller development platform, which is based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor.

The troubled solid-state drive company OCZ Technology has sharply reduced its staff as it works to refocus the company.

Smart TVs, LED technology, emerging markets will help boost the IC market for TVs.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said that the largest seller of mobile-phone semiconductors can continue to grow earnings in double digits over the next five years.

Sales growth at Wal-Mart has fallen short of market expectations, with the world's biggest retailer saying customers are feeling the pinch.