Qualcomm has revealed its plans to enter the server CPU market with a custom processor based on a design from UK chip company ARM.

The big risk to Apple is that dual sourcing A9s in this fashion makes that task all the harder, which is one of the reasons why SoCs are rarely dual sourced.

Tsinghua Unigroup, the state-backed Chinese firm that recently agreed to buy a stake in Western Digital, is close to acquiring local chip company Tongfang Guoxin Electronics, a person familiar with the matter said.

"We have cooperation with Micron on the business level," Unigroup Chairman Zhao Weiguo said in an interview Sunday, declining to elaborate on the nature of the cooperation. "We'd like to conduct business by cooperating with current memory giants, by setting up JV plants in China."

Micron Technology is spending over 100 billion yen ($830 million) to enable its Japanese facility in Hiroshima to mass-produce the next generation of memory chips in an attempt to take on global leader Samsung Electronics.

Following the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus last month, it was discovered that Apple is dual sourcing the A9 chip for the new devices from both TSMC and Samsung, with the chips from the two companies measuring at slightly different sizes due to different processes used in manufacturing the chips.

Samsung Electronics estimated July-September operating profit would leap 80% from a year earlier to 7.3 trillion won ($6.3 billion), higher than a 6.7 trillion won profit Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate derived from 30 analysts.

Western Digital and Unisplendour have entered into an agreement under which a subsidiary of Unis will make a US$3.775 billion equity investment in Western Digital.

International Business Machines has formed a new business unit to capitalize on the recent groundswell in artificial intelligence.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have clinched no overseas takeover deals for the semiconductor business this year, in contract to their global peers who've been strongly engaged in the merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.

Skyworks Solutions has announced a definitive agreement under which Skyworks will acquire PMC for US$10.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$2 billion. This acquisition solidifies Skyworks' position as a highly diversified analog, RF and mixed signal semiconductor leader.

The new company will aim to commence operations on April 1, 2016.

One day after an earnings call with investors, Micron Technology has acquired Tidal Systems for an undisclosed sum.

The chairman of China's Tsinghua Unigroup traveled to the United States this week to meet with board members of Micron Technology and try to revive a politically fraught takeover bid of the US chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said.

Micron Technology's fourth-quarter profit fell sharply as lower selling prices again drove down revenue, underscoring the effects of weakened demand for personal computers.

Synaptics, the maker of touch-screen technology used in phones, tablets and computers, rejected an offer from a state-backed Chinese investment group that valued the company at almost US$4 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

PMC, which is based in Santa Clara, California, is being pitched to other semiconductor companies, rather than private-equity firms.

Net income in the period ended September 3 fell to US$471 million, or 42 cents a share, from US$1.15 billion, or 96 cents, a year earlier.

Struggling chipmaker AMD has said it will cut about 500 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as it looks to rein in costs amid weak demand for its chips used in personal computers and intense competition.

Chinese interest in Synaptics and Western Digital shows Beijing is accelerating efforts to buy the building blocks for a domestic technology industry.

Toshiba Corp (6502.T) may lay off staff in its underperforming home appliances, TV and PC businesses and seek a partner for its nuclear operations to overhaul the company after a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, its chief executive said on Thursday.

As to whether it makes sense it all depends on how much Abu Dhabi and Mubadala would demand in payment and what assurances of collaboration with Samsung could be obtained.

Globalfoundries has affirmed that progress for the company's 14nm FinFET manufacturing is not only on track but is actually ahead of schedule and 14nm has so far managed to exceed plans for yield and defect density

China's analog chipmaker Montage Technology has offered to buy Pericom Semiconductor in a deal valued at about US$430 million, trumping an offer from Diodes earlier this month.

Despite a late start in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's 16 nm FinFET process, TSMC appears to have captured up to a third of chip production for Apple's latest iPhones.

In a bid to catch up and potentially gain new customers, Globalfoundries licensed 14nm LPE and 14nm LPP technologies from Samsung Electronics. However, going forward Globalfoundries hopes to develop its own manufacturing processes.

Slowing smartphone and tablet demand growth and declining PC sales in the next 12 months are likely to drive further consolidation in the highly fragmented USD25bn IC outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) industry, Fitch Ratings says.

Preliminary testing of Apple's latest A-series mobile Application Processor shows that it brings a big jump in general CPU performance over last year's already speedy A8. It also advances Apple's lead in proprietary ARM core design performance over Samsung and Qualcomm.

Qualcomm directly invests in Indian mobile and internet start-up companies to keenly foster the local ecosystem.

AMD has allegedly decided to delegate the responsibility of producing its hotly anticipated Zen CPU chips to TSMC on its 16nm FinFET process. This development has allegedly unfolded amidst AMD fears of Globalfoundries' slow 14nm FinFET yield and capacity progress.

Chipmaker Marvell Technology said it would cut about 17% of its global workforce as the company trims its mobile business.

Dialog Semiconductor Plc fell the most in almost seven years in Frankfurt trading after agreeing to buy Atmel for about US$4.6 billion - more than its own market value - to expand into the automotive industry and everyday objects that are increasingly connected to the Internet.

Qualcomm is slashing more than 1,300 full-time jobs in San Diego and has cut hundreds more in other states.

CEC is discussing a bid for Atmel, a maker of chips used in industrial machinery and cars, at about US$8.50 a share and the two sides are negotiating, people with knowledge of the process said.

Freescale Semiconductor has announced the acquisition of CogniVue, an image cognition IP developer based in Ottawa, Canada.

Marvell Technology plunged the sharpest in almost 13 years, after disclosing an internal investigation of its accounting and reporting weakening demand for personal computer parts.

Industry sources predicted that both Samsung and TSMC would mass produce the Pascal GPU, but the US firm chose only the Taiwanese firm in the end.

Imagination Technologies, the British company that supplies graphics technology to Apple, forecast a surprise loss for its first half after the semiconductor market turned weaker in the June quarter.