Bunsei Kure, if approved, will be the third CEO of the troubled Japanese chip company, after Hisao Sakuta-who oversaw Renesas' restructuring and brought it back into the black. Sakuta stepped down a year ago.

Multiple reports indicate Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are seeing stronger-than-expected initial sales.

The semiconductor industry needs to consider new business models based on open source hardware, re-programmable silicon and Features-as-a-Service to drive its next phase of growth.

Zhao Weiguo wants to create China's first giant in the global semiconductor industry and has a $30 billion investment plan to do it.

Chipmaker Broadcom, the company created following the merger of Avago and Broadcom, said it would cut about 1,900 jobs globally across its businesses.

The smartphone business is maturing and Qualcomm is feeling it.

STMicroelectronics said it will shut down its set-top-box chip business and eliminate or redeploy 2,000 jobs as Chief Executive Officer Carlo Bozotti seeks to cut losses at the unprofitable unit. Shares of Europe's biggest semiconductor maker jumped.

Xilinx shares are on the move Thursday-fully erasing January's 8.2% decline-following the chip maker's fiscal third-quarter report. But the results, solid as they were, aren't the reason.

Microchip Technology has signed a deal to buy Atmel, which said last week that Microchip's unsolicited bid was superior to an agreement with Dialog Semiconductor.

Dialog Semiconductor said it won't raise bid for Atmel, improving the likelihood that Microchip Technology's offer for Atmel will succeed.

Qualcomm has asked a US federal court to compel some of its biggest customers and competitors-including Apple and Samsung Electronics-to hand over any documents they provided to South Korean antitrust authorities investigating the US chipmaker.

Toshiba, reeling from a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, said it intends to ask for a new JPY300 billion ($2.49 billion) credit line by the end of January to fund a large-scale restructuring.

Intel's $16.7bn purchase of programmable chipmaker Altera is likely to be a model for future big acquisitions at the company as the semiconductor industry's merger boom continues, according to the US company's chief dealmaker.

Qualcomm rejected calls to split itself in two, betting that keeping its chipmaking and patent licensing businesses together is the best formula for turning around an earnings slump and stock drop.

A group led by China Resources Holdings' semiconductor arm and Hua Capital Management has made an offer for Fairchild Semiconductor. That bid followed a November agreement with ON Semiconductor to buy Fairchild for $2.4 billion.

Semiconductor industry business leaders predict that the number of mergers and acquisitions in 2016 will match or exceed 2015, according to an annual survey of semiconductor industry business leaders conducted by business consultancy and auditor KPMG LLP.

Qualcomm said Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into whether the chipmaker's patent licensing arrangements violate the Taiwan Fair Trade Act.

Marvell Technology said two government agencies are investigating its accounting and other issues, adding to pressures facing the chip maker since its board launched an internal probe in September.

China's unabashed interest in foreign chipmakers in an already record year of deals has been quickly read by rivals as a sign that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) will get more competitive and target companies will get more expensive.

Abu Dhabi's investment arm is considering a sale of all or part of chipmaker Globalfoundries as the emirate explores asset disposals amid a slump in crude oil, people familiar with the matter said.

European antitrust regulators cleared on Monday Avago Technologies planned US$37 billion takeover of rival chipmaker Broadcom without conditions.

Texas Instruments, the biggest maker of analog chips, is in talks to acquire Maxim Integrated Products, people with knowledge of the matter said.

I know Intel partnered up with Tsinghua Unigroup last year to buy a 20% stake in Chinese fabless chipmakers RDA Microlectronics and Spreadtrum. However, I do not think Intel would be a major partner in Tsinghua Unigroup's $47 billion plan to become the world's third-largest chipmaker. I believe troubled AMD is more likely to be desperate enough to welcome Tsinghua's money.

Qualcomm faces new antitrust charges in South Korea that focus on a foundation of the chipmaker's lucrative patent-licensing business.

US chipmakers are cutting back "sharply" on spending, according to fresh analysis from Citigroup. Spending by semiconductor companies is expected to fall 19.8% this year from 2014, when it dropped a modest 0.9%.

Artificial intelligence is the next big frontier in technology.

So far this year, chip companies have announced $100.6 billion in mergers and acquisitions, according to Dealogic, exceeding the $37.7 billion total for all of 2014.

In May, at a San Francisco talk to mark the 50th anniversary of Moore's Law, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore said he was surprised chipmakers have kept it going for so long. Two months later, Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich said on an earnings call that the pace is indeed slowing-doubling chip density now takes closer to two and a half years, rather than two.

Infineon Technologies, Germany's largest chipmaker, is the front-runner to acquire Fairchild Semiconductor International because it's willing to pay more for the company, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Qualcomm said Wednesday that its revenue and profits fell in both the fourth quarter and the year as it struggled to get Chinese customers to pay for licenses.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter STMicroelectronics is considering a bid for Fairchild Semiconductor International as Europe's largest chipmaker seeks to boost growth and shore up its digital products business, according to people familiar with the matter.

In what may be another sign that Apple is getting serious about cars, the company has hired Jonathan Cohen, the director of deep learning for chip-maker Nvidia. Nvidia is best-known for its graphics products used for computer games, but it has recently been pushing into the world of autonomous vehicles.

Cypress Semiconductor has withdrawn its offer for Atmel, the second failed attempt by the company to acquire a chipmaker this year.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Chipmaker Diodes said it would buy Pericom Semiconductor in a deal valued at about US$400 million to boost its analog and mixed-signal chip businesses.