Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has refuted media reports stating company chairman Terry Gou said Foxconn has revised down its mid- to long-term annual revenue growth target from 30% to 15%, in a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE).The filing cited the Chinese-language Commercial Times and foreign media as reporting the news. Though not named, Bloomberg Businessweek said in a recent report that Gou will tell company managers he's lowering Foxconn's annual sales growth target to 15% from the 30% target held for more than a decade. For those who missed the report, Bloomberg Businessweek was also kind enough to publish a press release to promote the article.But Foxconn said in the September 6 filing that it so far has not made any revenue growth forecast or financial projection. And therefore, just like that, it never happened. So technically, no disclosure rules have been violated.

In China, reading has evolved from historic oracle-bone inscriptions, to bronze inscriptions, to writing on bamboo slips, to writing on paper - and now comes another once-in-a-millennium revolution, the dawn of the e-paper era, said BenQ vice chairman Jerry Wang recently. And while those in ancient China who were learned were dubbed "having read five cartloads of books," the updated compliment may be measured by "5G (gigabytes)" worth of books, which is the equivalent of 50,000 books, Wang pointed out.The development of e-paper is expected to eventually replace most printed media – from books, newspapers to magazines, and everything from black & white to color materials. Some types of related display screens are also being implemented as electronic tags and/or information display panels.The rise of e-books will restructure the publishing industry, with paper mills, print shops, conventional publishers, book distributors and bookstores having the potential to gradually disappear, while makers of e-paper and display panels will help publishers integrate and market content online, and non-professionals will take a DIY approach to publishing their writing.However, the recent launch of the iPad has caused uncertainty for the business outlook of e-books. Compared with tablet PCs, e-book readers require no backlight sources, have minimum CPU and memory requirements, feature low power consumption and weigh only about 230 grams. But although e-book readers and tablet PCs are different in functional appeal and usage environments, the segments can still work together to develop the market, despite having some unavoidable competition. The launch of the iPad is expected to jump start demand for e-books. In addition, the production cost of e-readers may drop as the market becomes more competitive and e-paper technology improves, resulting in ever increasing demand for the hardware.Market opportunities and challengesThe market for e-books consists of two segments – e-book content and e-readers – and there are different business models in play by companies looking to tap the market. Some firms sell e-reader hardware only, while other sell e-readers preinstalled with e-books, or just sell content, or market a service-oriented subscription that integrates hardware and software.According to Wang, the annual sales value of various publications in Taiwan is estimated to be NT$40 billion (US$1.24 billion) currently, with 2% of the total attributed to e-books. There are 8,000 publishers and 40,000 new books published a year in Taiwan currently, with 6,000 or 15% of the new books being best sellers of which more than half are translated from foreign-language books. While some publishers are interested in the Taiwan e-book market, others are just keeping an eye on developments, but most are technologically incapable of converting printed books into digital content for use in e-books. Therefore the total volume of e-books is increasing slowly.The current annual market value of publications in China is estimated to be 40 billion yuan (US$5.9 billion) including 170 million yuan for e-books, and copyright protection is a complicated issue. In China, the Ministry of Culture, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television as well as the General Administration of Press and Publication are in charge of publication content, but the Internet is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, resulting in a lack of integrated authority for administrating e-book business operations. In addition, content sales are often based on franchises and foreign companies are unable to obtain licenses to publish in the market. There are about 10 such licensees currently, with two being for private enterprises and the others being state-run businesses. In addition to these problems, an e-book sells for only 2-7 yuan only and there are many pirated editions, making business operations for companies looking to profit on e-books substantially difficult.Reading Experience Is EssentialThe successful development of the e-book market and related technology hinges on consumers' reading experience, namely, the combination of content and readers. There have been various types of content, including conventional media, online novels, blogs as well as multimedia incorporating text, data, images and even music.Apart from the diversity of content, reading comes in many modes. For example, consumers can purchase needed content to edit into personal travel handbooks based on their travel plans; publishers can sell content by separate chapters/sections or topics; consumers can finish reading a book using e-readers, PCs, handsets or other devices at any time and any place. This will be a brand-new reading experience for consumers.In order for consumers to have such reading experience, commercial models should provide "one-touch e-book shopping," a simple user interface to finish purchases, reading and collection of books without a complicated procedure. This accounts for the success of the Amazon Kindle.As for reader hardware, the user interface should be based on an intuitive operation and should be equipped with functions such as smart search, remark and comment as well as multi-language support. Readers can be pocket sizes for being conveniently held in one hand; able to store up to 30,000 books; as light as a real book; and able to last as long as two weeks before charging with a USB connection.One-touch book shopping entails engineering integration of hardware with content, involving operating systems, middleware, application programs, online bookstores and digital data processing. BenQ is establishing the world's first Chinese-language integrated online bookstore, the eBook, to provide library services based on cloud computing and quick page-editing tools, allowing consumers to use one touch to connect their e-book readers with eBook.The eBook platform entails input of many technologies, including DRM (digital rights management), a high-definition and high-compression conversion process, marketing management for selling content by chapters/sections of a book to broaden scope of choices for consumers as well as support for various formats including ePub, EBI, PDF, TXT, PNG and JPG to minimize costs of converting formats.BenQ will continue enriching the content at eBook, with 7,000 simplified-Chinese books, 100 cartoon books, three Chinese-language magazines and 40 seller magazines becoming available in July 2010, as well as daily additions of a list 1,500 traditional-Chinese books. There will be 100,000 books in English and other European languages in September and 1,000 cartoon books at the end of 2010.The efforts aforementioned are to maintain the enjoyable experience users currently have with purchasing and reading printed books. BenQ hold the concept that reading is the actual purpose while being in electronic form is merely a means to that end.(This article was based on a speech given by BenQ during Computex Taipei 2010)

Apple reportedly plans to launch its second-generation iPad, using 5.6-inch and 7-inch OLED panels, as soon as in the fourth quarter of 2010 with Compal Electronics having a chance to receive the orders, according to sources from component makers.The sources noted that Apple has recently placed new iPad orders to Taiwan-based component makers for the fourth quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011 with 9.7-inch, 5.6-inch and 7-inch models all included.The 9.7-inch model will see some minor changes, while Apple will add Chimei Innolux (CMI) as one of its panel suppliers.The new 5.6- and 7-inch iPads will mainly target the e-book reader market, separating them from the 9.7-inch model, which mainly targets multimedia entertainment, the sources stated.Although market watchers originally expected Pegatron Technology to land iPad orders from Apple, the sources indicated that the orders have actually been grabbed by Compal. However, Compal declined to comment on specific clientsThe sources also stated that since Samsung Electronics and LG Display have recently been throwing heavy resources into the development of OLED panels, costs are dropping gradually and with Apple's brand image and high average selling price (ASP), Apple should have no problem adopting OLED panels, which have higher price than standard panels, into its devices.Commenting on the rumors, Digitimes Research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo pointed out that the largest OLED maker, Samsung Electronics', current OLED capacity is not even enough to supply the company's own handset products; therefore, the capacity is unlikely to be enough to supply Apple's new devices for the fourth quarter of 2010. Tight OLED capacity may ease in the second half of 2011, Kuo added.Kuo also noted that Compal is unlikely to strive for orders from Apple, since manufacturing gross margins on Apple's products are at electronic manufacturing service (EMS) levels, which is a lot lower than notebook OEMs can accept.

Local China-based PC player Hedy recently took to the media to voice its displeasure with Intel and make allegation of misuse of the chip giant's market development fund (MDF) in China. Hedy vice president Junbiao Mao made bold claims to Chinese-language media site Southern.com that Intel is using its marketing development fund and frequent assessments of companies to increase the dependence of China PC players on the IT giant.Intel responded to the accusations by stating that it believes its business practices in China have been fair and lawful.While Hedy is just one company, some of the accusations aimed at Intel ring familiar to past allegations made by disgruntled industry players before Intel reportedly significantly cut back on its MDF in many markets after Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) ended all outstanding legal disputes between them late last year.Mao claimed that while perhaps a favored PC vendor in China can sell only 50,000 PCs each month, Intel would provide the company with 100,000 CPUs, with the excess supply going to grey market sales in Hong Kong. This creates a system where vendors lose money on PC sales but earn profits through the sales of CPUs. Mao also accused Intel of judging players in the China market by the proportion of its sales going to Intel- and AMD-based products.A quick visit to Hedy's English-language website revealed that most of the company's PC models came with a choice of Intel or AMD processors/motherboards, though it remains to be seen – based on Hedy's own evaluation of the market – whether it will continue offering Intel products. Mao claimed in the report that if a vendor's AMD product proportion surpasses that of Intel, supply of Intel CPUs would be cut. Mao also said that Hedy will form relationship with AMD and reduce its cooperation with Intel in the future.Other accusations made by Hedy seemed to convey the message that the PC vendor is actively trying to end any relationship (if there is still one) it has with Intel. Mao claimed most China-based PC players believe that in 2006 Intel stopped supplying CPUs to China-based Tsinghua Tongfang due to the player expanded its cooperation with AMD, despite Tsinghua Tongfang having denied the rumor (Also, Tsinghua Tongfang currently offers CPU-based PCs). Mao also accused Intel of forcing China-based PC players to buy high-end CPUs to help digest excess inventory at the chipmaker. Some players needing to reach quota will purchase CPUs at the original price and sell them at a cheaper price since demand for high-end CPU in China is weak, thus cutting into profits from mainstream processor-based products.Mao concluded by saying Hedy had a quarter of its profit coming from Intel's marketing development fund in 2002, though one could surmise that the proportion has dropped in the past eight years.

Thermal management has always been of critical importance in the high tech industry, but it has taken on an even more critical value as energy savings has become more important due to green concerns and the increasing use of mobile devices. Taiwan-based TEAMCHEM is at the forefront of thermal management through its production of flexible ceramic thermal conductive adhesives that can help reduce heat inefficiencies in LED lights, TVs and even for building materials. Below, Dr. Tod Yeh of TEAMCHEM discusses related trends in the industry.Q: Green energy is currently a hot topic in a number of industries. In your opinion, what are some of the current trends and challenges for green energy in the high tech industry, and how is TEAMCHEM involved in facing these challenges?A: In recent years, the awareness of global warming has brought an environmental point of view to a number of industries, including the high tech sector, where research has focused on conducting heat more efficiently in order to reduce carbon emissions and avoid waste.In the LED industry, conversion efficiency is currently the most crucial issue the industry faces. The conversion rate of light energy output in current LED street lamps is only 20%, so another 80% is still converted from electrical energy into heat energy. This 80% energy depletion is an environment killer, and wasting the opportunity to help a system produce useful output power.TEAMCHEM has been very involved in this trend through our focus on developing LED thermal conductive adhesives for aluminum panels, by using our flexible ceramic thermal conductive adhesives.Q: What are flexible ceramic thermal conductive adhesives?A: Flexible ceramic thermal conductive adhesives provide heat transfer between heat-generating components and cooling devices. The adhesives are made of nano-grade ceramics that serve as a thermal conductive substrate.For TEAMCHEM, our recipe contains a flexible, special high-temperature resistance resin that gives the flexible ceramic thermal conductive adhesive a tolerance pH range of 3-11 with acid/alkali resistance properties, as well as being sprayable, anti-static and self cleaning. The color of the adhesive can also be tailored according to customer demand.Q: What types of LED applications are these adhesives targeting?A: At first it was players in the LED street lamp industry that came to TEAMCHEM for assistance in solving light depletion problems caused by anodized or paint protection treatment of lamp housing. The issue was that this type of treatment prohibited the lamp heat from dissipating properly, resulting in increased internal temperatures and leading to light depletion in the LED epitaxy.The heat resistance of flexible ceramic heat conductive adhesives is almost as low as metal. In addition, not only can it conduct heat effectively, it can also protect the lamp from the external environmental erosion. In general, it is much cheaper than using a traditional process.Q: Are there any other new applications that ceramic heat conductive adhesives are suitable for?A: We are always looking for more applications that are suitable for our solution, and in this way we can support our Taiwan partners. The most powerful winning strategy of Taiwanese manufacturers when competing against South Korea and Japan technology is innovative thinking. In the R&D battle, the only chance to win is to produce products faster and better.Taiwanese companies have already deployed flexible ceramic heat conductive adhesives in solutions such as equipment housing, internal cooling modules, heat sinks for chipset and circuit board, aluminum heat sink modules and solid-state capacitors generating high temperatures.Recently we are seeing heat conductive materials being targeted as an ideal solution for numerous applications, such as in LED TVs, monitors, motor coils, solid state capacitors, communication base station cooling modules, desktop/laptop CPU or GPU heat sink modules and even for paint for green building materials.Q: How does your solution work?A: This kind of thermal resistance solution will drop the temperature of the main heat source of circuit boards at first, then the heat conducted through cooling fins or cooling modules will also fall and then transmit and dissipate the heat. Comparing this to conventional thermal engineering methods and techniques, this new overall thermal resistance solution can reduce the system temperature up to 7~10 degrees Celsius.In terms of applying our solution, at present, one kilogram of our spray can cover 40-50 square meters, and the material cost is below NT$90/square meter.Q: LED TVs are currently becoming very popular. Can you tell us how your solution can be applied for LED TVs?A: The thing we observed in the development of LED televisions is that although super large, these systems are super thin. The market was dominated originally by Japan's Sony, who was the pioneer, but South Korea's Samsung Electronics has now caught up.How have these South Korean and Japanese manufacturers been able to make such thin LED TVs? The answer is not in their ability in mold technology, but in heat conduction technology. The Japanese already inherited this ability from their earlier experience in producing thin and light notebook PCs, as they established solid thermal solution concepts.Success in producing such thin solutions must begin in how fundamentals are thought about; meaning heat conductive modules should not be placed in reaction to produced heat but must be thought about when designing the system.At TEAMCHEM, we inspect all aspects of the design, from the IC chip, capacitor resistance, keyboard air convection, vent design, housing thermal conductivity and thermal material. This is done to minimize thermal resistance at every step of product development. The final accomplishment is temperature reduced and dissipated effectively.If done right, a solution can be as thin as a feather. We've seen in it in notebooks, and now we are seeing it with 55-inch LED TVs. The heavy and bulky rear TV cover becomes a beautiful aluminum heat conductive panel.Once the overall thermal resistance is reduced, the output power can increase and heat still dissipates, so the system's power consumption is also much lower than in the past.Q: You mentioned building materials as well. How are builders using your solution?A: Building materials manufacturers discovered that the properties of this kind of flexible ceramic thermal conductive adhesive are different form traditional rigid waterproof insulation paint. Rigid waterproof insulation paint is used to create a thermal barrier, and generate a protective coverings film between the gaps of the roof wall. But the heat cannot be discharged.The flexible ceramic heat conductive adhesive will reflect the heat source itself, and can also reduce the thermal resistance for heat conduction. The flexible adhesive will penetrate into cracks and continue being flexible, which can effectively prevent the infiltration of moisture. Its anti-static properties will also prevent dust from sticking on the surface. The material itself is lead-free, halogen-free, non-toxic pollution free, and is a biodegradable organic material.Digitimes was not involved in the creation or production of this sponsored content.

I can't say I was too impressed by the display gadgets shown at the just concluded Computex 2010. Actually I didn't expect much before going to the show.E-books generated much hype, and this year there was an E-Reading Pavilion at Computex. But there was hardly any surprise. Most e-book readers at the show were still black and white, while response time and colors remained major issues.There was one Aiptek color e-book reader. The colors look good, but the form factor is meant for the children's market.Delta Electronics also exhibited a color e-reading device: the 13-inch e-Magazine. But the color saturation was very disappointing. I overheard a Delta representative explaining the device to a potential buyer. The representative admitted the color saturation was low, but suggested business professionals would not mind. If I were a company VP reading Times on the e-Magazine, I would still love to see vivid colors apart from the texts. Well, I don't really know, as I'm no company VP.E-Ink would have to make breakthroughs in developing color solutions in order to maintain its dominance in the future. Competitors could be catching up fast in the e-book reader market if they manage to roll out decent color solutions.Another focus for display products was of course - you guessed it right - 3D solutions. Any surprises? You're right again - not really.But improvements could be seen in naked-eye 3D solutions. Teco exhibited a 46-inch 3D screen with lenticular lens. The 3D images were quite clear and vivid. The viewing angle was limited to 60 degrees around the center, but that would still be good enough for a public signage.Both 3D displays and e-book readers have one crucial factor in common - content. Every e-book reader vendor offers content solutions in one way or another by teaming up with publishers. This really is giving momentum to the market.In contrast, there aren't too many 3D movies on the market. Unlike e-books, which can be made from digitizing existing print publications, 3D content is much more expensive and difficult to make. You wouldn't want to watch "Avatar" (yes, "Avatar" - the name that's mentioned in almost all discussion on 3D) over and over again on your expensive 3D TV.You may create your own 3D content. Aiptek has unveiled a digital camcorder that can shoot 3D home videos. But it would take much more than home videos to boost the 3D market. E-Reading Pavilion at Computex 2010Photo: Rodney Chan, Digitimes, June 2010

WPG Holdings and Yosun Industrial, Asia's largest and second largest IC distributors, announced their merger at a right time, which is expected to consolidate operations of both companies and help WPG stabilize its leading position in the Asia market.Yosun has been mulling the possibility of consolidation for a while, and the merger with WPG is taking place when the DRAM industry is recovering. On March 20, the two companies announced to merge through a 100% share swap, and the swap price was set at a 20% premium over Yosun's closing price of NT$40 (US$1.26) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on March 19. Each share of Yosun will be exchanged for 0.902 shares of WPG, whose stock closed at NT$53.2 on March 19.The merger would not have been wise if it had taken place in 2009, a dismal year for the DRAM market amid the global recession. But Yosun, a distributor of Samsung Electronics' DRAM chips, has now chosen to be acquired when the DRAM market is stable enough to solicit a better purchase offer from WPG.Unlike other acquisitions in the IT industry (usually with the acquired company eliminated and many of its staff laid off), Yosun will become a member of the WPG group, keep its operations and increase benefits for both its shareholders and employees.WPG has conducted acquisitions in a similar model since 2005. Arrow Electronics, Avnet Electronics Marketing and Synnex Technology reportedly also came knocking on Yosun's door, but Yosun chose WPG because of the attraction of operation under a holding firm.Yosun's subsidiary Siltrontech Electronics has been named to be the next merger target of WPG. WPG has not denied the market speculation but declined to comment on individual companies.WPG was the first in the IT industry to use the concept of a holding firm for acquisitions. Its subsidiaries include World Peace Industrial, Silicon Application Corporation (SAC), RichPower, Pernase Enterprise and Asian Information Technology (AIT). The advantage of WPG's acquisition strategy is that no company will be eliminated, meaning neither the acquiring nor the acquired companies would lose customers while partnerships would be tightened with the number of clients increasing as a whole for the group.WPG is willing to pay a good price for the Yosun deal because of the positive outlook for the DRAM market. After Yosun joins the WPG group, WPG will embrace product lines from first-tier vendors Samsung, Intel, Micron Technology, Hynix Semiconductor, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments (TI), and the number of its total product lines will increase to 230. Acer, an important customer of Yosun and Samsung, is also expected to be added to the WPG group's customer list. With so many resources and support, WPG's only concern in the future will be how it can fairly handle each of its clients.WPG's capital will increase to NT$12.2 billion, and its market share in Asia will reach more than 30%, widening its gap with Arrow and Avnet in Asia after the acquisition completes. The Asia market accounts for 60% of the global semiconductor market, and the share is expected to reach 66% in 2010.The WPG-Yosun merger will definitely bring pressure on local rivals including WT Microelectronics, Supreme Electronics and GMI Technology. As competition gets fiercer, some industry players believe smaller IC distributors in Taiwan may eventually also seek to come under the WPG banner, or form strategic alliances with foreign companies such as Arrow or Avnet to defend their territories.The number of Taiwan-based IC distributors has reduced from more than 100 to 20 over the past several years. And it seems consolidation in the sector will not end at the WPG-Yosun deal.

SemiAccurate appears to have uncovered reports of a potentially serious issue with certain Asustek Computer motherboards that could leave customers seeing their boards fail sooner than expected, and may even cause damage to other system components such as the CPU.Tipped off by reports in various user forums, SemiAccurate's says that motherboard owners are discovering what looks to be rusted chokes on their boards. The boards include those that are new, or released within the past year or so.Chokes, the usually square component found clustered around the CPU socket and sometimes other parts of a motherboard, act as a "short-term storage area" for electrical charge as it passes from the MOSFETs to the capacitors and onto the CPU. Good quality chokes are able to hold a higher charge for longer meaning the MOSFETs can switch off more frequently.On the other hand, old, damaged or degraded chokes are unable to retain their charge which forces the MOSFETs to open more frequently. This causes the system to draw more power, reducing the overall efficiency of the motherboard while producing more heat, and increases the workload of other components – the MOSFETs, capacitors, and PSU – which over time could eventually lead to these parts failing also. The result is a dead motherboard or PSU, and if the user is unlucky, whatever component lies beyond the capacitors, usually the CPU, could also get damaged.High-quality chokes are made from ferrite, which doesn't rust, while motherboard makers may use cheaper chokes made from iron in their low-end and mid-range boards to reduce costs. This suggests that owners of Asustek's high-end boards aren't likely to be affected by this issue, but that still leaves the cheaper (i.e. the high-volume) segments potentially exposed, meaning Asustek could face a large number of RMA cases down the road.It's possible for rusting as seen in SemiAccurate's images to be caused by water or condensation which accumulated on the boards sometime after they shipped from Asustek. However, such cases are usually isolated (the result of end-user error) or in regions known for high humidity, such as near the coast.But since current reports are coming from users as far apart as Taiwan and Singapore, and include claims of brand-new off-the-shelf boards already showing signs of corrosion, it's much more likely that the problem originated somewhere within Asustek's supply chain, most likely during the production of the chokes themselves.A followup post by SemiAccurate in which the site opened up some of the affected chokes and discovered that the corrosion is not just on the surface of the components, and in fact extends right through to the core appears to back the hypothesis that the issue arose at some point during the manufacturing of the chokes, possibly by contamination, or that the parts were not allowed to dry thoroughly.Despite it being almost a week since SemiAccurate first publicized the claims, Asustek has not yet acknowledged the reports or contacted the site. Asustek did acknowledge receipt of our email inquiries, but said the relevant spokesperson was currently unavailable and would get back to as soon as possible. We will continue to update this story as it develops.Update: A representative for Asustek in Taiwan has responded saying there have been no reported cases of anomalous motherboard behavior resulting from the alleged rusty chokes issue to date. The company added is saying, "We are unable to comment on the specific article published on SemiAccurate, as no one from the site has approached us for clarification." The company finished in saying that its service center engineers are happy to assist customers with any questions or concerns.SemiAccurate maintains that it did reach out to Asustek's offices in the US with no response.Chokes showing apparent rust corrosionPhoto: SemiAccurate, used with permission

A source close to Nokia has challenged parts of a recent Digitimes report that Skyworks will be the beneficiary of Nokia shifting some of its power amplifier (PA) orders in 2010, saying the report didn't get the numbers quite right.The article stated that Nokia would take approximately 30% of the PA order volume it had planned to give its major supplier RF Micro Devices (RFMD) and switch that portion to Skyworks. Skyworks is likely to receive total orders for 600 million PAs from Nokia this year, according to the report.The source did not deny that more orders will be going to Skyworks this year but simply maintained that the numbers provided in the report are not correct. The source was not willing to clarify which of the numbers were off, nor by how much.Officially, Nokia danced around the issue without addressing it. When asked if the company planned to switch orders from RFMD to Skyworks, Nokia stated it will continue to use RFMD as its major PA supplier, and that Skyworks has been an additional supplier for some time.Skyworks only commented on the article by stating there were multiple gross inaccuracies in the report.

There has been no shortage of rumors and speculation surrounding Apple's upcoming tablet PC (which for want of a better name will be referred to as the iSlate for the rest of this post), but the most recent talk from multiple sources inside Taiwan's component supply chain is that Apple plans to put a GPU from AMD inside the device. This rumor, however, couldn't get past our editors and so wasn't posted as news on the Digitimes front page, but it is still interesting to speculate how such rumors come into circulation.As far as we know (and we did ask but received a "no comment" from a company spokesperson), AMD does not currently have any GPUs that support ARM processors. In fact it sold its related assets to Qualcomm in January 2009. Since developments inside AMD are usually leaked out to reporters well ahead of time, it seems highly unlikely that AMD could complete development on a whole new chip without any hints until now.Second, even supposing AMD could complete initial design on a chip completely in secret, once it comes time to start planning how to manufacture it, AMD would need to let a foundry partner in on the project. Since AMD usually uses Taiwan-based foundries for its GPU manufacturing, the leaks would have started then. In order to get a chip out completely under the radar, AMD would have to be using a different foundry, most likely one of Globalfoundries' or its newly acquired Chartered ones, with a newly tailored process.Put simply, that is a lot of secrecy and a lot of risk (combining a new chip design with a new manufacturing process only multiplies the number of issues) for Apple to go through, especially when there are already plenty of suitable GPU options for the iSlate available; Nvidia's Tegra or Qualcomm's Snapdragon for example. (If it turns out Apple does go with Snapdragon it would mean the rumors have a kernel of truth since Snapdragon most likely contains at least some IP originally developed by ATI.)But the most logical supplier for the iSlate's graphics is Imagination Technologies. Apple has investment in Imagination and the company supplies graphics for the iPhone. Additionally, Imagination already has products available, such as its PowerVR SGX545, that are capable of meeting the expected needs of the iSlate in terms of 3D and multimedia performance.With Apple already having several GPU options to power its iSlate, the idea that it has commissioned AMD to roll a whole new one seems like a joke. However, since there are no definites in the IT industry, we'll just have to wait until January 27 to find out.