MediaTek (Part 5): Strategy and Outlook

By guest author Nalini Kumar Muppala MediaTek’s success in extending its winning streak hinges on the success of its alliances such as that with Leadcore Technology, which has been a longtime supplier to China Mobile. The partnership has enabled MediaTek to gain a strong position in the TD-SCDMA market. To cement its position in this

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MediaTek (Part 3): Secret Sauce

By guest author Nalini Kumar Muppala As its gross margins trail only those of industry leader Qualcomm, MediaTek is well-regarded by analysts and investors alike. Since its listing on the Taiwan exchange in 2001, MediaTek’s gross margin has usually hovered around the high 40s to the mid 50s. These days, it is close to 60%.

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MediaTek (Part 1): Beginnings And Growth

By guest author Nalini Kumar Muppala [Nalini’s newest series takes us to Taiwan with an in-depth look at MediaTek’s past and future.] For the six to seven years following its inception in 1997, MediaTek, Inc. focused on providing media processor chips for DVD players and optical storage drives such as DVDs and CD-ROMs. It was

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Intel vs. ARM: In the Smartphone Era (Part 4)

By Guest Author Nalini Kumar Muppala Licensees ARM licensees comprise big and small IC vendors. They can be broadly classified into two groups: those that build around ARM cores and those that develop their own CPU implementation compliant to ARM instruction set architecture. The former group covers implementation licensees such as TI, Broadcom, and NXP,

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Broadcom, Qualcomm, Legal Battles

The two leading chipmakers, Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) have recently reported their results. While Qualcomm is enjoying a more stable legal environment after ending its disputes with Nokia and Broadcom and extending its patent deal with Samsung, Broadcom is getting involved in a legal tug-of-war with Emulex. Let’s take a closer look.

Will Intel Buy ARM?

According to a preliminary estimate from iSuppli, global PC shipments grew 9.8% sequentially in the third quarter. This week, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), the world’s largest chip maker with annual revenue of $37.6 billion, reported strong third quarter results driven by the rebound in the PC market. Let’s take a closer look.

Micron Beats Estimates; Memory Market Recovering?

On September 29, Micron Technology, Inc. (NYSE: MU), the leading memory chipmaker, reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 results. Although the company booked its fourteenth straight quarterly loss, there was one bright spot in that losses were less than last year and beat estimates. Micron’s shares have more than quadrupled since the beginning of the year. Are these

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