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The market for server processors was worth about $9 billion in 2011, according Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-29/arm-chips-go-from-smartphones-to-networks
March 01, 2012 ARM Holdings Plc (ARM), whose chip designs are used in most smartphones, is set to power the networks that run them as it steps up competition with Intel Corp. in a $9 billion market. With ARM already working with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) to bring out chips for computer servers, the same processor will also be directed at the base stations and wireless network equipment, Chief Technology Officer Mike Inglis said in an interview. “It will be the networks with the ARM architecture,” Inglis said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “It is the computer farm behind the mobile network.” ARM’s low-power semiconductor blueprints are increasingly found in larger devices including tablets and other mobile computers as the company competes with Intel (INTC), the world’s largest semiconductor maker. ARM aims to use its faster processor in the servers, the machines running websites and corporate networks, to help companies rein in energy costs. “It is another obvious opportunity for them to move into a market which is right now based on Intel,” said Vijay Anand, an analyst at Espirito Santo. (BES) “ARM’s chips are low-power but they have been trying to improve their performance.” At the Barcelona event, LSI Corp. (LSI) signed a licensing agreement to use ARM’s faster processor in mobile broadband networks, while Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) is using the ARM blueprint to build chips for base-station infrastructure. By 2017 The companies may start producing chips in about a year and a half with shipments beginning from a range of 2014 to 2017, Inglis said. “A lot of the chips for base stations are very specialized and ARM’s designs would be fit only for limited applications inside a base station,” said Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein. “It’s not something you can compare with their smartphone presence.” ARM, which powers Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone, has benefitted from soaring demand for the chips used in smartphones as data traffic surges on the mobile networks. The Cambridge, England-based company is also moving into the personal computer market with the release of Microsoft Corp (MSFT)’s next Windows operating system that will run on ARM chips for the first time. In the same way, ARM will require the software for servers to be developed before chips can be shipped, according to Nick Hyslop, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “The software will be the barrier for the next three years,” he said. About 40 percent of global spending on semiconductors is in the computing market including PCs and servers, Hyslop said. “And ARM’s not yet in it.” ARM climbed 2 pence, or 0.4 percent, to 571.5 pence at 8:51 a.m. in London. The stock had dropped about 8 percent in the 12 months through yesterday. The market for server processors was worth about $9
The Nasdaq composite index briefly touched 3,000 on Wednesday for the first time since the collapse in dot-com stocks more than a decade ago. Stocks ended lower, but it was still the best February on Wall Street in 14 years. Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Nasdaq-cracks-3-000-briefly-3371956.php
Feb. 29, 2012, 3:54pm PT Now that AMD has confirmed its purchase of low-power server maker SeaMicro, I think its next move will be an announcement around licensing the ARM architecture. That’s right: Intel’s long-abused x86 underdog should do a deal with Intel’s newest rival– the company that provides the architecture for chips inside your cell phone. With the SeaMicro purchase, AMD gets a company that has fundamentally redesigned the server to make it dense, low-power and able to handle a variety of different types of CPUs. SeaMicro’s CEO Andrew Feldman has told me on many occasions that the company’s box is flexible enough to handle a variety of different CPUs. Its real value is in the specialized chip that manages the communications between the hundreds of processors inside the SeaMicro server — its so-called fabric. And that fabric works with any chip, as Feldman and AMD executives said over and over again on the conference call discussing the deal. read more http://gigaom.com/2012/02/29/after-seamicro-why-amds-next-step-will-be-an-arm-license/
Windows 8 on ARM on track, Microsoft says Microsoft released the consumer preview of Windows 8 at an event in Barcelona 01 March, 2012 03:49 Anyone can take Windows 8 for a spin now that Microsoft has launched the so-called "consumer preview" version of the software at an event in Barcelona on Wednesday. The company said that ARM processor reference designs for Windows 8 are in testing and making the same progress as those running on X86 chips. This is the first time that Windows will run on ARM, widely used in smartphones and tablets. Given the progress that Microsoft said it is making, some company observers think Windows 8 will likely launch this year. Read more: http://www.cio.com.au/article/417066/windows_8_arm_track_microsoft_says/?fp=4&fpid=20
Windows 8 on ARM Tablets, PCs Ships to Developers Feb 29, 2012 3:50 pm After months of restricted demonstrations, Microsoft is opening up tablets and PCs based on ARM processors with the Windows 8 OS to developer scrutiny, multiple companies said on Wednesday. Developers are being sent Windows 8 tablets and PCs with Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 and Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 chips, which are based on ARM and include LTE 4G technology. The units will provide developers a full hands-on to Windows 8 on ARM and an opportunity to develop applications for the OS. Qualcomm said it has already sent ARM-based PCs with Windows 8 to developers. Microsoft has a stock of Tegra 3 developer tablets that it will send to software developers, a source familiar with the product said. A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment on when developers would get the Tegra 3 tablets. The release of developer systems is a step ahead in Microsoft's plans to release Windows 8 for ARM devices. So far OS demonstrations have been only conducted on prototype tablets handled by company officials, raising questions on how the OS would work under real-world conditions. Microsoft on Wednesday quelled rumors about Windows on ARM being delayed. Microsoft also announced Windows 8 beta on Wednesday at an event in Barcelona, Spain, where the Mobile World Congress conference is taking place, but it has not announced an official release date for the OS. PC makers have pointed to Windows 8 being released in the second half of this year. ARM processors are found in most smartphones and tablets that ship today. Microsoft has designed the OS to work on tablets and PCs, with a specific emphasis on touch capabilities. The OS has a new Metro user interface in which applications can be launched simply by touching a colored block. Microsoft is working with Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments to make Windows 8 compatible with ARM. The chip makers have been engineering chips to meet basic hardware requirements set by Microsoft, such as CPUs with clock speeds of more than 1GHz and hardware-accelerated graphics. However, Windows 8 functionality may not be uniform across devices as each chip has its own advantage. For example, Nvidia's Tegra 3 is considered to be better on graphics, while Qualcomm may have an advantage on connectivity with GPS and integrated multimode 3G/4G in S4. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/251013/windows_8_on_arm_tablets_pcs_ships_to_developers.html
It is hardly a vote of confidence when your boss decides it is time to sell some shares, as Arm Holdings found to its cost yesterday. The chip designer closed deep in the red last night, despite its major customer Apple reaching new heights, after it announced that chief executive Warren East had cashed in more than £2m -worth of stock. The City is used to Arm being supported by bullish news from Apple, and there has been plenty of that recently. The US tech giant yesterday became only the fifth company of all time to see its market capitalisation move above $500bn (£314bn) amid excitement over the expected upcoming launch of the iPad 3. (March 7th) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sharewatch/market-report-arm-dives-as-boss-cashes-in-2m-worth-of-stock-7466907.html
Nasdaq hit new high yesterday since dotcom: 3,000.11 (This was last recorded on: 13 December 2000) http://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXNASDAQ%3A.IXIC NEW YORK - Stocks slipped on late Wednesday after comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke disappointed investors hoping for a strong signal of more stimulus. (gmanet news)
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Overview WSTS provides market statistics to the semiconductor industry. Furthermore related upstream and downstream industries, organizations involved in semiconductor securities trading, semiconductor market research firms and other related businesses take benefit of the market data and industry forecasts as issued by WSTS. Access to Information Provided by WSTS Semiconductor companies may become WSTS members . Membership both comprises the obligation to feed the member company's revenue data regularly into the appointed Data Collection Agents and fund the operation and services of WSTS by membership fees. Reciprocally Members have access to all Information Services that WSTS provides. Semiconductor companies that are unable to report revenue data into the WSTS statistics programs (e. g. if they are not shipping any semiconductor products that generate revenues in any one of the recognized WSTS product categories) may obtain access to WSTS Information as Subsribers with WSTS . All other companies and organizations that wish to access WSTS Information may have a Subscription with one of WSTS' licensed distributors. These licensees provide WSTS statistics within their territories through their own distribution channels. Participation in WSTS Programs and Activities Only member companies can play an active role in defining contents of WSTS Information, determining policies, participating in meetings and appointing the WSTS officers and employees. http://www.wsts.org/SERVICE/OVERVIEW
Mark Your Calendar: March 7 Is iPad 3 Day http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/28/mark-your-calendar-march-7-is-ipad-3-day/
2/28/2012 4:56 PM EST SAN FRANCISCO—Intel Corp. confirmed Tuesday (Feb. 28) it is no longer a member of the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, a non-profit organization which publishes monthly reports about global chip sales. Intel's decision, first reported by the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, follows the exit from WSTS of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) late last year. http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4237197/Intel--AMD-leave-WSTS
02/28/2012 | 07:06am ARM Holdings plc : ARM Enables Energy-Aware Coding with the ARM Energy Probe and DS-5 Toolchain ARM announced today at Embedded World 2012 a new tools solution to promote widespread energy-efficient software optimization across the Linux and Android™ communities. The new ARM® Energy Probe is used by the ARM Streamline™ Performance Analyzer to capture power consumption data alongside software activity. This enables developers to visualize and optimize the impact of their software on the system energy footprint. The solution, based on the ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5™) toolchain, offers reduced total cost of ownership and simplified setup to permit wide deployment among application and system software developers. The Energy Probe does not depend on additional in-circuit emulators or trace units and can monitor up to three power rails simultaneously, correlating in time power data, processor performance counters, OS performance metrics, and software hotspots. Read more: http://www.4-traders.com/ARM-HOLDINGS-PLC-4001660/news/ARM-HOLDINGS-PLC-ARM-Enables-Energy-Aware-Coding-with-the-ARM-Energy-Probe-and-DS-5-Toolchain-14046876/
February 28, 2012: 12:13 PM ET BARCELONA, Spain (CNNMoney) -- The hottest smartphone maker at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona isn't Samsung, HTC, Nokia or Motorola. It's Intel. You didn't know Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) designed phones? Neither did most people until the chipmaking behemoth announced Monday night that it designed a top-of-the-line smartphone for the global telecom giant Orange. It all started about a year ago, when extremely frustrated top brass at Intel decided the company could never convince anyone that its chips would work on mobile phones -- a field dominated by mobile chip designing rival ARM (ARMH) -- without proving it. PowerPoint presentations, no matter how impressive, just weren't persuading phone manufacturers and carriers. Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/intel_phone/
Dell Joins Rival HP on Growing List of ARM Server Makers February 28, 2012 11:07 AM Architectural shift could offer precious power savings to enterprise customers When it come to enterprise servers, information technology folks care less about precisely what architecture of CPUs are going in them, but more about the impact that any architectural shifts might have -- such as computing power, power efficiency, and compatibility. I. Dell ARMs Itself in the Server Sector The former two metrics -- computing power and power efficiency -- are pushing the world's top server makers to ponder a switch from Intel Corp.'s (INTC) veteran x86 architecture to ARM Holdings plc's (LON:ARM) self-titled architecture, ARM. The world's top server seller, Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ), already made public its intent to make ARM servers. Now Dell Inc. (DELL) a top personal computer maker and server maker, has joined the list of server makers testing upcoming ARM offerings. In an interview with Forbes, Dell's server solutions group general manager, Forrest Norrod, confirms the work, stating, "We've had ARM systems in our lab for over a year. If that’s what our customers demand that’s what we'll offer." Read more: http://www.dailytech.com/Dell+Joins+Rival+HP+on+Growing+List+of+ARM+Server+Makers/article24108.htm
Reuters 1:26 p.m. CST, February 28, 2012 Microsoft Corp unveils the first widely available test version of Windows 8 on Wednesday, giving the public the first chance to try out the slick, new-look operating system it hopes will restore the company's fading tech supremacy. Windows 8, as the first Microsoft operating system compatible with low-power microprocessors designed by ARM Holdings Plc, will run on tablets as well as desktops and laptops. "The operating system has begun to be seen as largely irrelevant," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at fund firm McAdams Wright Ragen, which holds Microsoft shares. "This is the release that will have to prove its relevance all over again." Tablets and smartphones and cloud computing have made Bill Gates' vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home" seem quaint, and Apple Inc and Google Inc and Amazon.com now set the agenda for the computing industry. Still, all of those companies' fancy new hardware devices need basic operating software, and Microsoft is betting there is still more than a little room for Windows. "The big increment here is that it'll be viable on the ARM platform, that there'll be a tablet form factor -- that kind of makes it a big deal," said Dan Hanson, a portfolio manager at BlackRock, which holds 5 percent of Microsoft's shares through various funds. "Microsoft correctly identified the relevance of the tablet form factor over a decade ago. This operating system may allow them to finally execute." Windows 8 will come in two main flavors, one that works on the traditional x86 chips made by Intel Corp. for desktops and laptops, and a new version for the ARM microprocessors that have become the standard for tablets, smartphones and other portable devices. Microsoft says it is aiming to get machines running on both the ARM and Intel platforms into the market at the same time but has not set a target date. Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-microsoft-to-unveil-windows-8-for-testing-20120228,0,7523487.story
Nasdaq hit new high yesterday since dotcom: 2,986.76 http://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXNASDAQ%3A.IXIC
FEBRUARY 28, 2012, 9:57 A.M. ET INTC, NVDA Show Progress at MWC, Says Jefferies Jefferies & Co. semiconductor analyst Mark Lipacis this morning reflects on discussions with Intel (INTC), Nvidia (NVDA) and Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, writing that Intel is making progress in selling chips into mobile devices, but that Nvidia is the “best-positioned among ARM-based processor providers targeting PC.” Intel, which yesterday announced several phone deals with companies such as China’s ZTE, is “expanding its manufacturing lead over ARM [Holdings (ARMH)]” by his “analysis of benchmark data from public and proprietary sources.” Similar remarks were made yesterday by Raymond James’s Hans Mosesmann. Nvidia, which was busy showing off deals with ZTE and others to use its “Tegra 3″ application processor as well as its baseband wireless chip from the acquisition of Icera, also touted what it sees as its unique advantages in running Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows on chips based on the ARM architecture: In Windows on ARM (WoA), Nvidia noted it had a sizable lead over other ARM-based processor providers (e.g. TXN, Qualcomm) with over 6000 WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs certifications from Microsoft, while nearest competitor Qualcomm had only 6. As for Freescale, it was demo’ing its chips running small in-building wireless base stations, which are being deployed first in Japan and Korea. Freescale showed its reference platform for femto base station streaming live video to two notebooks. Freescale’s solution scales up to macro base station with a consistent hardware and software architecture, and claims to lead the industry in this aspect. Closest competitor appears to be TXN, with increasing competition from BRCM (Netlogic acq) and CAVM. Other competitors include Picochip (acquired by Mindspeed). Lipacis has a Hold rating on Intel and Nvidia shares and doesn’t have a formal rating on Freescale. http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2012/02/28/intc-nvda-show-progress-at-mwc-says-jefferies/?mod=google_news_blog
Feb 28th 2012 Perhaps the biggest addition out of the many new features in Windows 8 is its new ARM-based flavor, which Microsoft is calling Windows 8 WOA. They don’t want anyone to forget it, either: they’ve planned a showcase event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where the tech world is currently checking out the latest and greatest in smartphones and tablets… running on ARM. The press conference is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon local time, putting it between 6AM (PST) and 9AM (EST) in the United States. This won’t be the first time that Microsoft has displayed Windows running on the smaller, more efficient ARM platform. But with Windows 8 scheduled for a retail release this fall and the company committed to releasing WOA at the same time, development is coming down to the wire. Microsoft appears to be scrambling to get not only the software but its infrastructure ready, as the new interface and integrated Windows Store are essential parts of the all-in-one ARM devices. Microsoft has already stated that it’s partnered with chip makers Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Nvidia to make reference designs available to manufacturers, who will sell Windows 8 ARM laptops and tablets as consumer electronics appliances (like smartphones) not traditional PCs. That being the case, Mobile World Congress seems to be a natural fit for Microsoft’s new direction. While details on the presentation are scant at the moment, we can hope to see a newer Windows 8 build and hopefully some prototype hardware from original equipment manufacturers. http://www.slashgear.com/microsoft-plans-windows-8-arm-presentation-at-mobile-world-congress-28216026/
Rovi Corp (ROVI) DivX Plus Streaming to Be Integrated into New ARM (ARMH)-Based Tablets, Mobile Devices February 28, 2012 7:40 AM EST Rovi Corporation (Nasdaq: ROVI) announced its DivX Plus Streaming™ technology will be integrated into the latest Freescale i.MX 6 series ARM (Nasdaq: ARMH)-based processors for tablets and other smart mobile devices. The agreement continues the industry momentum for DivX Plus Streaming and will enable mobile device manufacturers to more rapidly release devices that support the feature-rich adaptive streaming solution. http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Rovi+Corp+(ROVI)+DivX+Plus+Streaming+to+Be+Integrated+into+New+ARM+(ARMH)-Based+Tablets,+Mobile+Devices/7219357.html