VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) has filed suit against Apple Inc for allegedly infringing three US patents for microprocessors used in mobile phones and tablet computers.
VIA, a semiconductor designer based in Taipei, seeks a jury trial and an order to prohibit Apple, the world’s biggest technology company by value, from selling products containing the inventions in the US, according to a complaint filed on Thursday in a federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
“The products at issue generally concern microprocessors included in a variety of electronic products, such as certain smartphones, tablet computers, portable media players and other computing devices,” VIA said in the complaint.
Apple will dominate Christmas sales of tablet computers as rival products based on Google Inc’s Android system are not competitive enough, researcher Gartner Inc said.
“Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services,” Gartner research vice president Carolina Milanesi said in an e-mailed note on Thursday. “Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal.”
Worldwide media tablet sales are expected to more than triple this year and reach 63.6 million units, with Apple likely to keep a market share of more than 50 percent until 2014, Gartner said.
Apple’s iPad may account for 73 percent of sales this year, after 83 percent last year. Apart from Apple and Android, no platform is expected to have more than 5 percent of the market this year, Gartner said.
“So far, Android’s appeal in the tablet market has been constrained by high prices, weak user interface and limited tablet applications,” Milanesi said.
Android tablets are expected to account for 17 percent of the market this year, up from 14 percent last year, Gartner said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks