Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest mobile phone chip designer, yesterday unveiled two new microprocessor reference designs exclusively for tablets, in its latest effort to help customers decrease the time it takes for new products to hit the market.
Qualcomm began offering reference designs for smartphone and tablet makers two years ago in an effort to compete with Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc (聯發科) in the mid-range and low-end mobile phone segments in China, as well as other emerging markets.
The new Snapdragon 400 MSM 8230 and MSM 8030 processors, launched by its subsidiary Qualcomm Technologies Inc, are specially made for mid-range tablets, the company said.
About 30 tablets are being developed on the basis of the two reference designs, Mike Yin, director of Qualcomm Technologies Inc’s Business Development unit, told a media briefing at the Computex in Taipei, where the company is currently showcasing its 7-inch and 10-inch tablets, including those from Dell Inc.
Qualcomm’s reference designs have been used by more than 40 companies in about 200 mobile phones and tablets, the US company said.
More than 100 devices are currently being developed, it added.
The company yesterday also launched new quad-core Snapdragon 800 processors for notebook computers and tablets, powered by Microsoft Corp’s new-generation Windows RT 8.1 system.
New devices based on Snapdragon 800 processors and Windows RT 8.1 are expected to become available later this year, the company said in a statement.
Last year, Microsoft launched its first Windows RT system for laptops and tablets powered by central processing units-based designs from ARM Holdings PLC, rather than Intel Corp.
On Monday, MediaTek said PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) had adopted its quad-core chips to power its first “phablet,” dubbed Liquid S1, and new smartphones, the Liquid E2.
In addition, Acer and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) have also used MediaTek’s chips in their latest low-cost tablets.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained