Intel Corp, the world's biggest computer-processor maker, will combine its two communications businesses as the company struggles to win customers for mobile-phone chips. The head of the wireless unit will retire.
Senior vice president Ron Smith will retire early next year, and his unit will be merged with another that builds chips for networking and communications gear, Intel said in a statement.
Sean Maloney, who runs the communications group, will lead it.
Intel needs to cut costs in the wireless business and to persuade mobile-phone clients to switch from chips by industry leader Texas Instruments Inc. Santa Clara, California-based Intel last week said it would write down a wireless acquisition by US$600 million, prompting concern that Intel is missing out as the mobile-phone market surges.
"This is the right move to make, given the cloud over the wireless group," said Krishna Shankar, a JMP Securities analyst who rates Intel "market outperform" and said he owns some shares. "Maloney seems to have a good track record of focusing on the essentials. He's probably the right guy."
Smith, 53, has been with Intel 26 years and helped develop its early processors and its effort in flash-memory chips. Smith has no specific career plans once he leaves Intel and will assist in the transition, spokesman Bill Calder said.
Combining the units also will help cut costs, he said. Both businesses had operating losses in the most-recent quarter. The wireless group's loss widened to US$124 million from US$30 million a year earlier. The communications group's loss narrowed.
Sales in the wireless unit fell 23 percent to US$450 million, while revenue from communications chips increased 13 percent to US$544 million.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique