Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[Dabears4]

Awk - more fun

No real link, just musings...

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Nvidia Corp warned that delays in ramping up new manufacturing technology are affecting sales of its PC graphics chips and that smartphone chip-customer Samsung Electronics has become a rival.
Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:46pm EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/16/us-nvidia-idUSTRE81E2AF20120216

Anxious to move beyond its traditional business of designing graphics chips for personal computers, Nvidia has jumped into mobile devices and late last year unveiled its new Tegra 3 processor.

On a conference call with analysts following Nvidia's fourth-quarter report on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang said short supplies of cutting-edge 28-nanometer semiconductors as its contract manufacturer TSMC adapts to the new technology were also hurting sales of Nvidia's PC graphics chips, or GPUs.

"New generations of smartphones, new generations of GPUs are going to drive the demand for 28-nanometer capacity. ... And so I think you're going it find that this year is going to continue to be tight," he said.

Huang stepped back from his previous goal of reaching $1 billion in sales of Tegra mobile chips in 2012, telling Reuters in an interview that one-time mobile chip customer Samsung Electronics has become a competitor.

He said revenue from Tegra last year was $360 million and that he expects to grow it at last 50 percent this year.

Samsung manufactures processors for Apple's iPhones and iPads and also makes smartphones that compete against Apple.

"It's a changing world. Samsung is now a direct competitor to us. They've been building processors for Apple for some time. ... And surely they've learned quite a bit and they're applying what they've learned for their own phones," Huang said.


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Samsung, NTT DoCoMo to develop smartphone chips in proposed joint venture
Sep 13th 2011 7:59AM

http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/samsung-ntt-docomo-to-develop-smartphone-chips-in-proposed-join/

Qualcomm may be facing some new competition in the mobile chip space, now that NTT DoCoMo and three other Japanese firms are looking to join forces with Samsung. According to Japan's Nikkei business daily, the quartet of firms (which includes Fujitsu, NEC and Panasonic's mobile unit) is currently finalizing negotiations with Samsung over a proposed joint venture that would design, develop and market smartphone chips. The partners are reportedly planning to incorporate the new chips into their own devices, while selling them to other handset manufacturers, as well. DoCoMo would hold a majority stake in the ¥30 billion (about $390 million) partnership, which could help lower procurement costs, while reducing the partners' dependency upon industry-leading Qualcomm. A DoCoMo spokesman acknowledged that the provider is exploring a variety of collaborations, but was quick to point out that nothing's been finalized. Samsung and Fujitsu, meanwhile, have yet to comment.


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Could the awkwardly worded Wave Samsung PR be related somehow? I really can't see Samsung getting into the low margin TPM business. Something bigger is afoot. Perhaps Samsung's new chips need a similar component to the Trustzone architecture ( aka. the 2100? ).


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"As businesses worldwide are seeking better security for their critical information and network access, the importance of a fundamental new approach to securing a powerful management infrastructure that ensures only authorized users on known devices are granted access or can execute critical functions has been crucial," said Dojun Rhee, Vice President of System LSI marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. "By combining Wave's broad expertise/know-how, and strong OEM and enterprise customer relationships in trusted computing with Samsung's world-leading chip design and manufacturing capabilities, Samsung will provide reliable, competitive trusted computing security chips for our customers."