Weitek Corporation was an American chip -design company that originally focused on floating-point units for a number of commercial CPU designs. During the early to mid-1980s, Weitek designs could be found powering a number of high-end designs and parallel-processing supercomputers .
74-550: Weitek started in 1981, when several Intel engineers left to form their own company. Weitek developed math coprocessors for several systems, including those based on the Motorola 68000 family , the WTL 1064 and 1164, and for Intel -based i286 systems, the WTL 1067. The 1067 was physically implemented as three chips, the WTL 1163, 1164 and 1165. When Intel's own FPU design for the i386 fell far behind in development, Weitek delivered
148-456: A deal to use their newer fabs. This proved advantageous for both, and soon HP's fabs were open to anyone. Weitek also worked with HP on the design of their latest PA-RISC design and sold their version known as the XL-RISC 8200, which was sold as an embedded design and had some use in laser printers . In these roles, the company referred to the systems as "HyperScript Processor"s, referring to
222-611: A decade, from 2007 to 2016 fiscal years, until it was removed from the ranking in 2018. In 2020, it was reinstated and ranked 45th, being the 7th-largest technology company in the ranking . Intel supplies microprocessors for most manufacturers of computer systems, and is one of the developers of the x86 series of instruction sets found in most personal computers (PCs). It also manufactures chipsets , network interface controllers , flash memory , graphics processing units (GPUs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and other devices related to communications and computing. Intel has
296-437: A limited group of private investors (equivalent to $ 21 million in 2022), convertible at $ 5 per share. Just 2 years later, Intel became a public company via an initial public offering (IPO), raising $ 6.8 million ($ 23.50 per share). Intel was one of the very first companies to be listed on the then-newly established National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations ( NASDAQ ) stock exchange. Intel's third employee
370-571: A major component of Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor reportedly contained in over 1 billion smart devices. In December 2016, Conexant and Amazon co-announced the AudioSmart 2-Mic Development Kit for Amazon AVS, a commercial-grade reference solution that streamlines the design and implementation of audio front end systems. Based on the Conexant AudioSmart™ CX20921 Voice Input Processor, the dual microphone board
444-572: A major retrenchment for most of the major semiconductor manufacturers, except for Qualcomm, which continued to see healthy purchases from its largest customer, Apple. As of July 2013, five companies were using Intel's fabs via the Intel Custom Foundry division: Achronix , Tabula , Netronome , Microsemi , and Panasonic – most are field-programmable gate array (FPGA) makers, but Netronome designs network processors. Only Achronix began shipping chips made by Intel using
518-683: A narrower product portfolio, consisting of far-field voice input processing-based devices, video surveillance and printer systems on a chip (SoCs). Since 2013, Conexant's silicon and software solutions for voice processing have been instrumental in the CE industry's proliferation of voice-enabled devices. The company's AudioSmart brand of voice input processors and embedded far-field processing software has become adopted by CE device manufacturers in numerous products ranging from Artificially Intelligent digital assistant devices and smart speakers to voice-enabled televisions and personal robots . In February 2016, it
592-632: A new microprocessor manufacturing facility in Chandler, Arizona , completed in 2013 at a cost of $ 5 billion. The building is now the 10 nm-certified Fab 42 and is connected to the other Fabs (12, 22, 32) on Ocotillo Campus via an enclosed bridge known as the Link. The company produces three-quarters of its products in the United States, although three-quarters of its revenue come from overseas. The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)
666-696: A processor for tablets and smartphones – to the market in 2012, as an effort to compete with Arm. As a 32-nanometer processor, Medfield is designed to be energy-efficient, which is one of the core features in Arm's chips. At the Intel Developers Forum (IDF) 2011 in San Francisco, Intel's partnership with Google was announced. In January 2012, Google announced Android 2.3, supporting Intel's Atom microprocessor. In 2013, Intel's Kirk Skaugen said that Intel's exclusive focus on Microsoft platforms
740-579: A standalone business unit. Unlike Intel Custom Foundry, IFS will offer a combination of packaging and process technology, and Intel's IP portfolio including x86 cores. Other plans for the company include a partnership with IBM and a new event for developers and engineers, called "Intel ON". Gelsinger also confirmed that Intel's 7 nm process is on track, and that the first products using their 7 nm process (also known as Intel 4) are Ponte Vecchio and Meteor Lake . In January 2022, Intel reportedly selected New Albany, Ohio , near Columbus, Ohio , as
814-636: A stroke regained much of its leadership of the field. In 2008, Intel had another "tick" when it introduced the Penryn microarchitecture, fabricated using the 45 nm process node. Later that year, Intel released a processor with the Nehalem architecture to positive reception. On June 27, 2006, the sale of Intel's XScale assets was announced. Intel agreed to sell the XScale processor business to Marvell Technology Group for an estimated $ 600 million and
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#1732801319189888-418: A strong presence in the high-performance general-purpose and gaming PC market with its Intel Core line of CPUs, whose high-end models are among the fastest consumer CPUs, as well as its Intel Arc series of GPUs. The Open Source Technology Center at Intel hosts PowerTOP and LatencyTOP , and supports other open source projects such as Wayland , Mesa , Threading Building Blocks (TBB), and Xen . Intel
962-538: A struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry. Since the 2000s and especially since the late 2010s, Intel has faced increasing competition, which has led to a reduction in Intel's dominance and market share in the PC market. Nevertheless, with a 68.4% market share as of 2023, Intel still leads the x86 market by a wide margin. In addition, Intel's ability to design and manufacture its own chips
1036-456: Is RISC-V , which is an open source CPU instruction set. The major Chinese phone and telecommunications manufacturer Huawei has released chips based on the RISC-V instruction set due to US sanctions against China . Intel has been involved in several disputes regarding the violation of antitrust laws , which are noted below. Intel reported total CO 2 e emissions (direct + indirect) for
1110-624: Is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California , and incorporated in Delaware . Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components and related products for business and consumer markets. It is considered one of the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturers by revenue and ranked in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue for nearly
1184-506: Is another large customer for Intel. In September 2024, Intel reportedly qualified for as much as $ 3.5 billion in federal grants to make semiconductors for the Defense Department. According to IDC , while Intel enjoyed the biggest market share in both the overall worldwide PC microprocessor market (73.3%) and the mobile PC microprocessor (80.4%) in the second quarter of 2011, the numbers decreased by 1.5% and 1.9% compared to
1258-411: Is considered a rarity in the semiconductor industry , as most chip designers do not have their own production facilities and instead rely on contract manufacturers (e.g. AMD and Nvidia ). In 2023, Dell accounted for about 19% of Intel's total revenues, Lenovo accounted for 11% of total revenues, and HP Inc. accounted for 10% of total revenues. As of May 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense
1332-438: Is expected to affect Intel minimally; however, it might prompt other PC manufacturers to reevaluate their reliance on Intel and the x86 architecture. On March 23, 2021, CEO Pat Gelsinger laid out new plans for the company. These include a new strategy, called IDM 2.0, that includes investments in manufacturing facilities, use of both internal and external foundries, and a new foundry business called Intel Foundry Services (IFS),
1406-471: Is planned for 2027. Including subcontractors, this would create 10,000 new jobs. In August 2022, Intel signed a $ 30 billion partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to fund its recent factory expansions. As part of the deal, Intel would have a controlling stake by funding 51% of the cost of building new chip-making facilities in Chandler, with Brookfield owning the remaining 49% stake, allowing
1480-580: The PostScript rendering engine. In the late 1980s Weitek saw a new opportunity and started developing frame buffers for Sun Microsystems workstations . In the early 1990s they also introduced the SPARC POWER μP (as in "power-up"), a pin-compatible version of the SPARC processor. The μP could be dropped into existing SPARCstation 2 and SPARCstation IPX workstations and ran at 80 MHz, double
1554-515: The PowerPC architecture developed by the AIM alliance . This was seen as a win for Intel; an analyst called the move "risky" and "foolish", as Intel's current offerings at the time were considered to be behind those of AMD and IBM. In 2006, Intel unveiled its Core microarchitecture to widespread critical acclaim; the product range was perceived as an exceptional leap in processor performance that at
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#17328013191891628-614: The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 , a law sought by Intel and the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). During the late 1980s and 1990s (after this law was passed), Intel also sued companies that tried to develop competitor chips to the 80386 CPU . The lawsuits were noted to significantly burden the competition with legal bills, even if Intel lost the suits. Antitrust allegations had been simmering since
1702-492: The Zen microarchitecture and a new chiplet -based design to critical acclaim. Since its introduction, AMD, once unable to compete with Intel in the high-end CPU market, has undergone a resurgence, and Intel's dominance and market share have considerably decreased. In addition, Apple began to transition away from the x86 architecture and Intel processors to their own Apple silicon for their Macintosh computers in 2020. The transition
1776-452: The clock speed of the CPUs it replaced. The chip ran twice as fast internally, providing a boost of about 50–60% in overall speed, due to the bus not getting any faster. However, they did not pursue this concept with later generations of SPARC processors. Weitek turned their frame-buffer experience to the PC market in the early 90s and introduced a series of SVGA multimedia chipsets known as
1850-535: The semiconductor memory market, widely predicted to replace magnetic-core memory . Its first product, a quick entry into the small, high-speed memory market in 1969, was the 3101 Schottky TTL bipolar 64-bit static random-access memory (SRAM), which was nearly twice as fast as earlier Schottky diode implementations by Fairchild and the Electrotechnical Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan . In
1924-457: The x86 processor market is AMD, with which Intel has had full cross-licensing agreements since 1976: each partner can use the other's patented technological innovations without charge after a certain time. However, the cross-licensing agreement is canceled in the event of an AMD bankruptcy or takeover. Some smaller competitors, such as VIA Technologies, produce low-power x86 processors for small factor computers and portable equipment. However,
1998-735: The "POWER" systems. Consisting of two chips, one drawing the graphics known as the P9000 and another handling the output, the VideoPower 5x86, the POWER series was used in a number of third-party designs based on the VESA Local Bus standard. The P9001 moved to PCI and became fairly popular in 1994, known as the Viper in designs from Diamond and Orchid . The final generation, the P9100, combined
2072-605: The 1167 for them in the form of a daughtercard. Improvements in chip manufacturing allowed this to be reduced to a single-chip version, the WTL 2167. The WTL 3167 of 1988, also known as the Abacus, extended the system for use in Intel 80386 systems, and finally the WTL 4167 in 1989 for the Intel 80486 which used the 486's larger socket format and ran at higher clock rates than the 3167 to provide higher performance arrount 4 MFLOPS in single precision . Weitek would later outfit FPUs to
2146-464: The 22 nm Tri-Gate process. Several other customers also exist but were not announced at the time. The foundry business was closed in 2018 due to Intel's issues with its manufacturing. Intel continued its tick-tock model of a microarchitecture change followed by a die shrink until the 6th-generation Core family based on the Skylake microarchitecture. This model was deprecated in 2016, with
2220-504: The P9001 and 5286 into a single chip. Weitek adapters were fairly successful in the early days of the 486 market, but fell from use when less expensive systems were introduced by a host of new players in the mid-1990s. A couple of versions were also released for the Amiga and used its ReTargetable Graphics standard. During the early 1990s, most CPU designs started including FPUs built into
2294-506: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As part of the bankruptcy agreement, the company agreed on a restructuring plan with owners and its sole secured lender, QP SFM Capital Holdings Ltd. The reorganized company emerged from bankruptcy in July 2013. As part of the operational restructuring, the company moved its headquarters from Newport Beach to nearby Irvine, and focused on
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2368-611: The UN Broadband Commission's worldwide target of 5% of monthly income. In April 2011, Intel began a pilot project with ZTE Corporation to produce smartphones using the Intel Atom processor for China's domestic market. In December 2011, Intel announced that it reorganized several of its business units into a new mobile and communications group that would be responsible for the company's smartphone, tablet, and wireless efforts. Intel planned to introduce Medfield –
2442-689: The United States. Intel was incorporated in Mountain View, California , on July 18, 1968, by Gordon E. Moore (known for " Moore's law "), a chemist ; Robert Noyce , a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit ; and Arthur Rock , an investor and venture capitalist . Moore and Noyce had left Fairchild Semiconductor , where they were part of the " traitorous eight " who founded it. There were originally 500,000 shares outstanding of which Dr. Noyce bought 245,000 shares, Dr. Moore 245,000 shares, and Mr. Rock 10,000 shares; all at $ 1 per share. Rock offered $ 2,500,000 of convertible debentures to
2516-451: The Xeon 6 processor, aiming for better performance and power efficiency compared to its predecessor. Intel's Gaudi 2 and Gaudi 3 AI accelerators were revealed to be more cost-effective than competitors' offerings. Additionally, Intel disclosed architecture details for its Lunar Lake processors for AI PCs, which were released on September 24, 2024. Conexant Conexant Systems, Inc.
2590-587: The advent of such mobile computing devices, in particular, smartphones , has led to a decline in PC sales . Since over 95% of the world's smartphones currently use processors cores designed by Arm , using the Arm instruction set , Arm has become a major competitor for Intel's processor market. Arm is also planning to make attempts at setting foot into the PC and server market, with Ampere and IBM each individually designing CPUs for servers and supercomputers . The only other major competitor in processor instruction sets
2664-402: The assumption of unspecified liabilities. The move was intended to permit Intel to focus its resources on its core x86 and server businesses, and the acquisition completed on November 9, 2006. In 2008, Intel spun off key assets of a solar startup business effort to form an independent company, SpectraWatt Inc. In 2011, SpectraWatt filed for bankruptcy. In February 2011, Intel began to build
2738-420: The companies to split the revenue from those facilities. On January 31, 2023, as part of $ 3 billion in cost reductions, Intel announced pay cuts affecting employees above midlevel, ranging from 5% upwards. It also suspended bonuses and merit pay increases, while reducing retirement plan matching. These cost reductions followed layoffs announced in the fall of 2022. In October 2023, Intel confirmed it would be
2812-456: The company as NM Electronics on July 18, 1968, but by the end of the month had changed the name to Intel , which stood for Int egrated El ectronics. Since "Intel" was already trademarked by the hotel chain Intelco, they had to buy the rights for the name. At its founding, Intel was distinguished by its ability to make logic circuits using semiconductor devices . The founders' goal was
2886-425: The company's focus to microprocessors and to change fundamental aspects of that business model. Moore's decision to sole-source Intel's 386 chip played into the company's continuing success. By the end of the 1980s, buoyed by its fortuitous position as microprocessor supplier to IBM and IBM's competitors within the rapidly growing personal computer market , Intel embarked on a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as
2960-454: The early SPARC architecture such as the 3170 and 3172. Weitek FPUs had several differences compared to x87 offerings, lacking extended double precision but having a register-file rather than a stack-based model, or using memory-mapped I/O as opposed to port-mapped I/O. As orders increased for supercomputer applications, Weitek found themselves seriously disadvantaged by their fab , which was becoming rather outdated. HP approached them with
3034-567: The early 1980s, and manufacturing and development centers in China, India, and Costa Rica in the 1990s. By the early 1980s, its business was dominated by DRAM chips. However, increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers had, by 1983, dramatically reduced the profitability of this market. The growing success of the IBM personal computer, based on an Intel microprocessor, was among factors that convinced Gordon Moore (CEO since 1975) to shift
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3108-506: The early 1990s and had been the cause of one lawsuit against Intel in 1991. In 2004 and 2005, AMD brought further claims against Intel related to unfair competition . In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms (enterprise, digital home, digital health, and mobility). On June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs , then CEO of Apple , announced that Apple would be using Intel's x86 processors for its Macintosh computers, switching from
3182-653: The first commercial user of high-NA EUV lithography tool, as part of its plan to regain process leadership from TSMC . In August 2024, following a below-expectations Q2 earnings announcement, Intel announced "significant actions to reduce our costs. We plan to deliver $ 10 billion in cost savings in 2025, and this includes reducing our head count by roughly 15,000 roles, or 15% of our workforce." In December 2023, Intel unveiled Gaudi3, an artificial intelligence (AI) chip for generative AI software which will launch in 2024 and compete with rival chips from Nvidia and AMD. On 4 June 2024, Intel announced AI chips for data centers,
3256-445: The first commercially available dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the 1103 released in 1970, solved these issues. The 1103 was the bestselling semiconductor memory chip in the world by 1972, as it replaced core memory in many applications. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products , still dominated by various memory devices. Intel created
3330-409: The first commercially available microprocessor, the Intel 4004 , in 1971. The microprocessor represented a notable advance in the technology of integrated circuitry, as it miniaturized the central processing unit of a computer, which then made it possible for small machines to perform calculations that in the past only very large machines could do. Considerable technological innovation was needed before
3404-440: The first quarter of 2011. Intel's market share decreased significantly in the enthusiast market as of 2019, and they have faced delays for their 10 nm products. According to former Intel CEO Bob Swan, the delay was caused by the company's overly aggressive strategy for moving to its next node. In the 1980s, Intel was among the world's top ten sellers of semiconductors (10th in 1987 ). Along with Microsoft Windows , it
3478-416: The majority of its business until 1981. Although Intel created the world's first commercial microprocessor chip—the Intel 4004 —in 1971, it was not until the success of the PC in the early 1990s that this became its primary business. During the 1990s, the partnership between Microsoft Windows and Intel, known as " Wintel ", became instrumental in shaping the PC landscape and solidified Intel's position on
3552-400: The market. As a result, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs in the mid to late 1990s, fostering the rapid growth of the computer industry . During this period, it became the dominant supplier of PC microprocessors, with a market share of 90%, and was known for aggressive and anti-competitive tactics in defense of its market position, particularly against AMD , as well as
3626-536: The microprocessor could actually become the basis of what was first known as a "mini computer" and then known as a "personal computer". Intel also created one of the first microcomputers in 1973. Intel opened its first international manufacturing facility in 1972, in Malaysia , which would host multiple Intel operations, before opening assembly facilities and semiconductor plants in Singapore and Jerusalem in
3700-610: The node. The first microprocessor under that node, Cannon Lake (marketed as 8th-generation Core), was released in small quantities in 2018. The company first delayed the mass production of their 10 nm products to 2017. They later delayed mass production to 2018, and then to 2019. Despite rumors of the process being cancelled, Intel finally introduced mass-produced 10 nm 10th-generation Intel Core mobile processors (codenamed " Ice Lake ") in September 2019. Intel later acknowledged that their strategy to shrink to 10 nm
3774-670: The primary and most profitable hardware supplier to the PC industry, part of the winning 'Wintel' combination. Moore handed over his position as CEO to Andy Grove in 1987. By launching its Intel Inside marketing campaign in 1991, Intel was able to associate brand loyalty with consumer selection, so that by the end of the 1990s, its line of Pentium processors had become a household name. After 2000, growth in demand for high-end microprocessors slowed. Competitors, most notably AMD (Intel's largest competitor in its primary x86 architecture market), garnered significant market share, initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across
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#17328013191893848-514: The product range, and Intel's dominant position in its core market was greatly reduced, mostly due to controversial NetBurst microarchitecture. In the early 2000s then-CEO, Craig Barrett attempted to diversify the company's business beyond semiconductors, but few of these activities were ultimately successful. Bob had also for a number of years been embroiled in litigation. U.S. law did not initially recognize intellectual property rights related to microprocessor topology (circuit layouts), until
3922-536: The release of the 7th-generation Core family (codenamed Kaby Lake ), ushering in the process–architecture–optimization model . As Intel struggled to shrink their process node from 14 nm to 10 nm , processor development slowed down and the company continued to use the Skylake microarchitecture until 2020, albeit with optimizations. While Intel originally planned to introduce 10 nm products in 2016, it later became apparent that there were manufacturing issues with
3996-405: The same year, Intel also produced the 3301 Schottky bipolar 1024-bit read-only memory (ROM) and the first commercial metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) silicon gate SRAM chip, the 256-bit 1101. While the 1101 was a significant advance, its complex static cell structure made it too slow and costly for mainframe memories. The three- transistor cell implemented in
4070-514: The site for a major new manufacturing facility. The facility will cost at least $ 20 billion. The company expects the facility to begin producing chips by 2025. The same year Intel also choose Magdeburg , Germany , as a site for two new chip mega factories for €17 billion (topping Tesla 's investment in Brandenburg ). The start of the construction was initially planned for 2023, but this has been postponed to late 2024, while production start
4144-503: The smartphone market. Finding itself with excess fab capacity after the failure of the Ultrabook to gain market traction and with PC sales declining, in 2013 Intel reached a foundry agreement to produce chips for Altera using a 14 nm process. General Manager of Intel's custom foundry division Sunit Rikhi indicated that Intel would pursue further such deals in the future. This was after poor sales of Windows 8 hardware caused
4218-544: The spinoff with Massachusetts-based chip manufacturer Alpha Industries Inc. to form publicly held Skyworks Solutions Inc. In June 2003, Conexant spun off its Internet infrastructure business to create the publicly held company Mindspeed Technologies Inc . Mindspeed would eventually be acquired by M/A-COM Technology Solutions , based in Lowell, Massachusetts . In 2004, Conexant merged with Red Bank, New Jersey , semiconductor company GlobespanVirata, Inc. , with Conexant as
4292-594: The surviving corporation. Subsequently, GlobespanVirata’s name was changed to Conexant, Inc. In April 2008, Conexant announced the sale of its broadband media processing business, which provided products for satellite, cable and IPTV applications, to Dutch semiconductor manufacturer NXP Semiconductors NV . In September 2008, Jazz was sold to Israel-based Tower Semiconductor Ltd and became known as TowerJazz . In August 2009, Conexant sold its broadband access product line to Fremont, California, semiconductor company Ikanos Communications . In February 2011, an agreement
4366-424: The system, basically "for free", and Weitek made a series of attempts to re-enter the low-end CPU and graphics driver market with their W464 (486) and W564 (P5) systems, which used the host machine's RAM as the frame buffer to lower costs. By 1995, the company was almost dead, and in late 1996, Rockwell 's Semiconductor Systems purchased the remains and quickly disappeared. Intel Intel Corporation
4440-400: The twelve months ending December 31, 2020, at 2,882 Kt (+94/+3.4% y-o-y). Intel plans to reduce carbon emissions 10% by 2030 from a 2020 base year. Intel has self-reported that they have Wafer fabrication plants in the United States, Ireland , and Israel. They have also self-reported that they have assembly and testing sites mostly in China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and one site in
4514-661: The world's largest, standalone communications- IC company. Dwight W. Decker was its first chief executive officer and chairman of its board of directors. The company was based in Newport Beach, California . In the early 2000s, Conexant spun off several standalone technology businesses to create public companies. In March 2002, Conexant entered into a joint venture agreement with The Carlyle Group to share ownership of its wafer fabrication plant , called Jazz Semiconductor . In June 2002, Conexant spun off its wireless communications division, which merged immediately following
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#17328013191894588-408: Was Andy Grove , a chemical engineer , who later ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s. In deciding on a name, Moore and Noyce quickly rejected "Moore Noyce", near homophone for "more noise" – an ill-suited name for an electronics company, since noise in electronics is usually undesirable and typically associated with bad interference . Instead, they founded
4662-559: Was a thing of the past and that they would now support all "tier-one operating systems" such as Linux, Android, iOS, and Chrome. In 2014, Intel cut thousands of employees in response to "evolving market trends", and offered to subsidize manufacturers for the extra costs involved in using Intel chips in their tablets. In April 2016, Intel cancelled the SoFIA platform and the Broxton Atom SoC for smartphones, effectively leaving
4736-454: Was acquired by computing interface technology company Synaptics, Inc. in July 2017. In 1996, Rockwell International Corporation incorporated its semiconductor division as Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Inc. On January 4, 1999, Rockwell spun off Conexant Systems, Inc. as a public company. It was listed on the NASDAQ under symbol CNXT on January 4, 1999. At that time, Conexant became
4810-434: Was an American-based software developer and fabless semiconductor company that developed technology for voice and audio processing, imaging and modems. The company began as a division of Rockwell International , before being spun off as a public company. Conexant itself then spun off several business units, creating independent public companies which included Skyworks Solutions and Mindspeed Technologies . The company
4884-434: Was announced for San Francisco investment firm Golden Gate Capital to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Conexant at a price of $ 2.40 per share, and take the company private. In February 2013, citing the burden of servicing debt related to multiple corporate acquisitions in the late 1990s, as well as the loss of revenue from the bankruptcy of key customer Eastman Kodak , Conexant filed for Chapter 11 protection in
4958-414: Was announced that Korean electronics company LG Electronics was going to integrate Conexant's CX2092x far-field voice input processor system-on-chip (SoC) into two of its smart home products: a set-top box and an IoT hub for controlling home electronic devices. In March 2016, Conexant announced that their AudioSmart software was being integrated into Qualcomm's Hexagon digital signal processor family,
5032-522: Was designed to reduce time-to-market for new third-party voice-enabled Alexa devices. On May 11, 2017, news appeared that security researchers discovered that Conexant's audio drivers were installing keylogger software, including many laptops sold by HP . The keylogger writes every single keystroke typed by a user (including passwords) and stores them in an unencrypted file on the user's computer. On July 26, 2017, Synaptics completed its acquisition of Conexant Systems, LLC. By November 2017, Conexant.com
5106-402: Was founded on July 18, 1968, by semiconductor pioneers Gordon Moore (of Moore's law ) and Robert Noyce , along with investor Arthur Rock , and is associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove . The company was a key component of the rise of Silicon Valley as a high-tech center, as well as being an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, which represented
5180-514: Was launched in October 2013 and Intel is part of the coalition of public and private organizations that also includes Facebook , Google , and Microsoft . Led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee , the A4AI seeks to make Internet access more affordable so that access is broadened in the developing world, where only 31% of people are online. Google will help to decrease Internet access prices so that they fall below
5254-551: Was no longer available. Conexant had two main product families: the AudioSmart brand of audio processors and the ImagingSmart brand of image processors and modems. AudioSmart was a line of analog-to-digital converters (AD Converter), codecs , USB digital signal processor (DSP) codecs, voice/speech processors, and software that improved how audio signals are processed for electronic audio equipment. ImagingSmart
5328-955: Was part of the " Wintel " personal computer domination in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1992, Intel became the biggest semiconductor chip maker by revenue and held the position until 2018 when Samsung Electronics surpassed it, but Intel returned to its former position the year after. Other major semiconductor companies include TSMC , GlobalFoundries , Texas Instruments , ASML , STMicroelectronics , United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), Micron , SK Hynix , Kioxia , and SMIC . Intel's competitors in PC chipsets included AMD , VIA Technologies , Silicon Integrated Systems , and Nvidia . Intel's competitors in networking include NXP Semiconductors , Infineon , Broadcom Limited , Marvell Technology Group and Applied Micro Circuits Corporation , and competitors in flash memory included Spansion , Samsung Electronics, Qimonda , Kioxia, STMicroelectronics, Micron , and SK Hynix . The only major competitor in
5402-401: Was reported that all Intel processors made since 1995 (besides Intel Itanium and pre-2013 Intel Atom ) had been subject to two security flaws dubbed Meltdown and Spectre. Due to Intel's issues with its 10 nm process node and the company's slow processor development, the company now found itself in a market with intense competition. The company's main competitor, AMD, introduced
5476-428: Was too aggressive. While other foundries used up to four steps in 10 nm or 7 nm processes, the company's 10 nm process required up to five or six multi-pattern steps. In addition, Intel's 10 nm process is denser than its counterpart processes from other foundries. Since Intel's microarchitecture and process node development were coupled, processor development stagnated. In early January 2018, it
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