Intel

Judge approves anti-poaching agreement suit against Apple, Google and others

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

A few years ago, if you were a Silicon Valley engineer in high demand, landing a job at Apple, Google, Intel or other technology titans likely meant your career was stalling as a result of these companies conspiring to fix wages by not hiring each others’ employees. A probe by the Justice Department into these 'no solicitation' agreements led to a class-action lawsuit.

And after a federal appeals court refused to let the defendants appeal a class certification order, the affected Silicon Valley software and hardware engineers, programmers, animators, digital artists, web developers and other technical professionals have won clearance to pursue the collusion case as group, Reuters reported Wednesday...

Intel relents, will make third-party ARM mobile chips in 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 30, 2013

In a surprise announcement that sent shockwaves throughout the technology industry, Intel said it will open kimono to arch-rival TSMC and begin making chips for third-parties, based on CPU blueprints from the British fabless semiconductor maker ARM Holdings, plc. Apple is among the licensees of ARM's technology for its own in-house chips which serve as the engine powering the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.

This is a huge development. Not only will Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company, now fabricate its own ARM-based 64-bit mobile chips starting next year, it will now undoubtedly compete for the lucrative Apple business, especially given the iPhone maker has long been looking to take its chip-making contract elsewhere...

Apple, Google, Intel and others face trial over anti-poaching deals

Cody Lee ∙ October 26, 2013

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple, Google, Intel and several other tech companies are set to go to court next year over 'no solicitation' agreements. The outlet says that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh made the call earlier this week.

Koh determined that there is sufficient evidence to push a 2011 lawsuit to trial as a class-action civil suit. The suit alleges that over 64,000 technical employees were harmed by the anti-competitive actions of the defendant companies...

Intel’s TV box to include server-side DVR that records everything for at least three days

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 22, 2017

We've been hearing for months how Intel's been hard at work developing its own Apple TV contender, which sources claim includes a television service of sorts. Conceivably frustrated enough with “everyone doing a half-assed Google TVs," the world's top chip maker reportedly set on to engineer a set-top box itself "and do it right.”

These rumors may soon prove true: according to a new report, Intel aims to turn the industry upside down by introducing supercharged DVR functionality said to tap a powerful server farm that records and stores every piece of programming for at least three days.

Now, TiVo devices have had a similar patented DVR feature called Trick Play for years. But Trick Play doesn't hold a candle to Intel as it relies on local TiVo storage to record just up to half an hour tops of recently viewed television...

AT&T and others supporting Apple in looming U.S. ban of older iPhones and iPads

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 29, 2013

As an August 4 ban on U.S. sales of some of Apple's most-popular products looms, the iPhone maker is picking up business support. AT&T, Verizon, Intel and other companies are asking that U.S. President Barack Obama overturn an ITC-ordered ban on the sale of some Apple products judged to infringed upon standards-essential patents owned and asserted against Apple by rival Samsung.

At issue is whether Samsung is unfairly using essential patents as a weapon to gain an upper-hand in U.S. smartphone sales. The iPhone 4, for instance, is one of Apple's best-selling handsets...

Haswell-powered iMacs expected in June or July

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 20, 2016

In addition to OS X 10.9 and iOS 7, credible media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal are expecting Apple to announce its Pandora-like iRadio music service and possibly a MacBook specs refresh at today's WWDC keynote, which begins in less than four hours.

The reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has chimed in with predictions of a Haswell-focused iMacs that he believes are in the pipeline for a launch this month or next.

Intel just recently announced its fourth-generation Core architecture for desktop and notebook computers. Apple has traditionally been among the first out of the gate to update its computers with the latest Intel chips, sometimes even securing a period of exclusivity on the new chips, like with the original MacBook Air...

Intel hires former Apple exec to head ‘smart devices’ team

Cody Lee ∙ May 21, 2013

Since turning down the opportunity to manufacture chips for the original iPhone, Intel has had problems breaking into the mobile industry. Go ahead, try to name a smartphone or tablet that has one of Intel's processor inside.

But that doesn't mean it's giving up. In its latest move to try to break into the mobile space, Intel has hired former Apple VP Mike Bell to head up a new 'smart devices' team, a group tasked with turning cool technology into products...

Departing Intel CEO says he regrets not landing iPhone deal

Cody Lee ∙ May 17, 2013

We have reached the end of an era. No, I'm not talking about David Beckham retiring. I'm talking about Paul Otellini stepping down as Intel's CEO. He was at the company for more than 40 years, and was its chief executive for the better half of the last decade.

As part of his departure proceedings, Otellini sat down for a candid exit interview with The Atlantic. And while the whole thing is worth a read, there's one part that is particularly interesting: when he talks about how he regrets not landing the iPhone deal...

Apple wins court order blocking class action in anti-poaching lawsuit

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2013

Apple, along with Google and five other Silicon Valley technology heavy-weights, has won a court order blocking a potentially devastating class-action antitrust lawsuit concerning alleged anti-poaching conspiracy.

Bloomberg reported that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh Friday denied class action certification over accusations that said companies illegally conspired not to recruit one another’s employees, which the plaintiffs said resulted in their incomes being held down by their employers...

Samsung, TSMC and Intel competing for contracts to build A7 chips for Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2017

Another report surfaced this morning that gives us more reasons to believe that Apple is indeed looking to diversify its chip making contracts which thus far have been an exclusive Samsung domain. The somewhat accurate Asian trade publication DigiTimes quoted "institutional investors" who believe that chip giant Intel has been contracted to produce about ten percent of Apple's planned capacity for a next-generation iPhone and iPad processor, the A7 chip.

Moreover, Apple is apparently spreading those orders across Samsung, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Samsung will reportedly build about half of Apple's A7 orders, TSMC should take care of an additional 40 percent while Intel will get the remaining ten percent of orders. Rumor mills have been reporting for at least a year that Apple has been looking to move its chip biz away from rival Samsung, which currently builds all iPhone, iPad and iPod processors at its Austin, Texas plant...

Apple (again) mulling shifting production of iPhone and iPad chips to Intel

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2017

A report Wednesday revives the old rumor that the world's leading chip maker, Intel, is working on a strategic deal to manufacture processors that power Apple's iPhones, iPads and iPods.

What's different this time around, though, is the timing: Intel's CEO Paul Otellini is on his way out and with CEO search still underway, the semiconductor giant could be poised to take its relationship with Apple to the next level.

The gist of the report is that Apple could contract Intel as a foundry, meaning the chip giant would tap its world-class manufacturing expertise to produce iPhone and iPad processors, as designed in-house by Apple, rather than persuade Tim Cook & Co. into adopting Intel's own mobile Atom x86 chip architecture, which hasn't made much inroads yet...

Intel VP confirms it’s working on new set-top box and TV service

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

If Apple is really planning on revolutionizing the TV business, it may want to hurry up and do so before Intel beats it to the punch. Confirming rumors from earlier this year, the company's Media VP Erik Huggers said today that it's working on a set-top box.

But that's not all. In addition to the new hardware, Huggers says that Intel is also working with 'the entire industry' to bring a new Internet TV service—an all-in-one solution that will incorporate live TV, catch-up TV and on-demand TV—to the market...