The wild journey of Intel has yet to end, as tech giants have been approaching the company for potential acquisitions. In addition to Qualcomm, UK-based Arm is also said to inquire the possibility of acquiring the struggling chipmaker’s product division, according to the latest report by Bloomberg.

However, the report notes that Arm was informed by Intel that the division is not for sale, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Around mid-September, Intel settled down plans for restructuring after the board meeting, and revealed schemes to transform its foundry business into an independent unit with its own board. The strategy will allow its foundry business to explore independent sources of funding.

In April, Intel disclosed the financials for the foundry business for the first time, with an operating loss of USD 7 billion in 2023, a previous report by CNBC stated.

Arm, according to Bloomberg, showed little interest in Intel’s manufacturing operations. Instead, it reportedly expressed the intention to acquire Intel’s product division, which sells chips for PCs, servers, and networking equipment, though the request was turned down afterwards.

The move did make sense. With an 88% stake owned by SoftBank, Arm generates a significant portion of its revenue from selling chip designs to smartphone-related clients, including Qualcomm, Samsung and Amazon.

According to Bloomberg, Arm CEO Rene Haas targets to gain a foothold in various applications, such as personal computers and servers, in which Intel still takes a lead. A report by Reuters in June notes that Haas aims to capture 50% of PC market in five years.

If the company were to partner with Intel, it would reportedly enhance its market reach, while accelerate the shift toward selling more of its own products, Bloomberg observes.

Unlike Intel, which remains a bystander in the AI boom, Arm is considered to be a main beneficiary of the wave. After being acquired by Japan’s SoftBank in 2016 in a USD 32 billion deal, it went public in September, 2023, on Nasdaq, with a market valuation around USD 54 billion. A year after, its stock price has nearly tripled, with a market value exceeding USD 150 billion.

Representatives for both Arm and Intel declined to comment, Bloomberg notes.

On the other hand, another report by Financial Times, cited by MoneyDJ, reveals that Intel and the U.S. government are on track to finalize the USD 8.5 billion subsidy in direct funding under the CHIPS Act by the end of this year.

According to the reports, the two parties are working to complete the technical negotiations that have been ongoing for several months, while Intel is also undertaking large-scale cost-cutting measures. An insider familiar with Intel indicated that it wouldn’t be surprising if the negotiation results were announced around the upcoming presidential election.

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(Photo credit: ARM)

Apple’s 2024 fall event officially took place earlier, highlighting the launch of the new iPhone 16 series, along with other products like the Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4. According to CEO Tim Cook, the next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence, marking the beginning of an exciting new era.

Apple and global tech companies are in a race to integrate AI into their products, with smartphones anticipated to be one of the key competitive arenas.

Apple’s AI software, Apple Intelligence, is set to enhance Siri and improve functionalities like object recognition and identification through the phone’s camera, per sources cited in a report from Reuters.

A test version of Apple Intelligence will launch next month for U.S. English users, with other localized English versions set to follow in December. Additional language versions, including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish, are anticipated for next year. It is worth noting that Apple has not yet announced an AI partner in China for the iPhone 16 series.

Apple stated that improvements, including enhancements to Siri, will be phased in over time but did not provide a timeline for moving beyond the test phase.

Notably, Apple’s event occurred just hours before Huawei’s launch of a tri-fold phone, highlighting the competitive challenge Apple faces.

In contrast, Huawei’s website revealed on Monday that it had already received over 3 million pre-orders for its Z-shaped tri-fold phone before its official release.

This underscores Huawei’s ability to withstand U.S. sanctions and bolsters its competitive position against Apple in China, where consumers are enthusiastic about AI features and willing to pay a premium for them, according to a Reuters report.

• iPhone16

The iPhone 16 features a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen. Both models are equipped with the A18 chip built on TSMC’s advanced 3nm process, which reportedly offers a 30% boost in CPU performance compared to the A16 chip used in iPhone 15. Additionally, they come with increased battery capacity and enhanced cooling capabilities.

Moreover, the latest iPhone chips are based on the newest Arm architecture, which includes specialized features aimed at accelerating AI applications.

Notably, Apple has introduced an “Action Button” on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, which supports various functions like camera, flashlight, Focus mode, translation, magnifier, and voice memos.

The higher-end iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are crafted from titanium and come with enhanced AI features, including suggestions for optimizing photo shoots and advanced audio-editing tools designed for professional video production.

Still, a previous report from Bloomberg has also addressed concerns over the slow rollout with its AI platform, which may put iPhone 16 “Supercycle” in doubt.

• New Apple Watches and Airpods

Apple also unveiled new Watches and AirPods with health-focused capabilities, as well as hardware-design improvements.

Apple highlighted the Watch’s ability to discover longer-term health conditions such as sleep apnea as well as detecting and responding to emergencies such as a fall.

For the new AirPods, there are two versions: a standard model and a version with active noise cancellation. As part of the AirPods update, Apple’s introduced hearing-aid features are under review by U.S. regulators.

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(Photo credit: Apple)

After announcing reductions in capital expenditures, massive layoffs, and the suspension of dividends, according to a report from Reuters, Intel is focusing on increasing its cash reserves to sustain company operations. The same report also indicates that Intel has sold off its entire stake in the intellectual property company Arm.

Per another report by wccftech, based on Intel’s Form 13-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company has disposed of its entire stake in Arm Holdings, totaling 1.18 million shares. Reuters further reported that through this sale, Intel would have raised approximately USD 146.7 million.

Despite selling its shares in Arm, Intel has retained its holdings in companies like Astera Labs, Joby Aviation, MariaDB, and Senti Biosciences. Yet, as per the same report from wccftech, these investments have yet yielded significant returns, with Intel currently experiencing a cumulative loss of USD 120 million on them in Q2.

At that time, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger pointed out that Intel must align its cost structure with the latest operational model and fundamentally change the way the company operates. He indicated that Intel’s revenue growth has not met expectations and has not yet benefited from powerful trends such as AI.

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(Photo credit: Intel)

According to sources cited in a report from Reuters, it’s said that IC design giant MediaTek is developing an ARM-based PC chip that will run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Last month, Microsoft unveiled a new generation of laptops featuring ARM-based chips, which provide sufficient computing power to run AI applications. Its executives stated that this represents the future trend of consumer computing. MediaTek’s latest development of an ARM-based PC chip is said to be geared toward these types of laptops.

The same report indicates that Microsoft’s move plans to take aim at Apple, which has been using ARM-based chips in its Mac computers for about four years. Microsoft’s decision to optimize Windows using ARM-based chips could further pose a threat to Intel’s long-standing dominance in the PC market.

Regarding this matter, both MediaTek and Microsoft declined to comment.

Reportedly, according to industry sources, MediaTek’s PC chip is scheduled to launch by the end of next year, coinciding with the expiration of Qualcomm’s exclusive agreement to supply chips for laptops. MediaTek’s chip, based on ARM’s existing designs, will significantly accelerate the development process by less design work.

It is currently unclear whether Microsoft has approved MediaTek’s PC chip for supporting the Copilot+ feature in Windows programs.

ARM executives have stated that one of their clients used ready-made components to complete a chip design in about nine months, although this client was not MediaTek. For experienced chip designers, creating and testing advanced chips typically takes more than a year, depending on the complexity.

In the latest press release from TrendForce, MediaTek’s strategy in the PC domain is also highlighted. Reportedly, the Arm chip co-developed by MediaTek and NVIDIA, with adoption of Wi-Fi 7 and 5G, is also slated to occupy a spot in the AI NB market since 2Q25, and initiate a new wave of technical innovation after 2025. According to TrendForce’s forecast, Arm chips are likely to surpass 20% in market penetration at an accelerated velocity in 2025.

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(Photo credit: MediaTek)

SoftBank Group’s global IP leader, Arm, has reportedly announced the establishment of an AI chip division with the goal of developing AI chip prototypes by spring 2025. According to a report from DRAMeXchange, mass production will be handled by contract manufacturers, with initial production slated to begin in autumn 2025.

Arm will cover the initial development costs estimated to reach several trillion yen, funded by SoftBank Group. Once a large-scale production system is built, Arm’s AI chip business may be spun off and incorporated into a SoftBank Group division, which is because SoftBank holds a total of 90% of Arm’s shares and has been in talks with TSMC to secure production capacity.

Arm is a significant player in the global semiconductor industry, renowned for its energy-efficient Arm architecture, which commands over 90% of the global market share in smartphone chip field. SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016 for USD 32 billion, empowering Arm to go public on the US stock exchange in September 2023.

Last week, Arm reported fiscal 2024 fourth quarter revenue of USD 928 million (+47% YoY) and adjusted operating profit of USD 391 million. It forecasts first-quarter revenue for fiscal year 2025 to be USD 875-925 million, expecting annual revenue to be USD 3.8-4.1 billion.

According to Canada’s Precedence Research, the current market size for AI chips is USD 30 billion, expected to exceed USD 100 billion by 2029 and USD 200 billion by 2032. Despite NVIDIA’s dominant position in AI chip technology, it is unable to meet the growing demand.

Eyeing on the opportunities presented by the AI wave, SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has identified AI as a key focus area for development and is seeking to raise USD 100 billion to found an AI chip company to compete with NVIDIA.

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(Photo credit: SoftBank News)