Tag archive: manufacturing

Apple is gearing up to launch the iPhone 5 (or is it the iPhone 4S?) in the next few months, reports the Wall Street Journal. The hardware maker has placed orders for “key components” in its next generation iPhone, which should launch sometime in the third quarter of 2011 (likely Sept.). Unsurprisingly, the new phone will be both thinner than the iPhone 4 and lighter as well, with an 8MP camera to boot. Sales are expected to be… Read More

Panasonic, Japan's largest makers of consumer electronics, has announced a broad restructuring plan that will see the company shrink itself from five major divisions down to three, as well as cut some 17,000 jobs. The moves are intended to make the company more competitive with electronics manufacturers in South Korea and China, but also reflect Panasonic's efforts to cope with the disruptions and devastation generated by last… Read More

Texas Instruments has announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire National Semiconductor in an all-cash $6.5 billion deal. Although neither company is a premier brand in consumer goods—although a few people have probably set hands on TI calculators—the acquisition represents a watershed change in the U.S. electronic component manufacturing industry: both National Semiconductor and TI manufacture analog chips and semi… Read More

When you buy a digital device at launch, you're always taking a risk. It's one of the many taxes of staying on the bleeding edge. Even the best new devices have their share of quirks at first. Apple, though one of the more diligent manufacturers, is not immune to this trend. Though its March 11 iPad 2 launch has gone off a lot smoother than the iPhone 4 last year, many users are reporting screen, Wi-Fi, microphone, and speaker… Read More

If I've learned one thing from science fiction, it's that some kind of apocalypse is going to destroy us all; we just don't know which one. Zombies, dinosaurs, asteroids, global warming…any one of these could end mankind in one fell swoop. The Navy, however, has put its chips on robots. In the first step toward the day when an armed race of robots turns on its human masters, the U.S. Navy is proposing to develop swarms… Read More

A recent report from The National Labor Committee (NLC) claims that workers at the KYE Factory in Dongguan, China are living “like prisoners”. The factory- which makes products for several companies- produces Microsoft Xbox 360 controllers, cameras and mice. Microsoft makes up the biggest portion of the factory’s output- about 30 percent. “We are like prisoners,” one worker said in the report. “It seems like we live only to… Read More

The worldwide economy might be in a sharp downturn, but chipmaker Intel is still looking to the future, announcing today it plans to invest $7 billion in its U.S. manufacturing facilities over the next two years. The most will roll out the company's 32-nanometer technology to more facilities, enabling the company to produce more processors and semiconductor products that are smaller, faster, and use less energy. “We're… Read More

According to reports in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, computer maker Dell may be looking to sell some or all of its computer manufacturing factories around the world to contract computer makers, in a bid to improve its bottom line. The Journal quotes one source briefed on the plan that dell may sell most or all of its manufacturing facilities within the next year and a half. Dell's manufacturing facilities were originally… Read More

Taiwan's Asustek, a leading PC manufacturer and well-known contract manufacturer of both PCs and consumer electronics, has announced that it will split itself into three companies in a move to separate its own brand-name business from its contract manufacturing businesses. “We think this will boost our competitiveness in each area,” said Asustek chairman Jonney Shih at a news event in Taipei. Under the proposed split,… Read More

From AMD's press release: AMD announced today that it is achieving a smooth transition to 90 nanometer (nm) manufacturing and has shipped low-power 90nm Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors for thin and light notebooks (previously codenamed "Oakville") for revenue. Manufacturers are expected to launch systems based on the new 90nm Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors in the coming months. In addition to providing performance and… Read More

From VIA's press release: VIA Technologies, Inc, and Yamashita System, Co. Ltd. today announced the AS-1210, the world's first lead-free mainboard based on the award winning VIA Eden Platform. A leading proponent of “Green Computing”, VIA continues to spearhead the drive for environmentally friendly computing by emphasizing power efficiency and ergonomics, and through the early adoption of manufacturing… Read More