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Tid-bits
11/15 - New Intel CPUs are available from Lenovo and a few other smaller players. CPUs feature VT (virtualization technology) for the first time in a desktop chip. One would think that VT and dual-core were made for one another, with VT allowing the creation of a separate partion for each core. But Intel has chosen to debut this technology on one of its single-core chips, the 600 series. VT is part of a broader pattern of moving away from faster clock speeds to packing more features on chips. VT is a feature. Said one marketing director: "Instead of going up in gigahertz, we can add capabilities".
The holiday season is upon us, and nVidia is playing a game of leap frog with ATI. The last top-of-the-line graphics card that ATI released beat nVidia's greatest in most published benchmarks in a single-card configuration. Now no sooner is the ATI card available than nVidia one-ups the competition. The card does more than add memory, though. nVidia has increased the core clock speed and the memory speed as well. The "new part includes a new cooling solution that enables these cherry-picked chips to achieve very high clock speeds".
The largest chip maker in Europe, and fourth largest in the world, is rumored to soon sell its memory chip business. At this point, Infineon "declined to comment" (Reuters).
A new fabrication plant rumored to be built in Israel is to cost between 4 to 5 billion dollars. "Intel has yet to officially confirm whether it will build a new plant in Israel".
Demand for NOR flash memory is on the rise. Conversely NAND is on the decline. This is the opposite of what has been the case earlier this year with Apple's iPod creating enormous demand for NAND. Supply, however, appears to have caught up with demand: "In line with the increased output, contract prices for November for low-density flash have started to decline". Demand for NOR, on the other hand, is "coming from the unexpected rise of Bluetooth and GPS applications".