Mobility

IBM Corp. may have figured out a way to extend the life of a popular method for manufacturing semiconductor chips, potentially deferring for several years the costly transition to newer production methods, it said.

Linux software vendor Red Hat Inc. plans to publicly confirm that it has become a founding corporate member of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization. The non-profit OLPC was established a year ago to spearhead development of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratories' project to build US$100 laptops for schoolchildren worldwide, particularly students in emerging and developing countries.

Intel Corp. will enter the next era of Moore's Law in the second half of 2007 with commercial shipment of its first PC processors based on a 45-nanometer manufacturing process, the company said Wednesday. Intel showed off what it called the world's first fully functional SRAM (static RAM) chip made with a 45nm process technology.

Japan plans to impose countervailing duties on DRAM (dynamic RAM) computer chips made by Hynix Semiconductor Inc., alleging that low-cost loans from state-controlled banks a few years ago amounted to unfair subsidies for the chip maker, a move similar to duties announced years ago by the U.S. and European Union (EU).

Worldwide shipments of personal computers registered a double-digit percentage increase in 2005, according to figures published Wednesday by two major market analysts. Gartner Inc. estimated 218.5 million PCs were shipped in 2005 while IDC said it believes worldwide PC shipments totaled 208.6 million units. Despite long-standing concerns about weakening consumer PC sales, shipments have grown more than 17 per cent above 2004's totals for the past three quarters running

After more than 20 years of service as a tool to teach consumers what brand of chip to ask for inside a personal computer, Intel Corp. has decided it

IT managers may now have an easier way to offer guests a little or a lot of wireless access on their corporate networks. Introduced late last year, 3Com

IBM Corp., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. will extend their joint work on the development of manufacturing technologies for advanced semiconductors, they said Thursday. The work will also cover fundamental research related to new chips, including materials research.