Microsoft: Qualcomm is just the beginning of ‘Always Connected PC’

It’s no secret that the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 835-powered laptops are getting a bad rap for their purported performance versus price ratio. So, Microsoft wants to set the record straight, telling us that these first devices are just the beginning of its larger ‘Always Connected PC’ (ACPC) initiative.
“We don't equate ‘Always Connected PC’ with @Qualcomm,” @Microsoft Windows general manager @ErinChapple says. “We’re about choice in the ecosystem and working across our partners.”
Now, this isn’t Microsoft distancing itself from Qualcomm or this first run of ACPC products – in fact, it’s anything but.

However, according to Microsoft, an ACPC isn’t simply a Windows 10 laptop with an ARM-based processor inside. Chapple reiterates to us that an ACPC is a type of computer that achieves always-on connectivity through LTE (or 5G in the future), can go to sleep without losing progress in internet-connected apps and lasts for more than a dozen hours on a charge.

In short, an ACPC is a Windows 10 laptop or tablet that, for all intents and purposes, behaves more like a smartphone. However, that definition doesn’t dictate the hardware inside, with Chapple making an interesting point in illustrating this fact.

“Today, we have the three devices [the HP Envy x2, Lenovo Miix 630 and Asus NovaGo] we’ve launched on the Qualcomm processor,” Chapple says. “We also have our Surface Pro LTE, which we consider our first Always Connected PC.”

That’s right, the first Microsoft ACPC has been out for months – using an Intel processor and Qualcomm LTE modem – before the first three Snapdragon laptops hit the market. That’s because, as per Microsoft’s definition, the Surface Pro LTE fits the ACPC bill.

https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-qualcomm-is-just-the-beginning-of-always-connected-pc

China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World

@SenseTime Group Ltd. has raised $600 million from @Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world’s most valuable #artificialintelligence startup. The company, which specializes in systems that analyze faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean state investment firm @Temasek Holdings Pte and retailer @Suning.com Co. also participated. SenseTime didn’t outline individual investments, but Alibaba was said to have sought the biggest stake in the three-year-old startup. With the deal, SenseTime has doubled its valuation in a few months. Backed by @Qualcomm Inc., it underscores its status as one of a crop of homegrown firms spearheading Beijing’s ambition to become the leader in AI by 2030. And it’s a contributor to the world’s biggest system of surveillance: if you’ve ever been photographed with a Chinese-made phone or walked the streets of a Chinese city, chances are your face has been digitally crunched by SenseTime software built into more than 100 million mobile devices.  The latest financing will bankroll investments in parallel fields such as autonomous driving and augmented reality, cover the growing cost of AI talent and shore up its computing power. It’s developing a service code-named “Viper” to parse data from thousands of live camera feeds -- a platform it hopes will prove invaluable in mass surveillance. And it’s already in talks to raise another round of funds and targeting a valuation of more than $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. “We’re going to explore several new strategic directions and that’s why we shall spend more money on building infrastructure,” SenseTime co-founder Xu Li said in an interview. The company turned profitable in 2017 and wants to grow its workforce by a third to 2,000 by the end of this year. “For the past three years the average revenue growth has been 400 percent.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-04-09/sensetime-snags-alibaba-funding-at-a-record-3-billion-valuation#ampshare=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-09/sensetime-snags-alibaba-funding-at-a-record-3-billion-valuation

ARM Reaches Into the Data Center, Competes With Intel

When talking about #softwaredefined networking ( #SDN) and network functions virtualization ( #NFV), we often talk about software that can run on x86 servers. The term x86 refers to instruction set architectures for silicon chips. Most x86 servers that run SDN and NFV software use chips from either @Intel or @AMD. But that could change as @ARM is making a concerted effort to take market share in this segment. ARM doesn’t make chips. It creates the intellectual property (IP) building blocks for a chip. And while x86 refers to an instruction set architecture, ARM also has a set of defined instructions. But instead of manufacturing chips, ARM gives the instruction set architecture to its customers — such as @Qualcomm, @Broadcom, @NXP, and @Cavium — and those companies manufacture the chips.

https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/arm-reaches-data-center-competes-intel/2018/04/

Qualcomm Can't Waste Time on a Pointless Quest

@Qualcomm Can't Waste Time on a Pointless Quest Former CEO @PaulJacobs can't swing a deal and shouldn't even try.  Just say no to tilting at windmills. @Paul Jacobs, a member of Qualcomm Inc.'s founding family and a former CEO, has approached potential partners that might help him buy the chip company valued at more than $90 billion. This effort, first reported by the Financial Times, comes on the heels of the U.S. government quashing a hostile takeover attempt by @Broadcom Ltd. Shares of Qualcomm were trading up Friday on the news.   Even in this go-go time for equity and debt markets, it is a stretch to imagine how Jacobs, whose position on the board may be precarious, could afford to lead a Qualcomm acquisition. And he shouldn't try.

The takeover fight with Broadcom exposed Qualcomm's fundamental business challenges and left the company with few friends among its shareholder base. A long-shot attempt at a management buyout amounts to Jacobs plugging his ears and ignoring Qualcomm's problems, and it will cost his company time and goodwill it can't afford to waste. 

Chipped

Shares of Qualcomm have declined more than 10 percent in three years while an index of semiconductor companies has doubled in price. Percentage price change since 2015
First, the cost factor. Let's assume Jacobs would have to top Broadcom's first offer of $82 a share, which directors including Jacobs laughed off as too low. Even at that price a buyout would cost $120 billion before accounting for Qualcomm's debt. It was a stretch for Broadcom to afford a deal of that size, and it seems impossible for an individual, even with help from a private equity firm.

The obvious comparison is Michael Dell's 2013 buyout of his company, Dell Inc. But Michael Dell already owned about 14 percent of the company, valued at $3 billion or so at the time, which he rolled into the buyout. And the Dell acquisition was about one-fifth of the possible cost of a Qualcomm takeover. Jacobs and his family own 1.4 million shares and soon-to-vest options in Qualcomm, a 0.1 percent stake valued at less than $100 million. Michael Dell was rich enough to lead his buyout. The Jacobs family is not, unless it has a secret reserve of wealth. 

It's also not clear Jacobs will find the financing help he needs. Foreign financiers seem off the table. The U.S. government spiked a Broadcom deal in part over concerns that a private equity-like approach would hurt the country's technology position. Dell teamed up with private equity firm Silver Lake. But that firm was among the backers of Broadcom's bid. And its participation was based on confidence in Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's ability to improve Qualcomm's profitability and run the company better than existing management. 

Private equity firms don’t make a habit of backing companies that want to escape the public markets so they can continue spending as much as they want on research and development and cling to a business model that has invited repeated fights with regulators and customers. Should Jacobs and Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf sign a deal with a buyout financier, they would also likely be signing their own exit  agreements. Jacobs' pursuit of a possible deal has already left him in hot water with fellow directors. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2018-03-16/mlp-stocks-fall-not-thanking-ferc-it-s-friday

How China's Huawei Killed $117 Billion Broadcom Deal

#CFIUS is concerned that @Broadcom would cut back on R&D funding at @Qualcomm, strengthening Huawei at a time when rivals from @Ericsson to @Nokia are grappling with weak telecoms spending. That theoretically gives Chinese companies such as @Huawei and closest rival @ZTE Corp. the upper hand in steering the direction of wireless communications development, thereby -- so the argument goes -- jeopardizing U.S. national security. CFIUS’s concerns over the deal are said also to stem from Broadcom’s ties to Huawei, which was blacklisted in 2012 along with ZTE when the U.S. House Intelligence Committee cited security risks posed by the companies.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-13/how-china-s-huawei-killed-117-billion-broadcom-deal-quicktake

Trump Blocks Broadcom’s Bid for Qualcomm

WASHINGTON — President @Trump on Monday blocked @Broadcom’s $117 billion bid for the chip maker @Qualcomm, citing national security concerns and sending a clear signal that he was willing to take extraordinary measures to promote his administration’s increasingly protectionist stance. In a presidential order, Mr. Trump said “credible evidence” had led him to believe that if Singapore-based Broadcom were to acquire control of Qualcomm, it “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/technology/trump-broadcom-qualcomm-merger.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

Intel partners with Dell, Lenovo, and HP to build 5G-ready PCs

Collaborations with @HP, @Lenovo, @Dell, and @Microsoft, will bring the @Intel XMM 8000 line of #5G multimode modems to consumers and businesses alike. While some wireless carriers are rolling out early stages of 5G networks later this year, Intel's goal is to have these new devices ready for the holiday season in 2019. Intel also expects to show off its PC modems that support eSIM technology at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It will be interesting to see how the competition between Intel and Qualcomm will push forward the new Always Connected PC category. 11ax, the next big thing in Wi-Fi. On Intel's end, the goal is to enable super fast downloads on the move, high-quality video streaming and even better multiplayer gaming while out and about with seamless connections for users that travel between WiFi and cellular networks. 5G is not just another generation of wireless connectivity, it promises new opportunities for technology innovation across the computing and connectivity landscape from the cloud to the network and the client. The Xeon D-2100 extends the industry-leading capabilities of the Intel Xeon Scalable platform with power-efficient performance to meet the intensive compute, network and storage workloads demanded by 5G at the network edge. Intel will also show off 802.11ax on a thin PC at its booth at MWC. eSIM functionality, which is present in all its modems for PCs, will also be demonstrated. Considering the expected arrival date of Intel's 5G modems, however, that future remains a ways off. Intel made 5G data available to devices in PyeongChang, providing live, field-tested service at various sites in and around the Olympic Village that ran at gigabit speeds. This builds on our announcement last month with Deutsche Telecom and Huawei that we conducted the world's first successful test showcasing 5G interoperability and development testing (IODT) based on the Release 15 NSA 5G NR specification. Intel is fighting @Qualcomm and @Samsung in this market so this partnership is pretty important for them. The future of 5G is almost upon us.

http://dailydemocratpress.com/2018/02/23/intel-partners-with-dell-lenovo-and-hp-to-build-5g-ready-pcs/

NXP shareholders owe a big 'thank you' to Broadcom's CEO

@Broadcom CEO @HockTan says that buying @NXP doesn't solve @Qualcomm 's problems — but he's currently a hero to NXP shareholders. Broadcom's months-long unsolicited pursuit of Qualcomm likely compelled the San Diego-based chipmaker to bid higher than it otherwise would have to acquire NXP, according to people familiar with the matter. Qualcomm upped its bid 16 percent to $127.50 per share, or about $44 billion, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The final hurdle may have been proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services' report on Friday advocating that Qualcomm close NXP to provide the company "with the next-best safety net of diversification," failing a deal with Broadcom. Within an hour of the report being published, Qualcomm called some NXP shareholders asking what price it would take to secure a successful tender offer, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/02/20/nxp-shareholders-owe-a-big-thank-you-to-broadcoms-ceo.html#ampshare=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/20/nxp-shareholders-owe-a-big-thank-you-to-broadcoms-ceo.html

Qualcomm, Broadcom plan to meet on February 14: sources

( @Reuters) - @Qualcomm Inc and @Broadcom Ltd plan to meet on Wednesday to talk about the latter's $121 billion acquisition offer, the first time the semiconductor companies will discuss the potential deal, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting comes after Broadcom raised its cash-and-stock offer last week from $70 to $82 per share, and made other concessions, including offering to pay Qualcomm an $8 billion breakup fee should antitrust regulators block the deal. Qualcomm said last Thursday that Broadcom's new offer still undervalues it and falls well short of the firm commitments on regulatory issues it expected. However, it offered to meet Broadcom to see if it can address what it called "serious deficiencies in value and certainty in its proposal."

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1FW03G#ampshare=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qualcomm-m-a-broadcom/qualcomm-broadcom-plan-to-meet-on-february-14-sources-idUSKBN1FW03G

Broadcom raises offer to buy Qualcomm to $121 billion

(@Reuters) - Chipmaker @Broadcom Ltd on Monday raised its offer to buy @Qualcomm Inc by 24 percent to more than $121 billion, sweetening the bid and putting more pressure on its rival to come to the table for negotiations. The new offer values the company at $82 per share - a premium of 24 percent over Qualcomm's close on Friday. Qualcomm in November rejected Broadcom's $70 per share cash-and-stock bid that valued the company at $103 billion.

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1FP1KX#ampshare=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qualcomm-m-a-broadcom/broadcom-raises-offer-to-buy-qualcomm-to-121-billion-idUSKBN1FP1KX

Dell Explores Strategic Alternatives, Including IPO, Deal With VMware

@DellTechnologues #DVMT -6.45% Inc. is considering a range of strategic alternatives that could transform the maker of PCs and data-storage devices, according to people familiar with the matter. In the review, which is in a preliminary stage, the closely held technology giant is expected to explore options including an initial public offering and a purchase of the rest of @VMware Inc., a publicly traded cloud infrastructure company, the people said. VMware has a market value north of $50 billion. Talks between the companies are at an early stage, one of the people said.  It wasn’t clear what other options might be on the table. If Dell pursued a public listing, it would be one of the biggest IPOs in recent years and could provide a shot in the arm for the sluggish new-issue market. An IPO also could provide the company with cash to invest in the business and pay down debt. That or a full takeover of VMware would be the latest in a series of big deals that have transformed Dell in the last five years—and loaded it with debt. The company went private in a roughly $25 billion leveraged buyout in 2013 by its founder, Michael Dell, and investment firm Silver Lake. In 2016, Dell bought data-storage company EMC for $67 billion in the largest technology takeover ever. When the deal closed in late 2016, Dell employed about 140,000 people globally and had $74 billion in revenue. It said it would maintain operations in Hopkinton, Mass., where EMC, a pioneer in data storage, was located. It is now the world’s largest privately controlled tech company. Mr. Dell indicated at the time that the company still had an appetite for acquisitions. But the deal making has added a significant amount of debt to Dell’s balance sheet. The company currently has about $51 billion of debt, according to S&P Capital IQ. Dell, which pays roughly $2 billion in annual interest on its debt, is among the heavily indebted companies that is expected to be hurt by the tax bill Congress passed at the end of last year. The new tax law caps companies’ ability to deduct interest expense from their taxes at 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.  Once the largest personal-computer maker, Dell is now known as much for its corporate products such as storage, servers and security software following the EMC deal. It is also joining the crowded field of companies wagering big money on the so-called Internet of Things, as the computing giant looks for new avenues of growth amid a shift in corporate spending to the cloud. The Round Rock, Texas, company recently said it would commit $1 billion over three years to research and development to create hardware and software that would help manage billions of everyday devices connected to the web. @SilverLake, which maintains a big stake in @DellTechnologies , has a history of backing the deal making of its portfolio companies. In addition to Dell, it has done so at @Broadcom Ltd. , which is pursuing a $105 billion hostile takeover of @Qualcomm Inc., and @Symantec Corp. , which has bought a string of #cybersecurity companies. @VMware, based in Palo Alto, Calif. produces software related to databases, storage and the Internet of Things. When Dell bought EMC in 2016, EMC owned 80% of VMware.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dell-explores-strategic-alternatives-including-ipo-deal-with-vmware-1516935429

Qualcomm signs $2 billion sales MOUs with Lenovo, Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO

(Reuters) - @Qualcomm Technologies Inc (QCOM.O) has signed memorandums of understanding for sales worth at least $2 billion with top Chinese smartphone vendors, receiving vocal support from the firms as it fights an unsolicited buyout bid from @Broadcom Ltd (AVGO.O). @LenovoGroup (0992.HK), @Guangdong @OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp, @vivo Communication Technology and @Xiaomi Communications have expressed an interest in buying Qualcomm components with a total value of no less than $2 billion over three years, the U.S. chip maker said on Thursday.  The non-binding agreement will be subject to further agreements and covers technology related to RF Front-End components, Qualcomm said in a statement. The companies announced the multi-year agreement at a Qualcomm-hosted event in Beijing attended by the U.S. firm’s chairman and chief executive. At the event representatives from the Chinese companies expressed concerns that a possible acquisition of Qualcomm by Broadcom could hurt investment in chip technology. Broadcom in November made an unsolicited $103 billion bid for Qualcomm, which Qualcomm says undervalues it. A potential merger would likely face regulatory scrutiny in China, where Qualcomm has been fined before over anti-trust issues and where the government is promoting local chip production.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-qualcomm/qualcomm-signs-2-billion-sales-mous-with-lenovo-xiaomi-vivo-and-oppo-idUSKBN1FE0D6

Qualcomm appoints new president amid Apple legal battle and Broadcom takeover threat

@Qualcomm to appoint @Cristiano R. Amon as president, effective January 4th Amon replaces outgoing president @Derek Aberle who leaves the company after 17 years Qualcomm CEO says Amon will help the company push forward in mobile and “the transition to 5G” Qualcomm is undergoing a leadership reshuffle that will see the telecoms giant appoint a new president for 2018. As of January 4th, current executive vice president of Qualcomm Technologies and president of QCT, Cristiano R. Amon, will take the reigns with current president Derek Aberle set to leave Qualcomm on New Year’s Eve after 17 years with the firm. In a press release, Qualcomm confirmed that Amon will continue to lead the company’s QCT business in addition to helping “formulate and drive key strategies for growing the company in both Qualcomm’s core businesses, as well as new business opportunities.”  Qualcomm CEO, Steve Mollenkopf, talked up the appointment, stating: “Cristiano’s unique mix of business, engineering and operational skills and experience make him ideally suited to continue driving Qualcomm’s technology and leadership positions across mobile, IoT, automotive, edge computing and networking – and lead the transition to 5G.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.androidauthority.com/qualcomm-new-president-apple-broadcom-takeover-825964/amp/

Huawei’s Kirin 970 Outscores Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 In Test

@Huawei ’s #HiSilicon #Kirin 970 system-on-chip outscored the #Qualcomm -made @Snapdragon 845 in some synthetic benchmarks by approximately seven percent, according to the screenshots seen below which recently started circulating on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The difference between the two isn’t massive and is possibly even smaller than the newly uncovered results suggest seeing how they only show a couple of individual tests and not the average of a larger number of results. Likewise, synthetic benchmark scores are hardly indicative of real-world performance, especially in the context of such small margins. With hardware only being part of the equation, it’s up to original equipment manufacturers to optimize their smartphones and the software running on them in a manner that takes maximum advantage of their silicon of choice. Still, the spotted benchmark results indicate that Huawei’s semiconductor subsidiary is now at the very least on par with Qualcomm in regards to the pure computational power of their flagship chips. The Kirin 970 is described by the Chinese tech giant as the world’s first artificial intelligence SoC, being equipped with a Neural Processing Unit solely dedicated to machine learning and general AI applications. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 also places a large focus on AI and will undoubtedly enjoy a much wider adoption than the Kirin 970 that’s only expected to power mobile devices from Huawei and its subsidiary Honor. Several such offerings like the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Honor V10 have already been announced and more should be introduced come 2018, starting with the P11 lineup. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 845 should power the vast majority of Android flagships released over the course of the next year, including premium products from Samsung, Sony, LG, and Xiaomi. In overall, the Snapdragon 845 should be at least as popular as its direct predecessor which already powers well over 100 devices. Holiday Gift Guide 2017 – 2018: The Ultimate Smartphone & Tech Gift Guide The semiconductor industry still won’t be moving away from the 10nm process node in 2018 but a jump to the 7nm technology is expected in early 2019, being pioneered by TSMC that’s also said to be the manufacturer of the Snapdragon 855 and replace

https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/12/huaweis-kirin-970-outscores-qualcomm-snapdragon-845-in-test.html

2 Businesses That Broadcom Will Kill if It Buys Qualcomm

#AVGO) offered to acquire fellow chip giant @Qualcomm (NASDAQ: #QCOM) for a total consideration of $70 per share, with $60 in cash and the remaining $10 in stock. Qualcomm, of course, rejected the bid, claiming that @Broadcom's offer -- which came at a solid premium to where Qualcomm's shares were trading before Broadcom's offer came along -- "undervalues Qualcomm and comes with significant regulatory uncertainty." Qualcomm. Time will tell if Broadcom is successful in its quest to add Qualcomm to its portfolio, but I'd like to explore a different angle to the story: Which Qualcomm businesses Broadcom will likely kill if it succeeds in buying Qualcomm. Some quick background Broadcom CEO Hock Tan essentially manages the company's business portfolio as a good investor would be expected to manage a stock portfolio: He keeps winners and gets rid of losers. There's an additional subtlety to Tan's style, though: He's not interested in businesses that don't make money or aren't established leaders in their fields. I've heard it said that Tan doesn't like to invest in research and development, but that's not quite right. Instead, it's more apt to say that Tan doesn't like to speculate with Broadcom's research and development dollars. If Broadcom has a franchise that's either the top player in its field or a close second, then the company will likely invest to either maintain its leadership position or to try to capture such a position. But if it's not already an established leader in that market and is likely to lose significant money trying to break into that market, Broadcom isn't going to stick around. With that in mind, here are two such Qualcomm businesses/efforts that I expect Broadcom to wind down or sell if its acquisition attempt is successful. Centriq server chip business Not too long ago, Qualcomm announced its Centriq 2400 series of processors aimed at the data center. Qualcomm is coming into this market in the hopes of challenging established data center processor vendor Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). Though Qualcomm's new chips have demonstrated some impressive capabilities, even relative to Intel's best, in some respects, the reality is this: Capturing share from Intel would likely be a very long and arduous process that would also require substantial investments in research and development. There's little guarantee that those investments will pay off in terms of meaningful revenue and profit, especially since Intel is almost certainly going to fight hard to maintain its position in this market. Intel can afford to ratchet up its investments in its own server chips because it'd be doing so to try to protect what is quickly becoming its core business. Qualcomm could do so, but the efforts could be costly and a drag on overall corporate profitability for years to come. This is exactly the sort of business that Broadcom's management would find to be incompatible with its business aims, and in the event of a successful acquisition of Qualcomm, the Centriq server business would almost certainly be shuttered or sold. Snapdragon PCs Another area where Qualcomm is currently getting a lot of attention is its Snapdragon-based PC efforts. Qualcomm is, as it is in the data center, trying to challenge PC processor incumbent Intel by bringing its mobile processors to thin and light PCs. While Qualcomm has demonstrated some interesting advantages over Intel's platforms (in particular, Qualcomm claims much superior battery life to Intel-based processors), the reality is that Qualcomm is probably investing a lot of money into this effort for what is unlikely to be a big payoff. Image source: Qualcomm. Only a small subsegment of the total PC processor market is really addressable by Qualcomm, and even within that small sub-segment Intel will obviously aggressively compete. On top of that, the overall PC market is a declining one. So, Qualcomm is essentially investing a significant amount of money to go after a market that's dominated by a strong incumbent and, to top that off, is only going after a small slice of that market. This business is probably even less attractive to a company like Broadcom than the Centriq server processor business is, and I would expect it to be swiftly wound down. Broadcom can refocus Qualcomm I think Broadcom management will ultimately be able to wring a lot of value out of Qualcomm. Qualcomm has the world's best cellular modem technology, and the world's best merchant mobile applications processor platforms. To that end, I would expect that under Broadcom, Qualcomm would ultimately accelerate market share gains in the smartphone applications processor market, recapture significant cellular modem share in the iPhone, and simply generate a lot better profitability. As much as those who seem to admire Qualcomm will probably hate to admit, I think Broadcom's management can deliver tremendous value with Qualcomm's assets -- far more than Qualcomm's current management team was able to, as the company's share price prior to the Broadcom acquisition rumors clearly showed.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yahoo.com/amphtml/finance/news/2-businesses-broadcom-kill-buys-220700831.html#ampshare=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-businesses-broadcom-kill-buys-220700831.html

Google reportedly concerned that Broadcom’s takeover of Qualcomm could harm innovation

It might not be the most eye-catching news report, but @Broadcom ‘s attempts to buy @Qualcomm could have a significant impact on the technology industry, an impact that the likes of @Google, along with @Microsoft, are concerned about. Google reportedly feels that such a takeover would stagnate innovation, since Broadcom is reportedly known to emphasize cost-cutting over developing new technologies. Remember that the vast majority of Android smartphone manufacturers use Qualcomm chipsets, while Microsoft has recently been pushing to also equip PCs with Qualcomm chipsets, so any pause on development of new technologies would directly and indirectly impact both of their businesses. Another concern is the relationship Qualcomm and Apple would have if Broadcom were to succeed with the buyout. Currently, we wouldn’t say that Qualcomm and Apple are on friendly terms with each other, giving the ongoing court proceedings between the two companies. Most recently, Apple accused the chipmaker of infringing on eight of its patents related to battery efficiency.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.androidauthority.com/google-broadcom-qualcomm-innovation-821751/amp/#ampshare=https://www.androidauthority.com/google-broadcom-qualcomm-innovation-821751/

Early Qualcomm Server CPU Benchmarks Could Mean Big Trouble for Intel

Over the past six years, @Intel has adroitly retaken and defended its #datacenter business from all challengers. @AMD was never able to win significant share for its Bulldozer and Piledriver families, and while companies like Calxeda intended to challenge Intel in high-density servers, such battles never materialized. AMD’s Epyc servers may take market share from Intel over the longer term, but AMD has repeatedly said that it’s ramping Epyc slowly through the end of 2017. That just leaves Qualcomm, but that “just” may need to be in quotation marks. Early benchmarks on Qualcomm’s Centriq server CPUs (codenamed Falkor) by Cloudflare show the Qualcomm chips offering potent competition for Intel. The information in question comes from a blog post published by Cloudflare. I absolutely recommend giving it a read for the full details of what we’re going to discuss, but we’ll call out some salient results. First off, here’s how the three cores compare:

On paper, they’re pretty similar. Qualcomm’s expertise at building small cores clearly comes in handy on the TDP front, allowing it stack 46 cores in a package at a lower TDP than we’ve seen from Intel or AMD. The difference in nodes (Intel’s 14nm versus Qualcomm’s 10nm) shouldn’t really matter; the 10nm process node deployed at the pure-play foundries is believed to be a rough match for Intel’s own 10nm. Cloudflare puts the three chips head to head in a variety of benchmarks, including OpenSSL, compression tests, Golang (Go crypto, gzip, regexp, strings), LuaJIT, and NGINX.

Since we don’t want to pull all of Cloudflare’s results, we’ve settled on two tests that illustrate overall performance standings: Single-threaded tests (LuaJIT) and multi-threaded tests (gzip).

In LuaJIT, the Intel chips win single-threaded performance comparisons, hands down. This reflects Skylake and Broadwell’s overall single-thread performance in the benchmarks Cloudflare ran — the Intel chips are at their strongest here, thanks to higher innate single-threaded perf and higher target clocks. If you’re doing lightly threaded work, Intel may well be the decisive leader (though we’d ask why you’re buying a 10-12 core CPU in the first place).

In multi-threading workloads, the Qualcomm Cintriq often whacks Intel upside the head. This is, again, not particularly surprising. Intel’s own data suggests that while it has a significant clock advantage in single-threaded, where its CPUs can burst up to 3GHz+, it’s full-core maximum is well below Qualcomm, at 2.1Ghz versus 2.5GHz. And while the Intel chips have Hyper-Threading, which helps, it’s never been the same as having a full second core. Hyper-Threading would typically be expected to improve performance by 20-30 percent, which leaves Cloudflare’s Qualcomm system with a significant core advantage.

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/259036-early-qualcomm-server-cpu-benchmarks-mean-big-trouble-intel

Solarflare Showcases Software Defined Ethernet NICS for Servers Running on Qualcomm Centriq 2400 Arm-Based Processors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--@Solarflare, a pioneer in the development of neural class networks, today demonstrated a #softwaredefined Ethernet NIC platform along with a suite of NIC fabric services which run on Qualcomm Centriq™ 2400 Arm-based servers. “With software defined NIC fabric technology alongside power and cost-efficient @Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processors, Solarflare adds enhanced Ethernet networking infrastructure with micro-segmented neural class connectivity for a true software defined data center world.” Tweet this Driven by the needs of global cloud applications, the data center industry is undergoing an epic migration to a scale-out architecture with computing distributed among dozens to thousands of cores. As a result, data center operators need server processors with higher core densities and lower power to efficiently support these sprawling environments. Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies Inc., answers the call with Qualcomm Centriq 2400, an Arm-based processor with up to 48 cores, and the world’s first 10-nanometer server processor. “Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processors enable data center operators to achieve new levels of efficiency with their computing infrastructure,” said Ram Peddibhotla, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies. “With software defined NIC fabric technology alongside power and cost-efficient Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processors, Solarflare adds enhanced Ethernet networking infrastructure with micro-segmented neural class connectivity for a true software defined data center world.” A single data center rack equipped with 38 servers, each with a Qualcomm Centriq 2400 Arm-based server processor, delivers 1,824 cores to achieve the neural-class core density and can easily require inter-connections for over 10,000 applications—the same number of connections maintained by a human neuron. That’s where Solarflare comes in. Solarflare complements efficient Arm computing with innovative neural-class Ethernet networking designed specifically for scale-out cloud environments. The foundation is an ultra-high performance NIC capable of FPGA-like packet inspection in the compact size, power and cost foot print of a standard NIC, plus ultra-scale connectivity of 1,000s of vNICs needed by distributed applications. On that platform, Solarflare developed the first suite of telemetry, acceleration, and security NIC fabric services which scale-out with each new Arm-based bare metal server, VM and container. The high powered Solarflare NIC platform and shrink-wrapped fabric services combine to provide IT organizations with the unique ability to deploy micro segmented networking services across an Qualcomm Centriq 2400-based data center using standard NICs. According to Ahmet Houssein, Vice President of Marketing at Solarflare, “Our goal is to enable the new era of Arm-based computing to leap-frog other processor environments with intelligent server connectivity such as micro segmented telemetry, acceleration and security fabric services that scale-out with every server.” Solarflare XtremeScale Architecture, Software Defined NICs and Fabric Services The NIC fabric hardware and software deployed by hyperscale cloud service providers is proprietary. Solarflare has developed the industry’s first commercially available NIC fabric for the masses. Solarflare XtremeScale for Qualcomm Centriq processors includes the: XtremeScale Architecture—All new Solarflare chips, adapters and software are designed under an architecture designed for scalable and granular Ethernet traffic engineering in Qualcomm Centriq environments. XtremeScale Software Defined NICs—A new class of standard NICs join FPGAs and NPUs in the Smart NIC class of server adapters. The powerful, software defined products are the industry’s first NICs for Qualcomm Centriq 2400 Arm-based servers with FPGA-like capabilities at the cost of a NIC. XtremeScale NIC Fabric—Once XtremeScale NICs are installed, XtremeScale Fabric applications are available to provision performance, security and visibility applications tailored for specific workloads running on Qualcomm Centriq 2400-based bare metal servers, VMs and container microservices. Universal Kernel Bypass (UKB), is a suite of kernel bypass fabric services for accelerating application performance. Onload is the UKB application proven with cloud web hosting and CDN applications. DPDK and NVMe are the two newest UKB apps available for accelerating NFV and storage server traffic.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171108006408/en/Solarflare-Showcases-Software-Defined-Ethernet-NICS-Servers

Broadcom Makes Unsolicited $105 Billion Bid for Qualcomm

@Broadcom is making an unsolicited bid to buy mobile chip maker @Qualcomm for $130 billion, which would create a chip-making behemoth with the capabilities to challenge industry leaders Intel and @Samsung and continue the multiyear consolidation trend in the semiconductor space. The deal would combine Broadcom’s broad chip-making business, which supplies silicon for everything from network switches and enterprise storage appliances to set-top boxes, with Qualcomm’s leading mobile chip capabilities. Should Qualcomm’s already proposed $47 billion offer for chip maker NXP finally get past regulatory reviews in places like Europe and China, it also would bring autonomous cars and microcontrollers (MCUs) into Broadcom’s fold. Broadcom officials said Nov. 6 that they are willing to make the deal for Qualcomm regardless of whether or not the NXP deal goes through. Building Secure Multi-Factor Authentication Download Although reports about Broadcom’s interest in Qualcomm have surfaced over the past couple of days, in a Nov. 6 letter to Qualcomm’s board of directors, Broadcom President and CEO Hock Tan said he first approached Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf about the idea more than a year ago
http://www.eweek.com/pc-hardware/broadcom-makes-unsolicited-105-billion-bid-for-qualcomm

Intel Threatens Microsoft And Qualcomm Over x86 Emulation

#Intel recently made an unprecedented public challenge to #Microsoft and #Qualcomm that basically told the latter two companies: if you ship an x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) emulator, we’re coming after you. The blog post was masked as a tribute to the nearly 40th anniversary of the x86 architecture (next year is the actual 40th). Most of the post trotted out Intel executives and architectures to talk about the development of the ISA over the year. But the last two paragraphs were an amazingly blunt attack on x86 emulations: “However, there have been reports that some companies may try to emulate Intel’s proprietary x86 ISA without Intel’s authorization. Emulation is not a new technology, and Transmeta was notably the last company to claim to have produced a compatible x86 processor using emulation (“code morphing”) techniques. Intel enforced patents relating to SIMD instruction set enhancements against Transmeta’s x86 implementation even though it used emulation. In any event, Transmeta was not commercially successful, and it exited the microprocessor business 10 years ago. Only time will tell if new attempts to emulate Intel’s x86 ISA will meet a different fate. Intel welcomes lawful competition, and we are confident that Intel’s microprocessors, which have been specifically optimized to implement Intel’s x86 ISA for almost four decades, will deliver amazing experiences, consistency across applications, and a full breadth of consumer offerings, full manageability and IT integration for the enterprise. However, we do not welcome unlawful infringement of our patents, and we fully expect other companies to continue to respect Intel’s intellectual property rights. Strong intellectual property protections make it possible for Intel to continue to invest the enormous resources required to advance Intel’s dynamic x86 ISA, and Intel will maintain its vigilance to protect its innovations and investments.” This turn of events is quite amazing. It now pits two former allies against each other – Intel and Microsoft. The companies were once so closely aligned that they were nicknamed “Wintel.” Now, Intel feels threatened by a new partnership between Microsoft and Qualcomm. The blog post led to a flurry of tech sites picking up the message. But the question is: how far is Intel willing to go? Cracks in “Wintel” This is not the first time the interests of Intel and Microsoft have diverged. When it came to the transition between 32-bit microprocessors and 64-bit microprocessors, Intel pushed its purpose-built Itanium architecture as the standard 64-bit ISA. In partnership with HP, Intel designed Itanium to create a completely new body of intellectual property (IP) that AMD would not have access to, effectively excluding the only credible second source for Intel’s ISAs from participating in the Itanium market. But Microsoft was not a fan of Itanium, and when AMD introduced its AMD64 64-bit extension to the venerable x86 ISA, Microsoft adopted it and then insisted Intel adopt the exact same ISA. Intel renamed the instruction set Intel 64 and today it is generically called x64 (originally x86-64, but that name was a bit clunky). Intel begrudgingly introduced the x64 ISA in the Pentium 4 (Prescott) processor design in 2004.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2017/06/16/intel-threatens-microsoft-and-qualcomm-over-x86-emulation/?c=0&s=Windows10