NVIDIA unveiled deals with GCT Semiconductor and Renesas that would mate Tegra 3 smartphones and tablets with LTE. The two cellular chip designers are both working on LTE modems that would be companions to NVIDIA's quad-core chip. Striking the deal would let companies make high-end mobile devices with both a Tegra 3 and 4G faster than they would if they had to shop around.
Three large Japanese electronics makers are involved in talks on merging assets to build computer chips. Renesas, Fujitsu and Panasonic will at first spin off their separate chip design and development divisions to create a joint company, according to Japan's Nikkei newspaper (login required). The three are doing so in order to better compete in the industry for devices and vehicles.
Japan's Renesas, which makes camera chips and merged with NEC, has now said it will soon produce a sensor that will allow for cell phones with 16-megapixel cameras. The CE150 sensor will offer a significant improvement over currently available cameras in smartphones, such as the 12.1-megapixel one in the Nokia N8 and some 13-megapixel cameras from Japanese makers. The chip will also allow continuous shooting up to five times faster than the currently available camera phones as well.
Renesas on Tuesday bought Nokia's wireless modem business for nearly $200 million. Under the deal, Renesas will control about 1,100 Nokia researcher and development staff in Finland, India, the UK and Denmark. The two companies will also form a long-term partnership to develop HSPA+/LTE modem technologies.
Japanese wireless provider NTT DoCoMo, along with Renesas, Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic and Sharp on Monday announced an agreement to build a new application platform for cellphones. It would be compatible with Symbian and Linux-based mobile operating systems and promises to bring faster processing speeds and better 3D graphics. The platform will save Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic and Sharp from having to develop basic app processing functions on their own.
Sony is rapidly accelerating production of the PlayStation 3 in what may be a sign of confidence in its upcoming 120GB slim model. Tips from integrated circuit (IC) distributors sent to DigiTimes have Sony ordering enough of their parts on average to make 1 million of the game consoles just for this summer, or twice the rate that was seen in the spring. The rate is said to be high enough that demand is outstripping supply at Renesas, which makes the key chipsets for the PS3.
Renesas today unveiled a mobile media processor that it says should finally allow full HD video in and out on phone-sized devices. Part of the SH-MobileHD1 family, the SH7370 will have video processing hardware fast enough to not only decode 1080p, H.264-based video at a full 30 frames per second but to encode video at the same frame rate. The feature would let phones produce and play video in the same basic format as Blu-ray, including with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround and HDMI video output at full quality.
Semiconductor giants NEC and Renesas today said they would merge in a deal likely to change the electronics industry. The two plan to finish talks by July that would create a single company by next April. Such a deal would give them roughly $13 billion in combined yearly sales and would make it the single-largest Japanese company building processing technology.
