Intel said it has reached a licensing pact for the StrongARM processor – a chip used in handheld devices and set-top boxes – a deal that will let Intel enter these emerging areas with a low-cost part.
Intel agreed to license the processor from Advanced RISC Machines, based in Cambridge, England, as part of its proposed US$700 million acquisition of certain assets of Digital Equipment’s semiconductor operations. A final agreement between Intel and the British firm is contingent upon the US Federal Trade Commission’s approval of the Intel/Digital deal, announced last October, which is still pending.
The StrongARM chip is used in some handheld devices such as Apple Computer’s Newton MessagePad. The chip will also represent a way for Intel to target the emerging market for low-cost, consumer devices, from set-top boxes to Internet access devices to sub $1,000 PCs, product areas not yet addressed by the semiconductor giant with low- cost technology. The StrongARM is a very low power consuming chip and it is ideal in handheld devices and Internet appliances, Intel said.
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Taiwan chip theft:Thieves have made off with millions of computer memory chips worth some US$7 million — Taiwan’s second heist involving valuable microchips in less than a month. Burglars on Monday broke into a warehouse of a high-technology firm in northern Taoyuan county and stole the static random access memory, or SRAM, chips, police said on Tuesday.
The memory chips had been commissioned by South Korea’s Haitai Electronics and LG groups, local reports said.
On 2 February, a truck ferrying 200 boxes of SRAMs worth around T$170 million (US$5.3 million) was hijacked by gunmen at the northern Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park.
Police soon cracked the case, arresting several suspects and recovering most of the SRAM chips. Memory chips are a core component in personal computers.
Reuters contributed to this report.
