The computing industry has benefited this year from an unexpected rebound in business spending on information technology in the developed world and continued rapid growth in the emerging markets, according to figures released by some of the industry’s leading names late on Tuesday.
Moore’s Law and order
RAM raiders was the cute term used in the UK in the 90s for thieves that broke into offices to steal D-Ram memory chips inside workers’ computers, as opposed to the original ram-raider jewel thieves who rammed storefronts with their vans to loot the premises. Those 16 megabyte chips, which could be worth $60 each at that time of shortages, are worth nothing now, but multi-gigabyte Nand Flash memory chips may be taking their place as targets for heists. Read more
Intel gets on the tablet trail
Intel has launched its first major effort to win market share in tablet devices, while revealing how it will defend the netbook market it dominates from this year’s slate onslaught. The world’s biggest chipmaker is announcing the availability of its first chip specifically designed for tablets and is giving a sneak peek at its developer forum in Beijing this week of its next-generation netbook chip. Read more
Tech news from around the web:
Facebook unveiled the design of its custom-built data centre and servers on Thursday, and promised to share the blueprints with the world, hoping its energy-efficient design would be copied by many others.
Innovations like a cooling system that uses no air conditioning and simplified servers have increased Facebook’s energy efficiency by 38 per cent, compared to conventional leased servers, and decreased costs by 24 per cent. Read more
Yahoo’s Bartz slips in employees’ eyes
An unscientific survey of employees at major US technology companies found that only 50 per cent of Yahoo workers approved of chief executive Carol Bartz’ leadership during the past year, down from 77 per cent as she got started. Read more
Oracle ends all Itanium development
File this one under “Oracle takes another dig at HP” or “Oracle kicks Intel when it’s already down”. In a statement overnight, the database company said it had decided to stop all software development for the Intel Itanium microprocessor, where HP is one of the few server makers still supporting the chip. Read more
Intel phone chief quits abruptly
The head of Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group abruptly quit on Monday, dealing another blow to the chipmaker’s attempts to penetrate the cellphone market. Anand Chandrasekher, a 24-year veteran who was leading that assault as senior vice president and general manager, announced he was leaving Intel “to pursue other interests”. Read more
If there was still any doubt that events have taken a definite turn for the worse for PC makers since the end of last year, February revenue numbers from the world’s biggest contract manufacturers should put them to rest.
Hon Hai, maker of Apple products (and also desktops for Dell), saw revenues fall by 18 per cent month-on-month. Taiwan’s Compal and Quanta, the top two contract notebook makers, saw revenues decline by 18 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, compared to January. All came in well below analysts’ expectations. Read more
Lenovo to sell Intel Classmate PC
Intel has found a multi-national backer for its Classmate PC, with Lenovo promising wider distribution of the laptop for schoolchildren. Intel and Lenovo announced today their partnership would begin with the deployment of 158,000 Classmate+ laptops to students in Argentina this spring. The model is the same as existing Classmates, but Lenovo says its scale as a PC maker means it can offer it in many different hardware configurations, depending on each country and education body’s requirements. It will cost in the region of $300-$400. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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