SUNNYVALE, California (Reuters) – Advanced Micro Devices said it expects to report profits next year from its chip design business, the backbone of a company trying rebuild market share and better compete with rival Intel Corp..

AMD executives spent much of a meeting with analysts and investors on Wednesday emphasizing the company’s efforts to remake itself as profitable chip designer, while addressing worries over the heavy debt it has accumulated in doing so.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp <NVDA.O> forecast fourth quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations, and said its new server and mobile chips were gaining momentum.

Its shares rose 6 percent in after-hours trading.

The company, which also benefited from strong spending among consumers on its core graphics cards, said on Thursday, that its high-end server and mobile computing platforms — Tesla and Tegra, respectively — were quickly gaining momentum.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Shares of Intel Corp
<INTC.O> and other semiconductor makers slid on Tuesday after
Morgan Stanley downgraded the sector, warning that inventory
was creeping up and revenue growth could peak in early 2010.

Morgan Stanley, which downgraded bellwether Intel to
equal-weight from overweight, cast a shadow over growing
optimism among investors and executives that a revival in
corporate and consumer spending would prop up chip sales.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Former Advanced Micro
Devices Inc <AMD.N> Chief Executive Hector Ruiz will step down
as chairman of contract chip maker Globalfoundries, following
reports linking him to the largest hedge fund insider trading
scheme.

Media reports have said Ruiz passed on confidential
information regarding AMD’s spinoff of Globalfoundries to a
hedge fund manager when he was AMD’s CEO. [ID:nN28312250]

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Chip-equipment maker
KLA-Tencor Corp <KLAC.O> gave stronger-than-expected forecasts
for current quarter revenue and earnings, underscoring a
semiconductor industry rebound.

KLA-Tencor, which managed a slim fiscal first-quarter
profit after losing money the three previous quarters, had been
expected to turn in a strong performance after good numbers
from rivals such as Novellus Systems <NVLS.O>, which raised its
fourth-quarter outlook as demand for consumer electronics
begins to recover. [ID:nN21508048]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may have begun to recover in 2009, but holiday office parties are sinking even further into the dumps.

Fewer companies plan to break out the bubbly this season than in 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, according to a survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The linking of Advanced Micro Device’s former top executive to the largest U.S. insider trading scheme in decades may raise questions about its business practices — and that of the chipmaking venture, Globalfoundries, that it spun off.

AMD and Globalfoundries — launched in 2008 and considered an unlikely contender to heavyweight rivals TSMC and UMC of Taiwan — can ill afford a major legal and corporate distraction as the contract chipmaker tries to secure a foothold in a fiercely competitive sector.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Computer makers hoping for Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 7 operating system to free up a long-awaited corporate spending spree may have to wait until the second half of next year.

As the world’s top software maker prepared for its biggest product launch in a decade on Thursday, analysts said PC vendors already stood to benefit from a hardware refresh cycle next year. Microsoft’s new, supposedly more stable platform should serve as further impetus to upgrade aging machines.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – As Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 release approaches, early reviews are generally positive. But so were reviews for Windows Vista just before its launch.

In the months leading up to Windows 7′s release this Thursday, publications from ComputerWorld to the New York Times have written favorable assessments, praising, in particular, its increased speed and compatibility with older computers.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The top executives of General Electric and Comcast Corp, which sources say are negotiating a multi-billion dollar sale of NBC Universal, said they were keeping their options open but offered few hints of whether a deal may soon emerge.

On Tuesday, GE chief Jeff Immelt suggested a deal to sell its entertainment arm was not mandatory, with Comcast widely reported to be in talks to buy a majority stake in TV and movie studio NBC Universal.