SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Intel Corp
said on Monday that Chief Executive Officer Paul
Otellini will retire in May, as the world’s leading chipmaker
grapples with weak PC demand and an industry shift toward mobile
computing.

Intel said it would consider both internal and external
candidates for the CEO position and it expected the “leadership
transition” to last six months. Otellini is leaving before
Intel’s mandatory retiring age for its CEOs.

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Intel Corp said on Monday that Chief Executive Officer Paul Ottelini will retire in May, stepping down from the world’s leading chipmaker at time when it is grappling with weak PC demand as the industry shifts toward mobile computing.

Intel’s board said it would consider internal and external candidates for the CEO position and it expected the “leadership transition” to last six months.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Top chip gear-maker Applied Materials forecast current-quarter revenues below expectations as it struggles with a slowdown in spending on chip manufacturing equipment and troubles at its solar and display groups.

But the company said it expects business conditions to improve entering 2013, “with orders projected to increase after bottoming in the fourth quarter,” and its shares rose more than 2 percent in after hours trade.

SANTA CLARA, California, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s
chief executive said his company would look at more
opportunities to build its own devices, after the launch of its
Surface tablet last month, potentially bringing the software
giant into competition with its hardware partners and opening
the door to a Microsoft-branded phone.

“Do I anticipate that partners of ours will build the lion’s
share of all Windows devices over the next five years? The
answer is, absolutely,” Steve Ballmer said at a tech industry
event in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Texas Instruments is eliminating 1,700 jobs, as it winds down its mobile processor business to focus on chips for more profitable markets like cars and home appliances.

Texas Instruments said in September it would halt costly investments in the increasingly competitive smartphone and tablet chip business, leading Wall Street to speculate that part of the company’s processor unit, called OMAP, could be sold.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Advanced Micro Devices has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co to explore options, which could include a potential sale, as the chipmaker struggles to find a role in an industry increasingly focused on mobile and away from traditional PCs, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

The company’s stock surged 18 percent on the news before ending up 5 percent at $2.09 on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to explore
options, which could include a potential sale, as the chipmaker
struggles to find a role in an industry increasingly focused on
mobile and away from traditional PCs, according to three sources
familiar with the situation.

The company’s stock surged 18 percent on the news before
ending up 5 percent at $2.09 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Sources told Reuters on Tuesday that an outright sale of the
company is not a priority, and other options for AMD could
include a sale of its portfolio of patents.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue below expectations and also initiated a quarterly dividend as the graphics chipmaker pushes further into a growing tablet market to offset weak PC demand.

With PC sales suffering from economic uncertainty and a growing consumer preference for tablets, Nvidia has staked its future on leveraging its graphics expertise to make high-performance processors for mobile devices.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Intel and
Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled new server technology based
on the high-end niche Itanium processors at the center of a
recent dispute between Hewlett-Packard and Oracle Corp.

The future of servers built with Itanium chips was thrown
into doubt last year due to a bitter legal battle between
long-time partners HP and Oracle and it remains unclear to some
experts even after a California state court judge ruled in favor
of HP.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s iPad mini hit stores around the world on Friday, attracting sparser crowds than previous Apple launches, but the kickoff still drew hundreds of New Yorkers only days after one of the biggest storms to hit the United States.

A proliferation of rival gadgets aimed at the holidays and cheaper tablets from Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc may have sapped interest in Apple’s latest bet, resulting in shorter lines outside stores from Tokyo and Amsterdam to Sydney and Hong Kong.