Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices announced the departure of three senior executives on Monday following recent layoffs and the appointment of a new CEO.

John Byrne, general manager of AMD’s Computing and Graphics Business Group, is leaving, as are Chief Marketing Officer Colette LaForce and Chief Strategy Officer Raj Naik, the company said in a press release.

AMD has seen its stock market value halved since 2011 as the company lost market share to much-larger Intel.

It has been expanding into new markets such as game consoles and low-power servers, but progress has been slower than demanded by Wall Street.

Lisa Su was promoted to CEO in October after joining the company in 2012 as senior vice president and general manager, global business units. She will take up Byrne’s duties as AMD looks for a replacement, the company said.

The Computing and Graphics Business Group includes AMD’s core business of processors for personal computers.

The changes are “part of implementing an optimal organization design and leadership team to further sharpen our execution and position AMD for growth,” spokesman Drew Prairie said in an email.

AMD also said its board of directors approved retention awards for Chief Financial Officer Devinder Kumar and Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster.

Following Su’s appointment as CEO, the timing of which surprised Wall Street, AMD announced it was cutting seven percent of its workforce.

Shares of AMD were down 0.76 percent in extended trade after closing flat on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Gunna Dickson)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Upcoming bracelets with technology from Intel and design cues from fashion brand Opening Ceremony will connect the wearer with Facebook, Google and Yelp via an AT&T data plan without having to carry a smartphone.

Called My Intelligent Communication Accessory, or Mica, the snakeskin bracelets are aimed at fashion-conscious women and are an attempt by the two companies to stand out in a growing field of often-clunky smartwatches and fitness brands that have yet to catch on widely with consumers.

“We really approached this first and foremost about why would a woman want to wear this everyday, and how can it be incorporated into her wardrobe,” Humberto Leon, creative director at Opening Ceremony, said in a phone interview last week.

As well as lapis stones, obsidian and an 18k gold coating, the devices include a sapphire curved screen on the inside of the wrist that displays text messages, calendar items and events from Google and Facebook, and recommendations of nearby restaurants and stores from Yelp.

After Intel was late to smartphones and tablets in recent years, Chief Executive Brian Krzanich has been determined to make sure the top chipmaker is at the forefront of future trends in mobile computing.

Krzanich gave the green light for the chipmaker to develop the bracelet with Opening Ceremony after his wife wore a prototype for several days and liked it, he recently said.

Incoming alerts discreetly vibrate the bracelet instead of making a noise. Its $495 price tag includes a two-year data plan with AT&T, which means it does not rely on a smartphone for connectivity, as most smartwatches do, the companies said in a press release on Monday.

As well as working with Opening Ceremony, Intel in March bought fitness bracelet maker Basis Science, and it has teamed up with watch retailer Fossil Group to develop other wearable computing devices.

The bracelets, which Intel says have a battery life up to two days, will be sold starting by early December through Opening Ceremony and Barney’s upscale department stores.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Tom Brown)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Nvidia on Thursday posted higher fiscal third-quarter revenue that was above Wall Street’s expectations, fueled by the company’s latest graphics chips for personal computers as well as processors for data centers and cars.

Revenue in the fiscal third-quarter, ended Oct. 26, was $1.225 billion, up 16 percent from the year-ago quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.202 billion.

For the current fourth quarter, Nvidia said it expects revenue of $1.20 billion, plus or minus two percent. Analysts on average expected fourth-quarter revenue of $1.198 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Third-quarter net income was $173 million, or 31 cents a share, compared to $119 million, or 20 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per share were 39 cents.

After struggling to compete against larger chipmakers like Qualcomm in smartphones and tablets, Nvidia has increased its focus on using its Tegra chips to power entertainment and advanced navigation systems in cars made by companies including Volkswagen’s Audi, BMW and Tesla.

In the third quarter, revenue from Tegra chips for automobiles and mobile devices jumped 51 percent to $168 million.

Nvidia’s much larger PC graphics chip business expanded 13 percent to $991 million.

Shares of Nvidia rose 1.34 percent in extended trade, after closing up 0.45 percent at $20.22 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Qualcomm warned on Wednesday that an antitrust investigation and problems collecting royalties could harm its business in China next year, and it also disclosed new regulatory investigations in the United States and Europe.

China’s expanding high-speed 4G network is driving demand for smartphones with leading-edge technology, but Qualcomm’s opportunities have been clouded by an 11-month-old antitrust investigation there.

Wall Street is worried. Qualcomm could face a fine of more than $1 billion in China as a result of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) investigation, and the company could be forced to make concessions that would hurt its highly profitable business of charging royalties on phones that use its patents.

Qualcomm also said it faces a new probe by the European Commission about rebates and other financial incentives in the sale of its chips. Another preliminary investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission concerns a potential breach of licensing terms, the company said.

On Wednesday, Qualcomm’s shares slid about six percent to $72.50 in extended trading from a $77.20 close on the Nasdaq.

“We’re continuing to cooperate with the NDRC. We’ve continued to meet with them regularly, exchange some ideas for potential ways to resolve it,” Qualcomm President Derek Aberle said in a telephone interview. “But we don’t have an ability to update in terms of expectations and timing.”

Qualcomm has also been struggling to collect licensing revenue from some device makers in China, including local manufacturers the U.S. chipmaker has done little or no business with in the past.

Any concessions on royalties that Qualcomm is forced to make in China could spread to manufacturers in other countries, some investors said.

“What people are most worried about is the ability to fence in this issue to Chinese vendors if there’s a reduced royalty rate, or does it spread to other geographies,” Standard Life portfolio manager Brian Fox said.

Qualcomm said it was difficult to predict the outcome of the U.S. and European investigations.

The European probe is separate from a four-year-old complaint to the European Commission from a subsidiary of Nvidia over alleged patent-related incentives and exclusionary pricing by Qualcomm.

Qualcomm forecast revenue for fiscal 2015 of between $26.8 billion and $28.8 billion. Analysts on average expected $28.91 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company also expects non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2015 to be between $5.05 and $5.35. Analysts on average expected $5.58.

The chipmaker reported revenue of $6.69 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Sept. 28, up three percent from the year-ago period. Analysts on average had expected $7.016 billion.

Qualcomm posted fourth-quarter net income of $1.89 billion, up 26 percent from a year ago. GAAP earnings per share were $1.11, while non-GAAP earnings were $1.26 per share.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Andre Grenon and Lisa Shumaker)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Struggling U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices said Thursday it was cutting seven percent of its workforce, and it gave a lower-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter, sending its shares lower.

The company’s third major round of job cuts since 2011 comes a week after AMD said Chief Executive Officer Rory Read had been replaced by Chief Operating Officer Lisa Su, an unexpected move that sparked speculation about fresh troubles at the chipmaker and hurt the company’s stock.

“They’re cleaning house and getting it set up for Lisa Su to take over,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Kevin Cassidy said of the workforce reduction, which AMD said would be made by December and save about $9 million in the fourth quarter and $85 million next year.

AMD had 10,149 employees at the end of the September quarter.

AMD has seen its market value nearly halved since Read took over in 2011 as the company lost market share to much-larger Intel.

AMD has been expanding into new markets such as game consoles and low-power servers but progress has been slower than demanded by Wall Street.

In a statement, AMD reported third-quarter revenue and gave a forecast for current-quarter revenue, both of which missed expectations; its shares were down about five percent in extended trade.

AMD said its revenue fell two percent to $1.43 billion in the third quarter, missing Wall Street expectations.

The company said its fourth-quarter revenue would fall 13 percent, plus or minus three percent, from the September quarter. That would be about $1.244 billion.

Analysts on average had expected revenue of $1.47 billion in the third quarter and $1.48 billion in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

AMD reported a net profit of $17 million, or two cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with a net gain of $48 million, or six cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, AMD earned three cents per share.

In the third quarter, AMD’s Computing and Graphics group, which includes processors for PCs, saw its revenue fall 16 percent year over year.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Intel gave a current-quarter revenue forecast above expectations and said the supply chain was in good shape ahead of holiday season as demand for personal computers recovered.

A global slump in personal computer demand that began with Apple’s launch of the iPad four years ago has stabilized in recent months, in part due to companies replacing employees’ older laptops.

Intel said in a statement on Tuesday that demand for its chips was in good shape.

“The worldwide PC supply chain appears to be healthy, with inventory levels appropriate in anticipation of the fourth quarter retail cycles,” Intel said.

The recovering PC industry has helped push Intel’s shares 24 percent higher in 2014, making it the top performer in the Dow Jones industrial average.

“The telling thing will be next year. Do we continue to get a healthier, more stable PC market?,” said Ascendiant Capital analyst Cody Acree. “I think the enterprise refresh largely plays out by the end of 2014 and then next year the PC industry returns to modest annual declines.”

Tuesday’s results, the first from a major technology company this earnings season, came after Chandler, Ariz.-based Microchip warned last Thursday of weak demand in China that would soon become visible across the chip industry, sparking a broad selloff in chip stocks.

Intel said its gross margins would likely slip to 64 percent in the current quarter from 65 percent in the third quarter.

Intel has made little progress expanding from the PC industry into chips for smartphones and has been spending heavily to catch up to Qualcomm.

For the third quarter, Intel said its mobile and communications group had an operating loss of $1.04 billion on revenue of $1 million, reflecting subsidies Intel has been paying to persuade tablet makers to use its chips.

Intel posted third-quarter net income of $3.32 billion, or 66 cents a share, compared with $2.95 billion, or 58 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter as demand for personal computers stabilized. Analysts on average expected EPS of 65 cents.

Third-quarter revenue was $14.6 billion, up eight percent from the year-ago quarter, Intel said. It expects fourth-quarter revenue of $14.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million.

Analysts on average expected third-quarter revenue of $14.44 billion and fourth-quarter revenue of $14.48 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of Intel were up 2.05 percent in extended trading after closing up 2.13 percent at $32.14 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Chris Reese and Meredith Mazzilli)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

ARM Holdings unveiled a new chip design on Tuesday suited for factory automation, cars and home security systems, underscoring the company’s focus on a growing wave of Internet-connected industrial and household devices.

Cambridge, England-based ARM licenses its processor technology to chipmakers across the smartphone industry, but its intellectual property is also used in everything from DVD players to coffee makers.

ARM is beefing up its offering of technology aimed at “smart,” connected-home and industrial devices, a trend electronics companies are betting will fuel new growth as the explosive demand for smartphones loses steam.

ARM Chief Executive Simon Segars said many connected-home products currently on the market serve little purpose to most consumers, adding that the best smart devices in the future will be those that clearly save people money.

“The day the refrigerator talks to the milk carton, that’s in a gimmicky category. But to have the dishwasher and refrigerator coordinate their cycles to reduce the electricity load — that becomes useful,” Segars told Reuters.

The Cortex-M7 processor design announced on Tuesday is meant for high-end microcontroller chips and has been licensed by chipmakers Atmel, Freescale and STMicroelectronics.

Microcontrollers are tiny computers on a chip and are used in everything from cars to microwave ovens.

The new processor’s computing power is comparable to a personal computer from the mid-1990s and is capable of handling image recognition in a home security camera or voice recognition in a smart car audio system, according to ARM.

Last year, ARM’s licensees sold a bit more than 10 billion chips made with ARM processor technology, about half of which went into mobile devices, with the rest used in everything from washing machines to digital TVs.

“We’re looking at everywhere computing happens and seeing an opportunity for an ARM processor,” Segars said.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich, editing by G Crosse)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Chipmaker Intel has hired Amir Faintuch, a senior executive at rival Qualcomm, to step up efforts in mobile and Internet-connected gadgets.

Hiring a senior executive from a major competitor is rare for Intel, which is known in Silicon Valley for its insular culture, and it reflects the eagerness of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker to improve its struggling mobile business.

Faintuch, who previously oversaw Qualcomm’s networking and connectivity businesses as president of Qualcomm Atheros, is joining Intel as a senior vice president and co-general manager of the Platform Engineering Group, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said on Friday.

He will be among Intel’s dozen or so most senior executives and will co-manage the Platform Engineering Group with Josh Walden, a manufacturing technology expert who previously led the group.

Mulloy told Reuters that in addition to strong network skills, Faintuch brings experience designing “system on chips,” or SoCs, which combine features like modems, Wi-Fi and memory.

While Intel excels at developing processors for laptops and desktop computers, it has less experience designing SoCs, which are widely used in smartphones and tablets.

“We want to accelerate our success rate with SoCs and get the designs aligned and the roadmaps aligned to do that,” Mulloy said. “We’ve made good progress but there’s more to be done. Amir has extensive management experience and a strong resume.”

A Qualcomm spokesman had no comment beyond confirming Faintuch’s departure.

Bringing in Faintuch, which was announced in an email to Intel employees on Friday, is the latest move by the company to accelerate progress in mobile gadgets, where it trails Qualcomm.

Since taking over in 2013, CEO Brian Krzanich has made a number of sweeping changes designed to counteract a slump in PC sales, including opening Intel’s cutting-edge factories to other chipmakers willing to pay for access to them.

In May, Intel reached an agreement with Chinese SoC specialist Rockchip to make chips for inexpensive tablets running Google’s Android platform.

As Intel struggles with declining PC sales and slow progress in mobile, Qualcomm, whose smartphone chips lead the industry, has been viewed by many engineers in recent years as a potentially more attractive place to work.

In 2012, senior executive Anand Chandrasekher, a 25-year Intel veteran, jumped over to Qualcomm to become the San Diego company’s chief marketing officer.

(Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.