Tag Archives: stm

Facebook’s Oculus Rift Unveiled: Texas Instruments, Cypress Inside

Wall Street largely yawned Thursday after an iFixit teardown showed that Facebook ( FB )-owned Oculus Rift totes chips from STMicroelectronics ( STM ), Texas Instruments ( TXN ) and Cypress Semiconductor ( CY ). In afternoon trading on the stock market today , STMicroelectronics stock was up 1%, but shares of Texas Instruments and Cypress were down 1%. Shares of graphics chipmakers Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) were both down a fraction. Their GPUs (graphics processing units) are recommended for installation in PCs running the Rift headset. Oculus’ virtual reality headset has been in development for four years, according to iFixit, which also dismantled two earlier developmental versions. Facebook acquired Oculus in July 2014 for $2 billion. The Rift was finally unveiled March 28. On Wednesday, iFixit’s teardown sent shares of Cypress and Texas Instruments up as much as 5.8% and 2.4%, with both ending the day up about 1.6%. Cypress supplies a hub controller, which allows multiple USB-connected devices to be plugged in at once. Texas Instruments’ input comes in the form of an LED driver, which controls for image brightness and grayscale. STMicroelectronics supplied the Rift with an ARM-based microcontroller. But STMicroelectronics stock fell 1.1% Wednesday. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia flew as much as 4.2% and 2.4% Wednesday, before closing flat and up 1.1%, respectively. Image provided by Shutterstock .

Samsung Galaxy S7: Qualcomm, Qorvo Displace Cirrus Logic, Broadcom

Apple ( AAPL ) supplier Qualcomm ( QCOM ) quintupled its content in the Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone as radio frequency-chipmaker  Broadcom ( AVGO ) repeatedly lost share to rival Qorvo ( QRVO ), a ChipWorks teardown  shows. The ChipWorks teardown was last week, but it was highlighted in a research report Monday by Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill. InvenSense ( INVN ), another Apple supplier, apparently lost the GS7 gyroscope to STMicroelectronics ( STM ). InvenSense stock was down 1.5% in midday trading on the stock market today . STMicro stock was up a fraction. Three  Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) chips were completely replaced in the GS7. Key winners in getting their chips inside the new phone, besides Qualcomm and Qorvo, included  NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI ) and Maxim Integrated Products ( MXIM ). Although Broadcom retained a power amplifier, rival Qorvo swiped two Broadcom components from the GS7. But Broadcom replaced a Skyworks multiband module (a power amplifier). Last week, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan bragged that the chipmaker has increased its content by 20% every year for its “North American customer,” which analysts said is the Apple iPhone, and that another bump is expected with the release of the next iPhone, the iPhone 7, due out in September. Meanwhile, though, Broadcom is de-emphasizing its mobile unit, which will comprise 23% of Q2 sales, down from 32% in Q1, as smartphone shipments slow amid a saturated market. Samsung lowered its own chip content in the GS7 vs. the GS6. Qualcomm took four chips (including the application processor) from Samsung and replaced Cirrus Logic ( CRUS )/Wolfson on an audio chip. SK Hynix, NXP and Maxim each replaced a Samsung component. But Samsung swapped STMicroelectronics’ touch controller in the GS6 for its own controller in the GS7. And Texas Instruments ( TXN ) lost the wireless power receiver to Integrated Device Technology ( IDTI ).

9 chip stocks riding on Apple Watch

Teardowns of the Apple Watch are revealing which chip companies won Apple’s (AAPL) business for the new smartwatch. ABI Research broke open a sealed S1 processor in the Apple Watch to learn which chip companies supplied components. In a report posted Thursday, ABI said that the S1 chipset included chips from Broadcom (BRCM), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), SanDisk (SNDK) and STMicroelectronics (STM). The brains of the Apple Watch also included chips from AMS, Dialog Semiconductor, Integrated Device Technology (IDTI), Analog Devices (ADI) and the Elpida unit of Micron Technology (MU). Those chips run the gamut from wireless communications and flash memory to sensors. “A few of (the) key surprises in the design are two touch-controller design wins for ADI and the IDT wireless charging receiver,” ABI said. One loser was InvenSense (INVN), which lost the accelerometer-gyroscope component business to STMicroelectronics, the tech company Chipworks reported in its teardown….