ELECTRONICS

On Monday, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said it will pay $5.4 billion to acquire Canadian graphics chip maker ATI Technologies Inc., putting pressure on rival Nvidia Corp., the other dominant maker of graphics chips.

Intel Corp. announced on Thursday that it is making a number of senior management changes focused on improving the company's structure and achieving better decision-making.

Yahoo Inc., the world's largest Internet media company, and Motorola Inc., the second-biggest maker of mobile phones, said late on Wednesday that Motorola will embed Yahoo services on tens of millions of phones.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. said on Wednesday it will launch four new models of high-definition plasma TVs, including the world's largest with a 103-inch panel, challenging LCD TVs' lead in offering higher resolution images.

Sony Corp. is to launch two models of high-definition camcorders that record images onto DVD discs and hard disk drives (HDDs), the first camcorder maker to offer such products, the company said on Wednesday.

Hollywood movie studios are set to allow secure transfer of downloadable movies to DVDs for the first time by using new software to facilitate the process.

Global companies extending their networks into Africa will find it a challenge to establish easy telecom links in comparison to the better established systems in the U.S., Europe or Asia. While mobile phone use is growing rapidly across the continent, fixed-line density is low and Internet access is limited.

Advanced Micro Devices, the second largest comp microprocessor company, announced that last month it began shipping processors manufactured at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, in Singapore.

Software giant Microsoft and South Africa's cellular group Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) announced on Tuesday a collaboration to provide affordable internet connection services in South Africa.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., the maker of Panasonic brand electronics, said on Monday it hoped to start selling the world's largest plasma television by early next year.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is set to report a 7 percent fall in quarterly profit on Friday on shrinking margins in mobile phones and flat screens, but analysts forecast a recovery in the second half.

Global semiconductor sales for May increased 9.4 percent from a year ago to $19.7 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported on Wednesday.

AT&T says that the initial customers of its latest Internet TV offering have been pleased. But with experts citing a number of problems and limitations, will the new service be embraced?

Wireless companies hoping to emulate the success of online teen hangout Web sites like MySpace.com on cellphones are finding it hard to entice teenagers away from their computers.

The battle for the next generation of DVDs intensified on Tuesday as Sony Corp. released its first set of seven movies for the new Blu-ray Disc format to coincide with the sale of the first new player this week by Samsung.

IBM has built a transistor that runs about 100 times faster than current chips, a development that could pave the way for ultra-fast computers and wireless networks, the computing giant said on Monday.

The next-generation DVD format war limps on in the coming weeks as Blu-ray - one of two formats vying to become the high-definition standard - officially launches its first player and titles.

A standard-setting organization has put on hold its review of an advanced wireless technology favored by Qualcomm Inc. due to a squabble involving Intel Corp., The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Texas Instruments Inc. on Thursday raised its outlook for second-quarter earnings and revenue above market expectations on strong demand across its chip business, boosting its shares 3 percent.

The global semiconductor market is likely to grow 10.1 percent this year, World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) said on Tuesday, raising its earlier forecast of 8.0 percent growth due to brisk memory chip demand.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the No. 2 maker of microchips for personal computers, said on Monday it will spend an additional $2.5 billion to upgrade and expand its two factories in Germany.