Apparently, while both did not have good revenue and profit performances in most of 2017, chipmakers Intel and MediaTek have both witnessed significantly improved gross margins in the fourth quarter due mainly to their efforts in trimming operating costs and adjusting business deployments.

Digitimes' deep throats think that this cost-cutting should give them a strong year which could be seen in Intel’s last quarter results. Intel's revenues for the quarter rose four percent on year - much better than Wall Street expected.

Intel is now making 47 percent of its cash from the non-PC business. Datacenter revenues are surging 20 percent on year to US$5.6 billion, IoT revenues soaring 21 percent to US$879 million, and FPGA incomes shooting up 35 percent, which together could offset the decreases in revenues from the PC sector.

Chipzilla’s gross margins rose 1.4 percent  on year to 63.1 percent in fourth quarter 2017, due partly to sales growth of high-profit server platforms and partly to sharp cuts in personnel and marketing expenses.

MediaTek had been given a good kicking from Qualcomm in the high tier smartphone chip segment while facing fierce competition in the midrange space. It suffered from delays in the launch of crucial chip solutions and that led to sharp decreases in orders from customers.

However, MediaTek's solved its problems by cutting R&D expenses by 40 percent and its trimming of personnel costs following the appointment of Rick Tsai, former CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), as the IC designer's co-CEO in June 2017.

MediaTek is better galvanised to challenge new business goals in 2018, as it has received orders from Apple for wireless chips and may also tap into the supply chain of modem chips for iPhone devices.

While Imagination will point out that being propped up by Apple is always a bit of a poisoned chalice, it should stabilise the company long enough for its other adjustments to go through.
.