The little red chequebook opens

The Chinese government appears to be opening its little red chequebook and buying up chipmakers from what it calls its renegade province. 

And not just because of ultra-thin notebooks

It is looking like it will be a grim year for notebooks as component makers have given up any hopes of improvement this year.

Ancient Babylonian tablets lasted longer 

Demand for Tablets is getting so weak that more chip suppliers to phase out their tablet-IC businesses.

Saving cash

Taiwanese notebook vendors are starting to standardise common components including motherboards, heat-sinks, hinges and chassis in an attempt to minimize production costs.

Even TSMC

Taiwan's top-three IC foundries are seeing a weak third quarter with their combined revenues set to decrease and 3.7 per cent on year.

Hardware industry sighs

PC makers are already predicting that any knock on demand for their product based on Windows 10 will be slow to happen.

Go directly to jail do not collect $200

Fruity cargo cult Apple has found that its anti-competitive practices of forcing telcos to do what they are told do not go down well in Taiwan.

We need our chips Kim Jong-un

And its patent on wedge\teardrop shaped light notebooks