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Today’s topics include Intel’s partnership with rival ARM to build 10nm mobile chips, the new graphics capabilities in Intel’s seventh generation Core processors, Microsoft’s tips on how to fix PCs disabled by the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and the announcement that Apple will open a research and development facility in China within the year.
Intel and ARM in recent years have become serious rivals in different sectors of the processor market. Intel has failed to make much headway into a mobile chip space dominated by ARM and its partners, while ARM has been trying to gain traction in data centers where Intel silicon powers more than 95 percent of servers.
Now, these two rivals are coming together in a partnership that promises to benefit both companies. At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco Aug. 16, officials from both vendors announced that Intel’s chip foundry business will build processors chips for mobile and consumer devices based on ARM’s architecture.
The agreement will boost Intel’s custom manufacturing business, which the company has been building for the past few years, by adding intellectual property from ARM whose chip architecture powers almost all of the smartphones and tablets in the world.
Intel officials may be reducing the chip maker’s dependence on the stagnant PC market, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up on the systems.
During his keynote address in San Francisco on Aug. 16 on the opening day of the Intel Developer Forum, CEO Brian Krzanich showed off systems running on the company’s upcoming seventh-Generation Core “Kaby Lake” chips, boasting of the processors’ abilities to smoothly run 4K videos and 3D applications, thanks to integrated graphics capabilities.
In addition, Krzanich also showed a two-in-one system from HP Inc. powered by the new processors, which showed how quickly PCs powered by the chips can run such demanding workloads as editing high-resolution 4K video from a GoPro camera.
Instead of taking advantage of some the power user- and developer-friendly features included in this month’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update, some PC owners were instead greeted by unresponsive hardware.
“Microsoft has received a small number of reports of Windows 10 freezing after installing the Anniversary Update on systems with the operating system stored on a solid-state drive and apps and data stored on a separate drive,” wrote a Microsoft forum moderator on Aug. 10.
“This issue does not occur when starting Windows 10 in Safe Mode. “Alternately, users can revert to the previous version of Windows 10, an option that remains available for 10 days after the update is applied. Step by step instructions are available in this Microsoft support forum thread.
Apple has committed to building a research and development facility in China, a number of sources have reported. Apple CEO Tim Cook, during his ninth visit to China, met with senior government officials this week and promised to increase investment in the country.
An Apple spokesperson said that the R&D facility will open this year and focus on developing new products and “strengthening relationships with local partners and universities,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
While China had been a fast-growing market for Apple, during the company’s most recent fiscal quarter sales in China were down 33 percent.