• Samsung Networks appoints new head of Europe
• Broadcom reports 47% hike in fiscal Q3 revenues
• Qualcomm is believed to be eyeing up Intel units

In today’s industry news roundup: A former Ericsson executive has joined Samsung Networks as its new head of Europe; chip vendor Broadcom gets a healthy revenue boost from its VMware division; Qualcomm is rumoured to be interested in buying some Intel design units; and more!

Samsung Networks has appointed Everth (Eduardo) Flores, until recently the CEO at Ericsson Netherlands, as a VP and head of Samsung Networks Europe. Flores, who was previously based in Amsterdam but is now located in Reading in the UK, spent more than eight years at Ericsson, a short time at Harmonic and almost eight years at Cisco before taking a short break earlier this year prior to joining Samsung Networks earlier this month. “Samsung Networks is a disruptor with a proven tradition of innovation and market leadership in vRAN and Open RAN technologies,” noted Flores in this LinkedIn post. “Working together with our customers and partners, Samsung is enabling the transformation of our world’s networks to unlock immense opportunities and boundless connectivity. I am proud to be leading our European business and really look forward to making the future happen today!” he added. Flores has his work cut out to prise market share away from Ericsson and Nokia in Europe, but the South Korean vendor has already made some headway in recent years, particularly by emerging as Vodafone’s primary Open RAN technology partner across multiple early deployments in Europe. 

Chip giant Broadcom, which late last year acquired cloud platform vendor VMware for $61bn, has reported revenues of $13bn, up by 47% year on year, for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2024, which ended on 4 August. Without the sales contribution from VMware, the vendor’s revenues were up by 4% year on year. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 42% to $8.2bn. “Broadcom’s third-quarter results reflect continued strength in our AI semiconductor solutions and VMware,” stated president and CEO Hock Tan. “We expect revenue from AI to be $12bn for fiscal year 2024 driven by Ethernet networking and custom accelerators for AI datacentres. The transformation of VMware continues to progress very well. The integration of VMware is driving adjusted EBITDA margin to 64% of revenue as we exit fiscal year 2024,” noted Tan. For further details of Broadcom’s financials, see this announcement. 

With Intel expected to unveil further restructuring efforts this month, speculation is rife about whether it might seek to offload parts of its business to raise capital and reduce costs. According to Reuters, wireless chip giant Qualcomm “has explored the possibility of acquiring portions of Intel’s design business to boost the company’s product portfolio,” with Intel’s client PC design business seemingly of particular interest. According to Intel, Qualcomm has not approached it about any M&A deals. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is set to present a new plan to the company’s board in the coming weeks that could include the proposed sale of non-core assets, such as its programmable chip business Altera, which Intel acquired in 2015 for $16.7bn. 

Chip foundry firm Tower Semiconductor, based in Migdal, Israel, has forged a plan with Indian conglomerate Adani Group to build a $10bn chip manufacturing plant in the city of Panvel, located close to Mumbai in the State of Maharashtra, The Times of India has reported. Plans for the chip foundry have received approval at state level, but the joint application by Tower and Adani is still under review by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and the country’s IT ministry. If approved it would be only India’s second chip manufacturing facility: The other, a joint venture between Tata Group and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, has already been approved. Tower Semiconductor already operates two chip fabs in Israel, two in the US and two in Japan, as well as having access to other facilities. For its second quarter, Tower reported revenues of $351m and an operating profit of $55m. 

Samsung has been bigging up its AI credentials and advances at the IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin) consumer electronics show in Berlin this week. The South Korean giant presented its “AI For All” vision and reiterated its “commitment to democratise AI, enabling more people to benefit from its uses.” Benjamin Braun, chief marketing officer at Samsung Europe, stated: “Since our presentation at IFA last year, discussions around AI and its role in our lives have grown significantly. At Samsung, we are proud to make AI more accessible and understandable, showing how it can simplify life rather than complicate it. We believe AI should act like multiple pairs of helping hands, meeting your needs and the world beyond them. Our AI-enabled products allow people more time to focus on the things they care about.”

The US, European Union and UK are among the first signatories of the world’s first treaty on AI safeguards. The Council of Europe Framework Convention on artificial intelligence and human rights, democracy, and the rule of law is “the first-ever international legally binding treaty aimed at ensuring that the use of AI systems is fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” according to the council. The treaty was made available for signatures during a conference of Council of Europe Ministers of Justice in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 5 September and was signed by Andorra, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Norway, the Republic of Moldova, and San Marino, as well as the US, UK and EU. Council of Europe secretary general Marija Pejčinović Burić stated: “We must ensure that the rise of AI upholds our standards, rather than undermining them. The Framework Convention is designed to ensure just that. It is a strong and balanced text – the result of the open and inclusive approach by which it was drafted and which ensured that it benefits from multiple and expert perspectives. The Framework Convention is an open treaty with a potentially global reach. I hope that these will be the first of many signatures and that they will be followed quickly by ratifications, so that the treaty can enter into force as soon as possible.” According to the council, the treaty “provides a legal framework covering the entire lifecycle of AI systems. It promotes AI progress and innovation, while managing the risks it may pose to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. To stand the test of time, it is technology neutral.” Read more. 

– The staff, TelecomTV