Is Hector Ruiz launching AMD into the business of making PCs? Not exactly. But after getting pummeled by Intel in 2007, the chipmaker wants to have more of a hand in designing them. It's no longer enough to sell chips, a field in which AMD excels technically; one must sell "chipsets" — entire ready-to-go packages of computing parts, including all the silicon a computer needs. Dell, HP, and others will actually manufacture AMD's new "Business Class" desktops and notebooks.

Storage is a predictable need; have you ever heard anyone say they need less of it? That has long been EMC's pitch to Wall Street — that demand for its storage hardware and software is ever reliable. The earnings news from the company is mixed: Customers are still buying, with revenues up 17 percent to $3.5 billion, but buyers in the U.S. are taking longer to make up their minds and sign purchase orders. Rational caution, or a sign of trouble ahead? EMC CEO Joe Tucci, in a conference call, acknowledged that the environment was "tough," but stood by his earlier forecasts. If EMC's customers continue their delaying tactics, they may prove Tucci overconfident. At some point, his salespeople will bow on price to seal deals and make their quotas. Storage may be a necessity, but EMC's profit margins, which rose to 15.8 percent in the quarter, are not.

Steve Jobs likes to say that Apple is the last company that makes "the whole widget." But it doesn't, not really. Sure, Apple makes software and designs hardware — but inside its gadgets are silicon brains from the likes of Samsung and Intel. Jobs is adept at bullying chipmakers for lower prices and faster delivery, but he can't order around their engineers like he does his own employees. That must rile him. Jobs's ego, therefore, is the best explanation for Apple's $278 million acquisition of PA Semi, a microprocessor design startup. But is Apple getting into the ruthlessly competitive semiconductor business?

Do most flat-screen TVs strike you as numbingly similar? That's because under the hood, they are. LCD production is consolidating into an ever smaller number of suppliers. Sony and Samsung compete on store shelves, but they buy their LCDs from the same company — S-LCD, a joint venture. Now Sony is forming a new joint venture with Sharp, another fierce rival. Why? Moore's Law, the overlord of chips, is moving into the TV world. Making an LCD screen requires skill in handling silicon, and billion-dollar investments: Sharp's latest plant costs $3.5 billion, an expense Sony will now subsidize.

Spending on semiconductor equipment will drop 15 percent this year. Does that matter? Only if you've forgotten why they call it Silicon Valley — something to do with computer chips, right? The chip factories, or "fabs," have moved abroad, and today's entrepreneurs fantasize about micropayments, not microprocessors. And yet the tech economy still ebbs and flows with the waves of chips designed here, stamped out overseas, and assembled into gadgets that arrive at our ports by the containerload.

High-end graphics card maker Nvidia is making an ad push to make the brand as recognizable as Intel, which has spend millions on its "Intel Inside" ad campaign. Nvidia controls more than two-thirds of the market for desktop graphics cards but is facing competition from Intel and AMD, which bought graphics chipmaker ATI last year. Must be exciting for Nvidia marketing exec Dan Vivoli, who finally gets to spend some money after 10 years at the company: The ad campaign could cost as much as $30 million-$40 million, compared to a $353,000 spend in the first 9 months of 2007.

Dell has stopped selling almost all consumer PCs with AMD processors in favor of chips from Intel. It will continue to sell AMD machines over the phone and through retail partners like Wal-Mart, but since much of Dell's computer sales are through its website, this is a serious blow to AMD. Dell spokesman David Frink did not give any reasoning behind the switch, but said "we adjust our product offerings frequently." A posting on the Direct2Dell blog said "we are committed to the AMD product lines as a long-term partner to provide the maximum choice for our customers." Translation: Intel gave Dell a better deal. AMD shareholders were not impressed with the switch: AMD was off almost 3.5 percent on the day. (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

Gadget battles are won and lost on the price of components. In that regard, Sony has had poor luck with its latest PlayStation console. Its hulking size, exorbitant price, and dearth of interesting titles left it vulnerable to the Wii's unexpected rise. Gamers were more interested in the Wii's casual fun than the PS3's sophisticated Cell processor, especially since the available games hardly made much use of the expensive piece of gear. But the Cell is about to get cheaper. Manufacturer IBM has reduced the size of the chip to 45 nanometers, a technological leap which will at once make the processor cheaper and easier to cool, requiring a smaller case. Good news, at long last, for Sony.

Cisco is introducing a new $75,000 piece of networking equipment, the Nexus 7000. It will, in theory, consume less power while shuttling YouTube clips and videogame downloads to your PC. Great, one more thing to feel guilty about: How your bandwidth consumption contributes to global warming. Before we know it, every Prius owner in Berkeley is going to be buying one of these things for their home datacenters.

The Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 works "perfectly well" on a Mac as is, Ina Fried notes on Beyond Binary. But Microsoft marketers have learned their lesson. They no longer expect Mac users to pick up a package marked "Certified for Windows Vista," with a jumble of specs on the front. Here's how Microsoft renamed and repackaged the same mouse for Mac users.

Ed Coleman will leave his post as CEO of Acer subsidiary Gateway at the end of January, according to reports. Coleman's departure paves the way for integrating Gateway with its new Taiwanese parent, which completed its $710 million Gateway acquisition in October. President of Acer Pan America Rudi Schmidleithner will assume Coleman's responsibilities. But we expect ruthless Acer chairman J. T. Wang to keep calling the shots back in Taiwan.

Goat-bearded Wall Street Journal gadget sage Walt Mossberg published his annual fall PC buyer's guide today. Great advice, but eight times too long. I've whittled it down to a PowerPoint-friendly bullet list.

The problem with selling your wares to Fortune 500 companies? There are only 500 of them. And the high-priced, hard-charging sales force required to woo them is prone to scandal, as a recent sex-bias lawsuit against EMC alleges. That, I believes, explains why the storage-hardware maker is getting into the consumer business with its $76 million purchase of Mozy, an online data-backup service. With only 180,000 customers, the purchase price seems high, as GigaOm and others have noted. But small businesses are often better courted with consumer-friendly offerings than with hard-sell pitchmen.