Notes From All Over -- Semiconductor Update: February 11, 2021

Apple: Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, and AMD ask for government incentives; Apple supplier TSMC expands to meet unprecedented demand. Huge story. Expands? Operative word: "considerable." As in "undertaking a considerable expansion as chip demand outstrips supply."

Apple: led semiconductor buying last year (2020) -- previously posted --

• Apple remained the top semiconductor chip buyer in 2020 with 12% of the overall market
• Samsung was second with an 8% market share
• Huawei spent 23% less on the year compared to the over 20% gains for Apple ans Samsung due to the increased U.S. trade restrictions. The company still came in third with a 4% share
• Lenovo and Dell rounded out the top five with a 4% and 3.7% share, respectively.
  

Apple: car talk? Did Tim Cook just re-run the numbers? Better to become a semiconductor company or a car company. 

Intel, in particular, has suffered from a myriad of problems. With major client Apple dropping Intel for its own custom silicon, and Microsoft expected to follow suit in the near future, Intel has struggled to deliver technological innovations. This is after the company has repeatedly reported delays with its latest processors, while its main competitor, AMD, has proceeded to capture valuable market share. After a major investor pushed Intel to shake up its entire business model, the company is hoping that new CEO Pat Gelsinger will help it to find its way.

Apple/Amazon: on-line retailer drops the Green 64GB wi-fi iPad to $539.99, down from $599. This beats the previous all-time-low price by about $10 -- it's the best online right now among the major Apple retailers. We'll check in on Costco later. 

Apple Safe Browsing: in new updates, Apple will proxy Google's "Safe Browsing" service used in Safari through its own servers instead of relying on Google as a way to limit which personal data Google sees about users. 

Home prices: jump 15% in 4Q20 pandemic real estate rally. Bloomberg.

The Northeast led the way as buyers rushed to the suburbs. Fairfield County, Connecticut, home to Greenwich and other tony towns, rose 39% for the biggest increase in the U.S.