SiliconBeat

Another local semiconductor company that appears to be showing signs of life is Nvidia, the Santa Clara maker of graphics-oriented chips - known as GPUs - that are highly valued by computer gamers and other folks.

This week the company reported it lost $105 million, its fourth such plunge into the red in the past five quarters. But it forecast improved sales for the next quarter and Wall Street seemed pleased, according to analysts whose notes are routinely checked by SiliconBeat.

Craig Berger of FBR Capital markets called Nvidia “an interesting story with many potential revenue growth drivers.”

And Hans Mosesmann of Raymond James had especially nice things to say about Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and CEO, saying he has “done an excellent job over the past year.”

There’s more evidence the chip industry is slowly climbing out of the recessionary muck where it’s been mired for months.

The latest good news comes from research firm IDC, which reported this week that worldwide shipments of personal computer microprocessor rose 10.1 percent from the first quarter of the year to the second.

Microprocessor shipments for the second quarter were up 12.5 percent for Intel, while those for Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.8 percent.

But don’t get too giddy just yet. IDC says the sales increases is mostly due to computer makers restocking their inventory, rather than consumers ramping up demand for PCs. Until more people start buying computers, experts warn, the chip industry will likely remain bogged down for a while.  .

Advanced Micro Devices generally left Wall Street displeased when it reported its 11th consecutive quarterly loss earlier this week. But the Sunnyvale chip maker offered one tantalizing tidbit about its recently spun-off manufacturing arm.

GlobalFoundries, the manufacturing unit that AMD and Abu Dhabi investors set up as a separate business in March, is expected to announce in coming weeks that it has its first customer other than AMD.

Since AMD still receives revenue from GlobalFoundries, having more money flowing into the manufacturing operation should help AMD. Moreover, the ability of GlobalFoundries to attract other customers should reduce AMD’s expenses, said company spokesman Drew Prairie.

“Right now, since we are the only customer, we are shouldering the costs of underutilization charges” associated with GlobalFoundries, he said. “As they add more customers, we will move to a traditional founry model,” where AMD only pays for chips it buys from the manufacturing operation.

Get ready for some gut-busting laughs, thanks to those crazy guys and gals over at Intel.

The Santa Clara computer-chip giant has signed on as a sponsor of “The Tonight Show with comedian Conan O’Brien.” According to the company, “this partnership leverages O’Brien’s unique ability to humorously convey to his viewers Intel’s unique personality, cutting-edge technology and futuristic innovations.”

Wait. Stop yukking. We haven’t gotten to the punch line yet.

While the chipmaker is passionate about technology, it notes in a press release, “there is also a funny, quirky side to Intel people - and we want to share that.”

Grab some chips and dip, set up the TV trays and turn on the tube to the silly side of Silicon Valley. Imagine what fun Conan could have with Intel’s 8-MB smart caches, SSE4 instruction sets and processor prefetching algorithms. Sounds like a real knee-slappin good time.

As we just reported here, Intel’s latest corporate responsibility report doesn’t mention the $1.45 billion fine the European Commission imposed upon the company last week. And analysts covering the company apparently don’t seem too interested in mentioning it in their reports, either.

In the week since the fine was issued, none of the Intel analysts whose notes  we regularly monitor had a word about the fine or its implications for the Santa Clara computer chip giant.

That may seem curious, especially since Intel just hosted a two-day informational session for the analysts, beginning on the day the fine was announced. However, analysts we’ve interviewed about the fine see it as having little immediate impact on Intel.

After all, the company has nearly $8 billion in cash and short-term investments. Moreover, it will be appealing the ruling and the matter could drag on in the European courts for another couple of years.

Santa Clara chip-maker Intel today unveiled its annual “corporate responsibility report” today, an 108-page compendium that CEO Paul Otellini says in the forward shows “our commitment to corporate responsibility is unwavering.”

Among other highlights, the report notes that Intel has committed $120 million to improve math and science education over the next decade, while also investing more than $23 million in energy efficiency and conservation projects since 2001. It also says its employees volunteered more than 1.3 million hours to various causes around the world in 2008.

Nowhere does it say anything about the $1.45 billion fine the European Commission slapped it with last week for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices.

However, the report does contain a paragraph on “antitrust issues,” which says the company  “is engaged in a series of private litigations and regulatory investigations prompted by complaints from its primary competitor.”

While not mentioning the name of the competitor - Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale - the report notes that “our conduct has always been lawful, pro-competitive and beneficial to consumers.”

Intel plans to appeal the fine.

Amid the flurry of tech company earnings reports recently, the financial update provided by chip-maker Linear Technology of Milpitas got a bit overlooked this week. So we at SiliconBeat felt obligated to give you the highlights.

The company posted a profit of $54.5 million for its third fiscal quarter, which ended March 29. That was a 45 percent decrease from the same period a year ago.Its revenue was $200.9 million, off 33 percent from a year ago.

Analysts offered a mixed picture about the company’s prospects going forward.

J. P. Morgan analyst Christopher Danely took issue with Linear’s reluctance to reduce its chip inventory, declaring in a note to his clients, “we do not share Linear’s optimism” that sales will bounce back soon.

But in a note of his own, GC Research analyst David Wu said Linear’s management so far “has proved the skeptics wrong and we would give them the benefit of the doubt, at least over the next two to three years.”

An investor wants Intel to establish “a comprehensive policy for the human right to water” when the Santa Clara computer-chip maker holds its annual stockholder meeting on May 20.

Northstar Asset Management says Intel used 7.5 billion gallons of water in 2007, largely to clean the silicon wafers used to make its semiconductors, according to a regulatory filing in connection with the meeting.

Having a water-rights policy would reduce the risk of “adverse publicity, consumer boycotts, divestment campaigns and lawsuits” over the company’s use of that natural resource, Northstar claims.

But Intel says such a policy is unnecessary, noting in the filing that it has invested more than $100 million in water conservation at its global facilities and conserved “more than 30 billion gallons over the last decade alone.”

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You know things have gotten bad when a company’s stockholders have to bring their own bag lunch to an annual shareholders’ meeting.

Consider Santa Clara-based Intel, the world’s biggest chip maker, which has seen its profit shrink during the recession.

In a note to its investors, which also was filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Intel said it was taking several steps to save money at its annual meeting on May 20.

Instead of holding the gathering at a rented locale, the company said it would host the affair at one of it’s own buildings. It also announced it was limiting  distribution of printed documents for the affair. Oh, and there’s one more thing.

“In addition, unlike prior years, there will be no food service at the meeting,” Intel added.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the integrated circuit, the National Inventors Hall of Fame will honor 16 people who helped pioneer computer-chip technology during a ceremony Saturday, May 2 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Andy Grove, who formerly served as Santa Clara chip-maker Intel’s chief executive and chairman, will be given a lifetime achievement award. In addition, 15 other chip innovators will be recognized for their contributions to the industry.

But you wouldn’t want us to spoil the surprise by telling you who they all are and what they did, would you? Of course not. So if you’re curious, go here.