Global semiconductor shipments increased 14 percent in 2018 from the prior year to $468.8 billion, said the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday, "a new high" with "total units shipped topping 1 trillion for the first time.” China led in chip growth, monetary shipments there increasing 21 percent, said SIA, as the Americas jumped 16 percent. Apple remained the No. 2 and Samsung No. 1 semiconductor customers in 2018, with 17.9 percent total share, down 1.6 points from 2017, Gartner reported.

GameStop shares plunged 27 percent Tuesday to $11.28 after it ended efforts to sell due to lack of financing terms acceptable to a prospective buyer. Its board began a review process with third parties in June. The retailer sold its Spring Mobile business this month for $735 million (see 1901160050), and it's evaluating how to use those funds, which could include reducing debt, funding share repurchases or reinvesting in videogame and collectibles businesses to drive growth, it said. GameStop "should be a primary beneficiary from the console refresh in 2020 or 2021," wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter to investors Tuesday, saying the retailer "remains the dominant force in the video game industry’s pre-owned segment." Wedbush lowered its 12-month per-share target by $3 to $15.

Money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to violate U.S. economic sanctions against Iran are among charges against Huawei, two of its subsidiaries and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in a 13-count indictment unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Meng, arrested in early December in Vancouver and remaining in detention there, was charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. Meng’s possible extradition to the U.S. to face charges comes as senior Chinese officials travel to Washington this week for trade talks aimed at lifting tariffs on Chinese imports in return for Chinese concessions on allegedly unfair trade practices.

Amazon’s joining the Zigbee board is a “natural evolution,” Parks Associates analyst Brad Russell told us Thursday, signaling the company’s desire “to be at the center of the conversation on wireless networking and to be an influencer on where the standards go.” Amazon’s decision “is a strong message that the industry is focused on simplifying and adding convenience to the growing range of IoT devices available to customers,” the group said. The company pegged its decision to voice control. Christian Taubman, Amazon director-Alexa Smart Home, said “customers tell us they want smart home experiences that are simple to setup, easy to control, and add convenience to the tasks they do.” Voice control is helping to remove smart home complexity, he said. “There are even more ways we can help customers by ensuring their smart devices connect and work together seamlessly." Amazon’s Ring remains “a big Z-Wave supporter,” Z-Wave smart home/IoT alliance Executive Director Mitchell Klein emailed. Acknowledging Amazon’s role as a “big player” in the smart home industry, Klein noted it has competition from Apple, Google and Samsung.

A new British subsidiary of Vonage that supplies contact-center cloud services to Salesforce and others created a system and method to use Amazon Alexa devices and other virtual assistants to communicate with factory call centers and deliver enhanced, automated “consumer-facing” services through “end-to-end functionality,” said a patent application (20190028587) published Thursday at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. As virtual assistants “become more and more widespread, and particularly as they are applied to home control and home assistant functions,” they can become a “natural entry point for consumers to interact with enterprises,” filed NewVoiceMedia Jan. 22, naming Chief Scientist Ashley Unitt one of its two inventors along with Brian Galvin, a patent lawyer in suburban Seattle. Vonage bought NewVoiceMedia for $350 million cash in September. Virtual assistants can place phone calls on demand, but “they do not take advantage of information and capabilities available in contact centers widely in use in the art,” said the application. An “interface” lets devices communicate with one another “for services and functionality to be improved and automated,” it said. NewVoiceMedia didn’t comment Thursday.

Amazon began delivery by automated vehicles Wednesday in a neighborhood in Snohomish County, Washington, it blogged. A promotional video shows a six-wheeler, the “size of a small cooler,” rolling along a sidewalk at what Amazon calls a “walking pace” and then stopping in front of a home for drop-off. A customer, who has been notified that the bot has arrived, walks out the door to the sidewalk, picks up the lid and retrieves her package. Many questions remain about the program, but Amazon’s initial description says six Amazon Scout devices will deliver packages Monday through Friday during daylight hours in the community. Though the all-electric bots will be autonomous, they will initially be accompanied by an Amazon employee, but the company didn’t say how long that would last. Scout was developed at Amazon’s R&D lab in the same county and can “safely and efficiently navigate around pets, pedestrians and anything else in their path.” Amazon will take what it learns from the program “so Amazon Scout can, over time, provide even more sustainability and convenience to customer deliveries.” The company didn't respond to questions.

POW Audio is taking preorders for an expandable Bluetooth speaker designed for smartphones. The $99 speaker can be attached to the back of a phone using a universal mount and then folded down to pocket size when not in use. The company’s WaveBloom technology expands to create a passive radiator, supporting speaker drivers with an air-filled chamber that’s said to provide more bass and volume than what’s possible with a phone’s speaker. The POW speaker can be combined with another to create stereo sound, is water-resistant and is compatible with Bluetooth 4.2 at a range of up to 100 feet, the company said. The speaker charges via USB-C and is said to deliver eight hours of runtime on a charge.

GameStop completed the sale of Spring Mobile to Prime Communications for $700 million, excluding fees and adjustments, it said Wednesday. The company, which owns 5,800 stores in 14 countries, reports holiday quarter earnings Friday.

Chipmaker Wiliot demonstrate a battery-free Bluetooth sensor tag at NRF 2019, to communicate with devices enabled by Bluetooth Low Energy, such as smartphones, Wi-Fi access points and IoT devices, it said Monday. The company got $30 million in Series B funding from Amazon Web Services and Samsung, among others.

Wireless charging company Ossia worries about the impact of the government shutdown and its ability to secure timely FCC approval for its RF-based technology, an executive told us at CES Thursday in Las Vegas. Ossia announced a phone sleeve at the show combining Qi and RF wireless-charging-at-a-distance technology under its Cota brand. It showed a 2.4-GHz solution and is working on a 5.6-GHz version that could charge at distances up to 30 feet, both of which are awaiting FCC approval, said Chief Technology Officer Hatem Zeine. “We are working with the FCC very closely." With the shutdown, "we’re sort of waiting for things to happen, but we anticipate that this year will be the year that the FCC starts moving stuff.” Ossia announced at CES it's working with accessory maker Spigen on a charging case, which Zeine expects to reach the market in 2020. Ripple effects from the lengthening government closure could “stymie new product launches and even foil coveted Super Bowl advertising slots” for technology companies planning to begin marketing devices that haven’t received final approval through the FCC, warned Ronald Quirk, a Marashlian & Donahue attorney, in Law 360. A key FCC database is offline as part of the shutdown, meaning certification bodies authorized to work with product developers and labs can’t extend final authorization to new electronics (see 1901110017). Quirk cited a Tuesday tweet from FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1901080023): “The agency certifies every innovative mobile phone, television, and computer that emits radio frequency before they can head to market," said Rosenworcel. "Guess what is not happening during the shutdown?” Friday, she expanded on that as she sought the shutdown's end.