Trending tickers: Intel, BlackBerry, Alibaba, Micron and Super Micro Computer

Vicky McKeever

Chipmaker Intel rejected an approach by UK semiconductor firm Arm Holdings (ARM) to buy its product division, according to a Bloomberg report.

Intel is separating its chip product division and manufacturing operations, as part of restructuring efforts, following a challenging period for the business. In addition to missing estimates on its second-quarter earnings, the company announced last month that it planned to layoff 15,000 employees.

The company's struggles have led to increasing takeover speculation, with reports at the end of last week that rival Qualcomm (QCOM) had approached Intel about a deal. Meanwhile, Apollo Global Management – which owns Yahoo – has reportedly shown interest in making a multibillion-dollar investment in the chipmaker.

Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: European markets rise as China stocks post best week since 2008

Separately, the Financial Times reported that the Intel and the US government were on course to finalise $8.5bn in funding for the company before the end of the year.

In busy week of news surrounding the company, it also unveiled two new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, as it seeks to improve its data centre business and and compete with rivals AMD (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA).

Intel shares were 1% lower in pre-market trading and are down 52% year-to-date.

Shares in BlackBerry climbed 6% in Thursday session but then dipped 2% in after-hours trading, on the back of the company releasing its second-quarter earnings.

BlackBerry, which now focuses on cybersecurity, said it broke even in the second quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, reporting that it pared back losses by $23m (£17m).

The Canadian company, originally known for its iconic smartphone, posted revenues of $145m for the three months to 31 August, up from $132m in same period last year.

John J Giamatteo, CEO of BlackBerry, said the company had "reached a significant milestone on our path to profitability".

"This result was achieved through a combination of stronger than expected, double-digit revenue growth for both IoT (internet of things) and cybersecurity, as well as tremendous ongoing progress in rationalizing our cost structure," he said.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, BlackBerry said it expected to breakeven once again and guided to revenues of between $146m and $154m.

US-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba continued to rally on Thursday, ending the session 10% higher, after China's central bank unveiled a raft of stimulus measures to shore up the country's economy.

The news lifted other US-listed Chinese companies, with JD.com (JD) and PDD Holdings (PDD) both gaining around 14% on Thursday.

The People's Bank of China cut the amount banks must hold in reserve, releasing an estimated $142.6bn in liquidity into the financial market.

Read more: Pound, gold and oil prices in focus: commodity and currency check

This saw Chinese markets enjoyed their best week this week since 2008, with the nation's benchmark index, the CSI 300 (000300.SS) ending Friday's session 4.5% higher.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “There will of course be a time lag between the announcement of the stimulus package and its effects washing through to the economy, but the very fact that the authorities have moved away from their previous inertia has energised both domestic and international markets alike.”

Another chipmaker in focus is Micron, with its shares having soared 15% on Thursday, after it forecast higher-than-expected revenue for the upcoming quarter.

Micron said it expected first-quarter revenues of $8.7bn, higher than the $8.3bn anticipated by analysts.

The company said it was seeing a more favourable pricing environment as well as robust demand for Micron's memory chips used in data centres to power artificial intelligence.

"With the advent of AI, we are in the most exciting period that I have seen for memory and storage in my career," CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said during a call with investors Wednesday afternoon.

In its full-year results, released on Wednesday, Micron posted revenues of $25.1bn, up from $15.5bn last year.

Shares of Super Micro Computer plummeted in the previous session, closing 12% in the red, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Justice is investigating the company over alleged accounting irregularities.

A spokesperson was not available to respond to Yahoo Finance's request for comment at the time of writing.

Read more: The top gold funds to invest in as prices soar

The company, which sells servers for data centres, has seen a growing demand amid the AI boom.

Last month, Super Micro announced that it would be delayed in filing its annual report, saying that it needed more time to complete its assessment of the "operating effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting".

A day prior to that announcement, Hindenburg Research disclosed it had taken a short position in the company and claimed it had found "fresh evidence of accounting manipulation".

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.

Advertisement