Chipmakers have been a red-hot sector for what now seems like forever. In the last five years, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has advanced nearly 200%, versus the S&P 500's total return of 90%. Perhaps the most notable chipmaker during this period is GPU-maker NVIDIA, as its stock increased 1,800%. This article originally appeared in The Motley Fool. Against that backdrop, you can forgive investors for overlooking other companies in the sector, which is exactly what has happened to Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN).

Influential announced today that it has raised $12 million in Series B funding. The funding came from existing investors Capital Zed, ECA Ventures, Paradigm Talent Agency, ROAR and Tech Coast Angels, as well as from Hollywood agency WME . Just a couple weeks ago, Influential said it was working with (and had raised money from) WME. The agency is the first to try out a new Influential product called Talent Pro, which gives agents access to social data around a broader pool of talent. Influential founder and CEO Ryan Detert said the product will allow WME -- and, in the future, other agencies -- to sweeten endorsement and promotional deals with more data and to "take an A-list celebrity… and now surround that person with 10 lookalike influencers who are not celebrities themselves." One of Influential's big selling points is its use of artificial intelligence (it's a developer partner with IBM Watson) to help brands and marketers find influencers who would be a good fit for their campaigns.

The Tender Offer referenced in this press release has not yet commenced. This communication is for information purposes only and is not an offer nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase, sell or exchange securities or a solicitation of a proxy from any stockholder. Subject to future developments, additional documents regarding the proposed transaction, such as a Schedule TO and a registration statement on Form S-4, may be filed with the SEC, which investors should read carefully if and when they become available because they contain important information. Investors may obtain a free copy of the documents filed by Recall Studios, when they are available, from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Recall Studios, its directors and certain of its executive officers may be deemed to be participants in a solicitation of proxies for the proposed transaction.

DirectView Holdings, Inc (DIRV) provides video surveillance solutions and teleconferencing products and services to businesses and organizations announced today that they are incorporating artificial intelligence into their video surveillance systems. This announcement comes a little over a week after they participated in the LD Micro Invitational. The show was just the start of 5 shareholder events that investors can anticipate in this summer. The remaining 4 events could include additional catalysts that such as more contracts/deals, positive quarterly financials, a website re-launch, and the up listing to the OTCQB. DirectView was one of 230 companies in the small-cap / micro-cap space which were allotted a 30-minute business presentation.

Wave Computing, a Silicon Valley AI startup specializing in data flow processing of Deep Neural Networks, has acquired MIPS Technologies for an undisclosed amount. Wave projects that the acquisition will be immediately cash-flow positive and accretive to its balance sheet and valuation. The deal logic is pretty sound, adding new markets such as edge AI computing while giving the company in-house RISC cores it can use for its next-generation DataFlow Processing Unit datacenter AI chip. Who is Wave Computing, and why does it need MIPS? Wave is an early innovator in AI silicon geared towards datacenter use, to train deep neural networks (DNNs) and run those networks for predictions and classifications.

Tesla plans to slash its workforce by nearly one-tenth as the electric car manufacturer faces rising pressure to achieve profitability. CEO Elon Musk wrote in an internal email that the nine per cent staff reduction was in part a matter of cutting redundant roles. But he also acknowledged cash-flow issues that have raised eyebrows on Wall Street. "Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 years since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us", Mr Musk wrote. "What drives us is out mission to accelerate the world transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable".

Reliance Industries Limited today said it has completed an acquisition of close to 73 percent stake in artificial intelligence-based education technology provider Embibe. "RIL, Embibe and the other stakeholders have completed all the closing conditions and have successfully completed the sale and purchase of the shareholding of the existing investors in Embibe to RIL. With this transaction, RIL will hold 72.69 percent (on fully diluted basis) in Embibe," RIL said in a BSE filing. RIL in April had announced that it has entered into agreements to acquire close to 73 percent stake in education technology provider Individual Learning Private Ltd (Embibe) and plans to invest USD 180 million into the company over the next three years. Embibe will use the capital over the next three years towards deepening its R&D on AI in education, as well as business growth and geographic expansion, catering to students across K-12, higher education, professional skilling, vernacular languages and all curriculum categories across India and internationally.

Remark Holdings (MARK) is what one would call a contested company. It has long supporters with strong conviction, but there has also been some kind of a short drive, and the present short count is almost 16% of the nearly 25M float. That short count is far from the highest we've seen, a company like Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) still has 78% of the float shorted (at least according to the latest figures) but it seems to have done major damage already. Who to believe, the conviction longs or the shorts who put out a troubling report. Questions like these are very difficult to solve, especially if you're not a forensic accountant. Since we're no forensic accountants ourselves, we'll try to gather some stylized facts and see what these add up to, and whether there is some chance for the longs to recoup some of their losses. This company was one of two highest conviction longs for SA contributor Yale Bock, who is the President of Y H & C Investments (see here).

Sharp Corp. announced Tuesday it will acquire Toshiba Corp.'s once-signature personal computer business in a bid to make a comeback in the PC market. Sharp, controlled by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., will pay ¥4 billion for an 80.1 percent stake in Toshiba Client Solutions Co., a PC-related subsidiary of Toshiba that once held the biggest share of the global laptop market but has since lost out to overseas rivals. The stock transfer is planned for Oct. 1. Sharp also announced it will issue new shares worth up to ¥200 billion to buy back preferred shares from banks, seeking to quickly improve its financial status. Sharp aims to turn Toshiba's money-losing business into a new profit-driver by exploiting its liquid crystal display production and the manufacturing know-how of parent Hon Hai.

"Microsoft Monday" is a weekly column that focuses on all things Microsoft. This week "Microsoft Monday" features news about the GitHub acquisition, the first Xbox One X discount along with other deals, Office 365 getting added to the Mac App Store, Office 365 improvements and much more! GitHub Acquired For $7.5 Billion Today Microsoft officially confirmed that it has acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion. GitHub is a leading software development platform where over 28 million developers share and collaborate. "Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.