Microchip pioneer Jack Kilby, who won the 2000 Nobel Prize for co-inventing the integrated circuits that ushered in the digital age of personal computers, mobile phones and the internet, has died after a brief battle with cancer. He was 81.

Texas Instruments is warning that first-quarter revenues will decline by about 20%, compared with its previous prediction of a fall of around 10%.

Texas Instruments is the latest technology company to suffer from the slowdown in the US economy.