For three chip giants, it was particularly important to boost confidence this year by making a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Falling as it does in the first week of January, CES has become a highly symbolic event at which the majors of consumer technology explain their new year’s resolutions and seek to instil belief in their roadmap for the 12 months ahead. This year, Intel, Qualcomm and Samsung have particularly tough challenges, as their traditional sources of power – PCs for Intel, smartphones for the others – experience decline. Each of the trio suffered major setbacks in 2015, and remains cautious for 2016, and their problems are worsened by the fact that, in the…