But he declined to comment directly on market rumors that Intel could buy Infineon's wireless unit, which produces chips used in mobile network technology. "We have nothing we have to sell urgently..."

Infineon is in talks with Intel about a sale of its wireless chip business, according to German business daily Financial Times Deutschland.

Micron Technology has completed its acquisition of Numonyx in an all stock transaction valued at approximately US$1.2 billion.

Currently, Apple pays royalties for ARM's chip designs used in its products. If the company acquired ARM, it could conceivably raise licensing costs to rivals or even take ARM designs off the market.

A company that bought the former Qimonda plant for a bargain price has announced plans to retrofit the 1.36 million-square-foot facility to host data centers.

China-based Huawei is considering negotiating a "mitigation agreement" with the US government - as Alcatel of France did when it bought Lucent in 2006 - in order to show its willingness to co-operate with the US. It is making the lobbying push in preparation for a potential bid for a unit of Motorola.

Nokia has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Novarra, a web browsing company based in Chicago. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010 and following the acquisition, Novarra will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia.

Applied Materials has a balance sheet that can support additional acquisitions, some potentially larger than its US$364 million purchase of Semitool last year, CEO Mike Splinter said in an interview ahead of the company's annual meeting with analysts Tuesday.

Ford Motor has signed a US$1.8 billion deal to sell its Volvo brand to Geely in a move seen as emblematic of the shift in the global car industry's centre of gravity from the US and western Europe to China.

OmniVision Technologies has completed the acquisition of Aurora Systems, which makes components for digital projectors ranging from handheld ones to home theater systems.

Google has announced that it has completed its acquisition of On2 Technologies, valued at approximately US$124.6 million, after On2's shareholders voted to approve the transaction.

Micron generated revenues of US$4.8 billion in 2009. According to industry estimates, Numonyx generated about US$1.8B in revenues. The combined revenue will make Micron one of the largest memory suppliers in the world.

While analysts are bullish on Micron Technology's acquisition of Numonyx in a US$1.3 billion stock deal, a lack of details on the takeover and a market in decline had investors shying away Wednesday.

"I am hearing rumors that Micron maybe buying Numonyx. This deal would only make sense to give Micron a one stop memory source for wireless and all other applications, especially to satisfy Nokia..."

The European Union has approved Oracle's US$7.4 billion takeover of fellow computer firm Sun Microsystems. Oracle said it now expected to complete the deal shortly.

In addition to Intel acquiring an FPGA vendor, other acquisitions could be possible including Analog Devices buying a power management IC company and Microchip Technology buying a company to expand its presence in the microcontroller market.

The recruiting of what will be hundreds of new workers over the next few years marks a striking turnaround from last January, when Chartered announced that it would cut 500 jobs.

Intel may look to acquire an FPGA supplier such as Xilinx or Altera in 2010 in an effort to expand its presence in the embedded market as well as SoCs, according to a Wall Street analyst.

The combined company employs approximately 10,000 people around the world, anchored by headquarters in Silicon Valley and manufacturing operations in Singapore and Germany, and a new fab under construction in New York.

Having recently completed the acquisition of Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Globalfoundries is expected to launch the new, combined entity this week.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is mulling plans to buy a stake in South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, according to Dow Jones.

Semiconductor makers must take the lead in evolving the tools and business processes that allow the electronics industry to benefit from the efficiency improvements and risk reduction associated with truly collaborative supply chain management.

Mixed-signal foundry LFoundry (Landshut, Germany) plans to acquire Atmel's fab in Rousset, France, the site of recent worker unrest. CEO Michael Lehnert said the proposed acquisition will make LFoundry the largest analog foundry in Europe.

Panasonic, which runs a hybrid and electric car battery joint venture with Toyota, has secured a controlling stake in rechargeable battery maker Sanyo.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips, has dismissed market speculation that it may bid for German chipmaker Infineon. "Such talk is untrue...we have never studied the possibility."

Applied Materials will acquire Semitool for up to US$364 million, positioning Applied in the growing markets of wafer-level packaging and copper memory interconnects.

Besides adding manufacturing capacity through ATIC's acquisition of Chartered and the construction of a new plant in New York, Globalfoundries is counting on advanced process technologies to help it win customers and compete with rivals like TSMC.

Applied Materials has acquired substantially all the assets, including the intellectual property, of Advent Solar for an undisclosed cash amount. Advent Solar is a developer of advanced technology for crystalline silicon (c-Si) PVs.

"Chartered shareholders have spoken overwhelmingly in favor of the acquisition...as we believe this offer enables Chartered to accelerate its goal of becoming a leading player in the semiconductor industry," said Jim Norling, chairman of the board of directors at Chartered.

Japan's Toshiba said on Thursday it has taken over Fujitsu's loss-making hard drive business as it seeks to eke out growth in notebook PC hard drives in a market dominated by bigger rivals.

An international solar-related company is in talks with Hynix Semiconductor to buy the South Korea-based company's shuttered computer-chip plant in west Eugene, according to local government and economic development officials.