Prosecutors have arrested two executives from Applied Materials in Seoul, South Korea on charges of allegedly stealing Samsung process technology details and passing them on to Hynix.

China's Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC) also made a payment to Applied Materials of an undisclosed amount, and the parties agreed to collaborate on projects in the future.

The sector's recovery depends on what happens at the global climate change summit taking place in Copenhagen and incentives for the renewable resource in China, according to Mark Pinto, CTO and general manager of Applied's Energy and Environmental Solutions group.

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.

The German government is funding a research project aiming at developing manufacturing processes for large-area OLED illuminants. In the Light InLine (LILi) project, Applied coordinates the activities of a team formed of its own experts as well as professionals from OLED materials manufacturer Merck KGaA and from the Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany).

Applied Materials has announced it will cut 10% and 12% of its global workforce over the next 18 months, with half of the cuts in the US. Applied saw net income for its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter slip 40% on year.

"The problem for Applied and the problem for semi equipment in general is that it's highly unlikely that we're going back to 2007 capital spending levels..."

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.

Tokyo Electron, the world's No.2 supplier of machines used to make microchips after Applied Materials, has said orders were 83 billion yen (US$931.5 million) in July-September, nearly double from the previous quarter's 48.7 billion yen.

LDK Solar is scheduled to complete the installation of more than 50 MaxEdge wafering systems in October.

"We continue to make progress in every aspect of the SunFab lines and are well on our way to delivering 10% efficient SunFab panels and US$1 per watt production costs in 2010," said company CTO Mark Pinto. He also laid out plans for SunFab panels with 12% conversion efficiency and module costs below US$0.70/watt by 2012.

CEO Mike Splinter said that his company must respond to the fundamental changes in the markets it serves.

Advanced Inquiry Systems, a developer of wafer-level sensing systems for memory testing, has closed an US$11 million Series B financing round with all its current investors participating.

Applied Materials said orders for wafer fab equipment spiked in the final month of its third fiscal quarter, ending July 26. Foundries increased spending sharply, and display manufacturers are also looking at better times driven by flat panel TV sales, according to company CEO Mike Splinter.

Demand for semiconductor equipment is showing signs of a return, but it remains too early to say that a broad-based recovery is at hand, said Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter.

Despite a rebound in business, Applied Materials is set for more layoffs and cost-cutting, according to an analyst.

While the current economic environment is imposing severe constraints on the semiconductor equipment industry, the primary driver for increasing profitability for leading-edge chipmakers is still Moore's Law...

At the Semicon West trade show here, fab tool vendors rolled out a plethora of products. Here's some of the hot product introductions at the show.

VLSI Research has revealed its Top-10 PV manufacturing equipment supply companies for 2008, with Applied Materials leading the pile.

Globalfoundries has announced the appointment of Norm Armour as vice president and general manager and Eric Choh as vice president of operations to lead an expanding team dedicated to developing Fab 2 in New York.

Applied Materials executives said customer confidence is improving, but cautioned that the company is seeing "a very dynamic environment" in all of its major segments. China's stimulus plans may continue to support cellphone and PC consumption there, said CEO Mike Splinter following release of fiscal Q2 financial results.

Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials swung to a loss in the fiscal second-quarter as sales plunged a less-than-feared 53% in a tough environment for the chip sector.

Applied Materials said on Monday the value of a sales agreement to supply solar production equipment to a private buyer has been slashed to US$250 million from US$1.9 billion due a worsening global economy.

VLSI Research said ASML overtook TEL for the second spot in its annual ranking of equipment suppliers. Applied Materials remained on top, while KLA-Tencor and Lam Research were in the fourth and fifth spots. The Top 10 declined slightly faster than the total IC manufacturing equipment industry, which dwindled 25.1% to $41.8 billion.

Applied Materials announced that its president and CEO Mike Splinter met with President Obama and CEOs of several of America's largest companies at the White House today to discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Splinter focused his remarks on key aspects of the clean technology agenda, including incentives for solar energy adoption as a way to create new jobs as the new administration and both houses of Congress look to reinvigorate and stimulate the US economy.

Applied Materials, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment, posted its first quarterly loss since 2003 and said it would cut back production, sending its shares sliding 3.2%.

Applied Materials lowered its earnings forecast Monday, saying it expects sales at the low end of its projected range for the first quarter as the chip-tools maker struggles through what it described as "unprecedented business conditions."

Poor third quarter results by Applied Materials has forced it to lay off staff, including at its Israeli subsidiary.

Investors are also expecting a decline in mobile phone demand in 2009. Dow component Intel Corp slid 1.3 percent to $13.80 while Applied Material was off 0.9 percent to $9.64 and National Semiconductor slid 1.8 percent to $11.05.

Leading chip-equipment maker Applied Materials warned that profit in the current quarter would fall far short of Wall Street expectations due to the weakening global economy. The company also said on Wednesday it would slash 1,800 jobs, or 12 percent of its workforce, to generate annual savings of $400 million.

Applied Materials (AMAT) has seen recent slippage of project schedules in its solar business “nearly across the board,” according to Citigroup analyst Timothy Arcuri. Applied has built a new business around supplying tools used to manufacture thin-film solar cells, and expectations for the business are running high. Maybe too high, in Arcuri’s view.

Applied Materials announced its Applied E3 advanced equipment and process control solution, a comprehensive factory automation (FA) software package for improving the productivity and reducing the costs of semiconductor, flat panel display and photovoltaic solar cell manufacturing. Utilizing proprietary algorithms, the Applied E3 system can boost process capability by more than 30%, reduce unscheduled down time, and shorten cycle time to achieve up to a 20% increase in overall equipment effectiveness.

..Applied Materials already had made an offer to buy two of ASMI's "front-end" businesses when Francisco Partners last week offered to buy its remaining front- end activities. ASMI put Francisco Partners' offer in the range of US$225-300 million, while Applied Materials has put its offer at US$400-500 million. ASMI rejected the bids Friday, saying they undervalued the businesses.

Applied Materials' belief of non-infringement is based in part on differences between the SunFab tandem junction technology (as verified by scientific analyses such as Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy) and the claims of the Neuchatel patent.