"If we can use our silicon to provide the best computing, we'll do it," Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said. "You will see us focusing on a much broader set of customers."

Dongbu Group will sell off its core unit Dongbu HiTek, a silicon foundry that makes integrated circuits for other companies under contract, as a way to quell market concerns about the group's financial future.

The focus of the US operations will be to find and support partners that can leverage XMC's customized manufacturing capabilities. XMC is currently in production technology nodes down to 45nm. Its leading-edge fabrication facilities in Wuhan China can be configured to produce up to 60,000 300mm wafers per month.

GlobalFoundries is preparing to make chips for Apple's iPhone and iPad at its Fab 8 complex in Malta, according to a source close to the company.

Dongbu HiTek is not exactly a household name in the foundry business like TSMC, Globalfoundries and Samsung. But Dongbu, a company described by some as the industry's best kept secret, has been sharpening its strategy, honing its skills, and steadily expanding capacity in South Korea under Chang-Sik Choi, who became its president and CEO a year and a half ago.

Tronics Microsystems, a MEMS manufacturer headquartered in Grenoble, France, has appointed Pascal Langlois as CEO.

The company formed a foundry business about three years ago, but until recently its customers have been tiny companies.

"We are seeing a near-term slowdown in investment by our foundry customers as they focus on ramping (production using) new capacity installed over the past two quarters," said Applied CEO Michael Splinter.

The only thing that counts against Globalfoundries is that, being a newcomer with a new US fab, it has yet to build up a long track record of consistent, successful execution. This is one reason Apple would not wish to have all its processor eggs in one foundry, as it does now with Samsung.

Samsung Electronics ranked first in terms of production of sub 28-32 nanometer chip foundry in the first quarter of the year, data showed on Monday.

Intel hasn't signaled a change in strategy with the appointment of Brian Krzanich to CEO, but it is likely that the company will take steps to outrun its foundry competition by opening its industry-leading manufacturing facilities to more third parties.

For 30 years Altera has used the same, sole-sourced foundry - TSMC. Recently it announced it would be going to Intel for sole-sourced foundry at the 14nm generation. Isn't this a risk?

Increased spending in NAND and flash by Micron, LEDs by Philips and Osram, and continued investments by Globalfoundries will create new opportunities for equipment and materials suppliers in Southeast Asia.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), for the first time in a long time, has a good story to tell.

AMD has reduced chip orders from supplier Globalfoundries as it tries to cut costs to preserve cash amid a PC-market slump.

Despite long term plans for expansion in Singapore, foundry chipmaker Globalfoundries said that it is cutting 300 jobs there due to a "softening of the current macro-economic climate."

Evidence is starting to mount that foundry chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) could be about to follow Globalfoundries in building a wafer fab in up-state New York.

Foundry chip manufacturer Globalfoundries is expected to be a profitable and self-sustaining business by 2015, one that does not require additional funding from its present parent Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).

Williams Financial analyst Cody Acree told MarketWatch that the gains apparently were due to "more talk of Apple moving away from Samsung as a foundry" which has also led to speculation that either Intel or TSMC may be tapped to manufacture chips for Apple.

The report continues, quoting an anonymous Samsung official speaking about the A6 chip. "Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis." That's a change from the past, when Apple worked with Samsung on chip development and/or design.

UMC has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Allegro for Allegro to utilize UMC for foundry technology and production for power management chips.

Intel is talking to Cisco about becoming its foundry, says investment bank Piper Jaffray.

Intel's R&D expenditures accounted for 32% of the top-10 spending and about 17% of total R&D expenses at all semiconductor companies worldwide-counting IDMs, fabless suppliers and foundries.

Shares of AMD were buoyed nearly ten percent by rumors that Snapdragon master Qualcomm may be interested in acquiring the fabless chip company.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) was the world's largest pure play foundry for MEMS devices in 2011, posting a phenomenal 201% increase in revenue as it gained share from rivals and capitalized on new income streams.

Trusted sources we've spoken to in the semiconductor industry have implied that TSMC is considering a partnership with Apple that would realign the manufacturer's technology roadmap and fundamentally alter the balance of power between the foundry and its other customers.

The company also revised its calendar year 2012 industry forecast for wafer fab equipment spending to US$30-33 billion, compared to its previous expectation of US$32-35 billion, in line with the market changes.

The confirmation came after a Yomiuri Shimbun report that the chipmaker would likely outsource some microchip production to TSMC under a tie-up.

Globalfoundries has started its production ramp on 28nm and anticipates a much smoother ride on 28nm than it had on 32nm.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will offer only one process at the 20nm node, a change from the multiple processes that the foundry giant has offered customers for the past several nodes, said Shang-yi Chiang, company executive VP and co-COO.

Barclays Capital is raising its total lithography units forecast by more than 10 systems, from 234 to 251 in 2012. As many as 260 litho tools could be purchased for semiconductor manufacturing, as foundries are seeing high demand for 28nm chips.

What's surprising are Nvidia's remarks concerning TSMC's current cost curves and manufacturing ramps. This is normally the sort of information discussed quietly between a foundry and its customers or by the press with help from various anonymous sources. Discussing the problems publicly is a sign of just how frustrated the company has become.

"Why not be a foundry for all the mobile companies?" Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told a group of reporters Wednesday evening. "There's no shame in that."

Chang-Sik Choi, former executive vice president of Samsung Electronics, has been named president and CEO while Chan-Hee Lee, former executive vice president of MagnaChip Semiconductor, has been named president in charge of Dongbu HiTek's foundry business.

Renesas Electronics and two other big Japanese chip makers have begun talks to combine their system chip operations and outsource production in a government-backed deal, sources said.

Foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has hit back at analysts who have said it has yield problems with its 28nm CMOS manufacturing processes.

Globalfoundries CEO Ajit Manocha has praised his firm for what he called a "remarkable quarter" in Q411, and promised that the foundry was on track to "keep the momentum going," after a year plagued with difficulties and setbacks.

Apple is famous for relying on low-cost Asian manufacturers to both source and assemble its popular gadgets, but the consumer device giant recently started receiving a critical component in its iPad and iPhones from closer to home - Texas.

Optimizing lateral double-diffused MOS transistors with a breakdown voltage exceeding 700V, the initial entry (without epitaxial layer) in the new ultra high voltage BCDMOS portfolio specifies low on-resistance to implement robust LED driver ICs for a broad range of LED lighting applications.

China's second- and third-largest contract chipmakers Shanghai Hua Hong NEC and Grace Semiconductor have agreed to merge in a sector in need of a consolidation and technology upgrades, sources said on Thursday.