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.

Answer: Yes and no.

The Korean government and private sector will jointly inject 58.4 billion won (US$50.5 million) over the next three years into building up the local semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector, according to government officials.

Loss-making foundry Tower Semiconductor, which trades as TowerJazz, has announced it plans to transfer "manufacturing know-how and certain equipment" to support an un-named Asian company ramp up production.

"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..."

Renesas Technology has reached a preliminary agreement to transfer its semiconductor manufacturing equipment business to Hitachi High-Technologies.

Allvia, a through-silicon via (TSV) foundry, has purchased a manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, for high volume production of their products with TSV technology. Over the next several months Allvia will proceed with manufacturing equipment tool selection for TSV production, and expects the facility to be operational in 2010.

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.

The potential sale of Qimonda's 300mm assets in Virginia to Texas Instruments (TI) confirms the opportunities in used 300 mm equipment identified in a study from Semico Research.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International will eliminate 106 jobs as it shutters its manufacturing facility in Phoenix and shifts those operations to Singapore.

Texas Instruments has placed a bid of US$172.5 million on used 300mm equipment from the now-shuttered Qimonda fab near Richmond, Va. The Dallas-based company plans to use the equipment for 300mm analog production.

Although the overall semiconductor market is expected to drop by 46% in 2009, it shows signs of rapid recovery, according to The Information Network market research company.

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.

China is on its way to becoming a solar power - with financial incentives coming from every corner of the country - but a lack of experienced project developers and equipment installers may cast a shadow over the growing industry.

ASM International saw its net loss for second-quarter 2009 widen to 55.7 million euro (US$78.3 million), from a loss of 9.6 million euro a year ago. The Dutch chip equipment maker recognized an inventory impairment charge of 20.6 million euro in the quarter.

Chip equipment maker ASM International (ASMI) has announced that it is accelerating its cost reduction and restructuring of worldwide front-end operations.

Semiconductor equipment maker Novellus Systems has posted disappointing margins and a wider-than-expected loss, but a robust forecast helped limit share losses in late trade.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML has reported a narrower second quarter net loss than in the first quarter as sales jumped, and said it expects to reach break-even by the end of 2009.

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...

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

The global semiconductor equipment book-to-bill-ratio rose above parity in June for first time in 11 months, according to VLSI Research.

Tokyo Electron, the world's second-largest chip equipment maker, said orders for machines that make semiconductors and flat-panel displays rose 82% sequentialy in the company's first quarter of fiscal 2009.

With few tools in development for the EUV mask infrastructure, Sematech has said it will convene a meeting during SEMICON West to garner financial support from companies and government sources. The goal is to entice commercial suppliers to develop EUV mask blank inspection, mask defect review, and mask pattern inspection tools.

Aviza Technology announced that is has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it goes ahead with efforts to sell certain of its assets to Sumitomo Precision Products.

This expansion includes a 50% increase in floor space, and a multi-million dollar investment in facilities and equipment.

Nikon has said it will reorganize its lithography operations, cutting 800 production workers in Japan and 200 marketing and support staff worldwide. By October, Nikon plans to combine four production subsidiaries into two, focused on IC and display equipment.

Axcelis Technologies, a supplier of ion implantation and cleaning systems, has announced a global workforce reduction of approximately 235, or 20% of its employees, since year end 2008.

Nanometrics has begun shipping its Lynx cluster metrology systems, as a follow-on order to a leading memory manufacturer as part of its plan for high-volume manufacturing of its latest DRAM and flash memory technologies.

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.

KLA-Tencor has announced operating results for its third quarter of fiscal 2009 (ended on March 31, 2009). KLA-Tencor reported a GAAP net loss of US$83 million and a GAAP loss per share of US$0.49 on revenues of US$310 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

Lam Research has revealed its third quarter financial results, indicating a swing to loss as revenues plunged 72% during the three-month period.

Novellus Systems Chief Executive Richard Hill said the chip equipment market may have reached a bottom and provided second-quarter guidance above Wall Street estimates.

MEMC Electronic Materials shares jumped on Friday after the silicon wafer maker posted a first-quarter profit helped mainly by a hefty tax gain.

Equipment supplier EV Group said that strong equipment orders in the last quarter have led to plans to increase production capacity with an extra working shift, starting near the end of April. New orders have exceeded the equipment suppliers forecasts, with demand coming from 3D IC through-silicon via (TSV) and nanoimprint lithography markets.