A conversation on August 20 with Joseph Sawicki, VP and GM of the Mentor Graphics Corp.'s Design to Silicon Division, provided a snapshot of the conundra facing foundries and EDA vendors as they approach sub-20nm process geometries. The landscape is filled with uncertainties, Sawicki warned, but there is no time left to wait for resolution.

Korea-based specialty IC foundry Dongbu HiTek has revealed plans to open sales offices in France and Italy, gearing to expand its customer base in Europe.

IBM and Infineon Technologies have closed a transaction to sell 100% of the share capital of Altis Semiconductor to a new corporation. They have also entered into supply agreements with Altis, and will continue to use Altis' production facility in France.

SMIC, China's largest foundry chipmaker, is close to receiving tens of millions of dollars from the China government in a move that could help its earnings this year.

Robert Krakauer succeeds Bruce McDougall, CFO of Globalfoundries since the company's launch in March 2009. McDougall will assume a new role as CFO of ATIC, the majority shareholder of Globalfoundries.

IC Insights' recently updated Strategic Reviews Online database shows that most large memory and foundry companies performed extremely well in 1H10.

Following a third consecutive record-breaking sales quarter reported by Xilinx Wednesday (July 22), at least one Wall Street analyst reiterated his contention that extending lead times by the leading FPGA supplier put it at risk of double ordering.

Samsung in June announced plans to expand the capacity of its 12-inch chip plant in Austin with a US$3.6 billion investment, and hire 500 more workers there by 2011.

The most important announcement from SEMICON West was a subtle statement from Globalfoundries about tools. Putting some bits together, it is pretty clear that the company is going to use EUV lithography at the 15nm node.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) said in a statement it plans to sell up to 1.5 billion new shares at HK$0.52 each to its largest shareholder, state-owned Datang Telecom Technology & Industry Holdings, whose stake in the chip foundry will rise to up to 19.06%.

Citing "adverse market conditions," MagnaChip Semiconductor said it will not move forward with its planned initial public offering now.

IBM, Samsung and Globalfoundries are working with STMicroelectronics to develop and standardize advanced, 28nm process technology to ensure consistent production worldwide for electronics and device manufacturers.

Germany's LFoundry, an analog and mixed-signal foundry, has completed its previously-announced acquisition of Atmel's wafer fabrication operation in Rousset, France.

MagnaChip Semiconductor, which filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009, has priced an initial public offering (IPO) of stock to raise about US$130 million. This is about half the amount it had originally said it planned to raise.

Samsung Electronics' foundry business, Samsung Foundry, has qualified 32nm low-power (LP) process with high-k metal gate (HKMG) technology. The process has successfully completed reliability testing at Samsung Foundry's 300mm logic fabrication line in Giheung and is now ready for production of customer designs.

Samsung Electronics has said due to projected heavy demand for its advanced logic chips, it will invest US$3.6 billion to expand capacity at its plant in Austin, Texas, and hire 500 more workers there by 2011.

An IC foundry has made it into the ranks of the Top 20 MEMS foundries for the first time, as TSMC's roughly US$10 million in MEMS foundry revenues put it into 14th place on Yole Developpement's 2009 listing.

Most believe TSMC will remain a foundry in the IC sector, but not in LEDs. There is little or no business model in the LED foundry sector. Most LED vendors have their own fabs and the startup costs are minor compared to the IC industry. The real value-added in LEDs is technology and the channels.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has been talking to Texas Instruments (TI) about taking over operation of the government-owned factory, according to company sources. It was not immediately clear whether TI was interested in only taking over management of the facility, or in buying it as well.

SMIC, China's top contract chipmaker, is planning to raise up to US$500 million through a private equity placement or overseas convertible bond, two sources with knowledge of the issue told Reuters on Friday.

Globalfoundries Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany is undergoing several major changes, including integration of separate modules into an integrated facility. With a steep 32nm MPU ramp underway that includes high-k/metal gate technology, the fab is also now running foundry wafers for non-AMD customers.

Dongbu, MagnaChip, TowerJazz and X-Fab are expanding their wings with new capabilities or alliances.

Two of China's top chipmakers and Intel's lone China factory are all running at or near full capacity, as China's sector rebounds more quickly than the rest of the world, according to senior executives at the three firms.

MagnaChip Semiconductor has filed to raise up to US$250 million in an initial public offering of common stock under the proposed trading symbol of MX on the New York Stock Exchange.

Abu Dhabi-backed foundry Globalfoundries is planning to spend US$2.5 billion to increase its 300mm wafer manufacturing capacity by 50% in 2010, according to Udo Nothelfer, company VP and general manager of Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.

A JP Morgan analyst has warned of what he considers to be the first warning signs that supply may be starting to outstrip demand in the chip sector. "After a strong start to 2010 characterized by low inventory, rampant component shortages, and extended lead times, we are starting to see our first negative data points..."

Technology managers have strong opinions on the merits of the gate-first and gate-last methods of depositing high-k dielectrics and metal gate electrodes. Controlling the PMOS V appears challenging with the gate-first method, while the gate-last approach requires layout engineers to adhere to new restrictive design rules to accommodate planarization requirements.

FormFactor, which makes probe cards used for testing wafers directly, has opened a new facility in Singapore as part of efforts to grow its business in Asia.

In a major departure, Samsung Electronics is reportedly exploring an alternative in high-k dielectrics: It is looking at gate-last technology, according to sources.

The big news at Xilinx' annual analyst day on February 22: A new partner for foundry services at the 28nm node.

"40nm is constrained around the world," according to representatives from Nvidia. "Supply will be constrained for the first half of this year."

Last summer, TSMC made a surprising decision to use a gate-last deposition method for the high-k/metal gate stack of its 28nm transistors. TSMC'S decision to use a replacement metal gate technique was guided by history, said SY Chiang, in charge of R&D at the foundry.

SMIC would announce a new investment by China's Datang Telecom Technology and Industry Holdings Co., which would continue to invest money in the company through 2010, the source said, declining to be more specific.

"Am I setting very aggressive targets? Yes," said Ibrahim Ajami, CEO of Advanced Technology Investment Co., Globalfoundries' controlling shareholder. "We need to be a US$5 billion company in the next two to three years."

In 2009, TSMC topped the list of foundries with US$9.0 billion in sales. TSMC's sales were about 3X that of UMC, which in turn had more than the combined foundry sales of Chartered and SMIC in 2009.

Abu Dhabi's ATIC, which helped create Globalfoundries when AMD spun off its manufacturing business, is looking to assume full control of the company.

We closed the year as planned with improved sales and strong bookings, as the semiconductor business recovers driven by technology and capacity buys from major Foundry customers and the memory market segments, according to ASML president and CEO Eric Meurice.

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.

Xilinx has completed multiple iterations of 28nm test wafers with TSMC, and could disclose the move to TSMC at its analyst day in March.

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.