EDA's industry "big three" held a panel session at DAC on the future of EDA and agreed that this is not "your father's recession."

Globalfoundries has announced a strategic customer relationship with STMicroelectronics.

Globalfoundries plans to introduce embedded silicon carbon (eSiC) to strain the nFET transistors at the 22 nm node, said John Pellerin, director of technology development.

Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (GSMC) has announced the availability of its 0.18-micron cost effective OTP (One Time Programmable) process platform for applications such as voice controlled devices, remote controls, small home appliances or touch panels.

The foundry's goal is to have the first tool move in by October 2011, with qualification coming in early 2012 and commercial production by the second half of 2012.

Robert Rivet, AMD's CFO said in a conference call that capex for subsidiary Globalfoundries would be trimmed to US$690 million.

NEC Electronics will likely outsource more production of semiconductors used in consumer electronics to outside foundries to insure against a sudden plunge in demand following losses last year tied to a rapid drop in orders.

GlobalFoundries will hold its official groundbreaking for Fab 2 at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta on July 24.

There is considerable debate about second-half 2009. Some are bulls. Some are bears. Some are in both camps.

"...key customers who are increasing 40nm tape-outs have already started to evaluate other foundries (UMC) in case yields do not improve soon," said Mehdi Hosseini, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, in a report.

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.

At the 2009 Symposium on VLSI Technology in Kyoto, Japan, Globalfoundries reported the first demonstration of a technique that allows the equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) in a high-k metal gate (HKMG) transistor to scale down to well beyond the level required for the 22nm node, while maintaining a combination of low leakage, low threshold voltages, and superior carrier mobility.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China's biggest chipmaker, said recently that the country's demand for its products is recovering with orders in the third quarter expected to be better than in the second.

Synopsys has announced TSMC selected its Galaxy Implementation Platform for their new integrated sign-off Flow. The new flow is now available for 65nm designs with planned extensions into other process technology nodes.

MagnaChip Semiconductor has announced that its parent companies filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, but its South Korean operations are not part of the bankruptcy filing.

Chartered CFO George Thomas said wafer shipments are expected to increase about 60% from the fiscal first quarter, and the loss is expected to be about US$10 million smaller than previously forecast. The chip foundry now expects a loss of 57-67 cents per American Depositary Share on revenues of US$338-348 million.

The construction project is expected to take approximately two years to complete and an additional 12 to 18 months to ramp to full operating mode, with volume production anticipated in roughly 2012.

Compound Semiconductor Technologies (CST) Global, the Scottish foundry company, is to upgrade its manufacturing equipment thanks to new financing.

Synopsys has announced that its DesignWare DDR3/2 PHY and digital controller IP is the first DDR3 IP that has been fully verified in test silicon at 1600 Mbps, the maximum data-rate of the JEDEC DDR3 specification. DesignWare DDR3/2 PHY and the digital controller IP are available now in advanced process technologies for foundries.

Pioneering Taiwan industry leader Morris Chang says better focus is needed. "I think that the Chinese side is still intent on building their own integrated supply chain. They are assisting their design companies and their foundries. It's such a shortsighted policy..."

Singapore chip foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has said it hasn't received a bid from Advanced Technology Investment.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is in talks with lenders to change terms of debt due after 2010 as the global recession hurts earnings. Chartered Semi has S$3.9 billion (US$2.7 billion) of loans and bonds outstanding, including US$390 million of bonds due August 2010.

AMD's spun-off manufacturing arm, Globalfoundries, reportedly has convinced Subramani Kengeri to join its team. Kengeri comes from manufacturing giant TSMC and was one of the key people behind the recently announced TSMC/Intel deal.

China's contract chipmakers, battered by a sharp downturn in demand for semiconductors, will survive the recession and become increasingly competitive over time, according to an Accenture executive.

CHIA Song Hwee's upbeat tone when he spoke to BT after Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing's first-quarter results announcement might seem discordant at other times.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Friday said it swung to a first-quarter net loss on lower sales and margins, and that it remains difficult to tell when the market will bottom despite signs of improving conditions. The Singapore-based chip foundry reported a net loss of US$114.2 million on revenues of US$243.9 million for the three months ended March 31, its third consecutive quarterly loss. But the figure was better than its average forecast.

TSMC's board of directors recently approved four candidates for Independent Director, including three current directors Peter Leahy Bonfield, Stan Shih and Carly Fiorina, as well as former Texas Instruments (TI) chairman Thomas J. Engibous. These four candidates for Independent Director will stand for election at TSMC's Annual General Meeting on June 10, 2009.

"There's still a general freeze on hiring, but we're seeing a shortage in our research and development department, and will need hundreds of employees there," said PH Chang, VP for human resources at TSMC.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has announced the results of its 27-for-10 rights offering, the subscription period of which ended on April 6, 2009. The rights offering was oversubscribed with applications totaling approximately 144% of the offering size. The rights offering will strengthen its capital position.

As per Taiwan labor law, we issued documents on April 3 to over 200 former employees certifying that their employment was terminated due to deteriorating business conditions.

...In the long run, they say, there will be only three viable entities, at least at the leading edge of chipmaking: Samsung in memory chips, Intel in microprocessors and TSMC in foundries. The rest will be "nationalistic" ventures in need of regular government bail-outs.

So, is Nvidia absolutely wanting to take a look at GlobalFoundries then? Carvill wouldn't say, but noted, "As long as it didn't compromise our relationship with AMD and customer service to them, we would happily have those discussions with Nvidia and anybody else."

International Business Machines is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems in a combination that would bolster IBM's heft on the Internet, in data storage and in government and telecommunications areas, according to people familiar with the matter.

The new management of The Foundry Company, which includes former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, is expected to announce the official name of the company soon. When AMD does split in two, Meyer said he will not have any management role in the new company. However, AMD does stand to be The Foundry Company's largest customer, which will continue to tie the two companies together. Meyer also suggested that AMD might switch some of its ATI graphics chip production to The Foundry Company as well.

On Monday morning, there will be a chip industry summit of sorts: the world's largest chipmaker and the world's largest chip foundry will make a strategic announcement at Intel headquarters in Santa Clara. Whatever the deal is, it's probably something TSMC needs more desperately than Intel does. With its smaller chip customers swooning, one has to imagine Tsai might cut Intel a pretty sweet deal to get any business the chip giant would like to send his way.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced today that its stockholders overwhelmingly approved a spinoff proposal to create The Foundry Company. The shareholder approval allows AMD to issue common stock and warrants to an affiliate of the Mubadala Development Co., paving the way for AMD and the Advanced Technology Investment Co. of Abu Dhabi to create the new foundry.

US semiconductor maker Ramtron International has announced that it has entered into a foundry services agreement with IBM. The companies plan to install Ramtron's F-RAM semiconductor process technology in IBM's Burlington, Vermont, advanced wafer manufacturing facility.

Rumors at ISSCC and other events are that Taiwan foundry vendor United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) is mulling over plans to join IBM's "fab club." The group, which co-develops advanced process technology and shares the associated costs, consists of AMD, Chartered, IBM, Infineon, ST, Toshiba, NEC, Freescale and Sony. AMD's proposed foundry spin-off is also part of the group.

ALLVIA, the first through-silicon via (TSV) foundry, has secured US$5 million from private investors in its next round of funding to expand manufacturing facilities and to build more capacity. This brings the total funding invested in the company to US$25 million.

Zarlink Semiconductor has taken proactive measures to protect its foundry base. This is following MHS Electronics UK Ltd.'s advice that it is likely to cease wafer shipments to Zarlink from the analog foundry in Swindon, UK.