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 first production semiconductor fabs to use 450mm wafers are projected to commence operation in 2017, according to Christian Dieseldorff, a senior analyst with the fab tool vendor trade group SEMI's industry research and statistics group.

ASML is negotiating with Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) over taking up to a 10% stake in the company under its equity-plus-research program.

Renesas Electronics said its alliance with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will help boost market share and operating margin.

Mentor Graphics has announced TSMC will use the Calibre SmartFill solution to achieve TSMC's fill requirements for its 20nm manufacturing processes.

Uniquify has become a TSMC Design Center Alliance (DCA) partner.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas has seen its shares tumble to a record low amid reports it is planning to raise cash and cut jobs.

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

It's the beginning of the end for the fabless model, according to Mark Bohr of Intel. Bohr also claimed TSMC's recent announcement it will serve just one flavor of 20nm process technology is an admission of failure.

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.

ARM has announced the availability of a significantly expanded lineup of ARM Processor Optimization Pack (POP) solutions for TSMC 40nm and 28nm process technologies targeting a range of ARM Cortex processors.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has unveiled a new plant in the mountains of central Taiwan - not to make computer chips, but tea.

Dialog Semiconductor has announced it is working closely with TSMC to develop its next generation of bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) technology specifically tailored to high-performance power management ICs (PMICs) for portable devices.

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.

InvenSense has announced dual-source capability for its CMOS-MEMS supply from the two leading semiconductor foundries in the world.

"It is likely that it will be raised, but we can't confirm until April 26" when the company's quarterly investor conference will be held, Elizabeth Sun, a spokeswoman for the Hsinchu, Taiwan-based company, said by phone today, without commenting on the size of the increase.

Despite an amended wafer supply agreement that gives AMD the right to use other foundries to make its 28nm accelerated processing units (APUs), Globalfoundries expects AMD to increase its business with the firm in 2012.

It seems as if Nvidia is having difficulty manufacturing its upcoming Kepler GPU lineup due to a supply shortage at TSMC that has been linked to internal (TSMC) 28nm issues.

Rumors surfaced online today that claim TSMC has pulled the plug on their 28nm manufacturing lines and that the company started to test and tune the machines to improve yields.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to announce 3D IC assembly service as a general offering at the beginning of 2013, according to Maria Marced, president of TSMC Europe.

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

US Congressman Bill Owens will arrive in Taipei Wednesday to visit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to discuss a possible investment plan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Microprocessor vendor Advanced Micro Devices has decided to cancel APUs that Globalfoundries was set to make for it on 28nm process technology, according to online reports. Instead AMD will start afresh using the 28nm gate-last HKMG manufacturing process technology from alternative foundry TSMC, the reports said.

Maria Marced, European president of TSMC, has pushed back against claims by market researchers at Gartner that foundries are having problems with yield on 28nm process technologies. For TSMC the roll out of the 28nm chip manufacturing node is "on plan," Marced told EE Times.

Taiwan businesses have called for a law on industrial espionage, especially by China, as growing ties have made it easier for mainland firms to steal secrets, officials and media said Thursday.

"TSMC has ceased to participate in the program," said Ebun Caldeira, director of finance and market research at SIA. Caldeira declined to say why TSMC has pulled out. "We do have some efforts underway to get TSMC to rejoin," she said.

Reports that Apple would ditch Samsung and look instead to TSMC for the Apple A6 processor expected to feature in the next-gen iPad 3 and iPhone 5 are premature, a Samsung exec has insisted, claiming that the two companies will continue to collaborate on chipset design and manufacture.

IBM and Intel will invest US$4.4 billion over five years to create a hub for next-generation computer chip technology in New York, according to the state's Governor Andrew Cuomo.

TSMC reportedly is raising prices on 28nm wafers.

A former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. manager who pleaded guilty to being part of an insider-trading scheme involving Primary Global Research deserves a prison term of as long as three years and 10 months, the US said.

Apple's latest chip technology won't appear in the next-generation iPad until June 2012 at the earliest, according to a firm that tracks the mobile processor industry.

Samsung Electronics and LG Display, the world's two largest makers of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), are close to securing big orders from Apple, industry sources said.

TSMC has begun trial manufacturing of next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

TSMC may first appear, in the fourth quarter, as a second-source supplier of the A5 processor, according to Gus Richard, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, who wrote about this in a research note last month and still maintains this outlook. Then TSMC would take on the next-gen A6.

TSMC could make its first 3D chips commercially available before the end of 2011, according to a person close to the situation who requested anonymity.

"In the near term, both companies should benefit by cross-selling their products to largely non-overlapping customer bases," writes Linley Gwennap with The Linley Group. "For the longer term, the acquisition gives Nvidia an opportunity to expand the market for "Tegra" by developing single-chip products that combine the application and baseband processors."

Manosha Karunatilaka, a former account manager at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), pleaded guilty to charges that he participated in an insider trading scheme tied to Primary Global Research, an expert network firm.

TSMC has said it won't start using three-dimensional transistors to produce semiconductors before the capacity of 2D chips reaches its limit, adding the infrastructure for the next generation of transistors is still "immature."

"Based on a number of inputs, we believe Intel is also vying for Apple's foundry business," said Gus Richard, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., in a new report.