The deal may hurt Samsung Electronics, which last week said it would start using AuthenTec's technology in new devices. Samsung is unlikely to continue with plans to use AuthenTec under Apple's ownership.

Japan's Fujitsu is in talks to sell its main semiconductor plant to TSMC, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Broadcom President and CEO Scott McGregor said he doesn't expect the CSR technology to be a technical threat to Broadcom's technology. He said Samsung is more likely to use resulting chips for lower-end products, which could impact some of Samsung's suppliers in Taiwan.

ARM, whose chip designs power Apple's iPhone, said second-quarter revenue climbed 15% beating analysts' estimates, even as some customers delayed orders.

The multi-year deal sees ARM tie itself even closer to TSMC, its chip-fabber of choice, as it looks to capitalise on the company's technology to help it maintain a lead over Intel for chip power efficiency

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.

Samsung signed an agreement with Qualcomm not to sue the chip maker or its customers for using Samsung's 3G patents, but this agreement was called off when Apple took Samsung to court over the Galaxy Tab, Samsung admitted in the Australian Federal Court this morning.

Analysts said an OCZ acquisition would boost Seagate's margins and help it establish a firmer foothold in the lucrative enterprise segment, where SSDs are gaining popularity.

Semiconductor revenues worldwide will grow 4.6% in 2012 to US$315 billion, according to IDC. Revenues will grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2011-2016, reaching $380 billion in 2016.

Qualcomm has lowered its forecast of global cellular device shipments for 2012 due to a gloomy economic outlook, though it expects device sales to surge in the fourth quarter because of upcoming products, a likely reference to Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's Windows 8 tablets.

Intel is the world's dominant chip maker, but its business model doesn't align well with the move in computing toward mobile, and that will make it difficult for the company to make significant inroads into smartphones, tablets and other devices, according to an official with ARM.

Mobile chip designer ST-Ericsson grew revenues but failed to shave net losses in its most recent financial quarter.

Aided by recent moves by Intel and some other big chipmakers, momentum seems to be growing for a big technology shift in making semiconductors. But some key players remain wary, based partly on their scars from the last transition.

Future Horizons has said it included the comment "We assume GlobalFoundries will purchase IBM's semiconductor division and that Hynix/Micron will buy up the remaining smaller memory firms," in the conclusions of a report prepared by Future Horizons and Decision SA for the European Commission on the future of 450mm wafer processing in Europe.

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.

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.

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.

Socle Technology and Globalfoundries have announced the tape out of Socle's first ARM Cortex-A9 based 28nm ASIC design using Globalfoundries' 28nm super low power technology (SLP) technology with Gate First High-K Metal Gate (HKMG).

Infineon Technologies has selected Spansion's FL-serial flash memory to provide a high-performance, quad I/O SPI data storage solution for its Hexagon Development Kit System. The Hexagon kit, a modular, expandable platform built around the XMC4000 microcontroller, provides engineers a fast method to prototype industrial applications such as motor control, industrial automation or any kind of power conversion like solar inverters.

A group of Elpida Memory bondholders will vote against Micron Technology's plan to acquire the bankrupt Japanese chipmaker for about US$750 million, arguing that it undervalues the company's assets, a court filing shows.

Intel is the first participant in the customer co-investment program, and has committed to acquire up to a 15% equity ownership interest at a subscription price of EUR39.91 per share, and to also provide EUR829 million to ASML in R&D funding, which will be dedicated to the development of 450mm and EUV technology.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) said it will hold off selling tablets based on ARM technology when the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system debuts later this year.

Applied Materials has advanced the state of the art in etch technology with the launch of the Applied Centura Avatar dielectric etch system. This breakthrough system is designed to solve one of the most demanding challenges in creating the 3D memory architectures that deliver the high-density, terabit storage capability required for tomorrow's data-intensive mobile devices.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, girding against a shortage of chips, said he wouldn't rule out owning a manufacturing plant or tapping the company's cash pile to ensure access to needed parts. Qualcomm is weighing different business arrangements with its suppliers and would consider "writing big checks," said Jacobs.

Micron Technology will purchase failed DRAM manufacturer Elpida Memory Inc., The Nikkei reported early Friday. The acquisition price is estimated at 200 billion yen.

NXP Semiconductors has announced that the newly launched Nexus 7 will feature its PN65 NFC solution to provide an amazing mobile user experience. Featuring an NFC radio controller and an embedded Secure Element, the PN65 is validated and integrated on the latest release of Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.

MediaTek and Mstar shares soared yesterday after announcing an acquisition deal last week, which was seen as positive for both integrated circuit (IC) designers, dealers said.

The current global economic uncertainties led to a softer than expected development in the company's operating business, Infineon said in a statement.

Sony has announced plans to invest in Sony Semiconductor's Nagasaki Technology Center from the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 through the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, to increase the production capacity for stacked CMOS image sensors.

AlgolTek's digniPHY for USB 3.0 is a Physical Layer IP compliant with the USB 3.0 specification, and is backward compatible to support 3rd party or customers' proprietary USB 2.0 IP that is USB 2.0 specification compliant.

Applied Materials investors cheered the appointment of a seasoned executive Wednesday.

Spansion announced that Freescale Semiconductor has selected Spansion serial peripheral interface flash memory to provide its new Vybrid automotive and industrial solutions platforms with a simplified, high-bandwidth memory subsystem.

Qualcomm has just confirmed that it will supply its dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset to power future Windows phones.

Micron Technology has acquired Intel's 18% interest in IM Flash Singapore and the assets of IM Flash Technologies located at Micron's Virginia wafer fab. At the same time the scope of the JV between Intel and Micron has been expanded to include certain emerging memory technologies and Intel has prepaid US$300 million against future purchases of NAND flash memory.

The potential for Chinese fabless companies to reap greater rewards are already here, according to Allen Wu, president of ARM China. ARM-based SoCs, designed by Chinese fabless companies and shipped globally, jumped from 30 million units in 2007 to 615 million units in 2011.

Spansion has unveiled what it claims is the industry's first human machine interface (HMI) coprocessor that enables voice-controlled system interfaces. Leveraging Nuance Communications' voice technology, the new product is ideal for voice recognition systems in automotive, gaming and consumer electronics, significantly improving response time and accuracy over conventional voice interfaces by supporting larger acoustic databases.

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