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

The net loss in the 12 months ending March 31, 2010 will probably be 55 billion yen (US$607 million), wider than the 9 billion yen projected earlier, according to NEC Electronics on October 28.

Amkor Technology has reported net sales of US$616 million for the third quarter, up 22% sequentially but down 14% on year. Net income for the quarter reached US$81 million, compared to US$9 million in the prior quarter and US$29 million a year ago.

Samsung Electronics will seek to sharply expand sales in its semiconductor sector over the next three years through improved product quality and cost savings, according to the company. It hopes to register US$25.5 billion in revenue from its semiconductor division in 2012, up more than 50% from this year's goal of US$16 billion.

A Spansion spokesperson said through a prepared statement that a "small restructuring" took place at Spansion on October 26. The layoff was "necessary to better prioritize and align the company's resources with its business goals and emergence from Chapter 11," according to the statement.

IC packaging and testing service provider STATS ChipPAC has reported net income of US$25.1 million for third-quarter 2009, compared to profits of US$2.2 million in the prior quarter and US$7.9 million a year ago. Gross margin for the quarter reached 20.2% compared to 15.1% in the second quarter and 18.5% in third-quarter 2008.

Toshiba has estimated its operating income for the six months ended September 30, 2009 to reach 2 billion yen (US$21.7 million), compared with its earlier projection for a loss. Its net income estimate for the first half has also been revised upward to a loss of 58 billion yen.

The trial against former Infineon CEO Ulrich Schumacher for alleged corruption has been closed after the prosecutor has dropped his charges. A formal acquittal is expected for later this week.

"Lam Research had strong shipments and revenue performance in the September quarter, allowing the company to return to profitability and generate positive cash flow once again," company president and CEO Steve Newberry said in a statement.

ATMI, which provides specialty materials to semiconductor makers, saw revenues for third-quarter 2009 improve sequentially and beat Wall Street's expectations.

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.

Rambus Technology has posted a net loss of US$27.5 million in the third quarter compared to losses of US$24.0 million in the second quarter and US$30.9 million a year ago.

Chartered Semiconductor has reported a net loss of US$4.7 million in the third quarter, compared to losses of US$39.4 million in the prior quarter and US$24.4 million in third-quarter 2008. In light of the proposed acquisition by ATIC, Chartered said it will not be providing guidance for its fourth quarter ending December 31, 2009.

NOR flash supplier Spansion has put its 300mm fab up for sale, according to sources at the ISMI Symposium here.

TriQuint earned US$10.5 million, or US$0.07 per share in the third quarter compared with US$11.8 million, or US$0.08 cents a share in third-quarter 2008.

Sematech has claimed that it continues to make progress in 450mm fab technology, saying that it is in the "test wafer generation" stage in the arena.

SanDisk has admitted that far not all solid-state drives (SSDs) that are on the market right now are really reliable, which is why many of them are never used inside branded personal computers.

"Even if Taiwanese and Japanese players ramp up production, the possibility of oversupply is slim as worries over a double-dip in the global economy are easing," says chief executive of Hynix Semiconductor. Sources estimated Hynix' capex for 2010 will double to 2 trillion won.

Rambus has evolved its mobile memory technology further in its second generation silicon, which brings its high-bandwidth mobile memory controller to an achievable power efficiency of 2.2mW/Gbps.

Seagate's first 2010 fiscal quarter (ended October 2, 2009) brought cheering news and a better outlook as its numbers continue to recover and it beings sampling its solid state drive (SSD) with OEMs.

IBM has struck its second major chip deal in China, leaving some to wonder if Big Blue is handing over technology to that nation without thinking about the possible consequences. Thanks to IBM, the Chinese foundry vendor will ramp the 45nm technology in 2010 - a possible bad sign for its rivals.

"Demand for our XLR immersion lithography light sources and Installed Base Products rose sharply during the quarter, driven by increased investment from the foundry and memory sectors in support of transitions to the 5x nanometer node and below," said Cymer's CEO Bob Akins. Cymer's net income totaled US$10.79 million in the third quarter, compared to net income of US$5.33 million a year ago.

The major supplier of NAND flash silicon invested "millions" in Fusion-io, said Fusion-io President and CEO David Flynn, though he declined to give a more specific figure. The two will jointly evaluate technology for new applications of solid-state storage.

"We are encouraged by improved industry fundamentals and our increasingly diversified global markets, which bode well for further growth in Q4 and in 2010," said Eli Harari, SanDisk chairman and CEO.

Sun Microsystems plans to eliminate up to 3,000 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide workforce, as it awaits a takeover by Oracle, a deal being held up by antitrust regulators in Europe. Sun said the job cuts will happen over 2010 and affect all of Sun's major regions, including North America, Europe, Asia and emerging markets.

Price is still a huge barrier for solid state disks (SSD) in the enterprise, but for some datacenters the math already makes sense.

Samsung SDI, the world's second largest maker of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, posted its biggest profit in five years, driven by record shipments and sales of the product and gains from its mobile-display unit. Third-quarter net income rose 48 percent to 87 billion won (US$75 million) from 58.8 billion won a year earlier.