Word on the street is that Micron is seeking to enter the NOR flash market. Some also speculated that Intel wants to unload its interest in Numonyx.

Shares of memory chip developer Rambus rose 8% on September 4 on speculation that Samsung Electronics would buy the company, but Samsung said it had no such plans.

Novellus Systems narrowed the range of its expected third-quarter per-share loss to US$0.09 to break-even, from US$0.15 to break-even, as conditions in the semiconductor sector continue to improve.

The antitrust trial between memory chip designer Rambus and several chip makers, including Micron Technology, has been postponed, according to reports.

A new Microelectronics Innovation Center is being formed at the Université de Sherbrooke in Bromont, Québec, to focus on 200mm MEMS and 3D wafer-level packaging, and advanced technologies associated with the assembly and packaging of silicon chips.

Hitachi researchers have developed a method to form cavities in the interconnect layers of CMOS ICs, allowing MEMS sensors to be created in the wiring layers.

"The third quarter will be better from the previous quarter as chip prices are in the normalization stages after a years-long slump," said Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's chip division.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said in a disclosure that it is no longer pursuing a plan to purchase SanDisk.

Freescale Semiconductor plans to transfer its 3G cellular IP to Beijing Capital Semiconductor in a deal valued at US$30-40 million, according to a market analyst.

Lead times for immersion lithography tools are being extended from approximately nine months to about 12 or more, thanks to aggressive tool buying by the likes of Samsung and TSMC, according to analysts at Barclays Capital.

SSD is breaking into the mainstream due to the proliferation of models and the lower prices that have come in the last year from increased competition and improved production processes.

Cadence Design Systems and Globalfoundries have jointly announced a multi-year software and services agreement for advanced semiconductor design.

Elpida will issue 30 billion yen worth of preferred shares, which carry no voting rights, for purchase by the Development Bank of Japan.

Tessera Technologies has said an administrative law judge found its patents weren't infringed in action Tessera brought against DRAM manufacturers in the International Trade Commission.

The formal transfer of Fujitsu's hard disk drive business to Toshiba has been postponed to Oct. 1 pending approval from Chinese antitrust authorities, a person familiar with the proceedings told Dow Jones Newswires.

Japan's Fujitsu said it would make its microchip unit profitable next year by cutting fixed costs and outsourcing production of next-generation logic chips to TSMC.

Fujitsu Services operation in the UK has announced a rationalisation programme across its workforce, proposing a reduction of up to 1,200 jobs. It currently employs 12,500 people in the UK.

The potential sale of Qimonda's 300mm assets in Virginia to Texas Instruments (TI) confirms the opportunities in used 300 mm equipment identified in a study from Semico Research.

The Nikkei reported that Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC are in talks to infuse a total of about 200 billion yen into Renesas and NEC Electronics to help smooth the way toward a merger. The merger has been delayed for the second time.

LDK Solar has formed an agreement with Yancheng City in China's Jiangsu Province to develop several photovoltaic power projects, including ground-power stations and roof and building integration systems.

Software company Mentor Graphics has said it expects revenues and adjusted income in the third quarter to top Wall Street expectations.

The US International Trade Commission has said it plans to launch an investigation into flash-memory chips in popular products such as Apple's iPhone, Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm, as well as camcorders and laptop computers.

President Obama wants to make the US "the world's leading exporter of renewable energy," but in his seven months in office, it is China that has stepped on the gas in an effort to become the dominant player in green energy — especially in solar power, and even in the US.